Taking up shooting

[fomb]

When I was at school, and in the Air Cadets, I did a fair chunk of .22 shooting, coupled with a little 7.62 and 5.56 when the oppourtunity arose.
Now, 20 years later I'm wanting to get back into shooting, but more the longer range target stuff, than the 25yd .22 kind of shooting.

Luckily I live about an hour from Bisley which probably helps but I've no real idea on what the process is, and how much all this costs.

Anyone have any ideas/experience/pointers?

[Rosscow]

fomb said:

When I was at school, and in the Air Cadets, I did a fair chunk of .22 shooting, coupled with a little 7.62 and 5.56 when the oppourtunity arose.
Now, 20 years later I'm wanting to get back into shooting, but more the longer range target stuff, than the 25yd .22 kind of shooting.

Luckily I live about an hour from Bisley which probably helps but I've no real idea on what the process is, and how much all this costs.

Anyone have any ideas/experience/pointers?

Hi

It all depends how much you want to spend and how heavily you want to get into it.

First things first you need to find a local rifle club (one that hopefully shoots at Bisley!) that is accepting new members, you'll probably have to do 6 months probation and pass a competency test before they will let you join.

You'll need to belong to a club before you'll be given a Firearms Certificate (FAC).

You then have certain costs before you can get an FAC. Membership of club (cost depends on club), FAC application (around £60), gun safe (I'd recommend Brattonsound RD5 - extra deep to help accommodate scopes fitted to rifles - around £165), and ammo safe (again, Brattonsound PA5 pistol/ammo safe around £100).

When you apply for your FAC you'll have to know what calibre and type of rifle you want to buy, and have good reason for it (i.e. a 7.62mm bolt action rifle for target shooting).

Once you've joined a club, jumped the hoops, installed your safes, satisfied your local FEO (firearms enquiry officer) and been granted your FAC then you get to the exciting part - buying and owning your own rifle!

This all comes down to how accurate you want to be and how much money you want to spend.

If you're happy buying an old .303 and just getting on the target at 100, 200 and 300 yards then this can be relatively cheap.

But you'll probably be like me and want to shoot groups of sub 0.5 MOA (minute of angle - don't worry you'll learn all about this!) out to 1000 yards.

I ended up with a custom built .260 Remington tactical rifle with Krieger match barrel, 10 round magazine, Jewel competition trigger, HS Precision adjustable stock and Swarovski scope.

That was a £5000 rifle/scope combination.

Then you have to decide if you are happy buying your ammunition or want to reload (make your own).
I got into reloading in a big way - it consumes you!! In the end my .260 ammunition was costing £1 a shot.

So.... you have lots of decisions to make and it's a huge learning curve - especially to shoot at very long distances which is possible at Bisley.

It's bloody enjoyable though

Edited by Rosscow on Tuesday 23 October 14:20

[fomb]

To be honest, I'm more interested in the super long range stuff, just like the long range at Bisley.

Is there any simpler way of doing things if you don't own your own rifle? I dare say a lot of the bureaucracy is down to the ownership aspect.

[Dan_The_Man]

fomb said:

To be honest, I'm more interested in the super long range stuff, just like the long range at Bisley.

Is there any simpler way of doing things if you don't own your own rifle? I dare say a lot of the bureaucracy is down to the ownership aspect.

You can rent firearms by the half day at Bisley (£17) and shoot them out to 1200 yds, details on the NRA website.

[grand cherokee]

fomb said:

To be honest, I'm more interested in the super long range stuff, just like the long range at Bisley.

Is there any simpler way of doing things if you don't own your own rifle? I dare say a lot of the bureaucracy is down to the ownership aspect.

ideally you would like a .338 Lapua Magnum for 1000yds plus

wonder if any uk police authority would give you permission to own one?

iv'e fired one and the Barrett .50 in the USA - the Lapua wins hands down imo

[Dan_The_Man]

Getting authority for a .338 (or .50) is no problem, unfortunately you cant use those calibres at Bisley, only bigger ranges such as Lydd, Sennybridge, Warcorp etc

[smack]

Dan_The_Man said:

Getting authority for a .338 (or .50) is no problem, unfortunately you cant use those calibres at Bisley, only bigger ranges such as Lydd, Sennybridge, Warcorp etc

And the ammunition will burn a hole in your wallet nearly as fast as renting a hooker to snort coke off her breasts.

[smack]

Rosscow said:

Is that a Redding Competition Bullet Seating Die you have on your press there?

[grand cherokee]

Dan_The_Man said:

Getting authority for a .338 (or .50) is no problem, unfortunately you cant use those calibres at Bisley, only bigger ranges such as Lydd, Sennybridge, Warcorp etc

have you actually applied and got permission?

if so i would be very interested

[smack]

grand cherokee said:

have you actually applied and got permission?

if so i would be very interested

Not mine, Dan knows the owner, a nice .338LM that was shooting beside us one day.



If you are a member of a club that shoots are ranges that allow it, the you have justification to own one. Some Police Forces are more better than others when I comes to what they approve.

On dedicated UK shooting forums, a few guys have 50BMG rifles. And there is one club that is 50 cal specific, FCSA. For 50 cal, if you have to ask how much, then you probably can't afford it! Surplus 50BMG rounds are around £3 each, compared to 40-50p for good 7.62 surplus rounds.

[Dan_The_Man]

grand cherokee said:

have you actually applied and got permission?

if so i would be very interested

If you have an FAC for target shooting then it's no different to asking for a .22 rifle, you can have any calibre you want, loads of our club members have .50 & .338 on their tickets, I nearly bought a Barrett M95 a couple of years ago but the £5K+ price tag put me off. There are a few Boys anti-tank rifles that have been rechambered to .50 if that floats your boat.

Me a few weeks ago checking out an Accuracy International AW.50, definately the best option if you have the cash, the new AI-AX is around £7000 whereas the .338 is only £4500




S/H link to an AI AW.50 £6,000

[grand cherokee]

Dan_The_Man said:

If you have an FAC for target shooting then it's no different to asking for a .22 rifle, you can have any calibre you want, loads of our club members have .50 & .338 on their tickets, I nearly bought a Barrett M95 a couple of years ago but the £5K+ price tag put me off. There are a few Boys anti-tank rifles that have been rechambered to .50 if that floats your boat.

Me a few weeks ago checking out an Accuracy International AW.50, definately the best option if you have the cash, the new AI-AX is around £7000 whereas the .338 is only £4500




S/H link to an AI AW.50 £6,000

thanks Dan - very interesting

[marcosgt]

Thanks for all the info, makes diving sound nice and cheap

M.