safe public range recommendations in MA?

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Where are the public ranges you would recommend in MA? The sportsmen clubs around me are all "full" so wait-list only. Is Mass Firearms in Holliston still a decent place to go shoot for someone who's not affiliated with any club? Went there around ten years ago or right around the time they were building those extra lanes in the back and got sick of getting muzzle swept by n00b girls with loaded pistols with their bfs thinking range time was a fun date idea.
 
It either comes down to do you want Range Officers or Not? Even they can't stop idiots whos say, 'I got this, they're with me'. Newbs are newbs and your safety is your job.

Going off peak times is best. Friday night - Date night, not so much. Best of luck finding a range, that has a time that is safe enough for you to use. Matt [thumbsup]
 
Second the Club route. It will save $ (dues v, rental), and you will be better able to find a place that fits with your sensibility.

You mention MFS - if you're in the MetroWest area, I know that at least

www.southboroughrodandgun.com

is not full, and I've not heard that the other Clubs local to them are wait-listed. I could be wrong about the other Clubs, but SRGC is currently accepting apps.
 
From Sturbridge. Took my class at the rod and gun club there, really awesome place. Just wish I could be a part of it
 
My club was full for years. They're now taking new apps and rescheduling BoD meetings so new members can get in faster.

Just got to look around. A location and preferred travel distance would help us make recommendations, @G4Y4HK
 
From Sturbridge. Took my class at the rod and gun club there, really awesome place. Just wish I could be a part of it
MFS is likely your best bet until you can find a club, but it is a bit of a hike.
If you can break away both MFS and AFS are usually real slow during normal work hours.
Try to grab a lane on the end so you onlyhave to worry about friendly fire from one flank.
 
Come down to NC. Clubs are pretty rare. There's a public range a half hour away with covered shoot houses and outdoor targets. $20 and you can shoot all you want, rifles or pistols. there's a rimfire section with reactive targets for that, and the rifle range goes out to 500 yards. no club dues, meetings, or forced labor.

 
Come down to NC. Clubs are pretty rare. There's a public range a half hour away with covered shoot houses and outdoor targets. $20 and you can shoot all you want, rifles or pistols. there's a rimfire section with reactive targets for that, and the rifle range goes out to 500 yards. no club dues, meetings, or forced labor.

$20 every time you shoot? ... it would cost me at least $1040 per year. More than I pay for Westwood + Reading + Granby combined.

Why do gun clubs s*ck so much outside of New England? - When I was planning moving to FL it was similar, everything was a monthly payment or pay to shoot every time you go.

At least compared to most of the East Coast, we are spoiled in the North East.
 
$20 every time you shoot?

Why do gun clubs s*ck so much outside of New England? - When I was planning moving to FL it was similar, everything was a monthly payment or pay to shoot every time you go.

At least compared to most of the East Coast, we are spoiled in the North East.

Because people are skinflints. Geography doesn't help either.... States like FL are f***ing flat as hell (the highest point in florida is like 350 feet ASL) which basically means that ranges that aren't shit have to be built by trucking in dirt and making berms. They don't have lots of mountains and hills and glacial till piles to shoot into like we do (everywhere). In mass when land was cheap a bunch of guys could say "hey we can put a 100 yard range here and have hunting next to this pond etc etc". And all they
had to do was clear the land and maybe drain it, build target stands, done. In FL that would involve a huge excavation project.
 
Come down to NC. Clubs are pretty rare. There's a public range a half hour away with covered shoot houses and outdoor targets. $20 and you can shoot all you want, rifles or pistols. there's a rimfire section with reactive targets for that, and the rifle range goes out to 500 yards. no club dues, meetings, or forced labor.


I used to shoot at the pistol tange in the Uhwarrie all the time. Good times and rarely crowded.
 
Because people are skinflints. Geography doesn't help either.... States like FL are f***ing flat as hell (the highest point in florida is like 350 feet ASL) which basically means that ranges that aren't shit have to be built by trucking in dirt and making berms. They don't have lots of mountains and hills and glacial till piles to shoot into like we do (everywhere). In mass when land was cheap a bunch of guys could say "hey we can put a 100 yard range here and have hunting next to this pond etc etc". And all they
had to do was clear the land and maybe drain it, build target stands, done. In FL that would involve a huge excavation project.
Has nothing to do with being a skinflint. I have weeks I go 2 or 3 times to the range.

Before the primer shortage I was shooting Monday, Wednesday, Saturday.

It would be ridiculous to spend $3K just to be able to shoot. At that point I would just buy 5 acres next to a reserve and shoot in that direction. It would pay off in a year or two.

Your point of having to build the range makes sense.
 
From Sturbridge. Took my class at the rod and gun club there, really awesome place. Just wish I could be a part of it
Put your name on the Sturbridge waiting list while making Mass Firearms your temporary home...
 
OP I'm a member at Auburn Sportsmen's Club (ASC) not sure if they are accepting new members, but it's only be about 20 minutes or so from Sturbridge. Good club with a pistol and rifle range. They just installed a dedicated .22LR range as well. Never had any problems with being muzzle swept or other stupidity like that. Not sure if they require a sponsorship to become a member but if they do PM me.
 
Where are the public ranges you would recommend in MA? The sportsmen clubs around me are all "full" so wait-list only. Is Mass Firearms in Holliston still a decent place to go shoot for someone who's not affiliated with any club? Went there around ten years ago or right around the time they were building those extra lanes in the back and got sick of getting muzzle swept by n00b girls with loaded pistols with their bfs thinking range time was a fun date idea.
While I greatly prefer shooting outdoors, I still consider MFS a decent indoor place to shoot. AFS is similar and (I believe) a little cheaper if you are paying by the hour. It's the "luck of the draw" who you're going to be shooting next to. [thinking]

It's the 12-gauge shotguns right next to me that drive me crazy at MFS. I seem to draw them like flies to shit, often on both sides of me. I swear that the MFS staff gets a kick out of doing that to me. [banghead]

But such are the limitations of an indoor commercial range. It is what it is. Clubs have their downsides too... like the wait lists you mentioned, big initiation fees, untimely range closures for this or that and work requirements that are a 'no-go' for a dilapidated old fool like me.
 
I used to have a membership at the club in Shirley, but the travel time from greater Chicago is a bear.

During a cold range, when I was downrange changing targets, I heard the distinct sound of some idiot locking a mag and racking the action on his AK. While The Range Was COLD. Mall Ninja Idiots abound everywhere ... granted, maybe they are less prevalent at a private club, but there is no limit to the depth of stupidity within the human condition. My 2¢ ...
 
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Has nothing to do with being a skinflint. I have weeks I go 2 or 3 times to the range.

My point there was that those places don't have member private ranges because people don't want to pay things like membership dues for
clubs and that kind of thing. And the dues for a decent club having to be built in FL would likely not be small. So you have to herd all the cats to get one range built. Then they're like "f*** the skinflints, lets profit from them" etc. Think of what an HSC would cost to build in FL.

ETA: people like us that shoot 2-4 times or more a month are the "exception" most people flint hard (or don't have time) and will be lucky to get out a few times a year. I bet if i did a survey/poll here the results would be crazy.

FL is also has a climate that basically resembles a sweaty ballsack 6 months of the year. That probably drives pay range use.
 
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Springfield Sportsman Club it is in Monson MA. about 30 minuets down the Pike from Sturbridge MA. It has a 300yd. 100yd 4 pistol pits and trap a skeet and sporting clays fields. It also hosts Ipsc and ICOR matches every month during the non-winter season there are no indoor ranges though. Look it up on the internet to get info on membership.
 
Mass Firearms in Holliston still a decent place to go shoot
it is fine, gets crowded sometimes, some people here despise it, but, no one was shot yet at MFS.
work toward getting membership at some of the clubs with outdoor ranges, it is way better and doable.
 
$20 every time you shoot? ... it would cost me at least $1040 per year. More than I pay for Westwood + Reading + Granby combined.

Why do gun clubs s*ck so much outside of New England? - When I was planning moving to FL it was similar, everything was a monthly payment or pay to shoot every time you go.

At least compared to most of the East Coast, we are spoiled in the North East.

tbh, I spend way more time here on NES, and monitoring 2nd Amendment news from GOAL, Comm2A, NC equivalents, NRA, SAF, etc., than I actually do shooting my guns.

I carry every day. My home is well defended. I hunt occasionally. But I probably only go to the range five or six times a year. I have other 'hobbies' (boating/fishing/motorcycles, family/friends) that I actually find more interesting and engaging than just burning through ammo and calling it "training" for something. So for my use case, a paid public range works for me. They have rentals, and a pretty well-stocked pro shop. I've brought visitors and they had a good, safe time.
 
it is fine, gets crowded sometimes, some people here despise it, but, no one was shot yet at MFS.
work toward getting membership at some of the clubs with outdoor ranges, it is way better and doable.
 
Springfield Sportsman Club it is in Monson MA. about 30 minuets down the Pike from Sturbridge MA. It has a 300yd. 100yd 4 pistol pits and trap a skeet and sporting clays fields. It also hosts Ipsc and ICOR matches every month during the non-winter season there are no indoor ranges though. Look it up on the internet to get info on membership.
Just one problem: Membership is now closed. They say to try again next June (2022), but then they also talk about a waiting list being started sometime later this year. [thinking] I'll bet you could get in if you knew the right person or people. [kiss]
 
States like FL are f***ing flat as hell (the highest point in florida is like 350 feet ASL) which basically means that ranges that aren't shit have to be built by trucking in dirt and making berms. They don't have lots of mountains and hills and glacial till piles to shoot into like we do (everywhere).
Executive summary: Massachusetts is a target-rich environment.

FL is also has a climate that basically resembles a sweaty ballsack 6 months of the year.
Every time we come back from a cruise
where we've spent 2-3 days in Florida before setting sail,
The Bride sez, "we need to spend enough time there to get sick of it".

You may have just helped.
 
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