Braintree Rifle and Pistol Club

If you have a choice between Braintree and Harvard, pick Harvard. Much better facilities and you won't be looking at condo's at the end of the range. IIRC you can shoot up to 50 BMG there, full-auto is allowed and they have action pits.

I've been to Harvard multiple times. I love it, great facility. Unfortunately, its over an hour away from home. Braintree is convenient as I can hit the indoor ranges 24/7 and its only 15 minutes from my house.
 
I've been at Braintree for the past year but I'm about to join up at Hanson (since I live there) and also Holbrook. I've had plenty of RO questioning me about my mags while out at the rifle range. One didn't exactly like my response back to him. But all in all BRP is a nice range and the majority of the RO are friendly and nice guys.

I'm an RO at BR&P and also in law enforcement, however it is NOT our job to police mags/AWs!! I would get the name/badge number of the RO and contact the CRO and let Joe Norman take care of the issue. I have seen plenty of post-ban large-cap mags while doing my RO shift, never said a word . . . as I said before our job is not to police MGLs, but to ensure range safety and meet a silly NRA range operations "rule"! We are also there to try to help members if they have a problem (stuck bullet, jammed action, etc. if within our scope of knowledge).

There are literally less than a handful of ROs that are "badge heavy" and think they are cops on the range. There is a posted schedule with names in the new building . . . if you run into one of these a-holes, take note of the name and make sure that you don't show up on the outdoor ranges during their shift! That is what I do. A few times I've just shot indoors instead to avoid a particular RO.

As an Instructor I make it a point to introduce myself to the RO on duty and explain what I'm doing to him/her as a courtesy. Only once did I have an RO "nest on my shoulder" while my student was shooting. The irony was that the student shot a 296/300 (Moon Island test training) and we certainly didn't need the extra scrutiny!! Like you, I found it very annoying.


I come to the range to shoot, not be questioned on the compliance of my firearms. I am supposed to be attending a new member orientation here in a couple weeks. This statement is making me a bit apprehensive. Maybe I'll just wait and join Harvard..

See above. This is NOT the norm at BR&P, just a few bad apples like you will find anywhere.


I've been to Harvard multiple times. I love it, great facility. Unfortunately, its over an hour away from home. Braintree is convenient as I can hit the indoor ranges 24/7 and its only 15 minutes from my house.

I've shot as a guest in the pits at Harvard and always advise people to consider joining there if it is a practical distance for them. Like you, it is sadly too far away to be practical for me too and thus I wouldn't make good use of a membership there. As it is BR&P is ~30 minutes for me and therefore I only go there 2x/month unless I have students to teach there. I do also belong to Mansfield F&G where I can shoot steel and shoot at any distance and it is close enough to be more practical for me.
 
Makes me feel a little bit better that its not a majority of ROs that are badge heavy. I understand the need for safety on the range and enforcement of that, really I do. I just don't feel its a RO's duty to criticize me, hypothetically speaking, for having a PMAG, or a non-pinned muzzle device, or standard capacity magazine for my pistol. None of those are the ROs concern. It would be my decision to willfully ignore the laws that may get me in trouble. I've been to Harvard several times with another member. I've never seen anyone be hassled/questioned/etc even with LEOs present shooting (off-duty) while using non-compliant equipment.

Harvard is anything but a practical distance for me, but, the range is nice enough that I would travel there once a month or more if I had a group going with me. BRP is a nice range too (I just think Harvard is a better layout and better kept) and its convenient to have 2 indoor ranges 15 minutes away that I can use 24/7.

Your advice to keep track or ROs that might be badge-heavy and avoid when they're at the range. I'll be sure to look out for you though and be around when you are, even stop by and say hello :)
 
jdev, my RO duty is the 3rd Saturday each month, 1st shift (10-1 in Winter, 10-3 rest of the year), although I won't be there this month as I'm teaching a MA Gun Law seminar that day so the other 2 ROs will be covering for me. All 3 of us take the laid back approach to the job. Only downside to the shift I have is that March to November CMP has their monthly shoot and anyone wanting to shoot rifles has to wait until they are done (typically 1-3PM, depending on their turn-out).
 
There are literally less than a handful of ROs that are "badge heavy" and think they are cops on the range. There is a posted schedule with names in the new building . . . if you run into one of these a-holes, take note of the name and make sure that you don't show up on the outdoor ranges during their shift! That is what I do. A few times I've just shot indoors instead to avoid a particular RO.


Badge Heavy most likely due to the fact that the RO's here have "RO Badges" that look like LE badges... making some think they are the law...

For the most part I have had great experience with the RO's. I think some can be tough due to the fact that when it is busy they are trying to keep people safe, and they want to preserve the club, as some of you who are members probably know, the club has been there for MANY YEARS! some short time ago someone came up with a brilliant idea to put condo's/apt around the club, some of which look down on the outdoor range, so I am sure they hate listening to gun fire all day, and will call anytime they get the need to, hence why all guns need to be cased from vehicle to range. The club does not want to have to keep dealing with this.
 
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I'm a member at BRP and have had a negative experience.

This morbidly obese RO screamed at me while I was putting my shotgun away. I think he was showing off for his wife who was wearing a Gino Cappelletti jersey, as this was before the AFC Championship a month or so ago.

I was letting my shotgun's barrel cool on the rack while I shot my rifle. The shotgun had an open action, pointed in safe direction, etc. After 15 minutes of it sitting behind me, on the rack, I bagged it and started walking to put it in my trunk 10 feet away. The asshat RO yelled at me "hey, you have to put your shotgun away on the table next time." I don't know if he realized it was racked for 15 minutes. I responded "ok, sorry about that." And he chimed in "next time I'll just take you badge number and lock you out." I haven't been back since.

Shortly before this his wife was fiddling with her coffee on the bench when the range was cold. I didn't say anything because I knew she wasn't going to touch the rifle.

Anyone know of a good club on the south shore?

Well, I wasn't there, so I'm not going to take a position on what you did or didn't do. But, I will share some info that might put the incident in a different light.

A few months ago, someone was putting their gun (CF rifle) in a case on the back bench of the rifle range. They THOUGHT the gun was unloaded but they negligently let off a round that went across the back of the rifle and pistol ranges, narrowly missing 2 ROs that apparently were standing on the middle range!!

So any RO that tells you to take the rifle to the bench and case it there with the muzzle pointed downrange might just want to prevent another "accident" before someone gets shot! The basic safety rules about always keep the muzzle pointed in a safe direction still apply even when casing a gun and there are frequently people standing in the other ranges that are at risk in a case like this.

And in a case where you believe that a RO is out of line, there is a mechanism for dealing with that . . . contact the CRO (who afternoons is usually in the new clubhouse or upstairs in his office/gunshop in the old clubhouse) and resolve the issue. Every company, club, org has a few people who can be difficult to deal with and letting them get to you to the point of quitting isn't always the best solution vs. dealing with the issue/person when that avenue is available to you. No guarantees that there won't be someone at the next club that gets out of line.
 
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