Legal Firearms permitted but not a legal .22 AR?

[SMJ]

Hi,
I could not not find anything on the forum regarding this but it would be great to know.

I understand that legal firearms are permitted at rifle ranges. I am sure there would be some restrictions but essentially firearms ARE permitted with legal licenses in place. The question is then that why are our legal .22's or even higher powered .177 Indian air rifles not permitted at any of these associations?

I may have missed the obvious so pardon me but so far I cant seem to find a logical conclusion... lack of space maybe?

[Anand]

The problem lies in how and why the ranges have been established. For instance most ranges have the facility to shoot .22 rifles and handguns and .32 handguns and 12 Bore Skeet and Trap. Big bore is not available in most (all?) ranges except perhaps Police and Military ranges. The primary reason these ranges have been set up are for the encouragement of the shooting sports as in ISSF only. So any one who wants to practice on the range even while being a member of the NRAI or State Rifle Association or the Range itself may be welcome to shoot only if its these calibers:.22LR,.32S&W Long & 12 Bore.

For instance there is a sign in the gun range in Hyderabad that only .22 & .32 calibers are allowed on the handgun/rifle ranges. So what happens when you own other calibers? When I asked the management, I was told that it damages the targets !!? Since the paper targets are pasted/pinned onto a styrofoam sheet that sits in a metal cradle (which by the way is shielded by an embankment of mud and grass, I was confounded how this would get "damaged " . Anyway that's the story.

My guess is that since these ranges have been set up for ISSF sport shooting, and most people are anyway limited to these calibers only, and to discourage people coming in to practice defensive type shooting with other calibers this may have been put up.
An air rifle of .22 caliber being used on a rifle range will have no greater impact on anything when shot at say 50 meters for practice, meaning it can't damage anything any more than a .22LR would, since its power is usually less than a .22LR, however since only .177 air rifles/pistols are approved for competition use in ISSF, the rules have been set up to favour only that caliber.
Regards,
Anand

[SMJ]

Hi Ananad,

Thanks for such a detailed response - as I understand from what you wrote - it's partly to the adhere to the ISSF standards world wide.

So what happens when you own other calibers? When I asked the management, I was told that it damages the targets !!? Since the paper targets are pasted/pinned onto a styrofoam sheet that sits in a metal cradle (which by the way is shielded by an embankment of mud and grass, I was confounded how this would get "damaged "

However, as you pointed out a .22 AR will not do any more damage than a .22 LR so logically should both not be allowed in the same range for practice

[Walibaa]

These are the rules of associations. Many don't allow big bore rifles like .30-06 or even .315

[aadhaulya]

These are the rules of associations. Many don't allow big bore rifles like .30-06 or even .315

What do you mean by association. Most of the ranges do not allow big bore rifles but no association including the mother of all NRAI has any objection to it. In fact some time ago NRAI took a list of 30.06 ammo from members so that they could import it for them.

Atul

[Walibaa]

State association for rifles. I have heard that few states allow big bore practising like in Delhi. But as far as I know they don't allow it in Karnataka rifle association.

[aadhaulya]

State association for rifles. I have heard that few states allow big bore practising like in Delhi. But as far as I know they don't allow it in Karnataka rifle association.

I think you are confused between 'rifle association' and 'shooting range' The association has nothing to do with the bore that you own. The shooting range may or may not have a big bore range and impose a restriction on the type of weapons that you may use there.
By the way Delhi has no big bore shooting range.

Atul