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What does sport shooting cost? The real budget of a first year

Published on · 39 min read · Anthony Baillon

A first year of sport shooting costs from €334 to €1,675. The heaviest item is not the firearm, which cannot be bought before four months of practice, but the club: from €135 to €450 the first year, licence included. The federal amounts are official, the others are cross-checked ranges surveyed on 30 July 2026.

€334 – 1,675 the budget of a first year
€69 the federal share of an adult licence
€185 median subscription, licence included
First-year sport shooting budget item by item: from €334 at the low end to €1,675 at the high end, the firearm and the safe staying at zero because no Category B firearm can be acquired before four months of controlled sessions.
Two columns of figures, and a third that says where they come from. That third one is what separates a survey from an estimate. © Oplo

What sport shooting costs: the answer in figures

Two scenarios bound the answer. A shooter who joins the cheapest club in our survey, shoots twelve times in the year in .22 LR with a borrowed firearm and buys entry-level protection spends €334. A shooter who joins the dearest club, shoots thirty times in 9mm, hires a firearm by the year and equips themselves with electronic muffs spends €1,675. A factor of five, for the same discipline.

Those two bounds are not impressions. They read item by item, and each item rests on a different level of proof — that is the first thing to state, because most published budgets mix the three without saying so.

  • The federal amounts are official and dated. The FFTir publishes €69 for an adult licence, €49 for a young shooter, €85 of annual subscription for an affiliated association13.
  • The club subscriptions are a survey, not an average. Eight clubs publish a schedule stating the federal licence is included: we read them one by one, on a comparable basis.
  • The equipment prices are dealer ranges, surveyed on 30 July 2026 across several independent retailers, never a single price.

The volume assumptions — number of sessions, rounds per session, caliber — appear in each figure's subtitle. They are not surveyed facts: no official or federal source publishes an average ammunition consumption per session. Stating them lets the reader redo the calculation with their own.

Year 1 cannot contain a firearm, and therefore no safe. That is not a presentation choice, it is a consequence of the legal calendar. The arrêté of 28 April 2020 requires, for a first application, "the shooter's participation, during the twelve months preceding the application, in three controlled shooting practice sessions, at least two months apart"6.

So four months of practice at minimum, to which prefectural processing of up to three months is added7. We set out that calendar in our guide to the three controlled sessions.

The budget of a first year, as a range

Here is the detail of the two bounds, item by item. The joining fee is deliberately kept separate: three of the clubs in our survey charge none, and it is paid once.

Item Low High What it rests on
Club, federal licence included €135 €450 8 schedules published online
Medical certificate €30 €30 Sector 1 agreed fee
Protection: muffs and glasses €37 €165 2 dealers
Firearm loan or hire €0 €100 5 club schedules
Ammunition €120 €900 6 dealers, volume assumption
Targets and consumables €12 €30 Range prices
Firearm €0 €0 Impossible before 4 months
Safe €0 €0 Without a Category B firearm, not applicable
Total €334 €1,675
Joining fee, kept apart €0 €150 6 schedules, paid once

The dominant item at the low end is the club: €135 out of €334, so 40%. At the high end it is ammunition that dominates, with €900 out of €1,675 — 54%. In other words, it is not the same items that drive the budget depending on how often you shoot, and an "average" budget hides that shift.

FFTir licence price: €69 is not the total

This is the figure most often wrong online, in both directions. The FFTir published on 30 June 2025 the amounts for the 2025/2026 season: "adult: €69.00", "Young: €49.00"13. Its registration page repeats the same amounts14. One club and two leagues copy them identically182031.

But those €69 are a federal amount, not an invoice. The licence is sold by the club, and the club adds its regional league's share and its county committee's.

The "licence" line billed to an adult member, region by region

What the shooter pays under the heading "licence", federal share included; seven leagues or clubs that publish a breakdown, 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 seasons

FFTir federal shareCôte d'Argent (40)Cible Dévilloise (76)Vercellois (25)Société de Tir du Mans (72)Nord-Pas-de-Calais leagueJeanne d'Arc (75)Réunion leagueAdult federal share — €69.00, FFTir, 2025/2026 and 2026/2027 seasonsTir Sportif Côte d'Argent — €77, so €8 above the federal shareLa Cible Dévilloise — €88, so 65% of the €135 adult rateTir Sportif Vercellois — FFT licence €89, 2026/2027 scheduleSociété de Tir du Mans — "Licence, F.F.T., league, county" line €90Nord-Pas-de-Calais league — €93 in the Pas-de-Calais, €95 in the NordClub de Tir Jeanne d'Arc, Paris 13th — licence €110, insurance includedLigue Régionale de Tir de La Réunion — adult licence €14469 €77 €88 €89 €90 €93 €110 €144 €0 €37.5 €75 €112.5 €150 €

The €69 is a federal amount, published by the FFTir13 and carried over for 2026/2027141820. The league and county surcharge runs from €8 to €75, median €21 across these seven surveys. Beware the labels: Tir Sportif Côte d'Argent calls its €77 the "federal share", when it already contains the league30; the Société de Tir du Mans is the only one to name the line correctly, "Licence, F.F.T., league, county"23. This is not a national schedule: no federal source publishes a regional breakdown.

Voir les données
League or club"Licence" line billedAbove the €69 federal shareSeason
FFTir federal share, adult€692025/2026, carried over 2026/2027
Tir Sportif Côte d'Argent (40)€77+ €82025/2026
La Cible Dévilloise (76)€88+ €192025/2026
Tir Sportif Vercellois (25)€89+ €202026/2027
Société de Tir du Mans (72)€90+ €212026/2027
Nord-Pas-de-Calais league€93 (62) and €95 (59)+ €24 and + €262026/2027
Club de Tir Jeanne d'Arc (75)€110+ €412026/2027
Ligue Régionale de La Réunion€144+ €752026/2027

The most complete breakdown we found is the Nord-Pas-de-Calais league's, which publishes its 2026-2027 schedule by adding the lines: €69 of federal share, €18 of league share, €6 or €8 of county share, so €93 in the Pas-de-Calais and €95 in the Nord1819. The same document gives €68 and €70 for a young shooter, from the €49 federal base.

The regional surcharge surveyed runs from €8 to €75, with a median of €21 across seven surveys. No federal-level source publishes a schedule by league: these are seven observations, not a national rate, and we cannot say what a shooter would pay in a region we did not survey.

The labels contradict each other from one club to the next. Tir Sportif Côte d'Argent writes "Federal share: €77"30 — an amount that already contains the league, since the federal share is €69. The Société de Tir du Mans is the only one in our survey to name the line correctly: "Licence, F.F.T., league, county: €90"23.

The Club de Tir de Lons, for its part, specifies that its licence includes the subscription of the club, the county committee, the league and the Federation, without costing any of the four32. Comparing two "licence" lines between two clubs therefore often means comparing two different perimeters.

The expense is seasonal, and that matters for a beginner's cash flow. The licence runs from 1 September to 31 August, the insurance to the following 30 September14. For 2026/2027, associations may create and renew licences from 24 August 2026, licences renewed between the 24th and the 31st appearing on EDEN from 1 September15.

What we do not yet know for 2026/2027. As at 30 July 2026 there is no "Federal information — Licence amounts 2026/2027" page on the FFTir's site: only the 2025/2026 season is published under that title13.

The carry-over at €69 and €49 therefore rests on three converging sources, none of which is a dated circular: the federal registration page14, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais league's 2026-2027 schedule18, and a Réunion league communication of 27 April 2026 announcing that "the price of federal shooting licences and club subscriptions will remain unchanged"20. We will revise this passage after 24 August 2026.

Club subscription: surveyed across eight real schedules

This is the item most often estimated and least often verified, even though clubs publish their prices online. So we took the problem from the other end: read the schedules themselves, and compare them on equal terms — adult, renewal rate, federal licence included, excluding joining fee. Of the eight schedules read, seven publish a renewal rate and enter the comparison; the eighth, the Club de Tir Jeanne d'Arc's, shows only a joining rate and stays outside the survey.

What a year at a club costs, federal licence included

Adult, renewal rate, licence and insurance included, excluding joining fee, firearm hire and ammunition; seven schedules published online that state the federal licence is included and publish a renewal rate, two for 2026/2027 and five for 2025/2026

La Cible Dévilloise (76)Francs Tireurs de Mont (64)AS Tir Escaudain (59)Côte d'Argent (40)Vercellois (25)Société de Tir du Mans (72)Tir Club AlpinLa Cible Dévilloise — €135, licence, insurance, range access and firearm loan includedLes Francs Tireurs de Mont — €150, licence, insurance and firearm loan includedAS Tir Escaudain — €172, federal share and club subscription includedTir Sportif Côte d'Argent — €185 on renewal, against €275 for a first licenceTir Sportif Vercellois — €199 on uninterrupted renewal, against €349 the first yearSociété de Tir du Mans — €140 subscription plus €90 licenceTir Club Alpin — €266 on renewal, against €316 for a new shooter135 €150 €172 €185 €199 €230 €266 €0 €75 €150 €225 €300 €

Median of these seven surveys: €185. The €69 federal share represents 51% of the lowest rate and 26% of the highest: most of the bill is decided by the club, not the federation. Four clubs publish a breakdown21232730, three state the licence is included without detailing it252628. The Club de Tir Jeanne d'Arc, in Paris, falls outside this survey: its page publishes only a joining rate of €450, which includes €100 of non-refundable supervised sessions required before membership, and no renewal rate24.

Voir les données
ClubAdult annual totalBreakdown publishedSeason
La Cible Dévilloise (76)€135€88 licence, €47 for the association2025/2026
Les Francs Tireurs de Mont (64)€150All in, firearm loan included2025/2026
AS Tir Escaudain (59)€172All in, + €20 the first year2025/2026
Tir Sportif Côte d'Argent (40)€185€77 licence, €108 for the club2025/2026
Tir Sportif Vercellois (25)€199€89 licence, €110 subscription2026/2027
Société de Tir du Mans (72)€230€90 licence, €140 subscription2026/2027
Tir Club Alpin€266Subscription and licence, not detailed2025/2026

The survey gives €135 to €266, median €185. The low end is La Cible Dévilloise, at €135, licence and insurance included, with "unlimited use of the range" and firearm loan27. The high end is Tir Club Alpin, at €266 on renewal against €316 for a new shooter25. Between the two, five clubs are spread evenly, with no particular clustering.

The important reading is not the spread, it is its composition: the €69 federal share weighs 51% of the lowest rate and 26% of the highest. What varies from one club to another is therefore almost exclusively the club's own share, from €47 at Déville to €140 at Le Mans on the schedules that break it down.

A second point that aggregated budgets flatten: the first year does not cost the renewal price.

Club First year Renewal Difference
Tir Sportif Vercellois (25) €349 €199 + €150 (+ 75%)
Tir Sportif Côte d'Argent (40) €275 €185 + €90 (+ 49%)
Tir Club Alpin €316 €266 + €50 (+ 19%)
TSNB €230 €200 + €30 (+ 15%)
AS Tir Escaudain (59) €192 €172 + €20 (+ 12%)

These differences go by different names — joining fee, badge, supervised sessions, or simply a higher "new member" rate31 — but they do the same thing. The survey runs from €20 to €1502123262930, and three clubs charge none272833.

A joining fee is not always a simple barrier: at Tir Club Alpin, the €50 between a new shooter and a renewal pays for "training in the safety rules", an hour's introduction, the use of a .22 LR revolver with 50 cartridges and a target25. At Tir Sportif Côte d'Argent, €20 of the €90 difference is the range access badge30.

The club pays too: €85 of FFTir affiliation

The member is not the only one paying the federation. An affiliated association pays an annual subscription which the FFTir says "remains unchanged, at €85.00"13. The Réunion league confirms the amount for 2026-202720.

That figure is often put forward to explain the floor on subscriptions. It does not explain it, and the arithmetic is easy to redo. The FFTir announced 250,000 members for 1,654 clubs in 2022-202316, so about 151 members per club. Spread over 151 members, the €85 comes to €0.56 per member. No subscription floor is built on that.

The real amount paid up the federal pyramid is in fact higher, and only one league publishes it. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the "Club subscription" comes to €128 = €85 FFTir + €35 league + €8 county committee18. So €0.85 per member at the average ratio. The FFTir publishes only its own share: the league and county shares of that affiliation appear, as far as we know, nowhere above league level.

What actually sets the floor on a subscription: we do not know. We know what it is not — federal affiliation, at €0.56 per member. The plausible causes are range upkeep, ventilation, lead removal, insurance, amortization of the firing points. We found no public costing of those items, and we prefer to write that rather than fill the gap with a hypothesis.

One methodological note, since it concerns a figure we would have liked to update. The FFTir publishes a second page tracking its membership, which announces "close to 294,000 members" in 2025-2026 but no number of clubs17. The ratio is therefore not computable from it: we stay with the only pair published together, that of 2022-2023. With 294,000 members, the weight of affiliation per member would be lower still.

The medical certificate and incidental costs

The medical certificate is not optional: the Société de Tir Sportif des 3 Vallées puts it bluntly — "without a valid medical certificate registered in the EDEN portal and payment of your subscription to the Association, no licence will be issued"29. It is therefore an entry cost, on the same footing as the subscription.

On price, let us be plain, and we repeat here the wording of our guide to the FFTir medical certificate: the certificate is not a treatment act listed in the schedule. Its pricing is free and it gives no right to reimbursement. There is therefore no national price.

The only solid marker is the agreed fee for a sector 1 GP consultation, €30 at 1 January 20268, an amount in force since 22 December 20249. That is a marker, not a price: asking the fee when booking remains the only reliable method.

That leaves the file costs. On this point, the Category B authorization procedure is remarkably cheap — and remarkably badly documented.

  • No fee is provided for by the procedure. Neither the official factsheet F22507 nor the Aisne prefecture's page10 mentions a tax or a stamp. Neither states that it is free either: we therefore write "no fee is provided for", not "it is free".
  • An adult files online, on their SIA account7: the CERFA no. 12644*04 noted by the Aisne prefecture10 is the paper route's form, the minor's. The authorization obtained runs five years710.
  • Delays are disguised costs. Processing takes up to three months, silence amounting to refusal; firearms must in principle be acquired within six months of notification, a general rule whose meshing with the single global five-year authorization is not clearly documented; renewal is requested three months before expiry710.
  • A birth certificate extract less than three months old is among the documents required7.
  • The range access badge, where a club issues one, is billed separately: €20 at Tir Sportif Côte d'Argent30.

The full route is set out in our guide to the Category B firearm authorization.

Ammunition cost: the price of 100 cartridges

This is the item everyone underestimates, and the only one whose unit price is genuinely stable from one dealer to another. On 30 July 2026 we surveyed the prices of six dealers, by caliber, on practice ammunition.

The price of 100 cartridges, caliber by caliber

Practice ammunition, price taken at the middle of the range surveyed at one to four French dealers per caliber, survey of 30 July 2026; price brought back to 100 cartridges

.22 LR9 × 19.38 Special.357 Magnum.45 ACP.308 Win FMJ.22 LR — €20 per 100 cartridges, range €16 to €249 × 19 — €30 per 100 cartridges, range €23 to €48.38 Special — €48 per 100 cartridges, range €44 to €60.357 Magnum — €54 per 100 cartridges, range €50 to €60.45 ACP — €58 per 100 cartridges, range €56 to €68.308 Winchester FMJ — €85 per 100 cartridges, range €70 to €10020 €30 €48 €54 €58 €85 €0 €25 €50 €75 €100 €

Ranges retained: .22 LR €16 to €243437, 9 × 19 €23 to €4838404142, .38 Special €44 to €60394042, .357 Magnum €50 to €60384042, .45 ACP €56 to €68384042, .308 Winchester FMJ €70 to €1004344. In hunting ammunition the same .308 climbs to €190-230 per 10044: a factor of three inside a single caliber. Bulk prices converge with box prices, which validates these figures42. Several prices surveyed at Roumaillac are advertised promotions4143.

Voir les données
CaliberPrice retained for 100 cartridgesRange retainedCost per round
.22 LR€20€16 – 24€0.20
9 × 19€30€23 – 48€0.30
.38 Special€48€44 – 60€0.48
.357 Magnum€54€50 – 60€0.54
.45 ACP€58€56 – 68€0.58
.308 Winchester FMJ€85€70 – 100€0.85
.308 Winchester, hunting ammunition€210€190 – 230€2.10

The ratio is one to four between .22 LR and .308 Winchester FMJ, and one to ten if you compare .22 LR with hunting ammunition in .308. The choice of caliber therefore weighs more heavily on the budget than the number of sessions: that is exactly what we costed in our comparison of 9mm and .22 LR.

A divergence to flag with an article already published here. Our caliber comparison retains €9 to €12 the box of 50 in .22 LR, so €0.21 a round. The survey of 30 July 2026 goes lower: €7.99 to €8.99 per 50 at an online dealer37, €8.50 at a club's range34.

We retain here €20 per 100, so €0.20 a round, the middle of a range widened to €16-24. The gap with the figure already published is one cent a round: we flag it rather than let two values coexist without explanation.

The legal ceiling bounds the top of this item. Article R312-47 3° of the code de la sécurité intérieure allows acquiring "3,000 cartridges per firearm" per twelve-month period37 — €900 in 9mm at the price retained here. That is the ceiling we retain at the high end, and we set out its mechanism in our analysis of firearm and ammunition quotas.

.22 LR escapes that quota, because it is Category C ammunition and not Category B. It remains subject to a holding ceiling, and to one only: 500 rounds if you do not hold the matching firearm, under article R312-63. The 1,000-rounds-per-firearm ceiling of article R312-61 covers only 6° and 7° of Category C, not 8°, under which rimfire .22 LR falls4.

The nuance is useful to a beginner: those 500 are a ceiling on stock, not on annual purchases. Shooting 600 rounds in the year without owning a firearm therefore holds without difficulty, provided you never hold more than 500 at once.

In year 1 you do not buy your Category B ammunition at a dealer. Article R312-47 reserves acquisition to "the holder of a firearm", "for the duration of the authorization"3. Without an authorization, 9mm is bought at the club, and the École de tir Vesoul puts it bluntly: "the sale of Category B ammunition is reserved for introductory sessions"35.

Its schedule gives €35 for 50 rounds of 9mm, so €0.70 a round — more than double the dealer price. Our high range nonetheless retains €0.30 to stay comparable from one year to the next: it is therefore a cautious bound, not a maximum.

The club price, in fact, deserves a correction. You often read that buying at the club costs more. The text says something else: article R312-66 requires associations to sell ammunition "at a price at least equal to the purchase price" and to allow its use "exclusively within the declared range"536.

The floor is therefore the club's purchase price, and the club buys in bulk. The two surveys show both cases exist: €8.50 per 50 in .22 LR at Évreux, at the level of online dealers34, against €15 per 50 in an introductory package at Vesoul35.

The first firearm: new, used, or on loan from the club

The idea that a used firearm costs half the price of new does not survive the surveys. We read three used catalogs and two new catalogs on 30 July 2026: new and used overlap widely between €450 and €620.

Model Condition Caliber Surveyed price
Taurus Mod 82 Used .38 Special €199
Unique Mod/D2 22 Used .22 LR €349
Zastava M70A Used 9 × 19 €449
Smith & Wesson M&P 22 Compact New .22 LR €449
HK SFP9, municipal police surplus Surplus 9 × 19 €549
Glock 45 New 9 × 19 €559
Retay RXP22 New .22 LR €570
Glock 19 Gen 5 Used 9 × 19 €549 – 625
Springfield Armory 1911 Mil-Spec Used .45 ACP €1,025
Walther PDP Professional ACRO New 9 × 19 €2,199

The real floor for used is €199 for a .38 Special revolver and €349 for the first .22 LR pistol observed47. The floor for new is €44946, and the top of the range passes €2,00045. The new-used gap exists above all on older or less sought-after models — Taurus, Unique, Zastava48 — not on the ones in demand: a used Glock 19 Gen 5 at €549-625 costs more than a new Glock 45 at €55946.

A used range does not have the stability of an ammunition price. It is a market of unique items: our three surveys cover €199 to €1,025, but a survey done another day would show other models at other prices.

And not everything listed is shootable: the same catalog offers a used HS Produkt XD-9 at €249 marked "broken slide"46. Selection criteria count at least as much as price, and we gathered them in our guide to choosing a first sport pistol.

That said, nothing obliges you to buy. Loan or hire from the club is the most effective lever on a starting budget, and it is the one no published budget costs: the schedules surveyed run from €1 a session to €100 a year. We return to it below.

Year 2: the firearm and the safe arrive together

This is the budget's step change, and it has a precise legal cause. Article R314-3 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, in force since 11 May 2017, provides that Category A and B firearms "must be kept: 1° Either in safes or strong cabinets suited to the type and number of items held; 2° Or inside strongrooms with an armored door and openings protected by bars"1.

This is not a recommendation. The official factsheet F2250 lists among the file's documents a "sworn declaration of compliant installation at your home (safe, strong cabinet, strongroom with an armored door)"7, and the Aisne prefecture asks for a "document showing that a safe or strong cabinet suited to the firearms is installed at the applicant's home"10. The safe comes before the firearm in the file.

In Category C, the obligation is different: article R314-4 accepts a safe, but also dismantling that renders the firearm immediately unusable, or a device preventing its removal, ammunition being kept "separately in conditions preventing free access"2. That is why the safe expense appears only with the first Category B firearm, and not before. The boundary between the two regimes is set out in our guide to Categories A, B, C and D.

What does that safe cost? Three dealers surveyed on 30 July 2026 give concordant figures: €99 for a one-handgun safe, €120 to €135 for a common model, €320 for a heavier handgun model, and €219 for a four-long-gun cabinet495051. A 4-liter model with an electronic lock exists at €48, but that is at the limit of what can be called a safe.

No technical standard is imposed by the code. Article R314-3 requires safes or cabinets "suited to the type and number of items held"1: neither EN 1143-1, nor EN 14450, nor A2P appears in it.

Those classes do exist, but they govern the insurable amount — EN 14450 S1 up to €1,500, S2 up to €3,000, EN 1143-1 beyond54 — not compliance with the code de la sécurité intérieure. Buying guides that present an EN class as a legal obligation confuse two regimes. Do check what your insurer requires, though: that is where the standard is paid for.

In total, year 2 adds €449 at the low end — €350 for a used .22 LR and €99 for a safe — and €1,520 at the high end, with a new firearm at €1,200 and a safe at €320. It is a one-off expense, but it lands all at once.

Equipment: what is genuinely compulsory

You have to separate what a text imposes from what custom imposes. In our file, the only quantifiable equipment obligation is the secure storage of article R314-31, and it applies only from the first Category A or B firearm. Everything else is spending you decide on, or that the club lends you.

Personal protection, hearing muffs and glasses, is the real first purchase. Two independent dealers surveyed on 30 July 2026 give the same price structure.

  • The floor for a pair of muffs and glasses is €37: Peltor H4 muffs at €22 and Uvex X Trend glasses at €14.9053.
  • Glasses run from €15 to €79 depending on the model, from entry-level clear lenses to a ballistic mask5253.
  • Muffs run from €22 to €130, the high end being an electronic set5253.
  • Earplugs at €1 to €3.80 do not replace muffs on a covered range5253.
  • The club sometimes supplies protection during the introductory session2535.

Consumables are modest but real, and they are bought at the range. The prices surveyed give €1 for 20 targets at 10 m, €1 for 25 in 10 m rifle, €1 each in 25 m pistol and €1 for 10 C50 targets34.

Elsewhere it is €5 for 100 targets and €5 for a box of 500 pellets29, or €5 for 10 targets at 10 m35. We retain one euro a session in both scenarios, which gives €12 and €30.

What the club lends, and what it bills

This is the item published budgets treat worst, because almost all of them assume a firearm is bought as soon as the law permits. The schedules say otherwise: most of the clubs surveyed lend or hire out a firearm, and often for a trivial sum.

Club Firearm loan or hire By the year
Les Francs Tireurs de Mont (64) Loan included, "hire €1"
La Cible Dévilloise (76) Included in the subscription
Club de Tir de Lons €5 a session €50 in air, €100 in firearms
Société de Tir du Mans (72) €10 a session €70 at 10 m
Tir Sportif Côte d'Argent (40) €20 to €30 a hire

In other words, the "firearm" item of a second- or third-year budget can stay at €100 a year instead of €350 to €1,20032, and at zero in two of the clubs surveyed2728. That is not a detail: it is what lets you discover several disciplines before choosing a firearm, rather than the other way round.

The real entry ticket is lower still. Before any membership, a trial session is billed at €0 to €35: free at La Cible Dévilloise27, €10 at Vercelli22 and at Mont28, €20 at Le Mans for a session or a 90-minute discovery course23, from €10 in pellets to €35 in .38 Wad Cutter as a package at Vesoul, firearm, ammunition and targets included35, included in the joining fee at Tir Club Alpin25.

Finding out whether the discipline suits you costs under €35. That is the most useful figure in this whole article, and none of the budgets we read elsewhere gives it. Before committing €200 to €450 of subscription, one supervised session with firearm, ammunition and targets supplied is enough to decide. Two clubs in our survey offer it free or at €10.

Three years of practice: the spending curve

A first-year budget does not say what the practice costs, because the first year is precisely the one where a firearm is impossible. You have to look at three years.

Three years of sport shooting: cumulative spend, low and high

Low: club at €135 licence included, certificate €30 a season, muffs €22 and glasses €15, borrowed firearm then a used .22 LR at €350 and a safe at €99 in year 2, 12 sessions of 50 rounds in .22 LR at €0.20, €12 of targets. High: club at €450, certificate €30 a season, electronic muffs and mask €165, firearm hire €100 in year 1 then a new gun at €1,200 and a safe at €320 in year 2, 30 sessions of 100 rounds in 9mm at €0.30 — exactly the 3,000-cartridge quota — €30 of targets

Low range High range
6,500 €4,333.33 €2,166.67 €0 €Low range — €1,377 cumulative after three yearsHigh range — €6,015 cumulative after three years1,377 €6,015 €00.751.52.253 years

Year 1 can hold neither firearm nor safe: three controlled sessions two months apart plus prefectural processing push them mechanically into year 267. The high range's ammunition line stops exactly at the legal quota of 3,000 cartridges for one firearm3. Shooting volumes are assumptions, not measurements: no official source publishes an average consumption per session.

Voir les données
YearLow, that yearHigh, that yearLow, cumulativeHigh, cumulative
Year 1 — no firearm, no safe€334€1,675€334€1,675
Year 2 — firearm and safe€746€2,930€1,080€4,605
Year 3 — steady state€297€1,410€1,377€6,015

The two curves tell the same story at two scales. Year 1 is light because it can contain neither firearm nor safe. Year 2 is the heaviest of the three: it stacks the club, the ammunition, the firearm and the safe. Year 3 returns to steady state — the club, the certificate and the ammunition.

At the low end that gives €334, then €746, then €297 — €1,377 over three years. At the high end, €1,675, then €2,930, then €1,410 — €6,015. The gap between the two scenarios goes from €1,341 after one year to €4,638 after three, and it widens almost entirely in year 2.

Three honest points about that calculation, because it rests on conventions rather than measurements:

  • The medical certificate is counted every season, at €30, in both scenarios.
  • The shooting volume is an assumption: 12 sessions of 50 rounds at the low end, 30 sessions of 100 at the high end. No official source publishes an average.
  • The high end runs into the legal quota: 30 × 100 = 3,000 cartridges, exactly the annual ceiling of article R312-47 3° for one firearm3. Shooting more means a second firearm, or shooting at the club on site.
Anthony Baillon Oplo co-founder

I built my first budget from the €69 licence found on the federal site, telling myself the club would add "a subscription". The line billed was €88, and the total €135. I had not understood that €69 is a federal amount, not an invoice: between the two there is a league and a county committee that nobody breaks down.

My second mistake cost more: I had put the safe in my first-year budget. It sat there six months unused, because I had not yet grasped that between three sessions two months apart and the processing of the file, a Category B firearm does not arrive inside a year.

The safe is a year-2 expense. And a safe for one handgun is found at €99, not €300: I had been looking at cabinets for long guns before understanding that was not what I needed.

Starting sport shooting for less: five levers

None of these levers is a trick: all of them are written in club schedules or in an official text.

  1. Start with a trial session, €0 to €35 across the clubs surveyed222325272835. Before any commitment.
  2. Delay buying a firearm by using loan or hire: from €1 a session to €100 a year2832. Over three years the saving exceeds the price of a used firearm.
  3. Choose the caliber knowingly. At €0.20 a round in .22 LR against €0.85 in .308 Winchester FMJ, 3,000 rounds a year cost €600 or €2,550.
  4. Look at family, local-resident and second-club rates. The survey gives €162 for a second member at Escaudain26, €130 per adult on the family rate and €90 for a local resident at Mont28, €250 for a couple at Les 3 Vallées29, €165 then €135 for the second and third member at Chabris33, and a sliding scale by licence rank at Lons — €200, then €165, then €14532.
  5. Check your eligibility for the Pass'Sport, the only public aid directly deductible: "an immediate deduction of 70 euros" for the 2025-2026 season, reserved for 14-17 year-olds receiving the ARS allowance, recipients of the AEEH aged 6 to 19, of the AAH aged 16 to 30, and CROUS scholarship holders under 2811.

Two additions, less spectacular but real. Packaging plays at the margin on ammunition: a box of 500 .22 LR cartridges at €74.90 works out at €14.98 per 100, against €15.98 in boxes of 50 — 6% of difference, no more37. And territorial aid sometimes stacks with the Pass'Sport: La Cible Dévilloise cites the Pass Jeunes 76, the Pass Collégien, Atouts Normandie and the Handipass'Sport 7627.

The 2026-2027 Pass'Sport amount is not yet documented. As at 30 July 2026, the official site says only that "the 2026-2027 campaign will be launched shortly"12. The €70 and the 1 September to 31 December window we cite are those of the 2025-2026 season, published by sports.gouv.fr11. Do not build a 2026-2027 budget on that amount before the campaign opens.

Julien Mercier Technical reviewer

Checking this survey, I found three different meanings behind the same phrase. "Federal share" means €69 at the FFTir, €77 at a club in the Landes that has folded its league into it, and €88 at a club in Seine-Maritime that adds something else again.

Comparing two "licence" lines without reading the whole schedule compares nothing, and that is probably where the fanciful ranges you read elsewhere come from. The only method that holds is this one: add up what a club takes in total, then look at what it says it passes on.

The first-year budget in three items

The club, the ammunition, the protection

The club, €135 to €266 on renewal, federal licence included. It is the item you cannot avoid, and the only one whose variation is entirely decided locally: the €69 federal share represents 51% of it at the lowest and 26% at the highest. Add €20 to €150 of joining fee the first year, except at the clubs that charge none.

The ammunition, €120 to €900. It is the caliber that decides, not willpower: €0.20 a round in .22 LR against €0.30 in 9mm and €0.85 in .308 Winchester FMJ. The high end is exactly the legal quota of 3,000 cartridges for one firearm.

The protection, €37 to €165. Muffs and glasses are enough to start. Neither the firearm nor the safe enters year 1: the three controlled sessions two months apart and the processing of the file push them mechanically into year 2, where together they add €449 to €1,520.

Sources 54 references

Regulatory texts reread on Légifrance in their version in force; federal amounts taken from the FFTir's own publications; club schedules read one by one on their published pages. Prices come from dealer surveys dated 30 July 2026 and are flagged as commercial, non-regulatory data. Click a note marker in the text to highlight the matching source.

  1. Légifrance — article R314-3 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, in force since 11 May 2017 (decree no. 2017-909 of 9 May 2017, art. 6): Category A and B firearms kept in safes or strong cabinets suited to the type and number of items held, or in strongrooms with an armored door and barred openings. No technical standard imposed.
  2. Légifrance — articles R314-1 to R314-4 of the code de la sécurité intérieure: general obligation to prevent use by a third party (R314-2), and Category C regime (R314-4) accepting a safe, dismantling that renders the firearm unusable, or a device preventing removal, ammunition kept separately.
  3. Légifrance — article R312-47 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, in force since 1 January 2024: "3,000 cartridges per firearm under 2° of article R. 312-40", acquisition reserved to the holder of a firearm, for the duration of the authorization.
  4. Légifrance — articles R312-60 to R312-63 of the code de la sécurité intérieure: "No one may hold more than 1,000 rounds of 6° or 7° of Category C per firearm held"; 500 rounds of 6°, 7° and 8° without holding the matching firearm. Rimfire .22 LR falls under 8°.
  5. Légifrance — article R312-66 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, in force since 6 July 2023 (decree no. 2023-557 of 3 July 2023, art. 5): transfer of ammunition by associations at a price at least equal to the purchase price, use exclusively within the declared range.
  6. Légifrance — arrêté of 28 April 2020, article 3 (JORF no. 0104 of 29 April 2020): for a first acquisition application, an attestation covering "three controlled shooting practice sessions, at least two months apart", during the twelve months preceding the application.
  7. service-public.gouv.fr — Category B firearm subject to authorization, factsheet F2250 verified 20 March 2025: online application after creating an SIA account for an adult, sworn declaration of compliant storage, birth certificate extract less than three months old, authorization valid five years, processing within three months with silence amounting to refusal, quota of 3,000 cartridges per firearm.
  8. Assurance maladie — agreed fees for GPs and specialists, page updated 17 March 2026: GP consultation (G), €30.00 in mainland France.
  9. Assurance maladie — medical convention, what changes in 2025, communication of 17 December 2024: "The GP consultation thus goes from €26.50 to €30", in force since 22 December 2024.
  10. Préfecture de l'Aisne — acquisition and holding of Category B firearms: document showing a safe or strong cabinet installed at the applicant's home, CERFA form no. 12644*04 for the paper route, authorization valid five years, renewal three months before expiry.
  11. sports.gouv.fr — the pass Sport renewed for the 2025-2026 season: "an immediate deduction of 70 euros", usable "between 1 September and 31 December 2025"; eligibility for 14-17 year-olds receiving the ARS, recipients of the AEEH aged 6 to 19, of the AAH aged 16 to 30, and CROUS scholarship holders under 28.
  12. pass.sports.gouv.fr — official pass Sport site, consulted 30 July 2026: "The 2026-2027 campaign will be launched shortly." No amount is published for 2026-2027.
  13. FFTir — federal information, licence amounts 2025/2026, published 30 June 2025: "adult: €69.00 (up €5)", "Young: €49.00 (up €5)", association subscription "unchanged, at €85.00".
  14. FFTir — joining the FFTir, consulted 30 July 2026: "For an adult: €69", "For a young shooter: €49", licence "valid from 1 September to 31 August", insurance to the following 30 September.
  15. FFTir — EDEN, 2026/2027 licences, page published 22 July 2023 and updated for the 2026/2027 season: creations and renewals "from Monday 24 August 2026", licences renewed between the 24th and the 31st appearing from 1 September.
  16. FFTir — the 250,000-member mark passed, published 3 April 2023: "the symbolic bar of 250,000 members" and "1,654 clubs" for the 2022-2023 season, so about 151 members per club.
  17. FFTir — the FFTir, season by season, published 6 February 2024 and updated since: "246,000 licences" in 2022-2023, "250,000 shooting licences" in 2023-2024, "close to 294,000" in 2025-2026. No number of clubs.
  18. Ligue de Tir du Nord-Pas-de-Calais — licence and club subscription schedule, 2026-2027 season (PDF): adult licence €93 (Pas-de-Calais) and €95 (Nord) = €69 federal + €18 league + €6 or €8 county; young shooter €68 and €70; club subscription €128 = €85 FFTir + €35 league + €8 county committee.
  19. Ligue de Tir du Nord-Pas-de-Calais — page giving access to the fee schedules, consulted 30 July 2026: download links for the 2026-2027 and 2025-2026 schedules, official provenance.
  20. Ligue Régionale de Tir de La Réunion — licence schedule, 2026-2027 season, published 27 April 2026: "The price of federal shooting licences and club subscriptions will remain unchanged"; adult licence €144.
  21. Tir Sportif Vercellois (25) — subscription and FFTir licence schedule 2026/2027 (PDF): "Joining fee €150.00 — Club subscription €110.00 — FFT licence €89.00", so €349 the first year and €199 on renewal.
  22. Tir Sportif Vercellois — subscription and licence page, renewal open since 1 August 2026: "€10 a session (half-day)" for guests.
  23. Société de Tir du Mans (72) — fees and membership, 2026/2027 season: "Licence, F.F.T., league, county: €90", "Club subscription: €140", joining fee, firearm hire €10 a session or €70 a year at 10 m, discovery session or 90-minute course €20.
  24. Club de Tir Jeanne d'Arc, Paris 13th — joining fees, season from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027: men €450 — including "€100 supervised sessions (non-refundable)"; licence €110, insurance included. No renewal rate published.
  25. Tir Club Alpin — registration and fees, period 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026: renewal €266, new shooter €316 including subscription, licence, "Training in the safety rules", an hour's introduction, use of a .22 LR revolver with 50 cartridges and a target.
  26. AS Tir Escaudain (59) — licence fees 2025/2026: "Adults: €172", "Young: €75", "+ €20" on first registration, second-club access €90, second family member €162.
  27. La Cible Dévilloise (76) — club membership, season 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026: adults €135 (€88 licence, €47 for the association), young shooters born after 31/12/2005 €80, first session free, "unlimited use of the range" and firearm loan included, no joining fee; Pass Jeunes 76, Pass Collégien, Atouts Normandie and Handipass'Sport 76 accepted.
  28. Les Francs Tireurs de Mont (64) — fees for the 2025-2026 season: adult €150, minor €75, family €130 per adult, local resident €90, second club, trial session €10, firearm loan included with "hire €1", no joining fee.
  29. Société de Tir Sportif des 3 Vallées — membership fees, 2025-2026 season: adults €175, couples €250, young shooters €90, second club €100, joining fee; "without a valid medical certificate registered in the EDEN portal and payment of your subscription, no licence will be issued"; €5 for 100 targets, €5 a box of 500 pellets.
  30. Tir Sportif Côte d'Argent (Saint-Jean-de-Marsacq, Landes) — licence and fees, 2025/2026 season: first adult licence €275 — "Federal share: €77", club share €108, range access badge €20; renewal €185; firearm hire €20 to €30.
  31. TSNB, FFTir-affiliated club — federal information, licence amounts 2025/2026, published 4 July 2025: restatement of the federal amounts — adult €69.00, young €49.00; club total €230 the first year, €200 on renewal.
  32. Club de Tir de Lons — registration and fees, 2026/2027 season: adults €200 on a first licence, then €165, then €145; cadet-junior €140, €130, €95; the licence stated as including the subscription of the club, the county committee, the league and the Federation, none of the four costed; firearm hire €5 a session, €50 a year in air, €100 a year in firearms.
  33. Tir Sportif Chabris (36) — the club's 2025/2026 licence schedule: adult €195, young shooter under 20 €100, second family member €165, third €135, no joining fee.
  34. La Cible, Évreux — club fees, consulted 30 July 2026: ".22 LR pistol: €8.50 the box of 50", ".22 LR rifle: €8.50 the box of 50"; targets €1 for 20 at 10 m, €1 for 25 in 10 m rifle, €1 each in 25 m pistol, €1 for 10 C50 targets. ⚠️ Club prices, not a dealer.
  35. École de tir Vesoul — fees, consulted 30 July 2026: packages including firearm, ammunition and targets — pellets €10, ".22 LR package: €15", "9mm package: €30", .38 Wad Cutter €35; "the sale of Category B ammunition is reserved for introductory sessions"; €5 for 10 targets at 10 m. ⚠️ Club prices.
  36. UFA — shooting club: holding and selling ammunition?, updated 16 February 2026: practical reading of the five conditions of article R312-66, prohibition on a club transferring reloaded ammunition. ⚠️ Association source.
  37. Armurerie Loisir — .22 LR ammunition, survey of 30 July 2026: CCI Blazer €7.99 per 50, Winchester T22 €7.99, ELEY Subsonic Hollow €8.90, CCI Standard Velocity €8.99; box of 500 at €74.90, so €14.98 per 100 against €15.98 in boxes of 50. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  38. Armurerie Centrale — Category B ammunition, survey of 30 July 2026: 9 × 19 — STV Scorpio FMJ 124 gr €13.90 per 50, Fiocchi FMJ 115 gr €13.90, Geco FMJ 124 gr €14.49; .357 Magnum and .45 ACP in the same catalog. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  39. Armurerie Centrale — .38 Special ammunition, survey of 30 July 2026: Geco FMJ 158 gr €21.90 per 50, Geco Wad Cutter 146 gr €22.50, Fiocchi Wad Cutter 148 gr €22.90. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  40. Armurerie de la Bourse — Category B ammunition, survey of 30 July 2026: 9 × 19 from €15.00 to €24.00 per 50 depending on brand; .38 Special €24.00 and €28.00; .357 Magnum and .45 ACP in the same range. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  41. Roumaillac — 9 × 19 mm ammunition, survey of 30 July 2026: Geco €11.70 per 50, Magtech Steel €12.49, Sellier & Bellot 124 gr €13.99, Winchester €13.90. ⚠️ Commercial source; several prices are advertised promotions.
  42. Armurerie FMR — ammunition, survey of 30 July 2026: 9 × 19 — Magtech 124 gr €290.00 per 1,000, Norma 115 gr €295.00, Sellier & Bellot 124 gr €295.00; .38 Special and .45 ACP in bulk. Bulk prices converge with box prices. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  43. Roumaillac — .308 Winchester ammunition, survey of 30 July 2026: GGG 147 gr FMJ €18.48 per 20, Geco TAC FMJ €19.96 per 20, Federal Power Shok €34.43 per 20. ⚠️ Commercial source; several prices are advertised promotions.
  44. L'Armurerie Française — .308 Winchester ammunition, survey of 30 July 2026: SM Munitions 147 gr FMJ surplus €13.90 per 20; Browning BXR €38.70; Remington PSP in hunting ammunition, which brings the same caliber to €190-230 per 100. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  45. Armurerie Auxerre — Category B pistols, survey of 30 July 2026: HK SFP9 municipal police surplus €549.00; Retay RXP22 .22 LR €570.00; Walther PDP Professional ACRO €2,199.00. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  46. Armurerie de la Bourse — Category B handguns, survey of 30 July 2026: Smith & Wesson M&P 22 Compact new €449.00; Glock 45 new €559.00; Glock 19 Gen 5 used €549 to €625; HS Produkt XD-9 used €249.00 marked "broken slide". ⚠️ Commercial source.
  47. Le Pistolier — used Category B handguns, survey of 30 July 2026: Taurus Mod 82 .38 Special €199.00; Unique Mod/D2 22 .22 LR €349.00; Springfield Armory 1911 Mil-Spec .45 ACP €1,025.00. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  48. GunMarket — used Category B firearms, survey of 30 July 2026: Zastava M57-TT33 7.62 Tokarev €399.00; Zastava M70A 9 × 19 €449.00. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  49. 1001coffres — safes for handguns and ammunition, survey of 30 July 2026: Tresorsafe T17E 4 L €48.00; Rottner Gun Box 7 L €119.18; Infac Fortify Delta models. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  50. Armoire Plus — gun safes, survey of 30 July 2026: Gun Box for handguns €260.00 excluding VAT, so €312.00 including VAT. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  51. ChasseMarket — safes for shotguns, rifles and long guns, survey of 30 July 2026: Fortify Delta 1, one handgun, €99.00; Infac Delta 2, large capacity; four-long-gun cabinet €219.00; heavier handgun model €320.00. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  52. Armurerie Pascal — hearing muffs and safety glasses, survey of 30 July 2026: X-Fit Uvex earplugs €1.00; Bollé Silium+ glasses €25.00, Cobra €29.00, ballistic mask up to €79.00; electronic muffs up to €130.00. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  53. Armurerie Laudier — shooting protection, survey of 30 July 2026: Whisper Plus Uvex earplugs €3.80; X Trend Uvex glasses €14.90; Peltor H4 muffs €22.00. ⚠️ Commercial source.
  54. Decathlon — how to choose a gun cabinet, consulted 30 July 2026: restatement of the storage obligation in Categories A and B, and of the EN 14450 (S1 up to €1,500, S2 up to €3,000) and EN 1143-1 standards, which govern the insurable amount and not compliance with the code. ⚠️ Commercial source.

Ask your club for its own schedule, and your insurer for its own requirements. The federal amounts here are official and dated; everything else is a survey of eight clubs and a dozen dealers taken on 30 July 2026, not a national rate. A club's schedule changes each season, a dealer's price changes each week, and the Pass'Sport amount for 2026-2027 is not yet published. Only the legal ceilings — 3,000 cartridges per firearm, storage in Categories A and B — hold to the text.

Frequently asked questions

What does sport shooting cost in the first year?

From €334 to €1,675, excluding any joining fee. The low end corresponds to the cheapest club in our survey, twelve sessions in .22 LR with a borrowed firearm and entry-level protection. The high end corresponds to the dearest club, thirty sessions of a hundred rounds in 9mm and a firearm hired for the year. The firearm and the safe do not enter year 1.

What is the price of the FFTir licence in 2026?

The federal share is €69 for an adult and €49 for a young shooter, amounts published by the FFTir for 2025/2026 and carried over for 2026/2027. But that is not what the member pays: the licence line billed by clubs runs from €77 to €144 depending on the league and the county committee. The regional surcharge surveyed runs from €8 to €75.

What does a shooting club subscription cost?

Across the seven schedules published online that show a renewal rate, an adult's annual total runs from €135 to €266, federal licence included, with a median at €185. The first year often adds a joining fee of €20 to €150. Three clubs in our survey charge none, and the first-year rate can exceed the renewal rate by 75%.

Do you have to buy a firearm to start sport shooting?

No, and it is in fact impossible straight away. The arrêté of 28 April 2020 requires three controlled sessions at least two months apart before a first application, so four months of practice at minimum, and processing can then take three months. In the meantime clubs lend or hire out a firearm: from €1 a session to €100 a year across the schedules surveyed.

Is a safe compulsory from the first year?

No. Article R314-3 of the code de la sécurité intérieure requires storage in a safe, strong cabinet or strongroom for Category A and B firearms. As long as you hold none, the expense does not exist. In Category C, dismantling the firearm so it cannot be used is enough. Count €99 to €320 for a credible handgun safe, across three dealers surveyed.

What does ammunition cost for a season of shooting?

That depends on the caliber and the volume, not on an average. At the prices surveyed on 30 July 2026, a hundred cartridges cost about €20 in .22 LR, €30 in 9mm and €85 in .308 Winchester FMJ. Twelve sessions of fifty rounds in .22 LR come to €120; thirty sessions of a hundred rounds in 9mm, to €900 — exactly the annual quota of 3,000 cartridges.

Is the medical certificate for the licence reimbursed?

No. It is not a treatment act listed in the schedule: its pricing is free and it gives no right to reimbursement. There is therefore no national price. The only solid marker is the agreed fee for a sector 1 GP consultation, €30 at 1 January 2026. Ask the price when you book the appointment.

Can the Pass'Sport reduce a shooting club subscription?

Yes, for those eligible: €70 deducted immediately for the 2025-2026 season, reserved for 14-17 year-olds receiving the ARS allowance, recipients of the AEEH aged 6 to 19, of the AAH aged 16 to 30, and CROUS scholarship holders under 28. At 30 July 2026 the official site says only that the 2026-2027 campaign will be launched shortly.

Can you try sport shooting before paying for a licence?

Yes, and that is the real entry ticket. The clubs surveyed charge €0 to €35 for a trial session: free at La Cible Dévilloise, €10 at Vercelli and at Mont, €20 at Le Mans, from €15 in .22 LR to €35 in .38 Wad Cutter as a package at Vesoul, firearm and targets included. Finding out whether the discipline suits you therefore costs under €35.

When in the year should you pay for your licence?

Late August. The FFTir licence runs from 1 September to 31 August, the insurance to the following 30 September. For the 2026/2027 season, associations may create and renew licences from 24 August 2026. The expense is therefore not aligned on the calendar year, and joining mid-season opens at best a pro rata on the subscription, never on the licence.