I haven't been active in shooting smokeless powder firearms since we moved to the big island just over 4 years ago. I sold most of my guns before the move, just bringing a few favorites.  I did take them in and register them with the Hilo Police Department as required.

    Recently I had started thinking about 1. Picking up a new 22 long rifle long gun, or 2.Picking up a bolt action rifle. I'm not really a hunter, but target shooting, and hand load development striving for best possible accuracy, are my favorite. On the mainland I used to compete, and enjoyed that a lot.

    Anyway, yesterday, I stopped at a gun store in Hilo. Seems I had mistakenly thought that, if buying a rifle, one didn't have to have a "permit". My mistake, and the gun store counterman straightened me out.

    I asked him if they had ANY .22 long rifle ammo in stock, and he said no, they had zero in stock. I asked him, if I wanted to order, say a brick of a certain .22 long rifle, could they order for me, and he said no.  Well, doesn't sound like buying a 22 long rifle would be a smart move, since, I would then have to search out a wide array of different ammo to run through that gun in order to select the best one or two loads, and then would want to buy a good supply of that ammo.

    Now, I had heard that 22 ammo was hard to get. Is this the situation others are dealing with also? I did pick up 100 rounds of CCI Standard Velocity from the Tokunaga Store in Hilo, but that day I didn't ask about what they had in stock. I looked into ordering ammo from places like Midway Arms, but found they will not ship ammo, powder and such any way other than ground.

    Are others finding getting the .22 long rifle ammo you want impossible?

    So, I thought about getting a centerfire bolt action rifle. The problem there is, a place to shoot it. Seems there are no 100 yard (and longer) gun ranges here, and one is forced to go elsewhere. I asked a young man that goes to my gym about thie, and he said drive up puainako (Saddle Road) to mile marker 16. He said I'd better have a hunting license too. Any big island shooters that go there? Is there around 100 yards of space? I could make a portatable target stand, and some kind of shooting bench, or get a bi-pod. But, if a person goes there, they would have to make sure the gun is a legal caliber for whatever hunting season it is. As in, not a .22 long rifle. So, a .22 long rifle, I guess, would have to be shot indoors at White Shark Arms (only 25 meters I believe), but a centerfire should be okay at this place at mile marker 16.

    You Oahu guys are lucky, as I'm sure you have at least one gun range. When I was competing in Washington State near Seattle, there were literally gun ranges all over, and I went to most of them.

    I have been able to stay active shooting air guns on my acre in HPP, and a decent air gun can be very accurate at 10 yards to even 25 yards, and, in some cases, even 50 yards.

   

   

Tried jhara?

Lots of mainland people are moving into the big Island, some are actually from America and not California, NY,etc......

Lobby more of them to your local State Rep and try to change the local ordinances to shoot on private land.

  We are going right by J. Hara's today. Think I'll stop in there and check.

    Imagine hunters going out hunting with high powered rifles that may have been bore sighted, but never fired because there is no place to legally go shoot them. The rifle might be shooting 2 feet left at 100 yards. Doesn't sound very safe to me. And, taking a .308, or 30-06 to an indoor range to shoot at 25 yards seems like taking a bazooka to a carnival to pop balloons. I hear there used to be a range in Kurtistown, but it closed.

  We are going right by J. Hara's today. Think I'll stop in there and check.

    Imagine hunters going out hunting with high powered rifles that may have been bore sighted, but never fired because there is no place to legally go shoot them. The rifle might be shooting 2 feet left at 100 yards. Doesn't sound very safe to me. And, taking a .308, or 30-06 to an indoor range to shoot at 25 yards seems like taking a bazooka to a carnival to pop balloons. I hear there used to be a range in Kurtistown, but it closed.

I never took the hunter's ed course, but I think I remember someone saying you can sight in a hunting rifle on property that is legal to hunt on if you have your permits or permission to hunt if needed.  Something like that.

   I'm hearing some of that also, mauidog. If this is so, then there is one problem related to that. Let's say I have rifle in .22 long rifle, and I take it to a spot that is safe, and a legal hunting area. I'm merrily testing different ammo for accuracy and sighting in my new rifle. Here comes a person from the Hawaii game commission. They ask to see my hunting license, which I show them. He then looks at my gun and sees it is a 22 long rifle. He could then write a ticket for hunting game with a rifle that is way under powered for such game. I could explain that I am not there to hunt, but just to sight in my new gun. He could just say too bad and issue the ticket, or fine, or whatever. Someone warned me about this scenario. If I had been shooting, say, a .308, he would be happy as it meets the muzzle energy requirement.

    Now, in this situation, I suppose it might be up to the game official's concience, but, it could be a problem.

    By the way, I did stop in at the J. Hara Store, and they had a bit of a selection of .22 long rifle ammo, so I bought $42.00 worth for now. I asked the gent there if they had ever run out, and he said almost. So, somebody there is putting out a real effort to have some of this ammo in stock, and in some variety, which impressed me. I'll check a few other places when I'm in Hilo.

There is a private club / range about another 10 min drive past J Hara up Highway 11 towards Glenwood.  They used to accept memberships provided you meet their guidelines for membership.  Not sure about the membership status currently but the range is still active.  There was a member on this site who is a member of that club / range, maybe do a search.

   Will do...

   Thanks for the tip. I read through the thread, and it ends, I think, in 2013. I did fire off an email. It would be great if this gun range is still operating!! Shooting (other than air guns) is a big part of my life that I had put on hold after we moved here 4 years ago. I'll mention here what happens from my email.

   I'm hearing some of that also, mauidog. If this is so, then there is one problem related to that. Let's say I have rifle in .22 long rifle, and I take it to a spot that is safe, and a legal hunting area. I'm merrily testing different ammo for accuracy and sighting in my new rifle. Here comes a person from the Hawaii game commission. They ask to see my hunting license, which I show them. He then looks at my gun and sees it is a 22 long rifle. He could then write a ticket for hunting game with a rifle that is way under powered for such game. I could explain that I am not there to hunt, but just to sight in my new gun. He could just say too bad and issue the ticket, or fine, or whatever. Someone warned me about this scenario. If I had been shooting, say, a .308, he would be happy as it meets the muzzle energy requirement.

    Now, in this situation, I suppose it might be up to the game official's concience, but, it could be a problem.

    By the way, I did stop in at the J. Hara Store, and they had a bit of a selection of .22 long rifle ammo, so I bought $42.00 worth for now. I asked the gent there if they had ever run out, and he said almost. So, somebody there is putting out a real effort to have some of this ammo in stock, and in some variety, which impressed me. I'll check a few other places when I'm in Hilo.

I don't know.  Maybe take a hunting caliber firearm too?  If asked, say that;s the hunting rifle.  You picked up the .22 by mistake, and since you were sighting in rifles ...

There may be additional opportunities in the near future for the Big Island, particularlity for the Hilo, Puna and Ka'u people.  Shoot me a PM if you would like and that will help me remember to update you. 

Delete post.

  Well, got a robot generated reply to my email about the gun range.

"GRA's focus has always been and continues to be range safety and security and also to provide a safe venue for GRA members to enjoy shooting. That being said effective Monday 3/17, GRA will no longer be accepting applications for new membership unless the applicant can provide document-able proof of safe firearm handling experience. 

The acceptable proof of safe firearm handling experience will be recent USPSA/IDPA etc competition provided we can document your participation, recent document-able participation in recognized national shooting organizations or if you are an experienced firearm instructors with accreditation from recognized organizations.  Approvals would be pending GRA board's review and approval.

Complete and properly submitted applications for new membership postmarked 3/17 and earlier will be considered for membership. Incomplete applications postmarked 3/17 or earlier will be rejected or returned.  All application from new members postmarked after 3/17 will be rejected and returned provided you included the required SASE.

To maintain a high level of range safety and security, the GRA board has decided on this closure while we review our new member requirements.  Once the new policy is determined and finalized, we may resume acceptance of applications.

Until further notice; GRA will continue to accept renewals from past members that meet our current firearm safety training requirements. For renewals, be sure to write name/address on your envelope so that we can differentiate your renewal from a new application.

Please do not ask for an exception as this decision was unanimous and is final.

Please understand that range safety and the security of our range for our current members is GRA's priority.  Growth of our membership is secondary.

Please do not use this email address for communicating with the GRA.  This email address is used for distribution of application info only.  The only reply you will receive from this email address is this auto-reply message as we do not check this inbox for messages.  Updates to our new member policy will be posted here once we determine an acceptable policy for new members.

Thanks and please always use safe firearm handling practices, Gaine"

     Guess that settles that. Someone must have really abused the range, or the owner was worried about liability??  Guess my only option is White Shark Arms, with an indootr 25 meter range, or getting a hunting license, crossing my fingers, and driving to Saddle Road mile marker 16.

   

I'm in the same boat as you birdmove.  BTW, I remember your name from the GTA (airgun) forums. We chatted a bit on a couple threads there... I'm also in HPP, so, like you,  I only get to shoot (airgun) on my 1 acre property.
I'm also really wishing to find an outdoor range for some longer distance shooting. White Shark Arms is awesome, but 25 meters is too limiting. It's the main reason I haven't bought a riflle yet.
Aloha! 

  Yep! I'm still alive and kicking Hanabata!  Stopped in at Tokunaga's Store in Hilo yesterday, and talked to the guy at the firearms counter. He basically reinforced what everyone else is telling me. Either go shoot at the 25 meter indoor range at White Shark, or 1.take the hunter's safety course in Hilo (I went through this in Washington State when I was 14). 2. Get a hunting license. 3.Take a rifle that meets the minimum muzzle velocity requirements of whatever game is in season. 4.Drive to the spot that is legal to hunt at and safe to target shoot at. 5.Take some empty garbage bag and pick up trash and leave the spot in better state than it was when you went there.  And, oh yeah, apply for a permit to buy a new rifle. Wait the two weeks and buy it.

    Shooting a 22 rifle at 25 yards/meters is all right for sighting in a new gun. But, I consider a 22 rifle to be a 50 yard shooter. Some can reach out with accuracy to 75 even 100 yards. But, the muzzle energy of a 22 lr is so low that, I could not take it to the hunting spot, as the DNLR officer could write me up for "hunting" with a gun with too low power for the game. Even though I am NOT hunting, he could do that.

   Well, we moved here as my daughter needed help, and had moved here years before. I knew firearms owners here are not going to have it easy.

1.take the hunter's safety course in Hilo (I went through this in Washington State when I was 14). 2. Get a hunting license.

check with the DLNR, you may be able to show them your proof of out of state hunting license and get a HI one

check with the DLNR, you may be able to show them your proof of out of state hunting license and get a HI one

    Thanks, macsak. But, it's been so long ago I have no proof.

Right on Birdmove... thanks for the confirmation. That's kind of what I been hearing too. Just target practice in mentioned safe areas in hunting locations (with hunting appropriate caliber and energy).
I have my Hunter's Ed. I guess I should get my license already.
PS; hope your daughter is ok!

  I think you even will have to wear an orange vest. All the stuff you have to do to be a legal hunter.

   And, the daughter is doing ok. She now runs a small day care and is licensed etc and legal. She worked her way through it, and is not on welfare or anything like that.