What does your club allow?

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MoAmmoPlease

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Just curious about the how, what and when's of your clubs....

Things like can you shoot 24/7 and use unjacketed ammo inside? Can you rapid fire a full magazine or are you limited to number of rounds and how fast you shoot them? Are there any caliber restrictions like no .50 BIG? If you own a full auto firearm can you shoot it? How early in the day can you start shooting outdoors. What about steel??

It's seems like we rip ourselves off at the range. We are restricting ourselves by adding more and more rules to the book and many of those rules have squat to do with safety. If you can dump 15 rounds without shooting holes in the roof you should be able to and if someone wants to shoot holes in everything they shouldn't they're going to regardless of what the rule book says.
 
MoAmmoPlease said:
It's seems like we rip ourselves off at the range. We are restricting ourselves by adding more and more rules to the book and many of those rules have squat to do with safety. If you can dump 15 rounds without shooting holes in the roof you should be able to and if someone wants to shoot holes in everything they shouldn't they're going to regardless of what the rule book says.
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This reeks of an 'out yourself or your club' thread. I agree that for the most part you should be able to do whatever you want, but the reality is that most clubs have those ridiculous rules because at some point someone did something astonishingly stupid, and that is why;

1. You can only fire one round every 5 seconds or whatever
2. The pistol range has steel sheets for a roof
3. You can only shoot certain kinds of ammo on certain ranges

One of my clubs has a basic policy of 'don't do anything that will get us shut down, y'all have fun now' and I have seen incredibly stupid people doing incredibly stupid things there.
 
This is why I still havent joined a club. It's either difficult to get into because you need a sponsor that's been there for over 2 years (and you need to know someone), it's too far away or the rules are not worth the $200 something bucks (initiation fee and membership fee) to decide after a year it isnt for you.

Then again, I live in Mass so that may be the root of my problem(s). I live right on the border of NH and have been really thinking about Stateline Club in North Hampton.
 
My experiences with 2 northshore clubs during the rise of Obama and the tidal wave of New Shooters. This is generic , and my opinion only , but

the men who grew up in these clubs, donate their time , become elected officials , policy makers and the unofficial Inner Circle of Deciders are of a different generation than their tidal wave of new members. And there is conflict.

The club officers deal with neighbors , police , newspapers , the worry that someone will shoot something or someone they should not. They would prefer the pistol ranges to be formal bullseye ranges. They want the rifle ranges to be half empty , with a few older gents setting up with a notebook , a spotting scope , a bin of hand loaded ammo with 6 loads marked and slightly different so they ca cook the perfect round for their antique falling block buffalo gun.

And the new members show up with AR15s , Glocks , magazines a that are perhaps not preban, and cases of Russian steel case ammo. They don't care about bullseye competition. They don't understand arbitrary rapid fire rules. They want to know why they can't practice what they are "learning" on YouTube.

These new members are concerned about getting better at shooting people. Zombies , UN peacekeepers , rioting FSA hordes , EOTWAWKI , civil war. ... And live action video game fun.

This disconnect has a guy with real concerns about future unrest and a desire to learn to protect himself and family learning about guns from old timers who think all rifles should never leave the table.

Modern shooters think they are silly Fudds , and old timers see new shooters with serious hardware and zero concept of how to act at a range , or safely handle their guns.

I'm still trying to find a club where everybody does exactly what I want them to do. With other people handling the day to day bullshit so I can show up and do what I want , among people who think I am really cool.

No luck yet.
 
At my club we shoot with giggle switches on, night vision/night shooting is allowed, 500 yd range and its open 7/24/365, no RO and fudds are not allowed, posted! We have great BBQ and beer along with quality music pumping at will. Women can shoot naked if they wish.
 
This wasn't intended to be a "Out" your club thread and the point of it was simple. I was just curious if there was any difference between clubs as far as what's considered safe and what's allowed.
It wasn't that long ago when machine gun shoots were an annual event and steel was no big deal. I love my club like Mom, the NRA and kittens and I sure don't want a job on the board. Far to much work for the glory received with little thanks.
 
I belong to a club with 2 outdoor ranges and a trap area. The rules are simple:

1) You can shoot from 8am to dusk Mon-Sat and noon to dusk on Sundays
2) Pick up after yourself
 
Hopkinton Sportsmens and Harvard Sportsmens are both clubs with an absence of silly rules and members who are pretty good about behaving in a safe and reasonable manner.

Funny thing - when we were making the transition from a "lead ammo under 1000fps" on the indoor range; 5 rounds max loaded; feel free to gripe about your restricted LTC but don't let us catch you carrying on club property; etc. sort of club to a less restrictive environment, it was the two old guys on the board who were most supportive of the changes.
 
I think the older and wiser members of a given club realize it could take just one serious accident to shut the club down for good. Especially in todays world, where lawyers are happy to sue the pants off of anyone they think might have a nice insurance policy.

A close call or two can get one to thinking about the "what ifs" and every what if leads to a new "safety rule"
 
I see the point of this thread. It would be great to know which clubs have arbitrary restrictions in place. I was considering joining Plymouth or the club in Marshfield, but found out they both have restrictive rules. Marshfield has a 6 round max load and no rapid fire on the outdoor range (didn't even bother checking anything else after that) and Plymouth has a 5 round max and no rapid fire.

[rofl]

Not a penny of my hard-earned cash will go to places like that. I am an NRA certified RSO and take safety and safe gun handling extremely seriously, and can shoot safely with full magazines and at a rapid pace. Not going to support outfits like that.
 
silversquirrel said:
I think the older and wiser members of a given club realize it could take just one serious accident to shut the club down for good. Especially in todays world, where lawyers are happy to sue the pants off of anyone they think might have a nice insurance policy.

A close call or two can get one to thinking about the "what ifs" and every what if leads to a new "safety rule"
Click to expand...

Sometimes rules are created "just because". The "max 5 round loaded" rule has its roots in NRA gallery shooting (no "need" for more). Hopkinton got rid of the 1000fps/lead only rule after the current president and I did some testing - spraypaint the backstop and hit it with a bunch of 1350fps FMJ loads - no damage. The "no loaded guns in the clubhouse" increased danger as people would stand by the entrance to the clubhouse with a loaded gun in their hands (in the process of unloading) rather than leaving it safely holstered.
 
Google a list of local clubs near you, check out their website and look at range rules and features, go visit and see how friendly the members are, go to the "CLUB" thread here on the website, make a decision, ..............Then have fun and enjoy yourself!
 
Rider said:
This reeks of an 'out yourself or your club' thread. I agree that for the most part you should be able to do whatever you want, but the reality is that most clubs have those ridiculous rules because at some point someone did something astonishingly stupid, and that is why;

1. You can only fire one round every 5 seconds or whatever
2. The pistol range has steel sheets for a roof
3. You can only shoot certain kinds of ammo on certain ranges

One of my clubs has a basic policy of 'don't do anything that will get us shut down, y'all have fun now' and I have seen incredibly stupid people doing incredibly stupid things there.
Click to expand...

I agree. I belong to a private club, and we don't have many rules, other than no center fire rifles on the indoor range. That being said, I get pretty pissed off that there are *******s that insist on shooting holes through the steel roofs on the outside ranges, shoot up the trash barrels, brass containers, etc., and leave their shot up, broken "target" materials all over the berm when they leave. I'm the furthest thing from a fudd, but I know damn well that stupid shit like that IS what forces clubs to enact new rules, so it really pisses me off to see that.
 
Terminator03 said:
I agree. I belong to a private club, and we don't have many rules, other than no center fire rifles on the indoor range. That being said, I get pretty pissed off that there are *******s that insist on shooting holes through the steel roofs on the outside ranges, shoot up the trash barrels, brass containers, etc., and leave their shot up, broken "target" materials all over the berm when they leave. I'm the furthest thing from a fudd, but I know damn well that stupid shit like that IS what forces clubs to enact new rules, so it really pisses me off to see that.
Click to expand...

IME, the people who do stupid shit neither know nor care what the rules are.
 
Emoto said:
IME, the people who do stupid shit neither know nor care what the rules are.
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Oh I know, my point was that the minority of that type, IS what screws it up for those of us that want to have fun, but still respect the autonomy that we currently have.
 
Terminator03 said:
Oh I know, my point was that the minority of that type, IS what screws it up for those of us that want to have fun, but still respect the autonomy that we currently have.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. The hard part is trying to persuade the people who think such a rule will fix things, that it will not.
 
I belong to Monadnock Rod & Gun.

Grenades aren't allowed, I think, and I'm pretty sure they frown on suitcase nukes.

Other than that it's pretty much anything goes.
 
Emoto said:
Gotcha. The hard part is trying to persuade the people who think such a rule will fix things, that it will not.
Click to expand...

I agree, and in the case of my club which is not staffed, the "rules" would definitely ONLY hamper the freedom of those who already follow the rules anyway! Hey, that sounds vaguely familiar to "gun control" legislation...
 
Terminator03 said:
I agree, and in the case of my club which is not staffed, the "rules" would definitely ONLY hamper the freedom of those who already follow the rules anyway! Hey, that sounds vaguely familiar to "gun control" legislation...
Click to expand...

Get active, learn the history of the rule, and work to change it!
 

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