Plinking yay or nay !?

Davey34

Hey all , I have read a few threads on the mention of plinking, I have a .22lr and not really into killing anything I wouldnt eat..
Does anyone when going out in the field with mates throw up a few targets and have the freedom of some good ol fashion plinkin' ? Besides target shooting at their club?, I know air rifles are great for it, just wondering does anyone do it?
:rolleyes:

clivej

As officially 'One' can't target shoot outside of a range I tend to put up paper bull-eyes to 'check my zero'.

nod, nod, ,

Davey34

Cheers Clive!, looking at the buzz the yanks have (e.g Hickok45
jezz that guy enjoys his plinkin')... shame about the laws but they are the laws!,

Vegeta

clivej wrote: »

As officially 'One' can't target shoot outside of a range I tend to put up paper bull-eyes to 'check my zero'.

nod, nod, ,

It is also worth pointing out that while the Minister at the time is on record as saying zeroing is ok, that has no legal weight behind it. It's not written into any Act. He just said it once. It's similar to when other Ministers say they will give you a world leading health care system or lower taxes.

There's a complete lack of proper definition in the legislation. Nothing there to distinguish zeroing from target shooting from plinking.

It wasn't me!

If I recall correctly he said something along the lines of the act not being "intended" to prevent people zeroing on private land, which is another way of saying it's an unintended consequence. You can take it as go ahead, but I'd be a bit uncomfortable myself.

Cass

Plinking is just another way of saying target shooting, and anything that occurs outside of an authorised range is illegal.

IWM & Vegeta are correct in that the Minister did admit that it was a poor consequence of the Act, however with all his talk , and apologies he never amended or repealed it and so as it stands it is still illegal, and as such discussion of illegal activities is prohibited.

IRLConor

Here's how I answered it before:

IRLConor wrote: »

The way I look at it, there's two ways to look at it:

Way 1 (the cautious way):
There's no clear definition or guidance so the only really clear decision you're going to get is from a court and it's much more pleasant not to be the test case. Guidance from a Garda or solicitor/barrister would be nice, but at the end of the day, they're not going to pay the fine/do the time nor will they be much help at renewal time if you've been done for a breach of the law. Until some poor fecker goes to court for target shooting on an unauthorised range when he was zeroing his rifle, you won't know what the deal is.

Way 2 (the gamble):
This is probably an "I don't like the look of that" or "I'll know it when I see it" law, so provided you a) don't annoy your local Gardai, b) don't annoy the landowners/adjacent landowners, c) do it on your own/with one or two friends on an unimproved piece of land and d) don't take the piss, you'll probably be fine. The more people shooting together, the more complicated the target/firing point setup, the more gizmos you have with you (chrono, wind flags, etc) the tougher case you're going to have.

Me, personally, I'm fairly conservative so I'd go with option 1. For those who decide to go with option 2, be careful and don't push your luck.

Sandy22

Also, shooting rifles at targets thrown up in the air is generally frowned on these days.

kildare.17hmr

Sandy22 wrote: »

Also, shooting rifles at targets thrown up in the air is generally frowned on these days.

Generally frowned on?? How bout the first rule of saftey 'know your backstop'!

extremetaz

surely he was joking?




@ sandy; ...you were, weren't you?

It wasn't me!

I think it's safe to say Sandy was taking the piss.

kildare.17hmr

I dont know sandy so i dont know!

Spunk84

What's the act that says its illegal?

Vegeta

Spunk84 wrote: »

What's the act that says its illegal?

Criminal Justice Act 2006 as far as I recall.

Farmlife

is there any rules laws that apply to shotguns and clays?

German pointer

rgugliel wrote: »

is there any rules laws that apply to shotguns and clays?

Clay pigeon shoots and clay piegon shooting are not classed as target shooting and fall oustide this law IIRC

Amalgam

What about Plinking with a slingshot?

Nothing severe or antisocial, thinking along the lines of a Milbro of some sort.

johngalway

Sandy22 wrote: »

Also, shooting rifles at targets thrown up in the air is generally frowned on these days.

I think the phrase "thrown up" would be meant as in putting a target up, not in the air, just on a board.

Farmlife

Sandy22 wrote: »

Also, shooting rifles at targets thrown up in the air is generally frowned on these days.

Lads, he probably just means light 22lr rounds

dev110

rgugliel wrote: »

Lads, he probably just means light 22lr rounds

What do you mean "light 22lr rounds"?
A .22lr will keep going for a mile and a half if fired at certain angles

Croppy Boy

dev110 wrote: »

A .22lr will keep going for a mile and a half if fired at certain angles

Apparently not, a 22 will only travel 3/4 mile. They just doubled it up to stay on the safe side.

packas

Sandy22 wrote: »

Also, shooting rifles at targets thrown up in the air is generally frowned on these days.

Damn. I do so much enjoy tossing euro coins in the air and trying to hit them with the old 270

dev110

Croppy Boy wrote: »

Apparently not, a 22 will only travel 3/4 mile. They just doubled it up to stay on the safe side.

So you are saying that it is ok to fire a .22 in the air because it will only go 3/4 mile instead of 1.5 miles? :rolleyes:

Hunter21

Croppy Boy wrote: »

Apparently not, a 22 will only travel 3/4 mile. They just doubled it up to stay on the safe side.

Are you from the mythbusters?

Croppy Boy

I can't remember where I read it and perhaps it's not true but I can understand if they're putting a warning on a product, they will overstate it to stay on the safe side.

And no, I wouldn't advocate shooting into the sky.;)

IRLConor

Out of curiosity, I calculated some maximum distances with this: http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmdist-5.1.cgi

CCI Stinger 32gr @ 1640fps: 1517 yards
Eley Tenex 40gr @ 1060fps: 1730 yards
CCI Velocitor 40gr @ 1435fps: 1780 yards

Wind and temperature of course would change those numbers, as would the usual spread of muzzle velocities depending on the batch of the ammo and the length and condition of the barrel.

I also used this to calculate the energies at various distances along the maximum distance path. When the rounds finally came back down, they had between 3 and 5 foot pounds of energy which is enough to cause harm.

Farmlife

rgugliel wrote: »

Lads, he probably just means light 22lr rounds

For the record i just want to put it out there that i was taking the piss

aurin07

Tin Foil hat subject...

the more stupid questions are asked the more serious ones are brought to light..







'hdz