.... Find another range that is gun friendly.[/QUOTE
The fact that ranges exist that aren't gun friendly has all kinds of wrong written all over it...
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.... Find another range that is gun friendly.[/QUOTE
The fact that ranges exist that aren't gun friendly has all kinds of wrong written all over it...
My club Old Colony Sportsman's Club in Pembroke had the 5 round rule, but they changed it to 10 about 2 years ago, great club 200yard range, in the process of closing in the outdoor pistol range. No rapid fire though. Not a big deal for me, nobody has complained about double Taps. The indoor range needs work mostly ventilation issues. But they plan on doing it all over in the next few years. PM me if you want to check it out some time and shoot as my guest.
did they change the stupid "no jacketed ammo indoors" rule? I cant find anyone that sells non jacketed 9mm, so I cant shoot indoors.
Nope not until they redo the back stops. I don't shoot indoors anyway the ventilation sucks.
he last part is property damage. This is no judgement - I love running through rounds as much as the next guy. However, many people join a club, pay their dues and think that's enough. We have such a large club, (30 acres of everything under the sun) and our membership is so reasonable, ($75/100), that dues don't even scratch the surface. We are dependent on membership to volunteer their time to maintain the club - we have no paid employees. We build everything with sweat equity and the damage done by shitheads is pretty amazing. This and out of 350-members, we are lucky to get 5-15 to show up for a work party. The damage done by day to day shooting is expected and significant. The damage done by asshats hosing down the berm houses is maddening. It's either enforce some SOP's, or go to restricting the club for use during specific hours and under supervision. We enjoy our freedom to shoot when we want, so adhering to and enforcing a 'no dump policy' is not that hard to fathom...
www.leesportsmen.com
This.
I don't see a whole lot of people in this thread looking to actually do some work to change things. They just blame others for what they see as "stupid" rules with no clue as to why the rule may be in effect, or looking for ways to make things better. A "club" is only as good as it's members and how much work those members are willing to do.
Many of these clubs are managed the way that GOAL used to be run.... controlled by a "pulse dial crew" that keeps each other in power on BOD elections, etc. Trying to effect change at such a club is about as productive as pissing into the wind.
I agree with Mark's points but on the other hand I can't see the point of intentionally joining a club if the ruleset is not tolerable to you as a shooter, particularly given that most of the time there are a lot of other choices that might better suit your needs, so your membership dollars and/or volunteer time might be better spent elsewhere.
Some of these clubs have these rules as a perceived need of the club and in some cases it's genuine 110% fuddism. If you want to join a club with bad rules expecting to change them, you will need to know which it is going in. If it is the latter you are probably completely wasting your time. Many of these clubs are managed the way that GOAL used to be run.... controlled by a "pulse dial crew" that keeps each other in power on BOD elections, etc. Trying to effect change at such a club is about as productive as pissing into the wind. Some of these clubs have stupid rules "because they said so and those are the rules" not because "Well, people were ripping up the target dividers with full auto so we had to ban/limit it. " If you're intentionally going into a bad situation it is imperative to know the mindsets involved, otherwise you'll be wasting way more time (and membership dues) than you would otherwise.
-Mike
True, but it also depends on the leadership. I remember the orientation at a small club many years ago, where the director making the presentation was very proud of the fact that whenever a member asked that action shooting be permitted, the board reaction was to take an immediate and unanimous vote to turn down the request, and not listen to any details of the request.
IME the vast majority of range rules are put in place by board members that have never set foot on a range.
I think most of them would love to just shut down the ranges entirely, if they could figure out how to keep the revenue stream and enough people to continue to vote them in year after year.
Don't give them your money. Go to the place, sit down with "them" (there's usually a group of the fuddly-mcmuffins sitting around playing hearts) and say you were about to give them your money (place money on table), and then you remembered that you're a constitution loving american and recognize that the second amendment is not for hunting, but for shooting enemy's of the republic and preventing the rise of domestic tyrants(take money off of table). Proceed to walk out, giving them the finger, and whistling The Star Spangled Banner.
And that would be the whole board of directors of the club.I've found that there are two kinds of people at my gun club in CT. Those who I meet at the range, who tend to be universally friendly and helpful. And those I meet in the clubhouse/bar/restaurant, who I've found to be cantankerous know-it-alls who probably shoot 100 rounds per year.
Don
Personally I can't believe anyone would join a club like this. I would not join in hopes to change the rules thats dumb. We fight enough stupid stuff in ma, to fight against stupid rules at your own gun club is retarded.
I looked for a club with a range in the middle of a big locked gate property and not a lot of shooters to bother me or care wtf I was doing.
Those are the types of clubs that have a range, for the sole purpose of talking about shooting/ hunting. The ranges are to be used 1x per year per member, a max of 3 shots, enough to site in their gun for hunting season.
.
The other can be further away but must:
1) have a 200 yd min rifle range
2) allow steel shooting
3) allow MGs
4) have no restrictions on rate of fire or mag capacity.
5) optional would be an active IDPA/USPSA shooting community.
I'm pretty sure my second club is going to be Harvard Sportsmans.
mark, my club is basically similar to your club. we have just over 300 paid members. of that number we usually have less than 25 show up at the meetings. come elections for the club it is the same officers that usually end up getting voted back in (sometimes they end up in a different position but not very often). the club officers are also part of the board of directors for a total of 18 officers.whenever there is a club function or work party it is usually the same people (officers) that show up. i will say that a few other members show up to help out on occassion. most people just want to use the club when they have time and not be bothered with it when it comes time to help. we have a fairly large club consisting of just under 400 acres so there is plenty of things to do there including atvs and camping etc.However, many people join a club, pay their dues and think that's enough. We have such a large club, (30 acres of everything under the sun) and our membership is so reasonable, ($75/100), that dues don't even scratch the surface. We are dependent on membership to volunteer their time to maintain the club - we have no paid employees. We build everything with sweat equity and the damage done by shitheads is pretty amazing. This and out of 350-members, we are lucky to get 5-15 to show up for a work party. The damage done by day to day shooting is expected and significant. The damage done by asshats hosing down the berm houses is maddening. It's either enforce some SOP's, or go to restricting the club for use during specific hours and under supervision. We enjoy our freedom to shoot when we want, so adhering to and enforcing a 'no dump policy' is not that hard to fathom...
www.leesportsmen.com
I brought my deer gun down to the range and proceeded to put about 100 rounds through it over the course of a couple of hours. It was late summer, so there were a fair number of 5 shot per year deer hunter types there.
They were amazed that i would "waste" so much ammo "sighting in" my gun. The conversation went something like this:
Him - "wow, you must have something wrong with your scope, if you are taking that many shots to sight in"
Me - "I'm not sighting in, I'm just shooting."
Him - Why would you do that?
Me - because its fun, and I'm a new hunter and I want to be as good as I can. What I really need to practice is sitting still and being quiet, but this is more fun.
Him - after I retrieve my target - Well that doesn't work. Your shots are all low.
Me - but they're in a nice group. The gun is actually sighted for my expensive hunting ammo, which is hotter so it hits higher. These low hits are fine. I'm going to leave the scope sighted in for my hunting ammo, so this is good.
Him - but they're too low.
Of course what they don't know is that I specifically purchased my deer gun in .308 so that I could shoot cheap, readily available military surplus ammo and actually practice with my deer gun.
In contrast, my buddy with a 300 win mag pays about $2/round and hardly ever shoots it.
in my experience.. Most Fudds are not shooters at all. They have little to no appreciation of firearms and don't enjoy shooting..
but they may enjoy hunting.
apples and screwdrivers..
mark, my club is basically similar to your club. we have just over 300 paid members. of that number we usually have less than 25 show up at the meetings. come elections for the club it is the same officers that usually end up getting voted back in (sometimes they end up in a different position but not very often). the club officers are also part of the board of directors for a total of 18 officers.whenever there is a club function or work party it is usually the same people (officers) that show up. i will say that a few other members show up to help out on occassion. most people just want to use the club when they have time and not be bothered with it when it comes time to help. we have a fairly large club consisting of just under 400 acres so there is plenty of things to do there including atvs and camping etc.
Bob,
I'm new to MA, but it seems to me that because of the requirements by some towns/cities that you be a member of a club for them to issue a LTC, many of the metro boston clubs have THOUSANDS of members.
That keeps the dues low and allows them to buy/build what they want with plain old cash.
I have heard that Braintree Rifle and Pistol has about 3500 members. I've shot CMP style matches there and its always the same few guys there. Great group of guys, but they benefit greatly from the thousands of Boston LTC holders who pay them $100/yr and never set foot in the place.
Don