Lucky find

[Ohsheepdog]

Lol...it's a Star Trek reference...although any anti 2nd Amendment state or locale would apply! ;-)

Sent from somewhere between the Ohio territory and the forbidden zone.

 

[Green Frog]

Wow Almarz, you've really stirred up a lot of interest here. It sounds to me like you have a pretty good range of shooting options there in Norway. Then again, the Norwegians have always been a pretty free-thinking group, haven't you? That field course you describe sounds like a lot of fun... I don't know of a similar handgun course here, but it sounds a lot like what we call "field archery" for our brethren with the bows and arrows. Are there very many such courses that you can go to? Are there many shooting clubs? Here in the US shooting clubs vary greatly in size, number of members, and facilities. I'm lucky enough to belong to a 400 member club that owns about 375 acres (150 hectares) or so of land. We have traditionally been more of a shotgun sports club (skeet, trap, sporting clays, 5-stand and FITASC) but we built a 300 yard/meter rifle range a few years ago and plan to build a 50 yard/meter pistol range soon. Unfortunately, there is no indoor range nor plans to build one. We have a membership cap that is now close to full and some clubs are so popular you have to wait for someone to get old and die or move away to get a spot... other clubs are quite easy to join. What is it like there to become a shooting club member? I hope I'm not pestering you too much, but it's really great to hear from someone in Europe who shoots and has the ability to own and use firearms without too much red tape.

Regards,
Charlie, the Green Frog

PS Many of our indoor ranges are run commercially rather than club-owned. How is that done in Norway?

 

[Vulcan Bob]

Hooray for good luck, well done Sir! Enjoy that one.

 

[almarz]

Wow Almarz, you've really stirred up a lot of interest here. It sounds to me like you have a pretty good range of shooting options there in Norway. Then again, the Norwegians have always been a pretty free-thinking group, haven't you? That field course you describe sounds like a lot of fun... I don't know of a similar handgun course here, but it sounds a lot like what we call "field archery" for our brethren with the bows and arrows. Are there very many such courses that you can go to? Are there many shooting clubs? Here in the US shooting clubs vary greatly in size, number of members, and facilities. I'm lucky enough to belong to a 400 member club that owns about 375 acres (150 hectares) or so of land. We have traditionally been more of a shotgun sports club (skeet, trap, sporting clays, 5-stand and FITASC) but we built a 300 yard/meter rifle range a few years ago and plan to build a 50 yard/meter pistol range soon. Unfortunately, there is no indoor range nor plans to build one. We have a membership cap that is now close to full and some clubs are so popular you have to wait for someone to get old and die or move away to get a spot... other clubs are quite easy to join. What is it like there to become a shooting club member? I hope I'm not pestering you too much, but it's really great to hear from someone in Europe who shoots and has the ability to own and use firearms without too much red tape.

Regards,
Charlie, the Green Frog

PS Many of our indoor ranges are run commercially rather than club-owned. How is that done in Norway?

There are very few commercial ranges in Norway. Almost all of them are owned by clubs. There are a few commercial ranges in Oslo, but apart from them.... It's relatively easy to become a member of a club, as long as you've got a clean sheet with the law. The hand gun clubs are usually checking with the police to see if you're a convicted felon before they let you in. The clubs vary in size, from 30-40 members to many hundreds. The biggest rifle shooting association the "DFS" "Det frivillige skyttervesen" Translated I guess you would call it "the volunteer shooters association" is one of the biggest with almost 150,000 members spread out around the country. It was founded as a volunteer defence organization - to help the army if we were attacked. I started as a member there when I was 14. The army subsidized the rifles and the ammo (I think they still do). There are quite a few field shooting ranges around where I live, some of them permanent, others temporary for one or a few competitions. Sadly ours is one of the temporary ones, we rig it up each time for our annual competition, but we get visitors from all of South Norway for it. But - I just have to drive 20 miles to come to a really good permanent one. There are at least one competition within easy driving range each week- end through the season, from april to november, so if you want to you can do a lot of shooting. In the town I live we have two handgun ranges, one rifle range, one shotgun range and a "miniature rifle" range (You know the .22 rifles with straps, horns, balls and all the other stuff to help you keep it steady - Olympic class as far as I remember.)

Regards Terje ( Almarz)

 

[Ohsheepdog]

Fascinating, Terje! I love the concept of the volunteers being subsidized by the Army! It sounds similar to our pure form of the militia.
On a somewhat related topic, one of my favorite movies is Max Manus. I've read about him since seeing it & it seemed pretty accurate for a movie...

Sent from somewhere between the Ohio territory and the forbidden zone.