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Range/Club considerations for new guy

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cooker263

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Hey everyone,

I just received my LTC-A and my roommate is about a month or so away from receiving his. We've spent some time looking around for clubs around Boston (we live in Melrose) and realized that we have some general preferences, but we also could look for suggestions on other considerations. That being said, I figure it may be best to ask around for some feedback. Naturally, there may have to be some compromises, but here are some thoughts:


  1. I grew up on a dairy farm in upstate NY, so I'm used to shooting rifles in our woods/fields and have set up a few courses whenever I'm back home. That being said, I've never actually bothered to shoot at a club or range outside of my family's property so there may be some things that I haven't considered.
  2. I'd prefer to avoid places that are cliquey or require significant time/$$ requirements (lots of meetings, high fees, numerous/strict rules, volunteer time, etc.). I understand that there may be some requirements here or there, but I really just want a place where people are friendly and we'd feel welcome to come for an hour or two and then be on our way.
  3. An hour drive would be okay if necessary. I'd prefer to head north or west if it's a far drive. If there is something in NH and it's a bit farther, I could be open to the idea if it seems to be more along the lines of what I'm looking for.
  4. It would be great to find a place that allows visitors - say we have a pair of friends that we'd like to take out to the range to shoot. Obviously, safety is important, so I can see some restrictions with this.
  5. Other than having a nice 100 or 200 yard rifle range, I'm not sure how concerned we would be with facilities since we've never been members of a club/range. We're both in our mid-late 20s just looking for a place to shoot and that's really our main objective.

Any general thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
I'm curious to hear some of the recommendations from members, as I'm in a very similar boat. Grew up in Maine where the woods and family shooting spots were plentiful and clubs didn't feel like a necessity. I too just got my LTC-A and am realizing that I'd really like somewhere to shoot my first (and second and third) newly purchased gun(s) on a regular basis.
 
Leominster is about an hour away - come on out on a Sunday morning - everything's running then rifle-shotgun-pistol-mountainmen & you can get a nice "triple-bypass" breakfast for ~$5

www.lsa-ma.org
p.s. - Ice Derby 2/22 :)
 
Location is the most important consideration in my opinion. The club I belong too is not the perfect club for me, but I am there all the time because it is close to my house. As far $$ goes the expense of your gun club membership is the cheapest part of this sport. Most clubs are under 200 bucks a year. A lot of guys are members at more than one club.
 
Posters that are looking for advice - include your location and max travel distance. You will get better results.

If a Club sounds good, see if you can get a tour. Then check out a couple more.

Needs and wants change. When I joined SRGC, it was just for a place to go occasionally. Then my kids got bigger; one started crushing clays, so Trap was important. The other started Gallery pistol. So, being welcomed onto the Team as a 16-year-old was important. Fortunately, SRGC is a well-rounded, family friendly Club.
 
Narrowback said:
Location is the most important consideration in my opinion. The club I belong too is not the perfect club for me, but I am there all the time because it is close to my house. As far $$ goes the expense of your gun club membership is the cheapest part of this sport. Most clubs are under 200 bucks a year. A lot of guys are members at more than one club.
Click to expand...

I belong to two clubs - Wayland Rod & Gun and Harvard Sportsmen's. WRG is less than 5 minutes away. Harvard is about 35 minutes away. I haven't been to WRG in a couple years. I would rather go to Harvard and have my own action pit.

Location is just one consideration and may not be the most important one. YMMV.
 
Thanks for all of the replies. Appreciate the offers for checking out Leominster and Andover. Once work slows down in a couple weeks I'll probably look into checking them out.
 
In addition to facilities, check out the club culture and attitude.

If it is "anything legal and safe", give it a few points. If you pick up on the attitude of "I'm in charge here" time to look elsewhere. The worst example I sever saw was a board member at a club telling a member who had an unallowed guest "You had better think really carefully about what you say to me since all it takes is one word from me and you're out of the club". Real class,
 
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Rob Boudrie said:
The worst example I sever saw was a board member at a club telling a member who had an unallowed guest "You have better think really carefully about what you say to me since all it takes is one word from me and you're out of the club". Real class,
Click to expand...

Ugh.

Small man who suddenly has power for the first time in his life.
 
Rob Boudrie said:
In addition to facilities, check out the club culture and attitude.

If it is "anything legal and safe", give it a few points. If you pick up on the attitude of "I'm in charge here" time to look elsewhere. The worst example I sever saw was a board member at a club telling a member who had an unallowed guest "You have better think really carefully about what you say to me since all it takes is one word from me and you're out of the club". Real class,
Click to expand...

Good point. That is definitely something I'd like to avoid.
 
Rob Boudrie said:
In addition to facilities, check out the club culture and attitude.
Click to expand...

This is a good point. I've been checking out the forums here on NES for some of the clubs around me just to see what others think of them. Definitely different levels of "drama" from different club cultures. Though I understand that those forums only have a subset of the membership, but it gives a good view of who speaks for certain clubs.
 
MRA in Woburn is closer to you than Harvard. I only shoot at MRA on weekdays during normal business hours and I am usually the only one there. They have 100/200 but I shoot mostly at the outdoor 50 yard range and (like I said) rarely have to share the range
 
M1911 said:
I belong to two clubs - Wayland Rod & Gun and Harvard Sportsmen's. WRG is less than 5 minutes away. Harvard is about 35 minutes away. I haven't been to WRG in a couple years. I would rather go to Harvard and have my own action pit.

Location is just one consideration and may not be the most important one. YMMV.
Click to expand...

Not to hijack this thread, but I was interested in Wayland, but reading their rules and regulations put me off.
You have to sign in with the caliber that you will be shooting each time, only one caliber allowed, you need to have a range officer, etc etc etc.
I am more used to the much more open rules of MFS and another club I belong to, where I basically have the card key, go in and shoot, clean up and leave.
So that turned me off, even though it is only 10 minutes from where I work.

Are they really that strict, or am I misreading something ?
 
Rob Boudrie said:
In addition to facilities, check out the club culture and attitude.

If it is "anything legal and safe", give it a few points. If you pick up on the attitude of "I'm in charge here" time to look elsewhere. The worst example I sever saw was a board member at a club telling a member who had an unallowed guest "You have better think really carefully about what you say to me since all it takes is one word from me and you're out of the club". Real class,
Click to expand...

Yeah that can always be an issue. I had one member, probably 85 years old come to me, chat for a while and "suggest" that I pick up the 45 cartridges that were all over the outdoor range while I am picking up my 9mm and left.
Although I was a bit miffed, I humored him and cleaned up all cartridges, more in the spirit of being a good member and cleaning up the range of my new club (which I love) than his imposition.
 
Robert1 said:
Not to hijack this thread, but I was interested in Wayland, but reading their rules and regulations put me off.
You have to sign in with the caliber that you will be shooting each time, only one caliber allowed, you need to have a range officer, etc etc etc.
I am more used to the much more open rules of MFS and another club I belong to, where I basically have the card key, go in and shoot, clean up and leave.
So that turned me off, even though it is only 10 minutes from where I work.

Are they really that strict, or am I misreading something ?
Click to expand...

You are misreading.

First, when you sign in, write down all the calibers you are going to shoot. While you are shooting, you are only shooting one gun at a time, so only have ammo for that gun out. It is an NRA safety rule to reduce the chance that you put the wrong caliber in your gun. And no one will harass you if you have multiple calibers of ammo out anyways.

Second, yes, there must always be a range officer. Before you can shoot at the club you have to take the club safety orientation. Once you have taken the safety orientation, you are now qualified to be a safety officer and the first person to sign in for the range is the safety officer.
 
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Maynard Rod and Gun Club

Maynard Rod and Gun- Low key, no pressure to do anything you don't want, and a bunch of regular guys. Families encouraged. Skeet, trap, 5 stand, indoor r/p, outdoor pistol, and 100 yd out door rifle. Archery and a trout pond too. Nice function facilities, a friendly lounge, and lots of dinners, events, etc. only if you want. I've been a member for 4 years, love it. Guests are encouraged- Open house is coming this spring if you want to check it out, or PM me and I'll show you around.
 
We looked at WRG as well since it is stupid close but were really put off by the rules and facilities so we joined Hopkinton even though its much more of a drive. I would love to have a range less than 5 minutes from home though.
 
Robert1 said:
Not to hijack this thread, but I was interested in Wayland, but reading their rules and regulations put me off.
You have to sign in with the caliber that you will be shooting each time, only one caliber allowed, you need to have a range officer, etc etc etc.
I am more used to the much more open rules of MFS and another club I belong to, where I basically have the card key, go in and shoot, clean up and leave.
So that turned me off, even though it is only 10 minutes from where I work.

Are they really that strict, or am I misreading something ?
Click to expand...

As M1911 pointed out, don't be so quick to write WRG off.
I was a member there when I lived in town.
The sign in process was very casual. Book at the front door to sign your name (you are the RO if it's only you) and caliber and off you go. Sign out as well.
The guy who lives in the house has let me use his guns on more than one occasion, without his supervision.
Small though, but unless something changed in the past 2 years joining was easy as well. Go to one meeting, meet people, they vote, you're good to go. No sponsorship hoobla..
 
Yes, there is. But this is membership renewal time. Every year some people won't renew. So I suspect that many (all?) on the wait list will be a member before long. As a result, I doubt the wait list is as long as you might think it is.

- - - Updated - - -

bigblue said:
We looked at WRG as well since it is stupid close but were really put off by the rules and facilities so we joined Hopkinton even though its much more of a drive.
Click to expand...

What didn't you like about the rules? It would be unfortunate if you were deterred by rules that you misinterpreted, as was Robert1.
 
We had the same misinterpretation, combined with the small facilities, that caused us to take a pass. It literally is 4 minutes from the house though so I will speak to the boss and see what she thinks about revisiting WRG.
 
bigblue said:
We had the same misinterpretation, combined with the small facilities, that caused us to take a pass. It literally is 4 minutes from the house though so I will speak to the boss and see what she thinks about revisiting WRG.
Click to expand...

The facilities are small. No argument there.
 
Some clubs require a club range officer to be present to shoot. That blows in my opinion. If you are ok with loading up the truck....driving all the way to the range for an exciting afternoon only to find out the old retired fart that was scheduled had a dr apt and is not there and the range is closed go ahead and join a club with that rule. If i were you id avoid a clun with that rule
 
This is ok imo. I just cant see joining a club that has the rules that the club approved rso has to be there. Some dont like that rule because they dont like being "watched". Thats not my reason. Its because i dont like getting to the club and having to wait or having it be closed......some clubs have very dedicated rsos that are there on time and work well to publish a schedule....but things change at a club over time and i dont want the headache of checking the website to plan when i can shoot I preder "1000 am to half hour after sunset" clubs
 
whacko said:
This is ok imo. I just cant see joining a club that has the rules that the club approved rso has to be there.
Click to expand...

Wayland Rod & Gun club does require that a club approved RSO be there. The key difference is that every club member is a club approved RSO.
 
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