INFORMATION ON PISTOLS

This section contains information on pistols and handguns in Victoria, Australia.

Information ranging from requirements on obtaining a handgun, learning how to shoot, first time shooting at a pistol club, obtaining licenses, joining a pistol club and maintaining requirements from Victoria Police to continue to maintain a handgun can be found here.

Find out if pistol shooting is for you!

Come down, try it out. In Victoria you are allowed to try handgun and pistol shooting up to 13 times. So give us a call, and come down and try. No need for a firearms license. We have club guns available to try out.

Book your first shoot!

Enjoying it? Let's knock out 4 NORI Shoots with us.

Let’s try this a few more times. Before applying for membership with us, we’d like you to come out and try shooting for about 4 times. This helps you make sure this is something you want to do, and it lets us get to know you!

You can continue to book your NORI shoots here, or you can fill out the form at the club.

Club Membership

The next step is joining the club. A requirement in Victoria to maintain a handgun or pistol requires one to be a member of a pistol shooting club. To maintain a handgun or pistol and its associated license, you are required to complete a number of shoots per year.

Apply for membership

Handgun Safety Course...

Now onto the requirements. In order to obtain a firearms license, one must complete a safety course. Pistol clubs are authorised in the state of Victoria to conduct handgun safety courses that are recognised by law enforcement for the purpose of obtaining a handgun. We offer both pistol/handgun and long arms safety courses.

Safety courses are normally run each month, or every other month. We publish dates of upcoming Handgun Safety Courses on the front page, or you can keep an eye on PractiScore to see when the next available one is.

Apply for your provisional handgun license

You’ve done the safety course, you’ve joined the club, now is the time to apply for your provisional license. We can help guide you through this process and help with the forms that you file with the Licensing and Regulation Division of Victoria Police.

Applications for provisional and full category H handgun licenses can be found here:

Victoria Police Firearms License

Complete 5 competition shoots

Once you have your provisional license, LRD (Licensing and Regulation Division) requires those seeking a full Category H (Handgun License) to complete 5 competition shoots at your nominated Pistol Club.

Be a member for 5 months and try different shooting disciplines

Once you have your provisional license, now is the best time to try out different shooting disciplines. Don’t look past trying out IPSC, which is a practical shooting fast paced environment where you are running around shooting at targets on the move, or Cowboy Action, where you replicate the days of the old Wild West! This is your time to have fun!

Full License application

You’ve done the hard slogs, and by now you’re probably shooting fairly well and found the various disciplines you are interested in shooting. It’s now time to apply for your full Category H General Handgun License. This application also requires club endorsement and we will help you through this process.

Applications for provisional and full category H handgun licenses can be found here:

Victoria Police Firearms License

Acquire your first handgun!

You can now go shopping and acquire your first handgun! This process requires you to submit a PTA (Permit to Acquire) to LRD that has been endorsed and signed off by the club. There is a mandatory 28 day waiting period for your first handgun by LRD. You are also restricted to 1 centre-fire handgun for the next 6 months before you can acquire more.

I’m not one to make recommendations – by now, you know what you want!

Maintain your license - information on pistols

From here it’s smooth sailing. You need to maintain a certain number of competition shoots throughout the year. This is dependent upon how many handguns you have.