Shooting

[kingkarl 136]

So I've decided to apply for my firearms licence.

I want to get a .22 for rabbits/possums/other miscellaneous small furry animals. Anyone know how many of those I'm likely to find around the Wellington region? Just as plentiful as the rest of the north island I assume? I plan to just knock on a bunch of farmers' doors and introduce myself and see if I can hunt their land.

I wouldn't mind something a little more powerful for added range, but .22 is really the only sensible option for a first rifle and cost of ammo considerations.

I'll probably pick up a cheap 10/22 off trademe. The old man's got a real nice, near new 10/22 he never uses when I'm not home so I might just borrow that long term.

Roughly how long does the licencing process take?

[hotwire 352]

Can't remember exactly but doesn't take overly long but is somewhat involved.

From memory you will need character references & your history will be checked.

Obviously pass the exam & have proof of safe storage for firearms. Oh... and pay some money too

[AN E30 Fan 1]

Not sure about the license side of things but I have done a fair bit of hunting with my Dad, Deer stalking near Martinborough and a bit of duck shooting every now and then.

As for the rifles, a .22 will do you just fine but if you want something with a little more kick that will still do the job have a look at .223, basically the same round but just with a little more powder behind it so you get a bit better range and ammo is still very cheap.

[Driftit 1964]

It takes about 3 months all up. So apply asap. Very long winded process.

Some mates and myself are getting into it now. We have a range of guns now. Couple of .22's a couple of Mosen Nagants, a modded and very nice new 7mm rem Hower, a 303 Enfield bush hack for goats, and a scatter gun.

Also have reloading gear now and made our first 20 rounds of 7mm Rem yesterday. Will start reloading for the 7.62x54R the Nagants use and no doubt the 303 soon too.

I am looking at picking up some more WWII era rifles. Things like K98 Mausers, G41/43, various enfields etc..

I would look to see what ranges are availible in Wellington. There is bugger all up here in Auckland. So finding places to shoot up here is a real pain in the ass. Though you can get a license to shoot on DOC land from their website. No Rim fire (.22) or shotguns on DOC land though.

[kingkarl 136]

It takes about 3 months all up. So apply asap. Very long winded process.

Some mates and myself are getting into it now. We have a range of guns now. Couple of .22's a couple of Mosen Nagants, a modded and very nice new 7mm rem Hower, a 303 Enfield bush hack for goats, and a scatter gun.

Also have reloading gear now and made our first 20 rounds of 7mm Rem yesterday. Will start reloading for the 7.62x54R the Nagants use and no doubt the 303 soon too.

I am looking at picking up some more WWII era rifles. Things like K98 Mausers, G41/43, various enfields etc..

I would look to see what ranges are availible in Wellington. There is bugger all up here in Auckland. So finding places to shoot up here is a real pain in the ass. Though you can get a license to shoot on DOC land from their website. No Rim fire (.22) or shotguns on DOC land though.

I know what you mean about the WWII era rifles. Time spent playing COD2/Wolfenstein has me drooling over the ones I've seen on TM.

How hard is goat hunting? I wouldn't have a clue where to look for them? Are they pretty much everywhere like pigs?

I figure there's a sh*t ton of farms around the wairarapa/kapiti regions so I can't imagine it'll be too difficult to find places. Obliging cockies might be a different story?

No rimfires on DOC land... Seems counter intuitive somewhat? Is that to try and have less rookies such as myself supposedly getting up to mischief? Surely there must be an army of possums scattered through DOC land waiting to be massacred?

[kingkarl 136]

Just found:

Absolutely no spotlighting. Hunting wild animals during the hours of darkness (½ hour after sunset to (½ hour before sunrise) is prohibited.

(Doc website)

That puts paid to the possum ambitions

[allan 295]

Do not give up so quickly, asked around farmers, friends, New Zealand forestry etc you never know what might come up. Have owned both a .22 and .222 the triple 2 I found to be a good all round fire arm also having a friend who used to reload his own .243 and 7mm ammo. We found that we could reload the following projectiles 45, 50, 55, 60, 72 grain bullets.The 45 and 50s were great on the rabbits, hares, oposums, mag pies while the 55 and 60's came in handy on goats and deer.

A .22 bullet / .223 projectile

The .223/.222 rounds travel around 3,000 to 3,200 ft a second from memory and have a flat trajectory making them very accurate for a reasonable distance.

The licence side of things cannot comment but have heard it is more involved and costly which is not a bad thing considering what you a being aloud to own and use. Best of luck with your hunting

[bellicose 9]

Kel-Tec sub 2000.

Glock 23 .40

S&W .357 (long barrel)

Inherited from my father.

Safely locked away at an un-named gun club.

Play with them once in awhile, on the annerverary of the old boys passing and also when i get REALLY pissed off, it's fun.

PS: You think a general FA license is hard to get, you wanna try owning a Kel-Tec in NZ

Edited September 19, 2011 by bellicose

[Young Thrash Driver 1020]

If you havn't been in trouble before, you will find the whole process so easy it's scary.

Wellington being so urban, you may be required to have a steel safe for storage

[kingkarl 136]

Kel-Tec sub 2000.

Glock 23 .40

S&W .357 (long barrel)

Inherited from my father.

Safely locked away at an un-named gun club.

Play with them once in awhile, on the annerverary of the old boys passing and also when i get REALLY pissed off, it's fun.

PS: You think a general FA license is hard to get, you wanna try owning a Kel-Tec in NZ

.357 =

.44 magnum is my ultimate hand cannon - Profile pic probably gave that away.

Yeah I can only imagine the time spent getting/maintaining your class B licence.

I know what you mean about the anger relief benefits of firearms. Probably shouldn't be, but blasting a hole in a bunnies head is somewhat therapeutic for me.

[Eagle 1528]

I do consider myself lucky that i can knock off mag pies, rabbits etc from my window.

Always been in military arms so owned most things i could on an A cat, should have the E soon with any luck.

If you like military rifles an AR-15 is a rifle you never regret buying if you have the coin

[kingkarl 136]

I do consider myself lucky that i can knock off mag pies, rabbits etc from my window.

Always been in military arms so owned most things i could on an A cat, should have the E soon with any luck.

If you like military rifles an AR-15 is a rifle you never regret buying if you have the coin

Yeah the AR-15 is definitely something I'd look at next. Too many hours playing call of duty not to want one of those, haha. 5.56 seems like a really versatile round.

Passed the test last night... Now I've got to try and figure out security arrangements. It's difficult because the apartment I live at currently has no cupboards and no suitable place for a gun, other than the somewhat flimsy hot water cylinder cupboard.

So that means I'll almost certainly need a safe. But there's no where that I can dynabolt it to the floor that wont go unnoticed by our landlord (hitler reincarnate) when the time comes to move out.

Guncity has This which they claim is legal, but I doubt the arms officer would be all that happy if I just rig that badboy up on my bedroom wall in sight of anyone who happens to walk in. Especially when it's an apartment in a densely populated area, occupied by 7 students with various people coming and going at all times. I'm sure the security standards for me are probably gonna be a little higher than an older person living out in a rural area for example.

Ah dilemmas.

Edited September 29, 2011 by kingkarl

[Driftit 1964]

Yeah your screwed there. If it is in plain sight you have no show. Those racks are crap too. They might be legal but they shouldn't be. We had one just to get through the process. But it had to be bolted to the wall in a cupboard. Also we had to drill out the small holes to put a decent sized bolt through the rack.

Do you honestly have 7 people in your house? Cop is going to love that. Has to talk to each of them.

[kingkarl 136]

Yeah your screwed there. If it is in plain sight you have no show. Those racks are crap too. They might be legal but they shouldn't be. We had one just to get through the process. But it had to be bolted to the wall in a cupboard. Also we had to drill out the small holes to put a decent sized bolt through the rack.

Do you honestly have 7 people in your house? Cop is going to love that. Has to talk to each of them.

Yeah, it is a somewhat tricky situation.

What I plan on doing is waiting until I return home for summer (1 months time) and completing the security process then at my parents address. Dad has a locked cupboard specifically for firearms (I hope it is still acceptable considering the gradual tightening of standards) which will be far easier than sorting it out in my current place.

If the current flatmates weren't a good enough reason to get out of this place for next year, then these security difficulties are, haha.

Cheers for the advice Dan, answers several questions I was unsure of

[Guest Ari Gold]

blasting a hole in a bunnies head is somewhat therapeutic for me.

Nice.

What did you do after school most days, drown kittens?

[kingkarl 136]

Nice.

What did you do after school most days, drown kittens?

Nah, killing baby seals with galvanized pipes was my favourite past time.

[polley 916]

Nice.

What did you do after school most days, drown kittens?

[Jono51 58]

.357 =

.44 magnum is my ultimate hand cannon - Profile pic probably gave that away.

Yeah I can only imagine the time spent getting/maintaining your class B licence.

I know what you mean about the anger relief benefits of firearms. Probably shouldn't be, but blasting a hole in a bunnies head is somewhat therapeutic for me.

grow up, guns are not a toy to be used to releive anger, and for you to be going for a licence and then mention this on a public forum,

therapeutic, I think you have lost the whole concept of hunting

think about it, what if the arms officer was reading this!

edit furthur to this, this mentality gives anti firearms people more support for their argument

over this thread

Edited October 1, 2011 by Jono51

[polley 916]

grow up, guns are not a toy to be used to releive anger, and for you to be going for a licence and then mention this on a public forum,

therapeutic, I think you have lost the whole concept of hunting

think about it, what if the arms officer was reading this!

edit furthur to this, this mentality gives anti firearms people more support for their argument

over this thread

Don't worry about it too much, I think he is just trying to sound cool.

omG gaiz i shoot tha gunz!!@

[kingkarl 136]

grow up, guns are not a toy to be used to releive anger, and for you to be going for a licence and then mention this on a public forum,

therapeutic, I think you have lost the whole concept of hunting

think about it, what if the arms officer was reading this!

edit furthur to this, this mentality gives anti firearms people more support for their argument

over this thread

Of course guns aren't a toy to be used to relieve anger. Priority number 1 is safe use that puts no person or property at danger. If there is any doubt of danger to any person or property, through ricochet or otherwise the shot is never taken.

If all the safety considerations are met then what on earth is wrong with shooting off a few rounds (to reiterate: safety being first priority) to relieve some stress? Please enlighten me.

I would have zero issue with a firearms officer reading this. Shooting sh*t is fun - Nothing to be ashamed of there. That's why people get guns and pursue hunting as a hobby.

I do enjoy killing rabbits, not taking that back... the thrill of the chase as they say. Is it for everyone? Of course not. But at the end of the day, they are an introduced pest. As long as they are shot humanely (head/vitals) then there is no issue in terms of suffering to the animal.

Yeah Polley, impressing you is my main pursuit in life. xoxo

Edited October 2, 2011 by kingkarl

[JBimmer 0]

Of course guns aren't a toy to be used to relieve anger. Priority number 1 is safe use that puts no person or property at danger. If there is any doubt of danger to any person or property, through ricochet or otherwise the shot is never taken.

If all the safety considerations are met then what on earth is wrong with shooting off a few rounds (to reiterate: safety being first priority) to relieve some stress? Please enlighten me.

I would have zero issue with a firearms officer reading this. Shooting sh*t is fun - Nothing to be ashamed of there. That's why people get guns and pursue hunting as a hobby.

I do enjoy killing rabbits, not taking that back... the thrill of the chase as they say. Is it for everyone? Of course not. But at the end of the day, they are an introduced pest. As long as they are shot humanely (head/vitals) then there is no issue in terms of suffering to the animal.

Yeah Polley, impressing you is my main pursuit in life. xoxo

You'll usually find on public forums alot of people will take an instant hate to any gun talk. I agree about it being therapeutic I used to love lining up cans at my uncles farm and blasting them then hunting possums at night, was pretty much my entire childhood, on a side note I wouldn't even try to keep guns in an apartment building, definately leave them at your old mans and locked up.

On that note though, I'm not sure why they read the thread to begin with.

[Driftit 1964]

Have a read of the hunting and fishing forums. Or if you want to avoid elitist knobs there is a hunting and shooting section on gpforums.co.nz which is not bad.