German in India is looking for some advice

[Arninger]

Hello and thank you for accepting me in this Forum.

I am a German Citizen working and living in Bangalore.

I've been a gun owner, active sports shooter and hunter in Germany for years. While I was living in the UK I acquired a shotgun license there and did a bit of clay pidgon shooting.

Now that I am living in India, I was wondering if it would be sensible to get into shooting here as well and maybe also acquiring a license here.

I am planning to stay here for about another 2 years. Do you guys think it makes sense to invest the time and money to try to get a license? If I would go ahead with it, I would want to go shooting on a regular basis again. Not talking about air guns or "boring" Olympic rim fire, more handguns or clay pidgon (used to participate in IPSC). Is that even possible?

What would be you advise?
Go for it?
Or rather save the money and hassle and just go shooting back home on holidays or when I return back?
Still have as stash of guns in Germany and going shooting here is comparably easy.

Is there anything like a gun range in Bangalore that I could check out, meet some people and maybe get more information?

Cheers, and thank you for any input.

[eljefe]

Wilkommen, Arlinger.
lets wait for the Bangalore boys to give you a reality check regarding the ground situation. Please tell us about your stash and hunting/shooting in Germany while we are at it

[sourabhsangale]

Sir being a getman citizens you cannot buy a gun here , don’t waste time and money here it’s of no use best is you do everything in Germany only .

[drag73]

On the outskirts of Bangalore, on Mysore road there is shooting range , managed by Karnataka state rifle association. Check out www.ksra.in website. As far as I know, it is yet to open operations due to ongoing covid situation. Hope it helps

[nagarifle]

welcome to the forum, stay and share, even if we give you sad news like it might take 3 years for you to get a licence. you planning to depart from this shores in two years. best to leave the hassle and try joining a club and use their equipment or if you can find someone to tag along with use theirs.

as the El boss said, lets wait for the local members of the forum to give an input

[Vikram]

Arninger,

Welcome to IFG. I think KSRA allows its members to use their skeet and trap ranges and also rents guns and ammunition. That could be your best bet,IMO. Getting a license is not going to be easy. It is designed to disappoint. For just two years, it may not be worth your while.

Do share your guns and experiences from Germany. I have a few German friends.

[AgentDoubleS]

Guten tag Arninger,

Welcome to the forum. As others mentioned, it’ll be great to know more about your firearms and experiences in Germany.

I spent a lot of my 2019 and early part of 2020 living and working in Munich - and then COVID happened! I live in the neighbourhood now shooting primarily IPSC and PPC events. Interestingly, I logged in to order some things from stopper.de when I saw you post.

My advice is in line with what Vikram mentioned above:

1. It’s not worth the hassle to attempt to acquire a license in India. If (and that’s a big if) you are able to acquire one by the time you get a decent shotgun, it’ll be well over 2 years.

2. Visit KSRA and speak to them about your options. The range should allow you to rent and use their firearm.

3. The only event that might interest you in India is trap or skeet shooting. IPSC (or similar practical/non ISSF events) are an impossibility due to the extremely restrictive laws.

All the best for your pursuits and hope you enjoy the country in these very challenging times!

Cheers
SS

[Woods]

...... It is designed to disappoint. For just two years, it may not be worth your while. .....

Since you are already in India , it's no use hiding the harsh truth from you . The licencing system is designed to disappoint those people who do not have sufficiently deep pockets . For a mango ma the licence is granted and for more equal than others the licences are sold . I have seen this amongst my family members and many friends .

KSRA will let you use their guns only if you're already a firearms licence holder . The gun you are going to purchase on your license is not going to be of any comparison to whatever you own in Germany .

Please do update what you decide and find in your way .

[Arninger]

Hey.
Thank you for the advice.
I was almost guessing it would make no sense, but thought there would be no harm in asking.

Guess I will stick to my German license then. I will try to get into contact withe the KSRA and see if there is any possibility to do some clay shooting there.
After a bit of reading here I read that there is a limit to how much ammo you can buy and that prices are fairly high? Just out of interest, how much is a pack (25) of 12 gauge bird shot in India? I am used to buy ammo in minimums of thousands, guess that's not an option for you guys in India.


Not sure if interesting, but here a brief description on how gun licensing works in Germany.
There are basically two ways how to get a license here. Either as a sports shooter or a hunter. Both have very many rules to them attached and are time consuming and not necessarily cheap. Since this is Germany, everything goes by the book. The downside is, if you don't follow the rules exactly you'll get into big trouble. On the other hand, if you follow the rules they will have to give you your license and they can not deny it to you.

Here is the main rules to get a sporting license.
You have to be meber of a registered gun club for at least a year and train at least once a month, or 18 times a year. You will have to do a weekend course to show your gun handling as well that you know all the laws. Then you will get your license.
After this you still have to regularly train (as above) and take part in at least one competition per year. Then you can buy up to 2 guns per year. The type of gun is connected to the shooting disciplines you follow. One gun per discipline. So say you already have a 9mm pistol, you cant get another one. But for a different discipline you want to start in the revolver class, so you can get a .375 for that. Or you have a .22 rifle and you want to go to the Magnum class, so you can buy a .300wm or something.
Then there is a divide between "good" and "bad" guns. "Good" guns are single shot pistols, repeating rifles and so on. They are considered less dangerous. "Bad" guns are handguns, pump guns and semi automatic rifles.
The first category you can just buy and register in 2 weeks after the purchase. For the second category you have to get permission by your shooting club. Basically buy saying you need it to participate in competitions, showing you regularly take part in them. With that permission you go to the government office and get it approved, after that you can buy the gun.
It is all a bit complicated and time consuming, but if you are actually interested in sport shooting, it actually not that bad. And you can buy most guns that are on the market.

To get a hunting licence you usually register with your council. There is a training every year. You are appointed to a older hunter and help him out for the next 9 month. In the same time you have shooting class once every week. As well as one evening of theory class every week. After Bout 9 month you have to pass an oral, written and practical exam. That exam is quite hard, you have to know all laws and anything there is to know about hunting and animals. So for example what time of the year this and that duck put outs it's hatchlings. It is usually compared with the final exam in a secondary school in the amount nod studying it takes. In the practice exam you have to identify footprints of animals, identify leafs and grasses, gut an animal and so on. The shooting part is quite hard as well.
So only people who are into it will pass.
After that you have to pay a fee every three years to keep this license.
Then you are entitled to buy tow handguns of your choice and an unlimited number of rifles. Rifles you can buy basically anything that exists, except for fully automatic rifles.

In reality there is a bit more rules etc to both things, but that is the general idea.

Self defense is NOT an valid reason to get a gun license in Germany!




For my guns here, below a list of things I currently own and some (very old) pictures of the guns.

Glock 17 in 9X19
For sport shooting like IPSC etc.

Glock 29 in 10mm Auto
For defense against animals while hunting and putting down wounded animals.

Howa 1500 in .308
My hunting rifle.

Mossberg 500
For sporting purposes, mostly steel plate shooting.

Cugir WS1 in 7.62X39
A Romanian copy of the AKM, just for fun and because I wanted to have it.

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[timmy]

Arninger, that's a very nice collection there! Thanks for sharing? BTW, do you reload?

[Woods]

Arminger that's impressive .

Recently I was going through firearm laws of some countries like New Zealand , UK , Canada and Germany . Seems New Zealand and Germany are the countries where even after owning the gun on licence you need avalid reason to carry them with you . Also , when taking any gun with you from a place to another like from your house to gun range or a hunting spot , the guns must not be loaded , the magazine and cartridges must be kept in separate box from the gun . Germany also bans pepper spray or knives in a vehicle ie there have been instances where a person was harassed and given way to court for it besides confiscation of these items .

Please do contact KSRA and update on what you find . Maybe they do not have quota limitations for the shooter when the cartridges are being used exclusively at their range.

[Woods]

And , by the way 10 mm handgun has not only been useful for self defence situation for against wild animals say a moose but it has successfully been used in hunting itself

[Arninger]

Hey.

Used to reload when I was permanently staying in Germany. But since I have been moving countries of the last years quite often, I got rid off half of my guns as well as all my reloading equipment.
At the moment I am just buying ammo.
You can good deals here, like 1000 9x19 for the equivalent of 16k rupees.

Yes, for transportat guns need to be unloaded, and in a locked case. A gun bag with a pad lock for example.
It is not to prevent theft but the owner from accessing it.

Pepper spray is legal in Germany though.
Knifes are regulated. You are allowed to carry knifes with a fixed blade up to 12 cm. Folding knifes that can be opened with one hand can't be carried in public.

Hunting with handguns is banned in Germany.
It is regulated which minimal caliber and energy you need for different game.
For example any deer or wild boar a minimum of 6.5mm and an E100 of 2000 Joule. (.308 is just above that, but on the weaker side of hunting cartridges in Germany)

[Woods]

Do visit KSRA and update

[Pran]

Hello Arninger,
There's just one firearm range in Bangalore, which is the KSRA and its currently closed owing to the pandemic situation. There are several indoor airgun ranges though.
The process of getting a firearm licence is quite cumbersome in India. The prices of good guns are exorbitant too. If you're still interested in getting a licence, you will be able to get a copy of the arms licence application in the office of the Commissioner of Police at Infantry road.
You're welcome to join me and @Kanwar76 for a cold one when you're in Bangalore.
Regards