New to Austria

[phillc]

Thank you everybody!

I have been made to feel very welcome here. All the information provided has been very helpful and the gun laws in Austria do appear to be remarkably liberal.

I look forward to meeting some of you soon perhaps and enjoying at least some range shooting in the near future.

sqme: Will the All Blacks choke just in time for RWC 2015?

[fritzthemoose]

Thank you everybody!

I have been made to feel very welcome here. All the information provided has been very helpful and the gun laws in Austria do appear to be remarkably liberal.

I look forward to meeting some of you soon perhaps and enjoying at least some range shooting in the near future.

sqme: Will the All Blacks choke just in time for RWC 2015?

wrong country for that phill and sorry to say but whatever the all blacks will do it will be more than the wallabies

but happy to watch the next ashes with you as long as we can settle on cz beer lol

[sqme]

Fritzthemoose: Well played sir.

[>Michael<]

Welcome!

and the gun laws in Austria do appear to be remarkably liberal.

Compared to GB any gun law seems remarkably liberal.

[birdofprey]

Hello phillc!

A very warm welcome to Austria and our little"gun-smoke"-forum here!
Please feel free to bring up all the questions related to your hunting and sports-shooting intentions and do not hesitate to address us in English!

Anyway, congratulations on your impressive deer stalking success in the Highlands!
Or as we would put it in German: "Weidmanns Heil!"

For the reason of being from Tirol (Western Austria) I'm sorry I can't be much of help concerning support in the region of Graz.
But I'm sure you will find someone else amongst our members here.

In regard to your ambitions to go hunting in Austria I suggest you better finish your training in the U.K. and check if that is valid to work as a hunting licence in Austria rather than doing the full training here. If your qualification fits the requirements you might even apply for an Austrian "Jagdkarte"(hunting licence) without doing the training but that is something you will have to check with the guys from the Styrian hunting-federation: http://www.jagd-stmk.at/ueber-uns/die-s ... gerschaft/

If you simply want to get a rifle and go shooting at a range (preparing yourself for the practical test in the U.K.) just hit a local gun shop and find out what you would like to buy. If the rifle is available in the shop and does not have to be ordered it takes a minimum of three days before you are allowed to take the gun home. The rifle must be registered which is a service the gunsmith will do for you.
(Have you thought of what rifle you would like to get yet? If not you can get some excellent advice from the forks here and they can also help you to find a good dealer/gunsmith in Graz/Styria)

As for the requirements to own and keep a rifle in your house: The authorities will not visit you to check if you have a gun-safe or closet as long as you own hunting rifles -Category C and D- only (and do not do anything irresponsible or silly (like scaring off your neighbours…)
As a rule of thumb: You are fully responsible that nobody has access to your guns, ammunition etc. that is not allowed to have a gun himself. That is especially relevant for children and people under the age of 18, or people that have lost the right to have firearms by having done something irresponsible or illegal, ... Furthermore you must not carry around your guns unless it is for the purpose of going to the range or the gunsmith's and you also must not leave them in your car or somewhere unattended...
So it is best if you keep them in a lockable closet or better gun-safe that will guarantee that you have taken care of your legal obligation to keep your guns out of reach from not qualified people. (Visitors, craftsmen working in your house,...)
Firearms are divided in 4 categories:
Category A: full-auto-rifles, war material etc. (generally not allowed)
Category B: pistols, revolvers, semi-auto-rifles and semi-auto-shotguns (you need a special licence called "Waffenbesitzkarte" to get these firearms)
Category C: hunting rifles with rifled barrels like bolt-action rifles, combined rifles with a minimum of one rifled barrel,...
Category D: shotguns with smoothbore barrels like classical side by side or over&under double-shotguns,...

If you want to bring your rifle to an other European country you will have to get a European Firearms Pass and register the rifle you want to take with you in that document. You might still have to get an official invitation for hunting or a sports-shooting contest to be allowed to bring that rifle with you. The regulations and requirements differ between countries.

Hope this is of help to you.
All the best!
birdofprey

[Warnschuss]

@ phillc: Welcome to Austria and to this forum!

Firearms are divided in 4 categories:
Category A: full-auto-rifles, war material etc. (generally not allowed)
Category B: pistols, revolvers, semi-auto-rifles and semi-auto-shotguns (you need a special licence called "Waffenbesitzkarte" to get these firearms)
Category C: hunting rifles with fluted barrels like bolt-action rifles, combined rifles with a minimum of one fluted barrel,...
Category D: shotguns with non-fluted barrels like classical side by side or over&under double-shotguns,...

@birdofprey:

Nur, damit unser britischer Freund nicht verwirrt wird: Ich glaube, Du hast Dich bei den Begriffen vertan.

"Fluted barrel" bedeutet kannelierter Lauf. Du meintest wohl Folgendes:

gezogener Lauf = rifled barrel
glatter Lauf = smoothbore barrel

[birdofprey]

@ phillc: Welcome to Austria and to this forum!

@birdofprey:

Nur, damit unser britischer Freund nicht verwirrt wird: Ich glaube, Du hast Dich bei den Begriffen vertan.

"Fluted barrel" bedeutet kannelierter Lauf. Du meintest wohl Folgendes:

gezogener Lauf = rifled barrel
glatter Lauf = smoothbore barrel

@Warnschuss: Aha ja, danke fürs Mitdenken!
Habe ich gleich im ursprünglichen Text noch ausgebessert, damit es zu keinen Verwirrungen kommt.

[phillc]

(Have you thought of what rifle you would like to get yet?

This is a very good question and probably worthy of its own thread. I'm sure all the questions I would ask have been answered here numerous times, so probably best that I do go to a range and try a wide variety.

Currently I'm partial to .270 Win, but that probably is just because I have used it most in the past. The other rifle I've used a bit is a .308 Win, and I preferred the .270. When I was younger we used to hunt foxes with a .222 Remington, which was a beautiful rifle to shoot, but I appreciate too small for larger game.

However, I read a lot of good things about .270 WSM and even .280 AI (Nosler makes factory rounds now), but I do worry about availability of ammunition in Europe.

I appreciate the above aren't really "European" calibers, so maybe a nice 7x64 is the way forward.......

Edit: The other fact I should mention is that I am left handed. My whole life I have shot with right handed rifles. If I'm going to spend money on a nice one now, it's going to be left handed. This might limit my options a little.

[birdofprey]

@phillc:
Well if you are going for "the one" hunting rifle I'd suggest you have a closer look at the Blaser R8 Professional (Success) rifles.
It is a strait pull bolt-action rifle also available for left handed shooters and has a fully modular design. So if you want to spend some money on a quality product with superb precision that can accompany you from big game hunting in Africa, deer stalking in the Highlands to fox-hunting and participating in hunting competitions this is imho the rifle to go for. With modular I mean that you can get another barrel in a bigger/smaller calibre for about 750,-€ and use it with your system and stock. So you can basically equip the same stock and system with a .222 Rem. and a .500 Jeffery barrel and change from one calibre to the other in the space of a minute. The Blaser scope mounting system (saddle mount) is also unique and absolutely spot on even if you take off your scope for transportation and remount it just before the shot. (no re-zeroing needed)

Concerning the calibre: Well, I'd go for a .270 WSM or a .300 WSM.
The .30 calibre having the significant advantage in regard to a higher variety in bullet weights from 100gr to 225gr vs. 90gr to about 150gr for the .270 WSM.
The classical "European" calibres (with some exceptions) tend to be sidelined on the international market.

Just my 2 pennies worth …
And no, I’m not with Blaser, but I recently purchased a Blaser R8 Professional Success in .300 WSM for all the reasons listed above.

Kindest regards,
birdofprey

[phillc]

Thanks for all the help so far. I do have one follow up question:

What's the process for purchasing Category C and D firearms remotely/online? e.g. eGun

Can I buy online, and have it delivered directly to me, or must they be delivered to a local licensed firearms dealer for collection?

Also, can anyone confirm that a lever action rifle is Category C? I've just been slightly dreaming about the idea of a Winchester 94 or Marlin 336.

[gewo]

Thanks for all the help so far. I do have one follow up question:
What's the process for purchasing Category C and D firearms remotely/online? e.g. eGun
Can I buy online, and have it delivered directly to me, or must they be delivered to a local licensed firearms dealer for collection?
Also, can anyone confirm that a lever action rifle is Category C? I've just been slightly dreaming about the idea of a Winchester 94 or Marlin 336.

hi phillc

you cant buy guns or ammo or reloading powder remotly from licenced dealers within austria because it is prohibited for them to sell remotly

you can buy from abroad remotly, but you need to obtain a import permission for each gun which is about € 60,- +\- ( besides that, shipping guns from abroad can be expensive, too)

there are some dealers with are offering kinda import service, in complete thats often cheaper than importing by yourself

and yes, lever action rifles are kategory C, free to buy from 18 years on

have fun ...