What are must haves for a good club?? Considering starting a club.

What are you're top priorities in a club

  • Rifle range

    Votes: 109 81.3%
  • Pistol range

    Votes: 107 79.9%
  • Action pit

    Votes: 65 48.5%
  • Archery

    Votes: 12 9.0%
  • Steel Range

    Votes: 73 54.5%
  • Clubhouse access

    Votes: 23 17.2%
  • Amenities (bbq,firepit,seating,hangout)

    Votes: 9 6.7%
  • Shotgun Range

    Votes: 27 20.1%
  • Scheduled events

    Votes: 13 9.7%

  • Total voters
    134
I'm probably pointing out the obvious that you've already considered but do you know what your fixed cost per year would be as a non-profit. This is assuming that the land is already paid for that the taxes are reasonable and the zoning allows this. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer here but I don't know how the financials would work anywhere in the Northeast where land is at such a premium and the tax rates are so high. 1 NIMBY of an abbutter or someone a mile away that punches a hole in their vinyl siding and says that it was one of your stray rounds that caused it will have you tied up in court for years and the legal fees will bankrupt the organization. The insurance costs alone would be prohibitive. Maybe somebody that's on an existing board could chime in and tell us what the insurance policy on the property, liability insurance and most of all insurance to indemnify anyone on the board of directors costs. Could you start off as a pistol club only on an indoor range build up some membership and interest and then build a rifle range on the property later?
I'm on an existing BoD already and am familiar with multiple clubs. I have all these things covered as far as insurance, abutters, zoning and permitted use etc

I'm more interested in features that attract people to clubs and what offerings are wanted and less interested at this point on the how to run it etc although I do appreciate all the posts from that angle.
 
Being able to use non-paper targets set up various distances (determined by the shooter).
If I want to shoot soda cans, I want to be able to shoot soda cans. If I want to shoot Twinkies or ChocoTacos, I want to be able to set up Twinkies and ChocoTacos.

That and accommodation for PCCs at pistol ranges.
If people picked up after themselves, sure. I used to shoot in gravel pits, the crap people left behind I'd never want on my land or have to deal with.
 
Small thing - but clubs that had hard limits on how many times you could bring a guest always bothered me.

Would not mind paying a small fee ($5?) every time I bring a guest. I usually leave a donation when I bring a guest anyway.
 
Being able to shoot whatever you want would be nice... too bad most people ruin it for everyone else by leaving their trash all around. And shooting food and leaving those scraps around invites varmints.
This is so true, some range areas I've been too it was hard to differentiate from a range or a dump.

Target stands getting blown apart is to be expected but having a designated area for them after they are destroyed would be helpful for the people that want to make an attempt at Cleaning up.after themselves, also splitting up trash duty to empty barrels that get filled up all would help.in keeping the range in better condition
 
1. Being able to wash lead and powder off your hands at the firing line
2. Having clean restrooms that don't smell like a Turkish prison
3. Ammo vending machine, because f-ck yeah
4. Shade / heating because depending of the season having it be boiling hot or freezing cold suuuuuuucks
5. A moat, no really think about it
 
If people picked up after themselves, sure. I used to shoot in gravel pits, the crap people left behind I'd never want on my land or have to deal with.

I do the same and it drives me crazy. I never see who the hell does it to shame them. In the afternoon when I show up I find some ass dragged a TV in, shot it up, left it. Various steel tanks, car hoods, you name it. We are always just 1 trespassing sign away from being shut out and the fools do not recognize it or don't care.
 
More land. A town that won't plotz when you open up. Neighbors that are far enough away to not complain. Double what you think you need for financing. Then, double it again. Oh, yeah.....more land, so that the neighbors that will encroach in the future will be far enough away, that they won't complain.

You don't say where you're located, or where you are planning on opening up, but if it's around here, a heated clubhouse of some sort is a must, at least for six months out of the year.

Whatever you build, will be wrong for a significant percentage of the people that want to use it, and will complain about it (but do nothing to help, or improve.

I find your ideas intriguing, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.




I'll say this, in all seriousness...my Club has been there 70+ years, and people that move into adjacent properties will call and ask when we're shutting down, because that's what the real estate agent told them. Good luck.
 
maybe have a tiered membership program.
Guys who have the time to donate 40 hours a year of free time pay $150
Guys who who don't have the free time pay $250
so, just to correct your math - 40 hours, at $25 per hour - as good luck getting skilled labor cheaper - my calculator says it is a $1000. is it still ok with you, at $150 + $1000?
i just really take offense at the assumption that a 40 hours of work costs $100.

and if it is envisioned as a small size membership club - there is no other way than to have enough volunteers to provide most required maintenance tasks.
 
Higher prices. We are a bunch of cheap asses. Imagine if a club could hire someone to keep watch and such. But we can’t because for most clubs, the cost just covers the cost to run the place. I was just thinking about this this am.
‘’I don’t have time to do a work party. But I’d be willing to pay an extra $200 a year to fund such things. A condo association doesn’t as people to fix the roof or mow the grass. They pay for it. Ditto dot club work. That way leadership doesn’t get pissed that “no one helps” and they don’t have to berate membership at meetings.
 
Higher prices. We are a bunch of cheap asses. Imagine if a club could hire someone to keep watch and such. But we can’t because for most clubs, the cost just covers the cost to run the place. I was just thinking about this this am.
‘’I don’t have time to do a work party. But I’d be willing to pay an extra $200 a year to fund such things. A condo association doesn’t as people to fix the roof or mow the grass. They pay for it. Ditto dot club work. That way leadership doesn’t get pissed that “no one helps” and they don’t have to berate membership at meetings.
I considered this. People will pay 10s of thousands of dollars to be members at golf clubs but guys with 10s of thousands of dollars in guns bitch about more then a couple hundred dollars to join a club.
The problem with that model to me is the amount of capital needed to build such a highend place that would command an insane amount of startup capital. Along with the fact there's no bragging rights belonging to the best gun club compared to the best country club.
 
Rifle range is too generic.
100yd range, those are a dime a dozen. A staple of nearly any club.
200 and 300yd, now you are standing out
600yd you may have something rare. in MA i only know of devens (possible closed perm to civilians), and i think north redding.
>600yd you have something special.

( i used MA as an example, i don't know where you are proposing this, and location may matter)
Granby, MA, Granby Bow & Gun, 1,000 yard range.
 
What I love about my club:
1. access anytime with no requirement to have safety officer there.
2. I can bring my own targets
3. it's not very busy I rarely see other members
4 cheap(125 a year)
what I dont like:
no alcohol and hookers allowed
 
so, just to correct your math - 40 hours, at $25 per hour - as good luck getting skilled labor cheaper - my calculator says it is a $1000. is it still ok with you, at $150 + $1000?
i just really take offense at the assumption that a 40 hours of work costs $100.

and if it is envisioned as a small size membership club - there is no other way than to have enough volunteers to provide most required maintenance tasks.
nevermind the dollar amounts I posted, they're arbitrary, I'm just floating the idea that people who don't have the time to volunteer should be given the option to pay extra
 
If people picked up after themselves, sure. I used to shoot in gravel pits, the crap people left behind I'd never want on my land or have to deal with.
totally agree. i leave it cleaner than i found it but, you're right, I won't be able to scavenge all the Twinkie juice.
 
issue usually is not with you wanting to shoot `em, but with you leaving them behind at the range in the anticipation for somebody else to clean it up.
not you personally, of course, but, it is the reality of why it gets forbidden.
plus potential injuries from ricochets, that leads to a blanket prohibition to bring on and use your own steel targets. as all people want freedoms, but most, once injured due to their own stupidity, really expect club insurance to cover their expenses. plus - 'why didn`t they warn me', etc.
yea, there's that too :( people suck!
 
no mandatory / required working hours. If I'm already a paying member, I shouldn't have to work for free to clean up or serve burgers
Clubs still have mandatory time?

The only club I belong to with working hours is Reading and they don't force us, we just pay a litte more every year.
 
It needs a bar. If there's no bar is it even a club?
This. I know a lot of folks poopoo on bars and guns, but the Watering Hole is where the Social Aspect of Gun Ownership takes root.
Waving and saying "Hi." to the guy 3 benches down don't cut it. We need to develop Social Skills and networking to beat our opponents, not just marksmanship.

The key to having a bar at a gun club is a very wise and very experienced gun-owning bartender who knows how to meter the drinking.
A little libation is a good thing. Our ancestors were given rum or whiskey as a ration while armed and remained quite capable.

Drunks have no place here. Just hard-working Americans who can handle a pop or two and not go off half-cocked.
If you want to get shitfaced, go to O'Mally's. Or better yet just stay home...
~Enbloc
 
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