How much? That’s an important question to ask, as it represents the financial commitment required to enjoy a sport. As much as we would like to say sports is for everyone, there are real costs and a price to everything. For shotgun, it is no different, as it’s a sport that has certain price barriers to entry and there are ongoing costs related to the consumables: namely ammunition & clay targets.
To help you decide if this is a sport you would like to pick up, and how much a ‘trial’ experience might cost, OhkaySports.Asia has worked with Shotgun.SG for the cost breakdown. The various cost components are listed here with the assumption that you are a total beginner, and we are excluding cost of additional ‘nice to have’ equipment like shooting vests. Prices are as accurate as we know, at the time of writing.
Before the prices, we need to know what we are paying for. So, let’s begin.
Membership Fees
Membership Fees vary between the clubs and even with different tiers within each Club. The fees structure are available on the clubs’ websites.
SAFRA has three different membership types, with the adult term membership at $161/year.
SGC provides a trial membership of $20/2 months and thereafter, an annual term membership of $1000/year.
Licence to Possess Firearms
Payable to the Police Licensing & Regulatory Department, this licence allows you to hold and use a firearm belonging to the club you are a member of, be it SAFRA or SGC.
It costs $80/year, subject to licensing requirements
Introductory & safety courses
For the introductory course and coaching fees, it is quite different between the 2 clubs.
Firstly, SAFRA has a mandatory introductory shotgun course of 3 sessions with a certified coach. This costs $200 for the course, excluding the cost of ammunition & range fees. For the three sessions, there is a recommended amount of 2 details (1 detail is 25targets & rounds of ammo) a session, which works out to be $56. Therefore, it’s $168 in total for ammunition & range fees for 3 sessions. Thus, the actual cost of SAFRA’s introductory course is $368 for 3 sessions.
SGC has a trial membership and shooting arrangement that encourages newcomers. For the first visit, the price is around $140, covering the trial term membership of 2 months, 1 detail of clay & ammo, instructor fees and gun rental. For subsequent visits within the 2 months, it costs around $160 for 2 details of clay & ammo, instructor fees and gun rental.
Which club should I choose?
The two clubs are different in their own ways, and are better suited for different shooters based on their needs. So there is no ‘better or worse’ club to join and it comes down to personal preference. In fact, you can join both clubs if you so wish to, to enjoy the best of both worlds.
We will do a post in future to address the subtle differences between the clubs, but for beginners, both clubs provide excellent platforms to start on the shotgun journey!
Accreditation Test
After completing the introductory & safety course, there is an accreditation test (A-Test) to be taken at the cost of $50, passing this test makes you an accredited shooter. This means you no longer need a designated instructor/coach to supervise you as you shoot, and you are allowed to make your own bookings to shoot through your shooting club.
So yay, we have covered all the costs for beginners! But, if you have gotten hooked to the sport of shotgun after the introductory shoots, each box of ammunition 25rounds cost $12 while range fees are at $16 per detail, and gun rental per session ranges from $10-20 depending on club/type of gun.
Personal Coaching
For those of us who have greater ambition and aspirations, we might seek out personal coaching options. As an estimation of coaching costs, it ranges from $100-$200 per session with a certified coach locally. Otherwise, there are clay target shooting instructional videos available on YouTube by Olympic medallists and also online coaching courses (by video) offered by coaches from overseas too. Shotgun.SG will also be releasing shooting related content in the coming days.
Are you ready to start shooting?
We hope this post will allow you to better budget and consider if Shotgun shooting is worth the money! If you can’t wait to start shooting, check out our “how-to” guide on getting started.
As usual, for more questions relating to shooting shotgun, please DM directly to @shotgun.sg
OhkaySports.Asia 