It's about your membership with the club, not when your first Cat H was granted. You need to familiarise yourself with the legislation. Your club may have their own rules, so that's important to understand as well. But as far as what the law says:
https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legis ... epage.htmlLook to Schedule 3, Division 6, Clause 12(2). Page 110 of the Regs, which is actually Page 116 of the PDF document linked above.
You must be a member for 6 months. In the first 12 months, you may only be licenced for 1x .177 air pistol and 1x handgun (either centrefire or rimfire). Realistically, these are the only time based restrictions in the legislation. What that looks like in practice for a new shooter:
0-6 months post membership: training and club familiarisation, can't get your own pistols. This isn't 6 months after your first visit to the club, but 6 months after you are accepted as a member (and paid your membership fees). Most clubs have a period of 3 to 6 months where you have to come and shoot as a visitor before they'll accept your nomination as a member. So by the time you get to 6m
as a member, you're usually almost a year into it.
6-12 months post memebrship: you are legally allowed to make your first application. The regs above state that during this time, you can only be granted a licence for 1x .177 & 1x 22lr/centrefire pistol.
>12 months post membership. There are no legal restrictions, in the Act or Regs, on the number of firearms you can apply for at this point, just the usual genuine need/genuine reason criteria for any applications. Most clubs will have some kind of ruling and bylaws around how many support letters they will write in a given amount of time, so speak to them about what they will support you for. If you have been a member for, say, 3 years, but never actually owned your own pistol (maybe you just shot club guns that whole time), then Clause 12(2) does not apply to you. Technically you could go and get yourself a 22lr Ruger, a 357 revolver and a 9mm and legally make that application because you've been a member for >12 months.
Familiarise yourself with Clause 12(6) - this stipulates how often you have to attend the club to maintain your licence. As you buy more handguns, how your personal life interacts witht he club calendar and this requirement will be a factor. Lots of dudes out there with several guns who struggle to maintain their shoots. Think about this in advance.