Thread: Moving to NZ

Hi All,

I have a random question.

If you were moving to New Zealand from scratch and had no ties but wanted to be within spitting distance to a good selection of clubs or a club that was considered one of the best for IPSC/3 gun, where in NZ would that be?

Gun clubs probably aren't top of the list for most when deciding where to live but I did wander whether some areas of NZ (North or South) offered more than others.

Thanks,

Grizzly

Christchurch would be a fairly good spot... Correct me if I'm wrong.... Relatively easy access to some amazing hunting ground as well

Rotorua?

Rotorua Pistol Club|IPSC|Steel Challenge|Service Match|Multigun

Don't know about clubs, but I've always found that generally the further south you go in nz the better the people.
I'm 2/3 the way up the north island so I'm a bit of prick, but Aucklanders are worse.

Go to the Pistol NZ website and have a look through the IPSC grading list to see which clubs the most master and A grade shooters are from.
That will give a good indication of what the club itself is like.
Auckland, Christchurch and Rotorua clubs feature strongly, although many top shooters are members of more than one club.

There is a new club starting about 45 minutes north of Auckland. July opening I think, but unless you have already got a B endorsement you will be waiting a while before being able to join behind the 600 people already on the waiting list. Google Auckland Shooting Club.

Originally Posted by SlowElliot

Don't know about clubs, but I've always found that generally the further south you go in nz the better the people.
I'm 2/3 the way up the north island so I'm a bit of prick, but Aucklanders are worse.

That's because the further south you go the less people there are. Probably still the same %age of pricks but of course less of them

I am very close to my local club (pistol with rifle section) and I have built up my interests (and investments on firearms) around what I can do on that range. Don't know what I would do if forced to move to a less appropriate location.

In some ways depends what spitting distance means to you.
Some places think nothing of driving a few hours, where I moan if its more than 20mins driving.
Hamilton had very little in the way of rifle ranges, but within an hour or hour and a half you can get to Auckland, Rotorua, Tokoroa, Otorahanga and Tauranga.

But Rotorua or Christchurch would be my choice.

There's a very active 3-gun club, based at Gladstone in the Wairarapa (1 1/2 hours NE of Wellington, on State Highway 2).
They've just run a very successful National competition for Cowboy Action shooting.
If I could be bothered with the current 'nonsense' with Police HQ changing interpretations of the Arms Act and Regs, I'd get started as a social shooter.
Due to the Police behaviour, this Club has stopped Police training at this range, which they have enforced.
Good luck to them, this will put them right in the 'firing line' for further Police 'investigation' - my theory, as yet unproven.
I believe they shoot on a regular basis - you'd best look up their website for more detail.
Cheers.

Originally Posted by Beetroot

In some ways depends what spitting distance means to you.
Some places think nothing of driving a few hours, where I moan if its more than 20mins driving.......

I'd moan if it was more than the 5 minutes to get to the Tokoroa shooting complex, but I don't because it's only 2 minutes away.

Whanganui also has a very active pistol club with some very good IPSC shooters and competitions being regularly held.

WPC Home

Rotorua is also another good choice.

Rotorua Pistol Club|IPSC|Steel Challenge|Service Match|Multigun

These would be my top picks if your considering living in the North Island.

Cheers
Pete

Christchurch / Ashburton has its fair share of GM, M and A grade shooters with 20 - 30 people shooting IPSC every Sunday. Good access to the South Island hunting spots. Like Pete said rotorua or Wanganui would be the picks in the north island until the new Auckland club gets up and running

Christchurch, providing you dont mind the occasional earthquake.
Auckland is bloody expensive and you will spend allot of time in traffic though theres plenty of job opportunities there. all depends on your profession of course

Hamilton Pistol Club?

Huh... well I guess purely by accident I'm in luck. So LarGrizzly - where're you from and where're you headed?

Thanks all for the suggestions. By the sounds of it Rotorua wouldn't be a bad choice for the North

cancross - I'm from the UK but have Australian residency so looking make the move to Sydney at the end of the year. Not sure how long I'll be able to hack it there as I'm almost done with city life, prefer the countryside and love to shoot so have a feeling I'll be heading to NZ once I get citizenship : )