For all you ammosexuals, gun enthusiasts and Call of Duty fanatics Marconi Clay Target Club should be at the top of your bucket list. While its name may come off as a ‘70s mafia den smuggling contraband, this is the best shooting range Sydney has to offer. For over 50 years the club has dedicated itself to supplying Sydney with its clay target shooting services and friendly charm. So whether you’re going solo, as a group or for a corporate function, their services and facility are what make them the best in Sydney.

Silverdale Rifle Range is owned and operated by SSAA Sydney Branch — which has four ranges on this list under its umbrella — and is one of the finest shooting ranges in Australia. The club provides many firearms when target shooting; pistols, shotguns, rimfire flys, silhouettes, and single-action shots. Their range is quite extensive and all shooting areas are sound baffled and undercover. There’s also a concession area in their air-conditioned clubhouse, where they purvey ammunition for members at the range. And interestingly, they offer a deer butchering & caping course for hunters.

If you’re itching for Sydney’s finest indoor shooting range, which’s tailored to handgun and pistol firearms, then the Auburn Shooting Academy is your best bet. Boasting an indoor archery range, 3 indoor ranges of 19 lane pistol lanes spanning 25-metre in length range with electronically-controlled targets, it’s safe to say this facility brings it hard. And if you’re not in the mood to shoot at a target, then help yourself to recline in their members’ lounge while watching TV or members in action. The Academy also hosts ‘Try-Shoot days’ for unlicensed participants to help them try their hand at this extreme sport.

For over 50 years, the St Ives Pistol Club has hosted the likes of the Olympic shooting disciplines, IPSC (International Practical Shooting Confederation) & Service Pistol Matches. The club offers a comprehensive range of competitions that allow shooters of differing abilities to compete. And with its vast club membership and highly experienced staff, new members will be harnessed to become skilful shooters poised for competition. Their members also complete at a state, national and international level. So if you’re leaning towards joining a top-tier gun club for the competitive edge, look no further than this club.

The Hornsby Rifle Range is a sublime function not just for target shooting; it’s a place where you can make mates of similar tastes, where there’s a sausage sizzle fest every competition and be immersed in its leafy environment and not some dungeon of an indoor shooting range. Boasting four targets ranging from 300-800m, and benchrest at 50m on the 100m range, and benchrest and field positions at 100m, 200m or 300m. The facility allows members to compete in three different target shooting disciplines: Target Rifle, F-Class and F-Class Open.

Built for the shooting events at the 2000 Summer Olympics, the Sydney International Shooting Centre is a state-of-the-art venue that offers top-notch shooting events and other activities on their 80 hectares of semi-rural bushland. So, if you’re a licensed firearm holder, you can use the centre’s 10-metre, 25-metre and 50-metre shooting ranges. Ad if you’d like to try your hand at shooting, but don’t have a firearms licence, give their Try Shooting Program a go. The venue also offers a range of sporting and commercial events.

St Marys Indoor Shooting Centre is another supreme spot on our list. Home to a large and well-stocked firearms dealership, that stocks products from leading gun manufacturers and features electronically controlled target carriers that can be set at distances from 7m-50m, suitable for centrefire, rimfire and pistol shooting — what more can an indoor shooting range have? St Marys also offers firearm storage facilities for members, stocks a wide range of ammunition and sells a gamut of knives, scopes, clothing, accessories as well as firearm safes.

For over 25 years, Condell Park Indoor Firearms Range has been one of the leading firearms dealerships and indoor firearm ranges in Sydney. It’s provided licenced shooters and club members a safe and top vicinity to test the talent of their trigger finger with a 9mm pistol, .460 Magnum, 44 Magnum revolver or shotgun in their 25-meter indoor shooting facility. It provides licenced shooters and club members a chance to try out their top gun range; 44 magnum rifle, Desert Eagle and 357 Revolver. The range additionally sells ammunition, apparel, accessories and firearms.

Based at the Hill Top Rifle Range 1 hours’ drive southwest of Sydney is a club that’s shooting ranges span from 20 metres to 800 metres and boasts a multitude of disciplines including rimfire, F class and target rifle, and shooting activities tailored to beginners and adept shooters. The Southern Highlands Rifle Club impressive 800m range allows for long-range shooting at distances and hosts events for rifle calibres ranging from air rifle through to 8mm centrefire rifles. Of late, the facility has introduced a new 500m & 50m range that will enhance the echelon on thrill for members and licenced visitors.

The Sydney Clay Target Club, originally the Sydney Gun Club, has been reeling in ammoheads since the ‘30s with its stately shooting grounds. Since its heyday, the club has hosted competitions with lofty prizes as well as splendid occasions for corporate functions, hens & bucks parties, birthdays and even religious celebration. This Sydney favourite has been steadfast in bringing joy to shooting target practice with a competitive edge. Under the wing of their adept and easy-going staff, you’ll experience the exhilaration that no other sport brings.

When in Greystanes, you’ll discern some indiscreet building known as the Holroyd Rifle Range and Pigeon Club, one of West Sydney’s best keep secret. Part of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA), this range club offers .22 rimfire rifles from a bench rest up to a range of 50 metres with standard velocity ammunition only. And every Sunday night is the International Rimfire Benchrest competition. Casual shooters are welcome to try their shooting and Safety Awareness testing for longarm firearms (categories A & B) are additionally conducted at the club.

Another one the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (SSAA), which has four ranges on this list under its umbrella, is the ANZAC Rifle Range. It’s also the headquarters of the New South Wales Rifle Association and hosts the many shooting comps. Apparently, this facility is like Area 51. It’s highly secure, has a clandestine feel to reeks of a government intelligence agency. Anyhoo, you can expect plenty of .22 rifles, rimfire rifles and centrefire rifles of up to 8mm at this range. It also has an ammunition shop where members and those licenced can pick and choose ammunition and shooting gear.

The oldest club yet most beloved clubs on this list. New South Wales Gun Club is the OG of clay target shooting and features a gamut of services and professional shooting practices such as coaching and licencing of firearms. They offer sporting clays, trap shooting, skeet and ISSF Olympic Trap. Its outdoor range layouts are top-tier and its grass grounds are kempt enough for golf or a lawn bowl sess. So if carry a firearm license, enjoy social interactions with all the easy-going members at a stately facility, then this NSW Gun Club awaits.

The legal age for an individual to get a firearm license in NSW is 18. But apparently, anyone who’s 12 years of age or older (under the age of 18) is permitted to use firearms at a shooting range. They just need to meet the NSW Police requirement via completing the P650 declaration form (for unlicensed shooters) and:

To be entitled to a firearms licence, you gotta:

Apparently, there are several things you need to get a permit for a firearms license: