How far to drive to Gun Range?

Fsorrent

Fsorrent

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I'm looking for a place to shoot soon. I currently living in Medford now, but don't see a lot of clubs worth putting the effort into becoming a member of. I've looked at MRA, Danvers, Mystic, and Woburn sportsman...however, I kind of want to do Harvard Sportmen club seeings as it's probably the most popular. So the question:

How far would you guys drive to a gun range? Especially one that has everything you like?
 
I currently only drive 5 mins to MVGC but before I was going to Salisbury which is about 35 mins away. If you are like me you will really appreciate the convenience of a local club. I like the 24/7 access too. I would factor how many times a week/month you go too.
 
I drive 45 minutes to get to Taunton from Wareham, used do be 5 minutes when I lived in town. But the club, people and facilities are well worth the effort.
 
I drive about 20 minutes to Southboro, but I'm considering the 45 minutes to Harvard in addition since SRGC doesn't have action pistol. I'd only go to Harvard occasionally for action pistol, and spend most of my time/effort at SRGC. That extra 20 minutes each way limits how often I could go significantly.
 
My commute is a full 3 minutes. My club has everything I want/need except they have magazine, rapid fire, and .50bmg restrictions. To me it's worth it since they have;

100 yard rifle
200 yard rifle
50 yard pistol with turning targets
25 yard pistol
50 ft indoor pistol
1 trap field
1 wobble trap field
30 station 3D archery
archery range
100 dog friendly acres to walk around [pheasant stocked in season]
stocked trout pond

and many other benefits.
 
Moderator said:
My commute is a full 3 minutes. My club has everything I want/need except they have magazine, rapid fire, and .50bmg restrictions. To me it's worth it since they have;

100 yard rifle
200 yard rifle
50 yard pistol with turning targets
25 yard pistol
50 ft indoor pistol
1 trap field
1 wobble trap field
30 station 3D archery
archery range
100 dog friendly acres to walk around [pheasant stocked in season]
stocked trout pond

and many other benefits.
Click to expand...

What's up with the mag restrictions?

I'm a member of 2 clubs, both are within 5 minutes from my home. I shoot pistols at one, rifles at the other. Before I joined the rifle range, I drove about 40 minutes to AFS.
 
i go to MRA...takes <15 minutes. Next year I may join HSC, i think the improved facilities for action shooting and rifles are worth the 45 minute drive
 
Rick8325 said:
I currently only drive 5 mins to MVGC but before I was going to Salisbury which is about 35 mins away. If you are like me you will really appreciate the convenience of a local club. I like the 24/7 access too. I would factor how many times a week/month you go too.
Click to expand...

I live next door in Arlington and go to HSC frequently. Your worst part of the trip will be getting to Route 2; after that it is about 22 miles with only a couple of stoplights.
 
As a primary range, I think ~20 minutes would be tops, for me, assuming there was something useful inside that radius. If I wanted something special for a periodic trip (longer distances, etc), I could go up to an hour. There's enough ranges around that I don't see the need to travel very far. If I come across a need for something like a 500yd range, I'll branch out.
 
Fsorrent said:
How is MRA? I've heard mixed things about it. It is 15 min from my house.
Click to expand...

Good and bad.

Good:
Indoor 25yd range for pistols and rifles, 24/7 access
The outdoor 50ft pistol range and indoor 22LR range are decent too.

Bad:
100/200 yard rifle range is "single load" only...
 
I'm lucky. I can drive 15 minutes and be at about 10 clubs. I live 3 miles from Shirley and I also shoot at Harvard.
 
EddieCoyle said:
I'm lucky. I can drive 15 minutes and be at about 10 clubs. I live 3 miles from Shirley and I also shoot at Harvard.
Click to expand...
I'm lucky too. Living in Acton, it's a short ride to all three of my clubs, HSC, Nashoba and Concord. The price is right too since I get the senior discount at Harvard and free life membership at the other two. Jack.
 
If they have everything you want (or close to it) and you plan on spending several hours there then I would say a 45 minutes to an hour drive one way. I used to drive 45 minutes until the club slowly turned into Fudds. But I only went maybe once a month and with lots of toys. So I realized I prefered a shorter drive and more visits with specific shooting agenda rather than doing everything in one day. Where I live I have many choices of clubs about 20 minutes away.

I would suggest finding a club that has good pistol and rifle range options (i.e. more than 100yds rifle, no mag restrictions, allows rapid fire, allow drawing from holster, shoot multiple target, etc). Those specifically may not be what you are looking for now but your needs may change and the club probably won't. Obviously you want a safe environement but not overly restrictive. It is not fun and may not meet your training needs. Read the range rules and by-laws to get some idea.

Also many clubs have public days for Trap, skeet and sporting clays that can make up elswhere if your club lacks those disciplines. I have yet to see one with public time for pistol and rifle.

I belong to Westford Sportsmens Club and like it. It has everything I want except a 200yd + rifle range (which means finding a second club) and skeet which I go to Lowell Sportsmen on public days when I get that itch.

Good luck
 
i drive about 7 minutes to both of my clubs. sometimes i go to lawrence for trap to meet my BIL, that drive is about 45 min
 
I'm willing to drive an hour each way if the range is decent. Most of the ranges I use though are under 45 minutes from my house.

-Mike
 
I'd be willing to drive 45min to 1 hr if that meant the club I joined didn't have stupid fudd rules like mag restrictions,time shots and such.
 
Due to the little free time I have, a 20 minute drive was my limit. Once my kids grow up, that's another story.
 
RKG said:
I live next door in Arlington and go to HSC frequently. Your worst part of the trip will be getting to Route 2; after that it is about 22 miles with only a couple of stoplights.
Click to expand...

Same here. I've been making the 35-45 minute trek out to Harvard once or twice a week for the past month. I have a 15 minute walk to work (or a 4 minute bike ride), so I'm willing to spend the time in the car a few times a week for the range. But we've been house hunting in the Acton/Littleton area, so while I would be closer to HSC, my daily commute would be 45 minutes.
 
Fsorrent said:
How is MRA? I've heard mixed things about it. It is 15 min from my house.
Click to expand...

I live in medford, and go to MRA...it's less than 10 minutes away. I go at night, so I usually don't run into many people there. I haven't used the outdoor range yet, you have to qualify to use it, which kinda sucks. Other than that, I have no complaints.
 
cekim said:
That's not a gun range - it's an S&M boutique...

The answer to how far you should drive to get to a gun range is "until you get there..."

Check them out in person, the question will answer itself...
Click to expand...

I pay $125 a year, and look at what it offers. I'm not complaining.
 

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