What exactly is the current law

Zakalwe

We all know January may bring bad news, but what is the current state of the law?

Is it all down to what your Garda Superintendant will allow? Are there any restrictions currently on the books such as calibre, length, ammunition type, action etc?

If I wanted something totally outlandish such as a fully automatic M2 Machine Gun and 10,000 rounds of armour piercing .50 BMG to go with it, is there anything on the books now to prevent me from owning it? If I decided I needed a 600 Nitro Express revolver for target shooting could I own it?

I've no interest in owning such equipment, so this question is purely out of interest.

civdef

You still have to demonstrate a genuine reason for wanting to own such a firearm, and that by doing so you wouldn't pose a threat to public safety.

Zakalwe

Let's say historical signifigance?

A historic piece such as say an M1 Garand rifle, K98k or Lee Enfield. Obviously the firearm would be kept in workable condition but under lock and key.

Sparks

Zak,
You have to show the local superintendent that you have a good reason for needing the firearm, that you're not disqualified from holding a licence (through being underage, insane, a criminal or one of the other things in section 8 of the 1925 act), and that you wouldn't be a threat to public safety or the peace by being given the licence. (It's in section four of the '25 act). You'd also need a safe place to shoot the firearm. After that, there aren't too many banned firearms, and those that are banned are basicly flamethrowers (the expression "prohibited weapon" means and includes any weapon of whatever
description designed for the discharge of any noxious liquid, noxious gas, or
other noxious thing is the phrase in the '25 act). And there have already been a few applications for .303s and .308s so the stuff you're talking about would be fine, so long as you had a safe place to shoot them. Mind you, the only places I know of that are currently open for those calibres aren't terribly near you - Kerry, Fermoy (I think, I'm not sure), and the Midlands Rifle Club and a few up north (there may well be others that I don't know about - anyone?).

Zakalwe

Interesting to know should I ever decide I want such a gun. I've got my sights set on a decent air-rifle though.

oldzed

The Kerry guys are just a group who shoot in a bog and have no club structure as such and cant use membership of a club as a reason to get their firearms . fermoy while it is a nice little range is only 100m long and is restricted to .22 subsonics only . midland is the only fullbore range open for membership that i know off .

zed

bernard93

If you’re looking for the best place to shoot full bore target rifle in Ireland, then join comber rifle club and shoot in Ballykinler army range (about 20 mins from newry)

I used to shoot in Midland but got fed up being ripped off!!

This is the best place, be there at 9 on a sat, shoot 200,300,500 and 600 yards in a proper T-R environment, take your turn in the butts and meet great people.....

I shoot my new armalite ar10 t space gun there and I can’t recommend it enough..

All the paper work can be downloaded form the psni site and they will return paper work in 5-7 working days!!!

les45

Bernard, Is Comber taking members from the "South" ?, I have shot the Midlands Range a couple of times and I was never "overcharged" for the use of the excellant facilities, which I understand the club have funded with no Government Grants, but I may be wrong!!

gouda

oldzed wrote:

The Kerry guys are just a group who shoot in a bog and have no club structure as such and cant use membership of a club as a reason to get their firearms . fermoy while it is a nice little range is only 100m long and is restricted to .22 subsonics only . midland is the only fullbore range open for membership that i know off .

zed

The Kerry boys are a Club. Midland is a commercial range and probably could not be described as a club either for all practical purposes. Fassaroe had a fullbore range on the old site, I don't know what they have currently.

bernard93

les45,

Sorry for the delay in response!

Comber rifle club is open to any body north and south as far as Im aware,
I live in Meath but am from Belfast so I never had any problems at all.

The way to go about joining is to log on the site www.comberrifleclub.com
And there is an address to send a letter applying to become a member, send that off with your contact details and they will get back to you…

I think the fees for the year are around £40.00 that includes using there excellent .22 range in comber (east of Belfast city centre) and all your targets at Ballykinler.

The only downside I feel is if you don’t shoot Target rifle (shooting coat, sling and iron sights) then you wont get AS much enjoyment out of it…. But there are still plenty of guys there shooting f-class or thinking there snipers and the like