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Nicest Sportsmans Clubs in New England

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240Geezer

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Post your experience. Give your club a plug. I'm talking facilities not members.
Who's got the Taj mahal of clubs in New England?
 
MaxStravinsky said:
Have you been to Country Pond in Newton, NH? The restrooms are always spotless.
The whole place is very well cared for.
Click to expand...
I have not.
I ask because I was by Woburn the other day and was impressed by the archery stand and outdoor range stalls.
Just a quick peek from the clubhouse at the outdoor range to the left. Would like a tour just for S&G.
 
Read the rules completely before you join any club,.. MRA is great for 24 hour access and many range options,.. also club activities/matches. Harvard for action pits where you can run around your targets,..
 
MaxStravinsky said:
Have you been to Country Pond in Newton, NH? The restrooms are always spotless.
The whole place is very well cared for.
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm not a member but I've competed in many of their steel, 3-gun, and bowling pin events. They are very welcoming and have great facilities (including the facilities).
 
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As to "Best", there are different categories that cannot be directly compared:

1. Private "member run" clubs that are non-profits, elect the leadership, and are not beholding to "owners". Not even sure who "owns" an independent club without shareholders.

2. Commercial ranges like Mass Firearms School, American Firearms School that are independently owned, are the model is "vendor/customer". You are a "member" in the same sense that one is a member at Costco - you pay a fee for benefits, but have no voice (other than the ability to walk) in how the place is run.

3. Other - places like The Preserve - which is a huge business - hotel, home sales, spa, etc.

Direct comparison between the three is about as relevant as comparing the hit factors of iron sighted limited shooters in USPSA to Open Division shooters with compensators and optics on their guns.
 
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Rob Boudrie said:
As to "Best", there are different categories that cannot be directly compared:

1. Private "member run" clubs that are non-profits, elect the leadership, and are not beholding to "owners". Not even sure who "owns" and independent club without shareholders.

2. Commercial ranges like Mass Firearms School, American Firearms School that are independently owned, are the model is "vendor/customer". You are a "member" in the same sense that one is a member at Costco - you pay a fee for benefits, but have no voice (other than the ability to walk) in how the place is run.

3. Other - places like The Preserve - which is a huge business - hotel, home sales, spa, etc.

Direct comparison between the three is about as relevant as comparing the hit factors of iron sighted limited shooters in USPSA to Open Division shooters with compensators and optics on their guns.
Click to expand...
Best is also directly proportional to what you can afford. I don't know that we have many members here that can swing a membership at the preserve and are willing to go beat on their holland and holland on the clay stands.
 
I belong to Southborough Rod and Gun in Hopkinton. Been there for years and seen a lot of great upgrades. Great folks and events! Being a Life Member dues are optional.
 
If you are rating clubs based on restrooms and club house, you are doing it wrong.

Steel targets.
Freedom to use your own steel.
Dedicated shooting ranges where you can place your own targets. I will call this "pits".
More than 100 yards rifle.
No bullsh*t (unless you are being a complete idiot).

That is how I rate clubs.


Hopkinton gets an A for steel, 100 + 200 yard rifle (300 would be nicer, but can't have it all) shooting pits. On top of that they hold matches. I don't know if they give people sh*t at the range so I can't rate them.

Westwood gets an A for steel + no bullsh*t. They get a B for only 100 yard range and a C for being a total PITA to schedule time to qualify for the 300 yard range. Come on bois! ... when I Emailed them I was told "we will announce it in some news letter so keep reading them". Dude!

Granby gets an A for pits, A for Steel, A for long range.
But, Granby also gets an "F" because there is one a**hole range Nazi, he showed up there when I was there and yelled at everyone that was shooting at targets beyond 300 yards from the lower range (basically just me, LOL). This dude was a complete DBag. Tried to create his own rule that we couldn't shoot at the targets. When I questioned him he said "the rule doesn't exist, but we will change it".
He also wants to kick out the current president and make it harder to join the club.
I was hitting all the targets.
So f*ck him.
If he gets his way, Granby will be become one shitty a** club. It will be the long range equivalent of a Fudd club.

Reading gets an A for ranges. C for pits (but their ranfes are divided in such a way they are like half way there). F for Steel. A+ for long range and people being cool.
Only downside is how their shooting lanes are set up in the long range. If you want to shoot 300 and someome shows up at 600, you have 30min to finish, unless the other person is cool.
But qualification was good, theu weren't d*cks.
Haven't met a range Nazi in the 4 years I have been a member.

COPICUT gets an A all around. 300 yards, dedicated ranges, bring your own targets, bring your own steel. Although they don't provide steel, they make up for it by being super nice and having Steel Challenge matches.
 
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When I lived in Pepperell, MA I was a member of Townsend Rod and Gun. Below is from their site. I kinda miss the place but very happy here on the North Shore.

  • 100 yard rifle and 50 yard pistol ranges: Outdoor, covered ranges with 16 stations each, with a variety of metal targets are also available. These ranges are equipped with a down range warning system to coordinate shooters on safety.
  • Trap Range: With central trap house and manual clay pigeon trap pulls. We have seasonal trap shooting events on Sunday mornings and Thursday nights.
  • 80 yard outdoor archery range, 3D archery course and pro-shop cabin for repairs and tune-ups.
  • 20 yard Indoor archery and air rifle range. Great for winter practice.
  • Handmade log cabin on our primitive black powder range: We have scheduled black powder events every third Sunday of each month all year long.
  • Stocked trout pond and stream-fed bass pond: Fish one of our derbies and you’ll be hooked.
  • Onsite kitchen: Enjoy a hot meal from our kitchen crew during select events.
  • Over 300 acers of private land for hunting.
  • Miles of trails for: Walking dogs, mountain biking, horse back riding and off road vehicles.
  • A specific area for camping and fires.
 
Broc said:
Granby gets an A for pits, A for Steel, A for long range.
But, Granby also gets an "F" because there is one a**hole range Nazi, he showed up there when I was there and yelled at everyone that was shooting at targets beyond 300 yards from the lower range (basically just me, LOL). This dude was a complete DBag. Tried to create his own rule that we couldn't shoot at the targets. When I questioned him he said "the rule doesn't exist, but we will change it".
He also wants to kick out the current president and make it harder to join the club.
I was hitting all the targets.
So f*ck him.
If he gets his way, Granby will be become one shitty a** club. It will be the long range equivalent of a Fudd club.
Click to expand...
There was a component of the court case that could have restricted the use of the longer targets from the lower range so it probably was related to that. I know it hasn't been a long time that the whole rifle range has been open.
 
groundscrapers said:
There was a component of the court case that could have restricted the use of the longer targets from the lower range so it probably was related to that. I know it hasn't been a long time that the whole rifle range has been open.
Click to expand...
That wasn't mentioned.
There weren't any signs.
The website doesn't say anything. (Or at least it didn't at the time, I haven't checked aince then).
 
groundscrapers said:
coms were terrible during that time so none of that surprises me.
Click to expand...
It is not during that time.

If they don't want people shooting st the nice clear line of steel targets, just nail a sign to the lower range.

Or put it in glowing red letters on the website.

That is all.

As far as I know, there is no rule to not shoot at those targets and the guy was the worst range Nazi I have seen since I moved to the U.S 21 years ago. Worse than the Pembroke RO that told me I couldn't shoot more than 1 round every 2 seconds. LOL. At least that RO was polite. This dude parked his car and came out hot, swinging.
 
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