Gun Club Memberships?

[captorquewrench]

Wondering if anyone has one.

A new one has just opened in town, I drive by it EVERY DAY. How convenient a shooting stop on the way home would be!

Anyway, their grand opening is this weekend. I think the bait and hook reps from S&W and Sig being on site, and you get to try what they have for free when you buy a box of ammo has jut about suckered me into having a look (I have been wanting to try an M&P 9mm anyway)

So I was wondering if any of you have gun club memberships and do you feel like you are getting a good value and is it worth your time and money?

Their VIP membership looks like it rivals the poshest of country clubs in some ways...

 

[Prof_Fate]

I guess it depends on the type of 'club' it is...

Here all the clubs are non-profit 'clubs' - real 'clubs', not 'businesses' or 'shooting ranges'.
Memberships run $15/yr to $100/yr, and almost all have an initiation fee.
Each club has it's 'main' thing, call it culture perhaps.
The last club I belonged to had a strong archery group that could care less about anything else in the club. A big group was involved in pistol silhouette. There was a small indoor PPC group and an even smaller trap group.

A club my neighbor belongs too is very hunting oriented - very little shooting at their club.

A club i go to for IDPA is really big on trap, sporting clays and skeet - they have no-cost jr leagues for kids, tons of beutiful facilities for shotgunning. They also have some rifle and pistol folks too.

My club is a 'shooting' club - we have leagues for trap, PPC, jr rifle (that goes to camp perry every summer), monthly 'groundhog' shoots (rifle competitions). A few of us are trying to get some CMP matches going. We have monthly IDPA. Used to have a bullseye league but that's died out.

I like shooting in competitions so I like my club - lots of options and events. $100 a year is I think pretty cheap for what I get.

But like belonging to ANY organization - you only get out of it what you put into it. If you join and never go you wasted your money. If you go twice a week, make friends, join leagues, etc then it's cheap at whatever it cost.

 

[Cyrano]

I belong to the Ft Bliss Rod & GunClub: $75 per year for retired military. They have about 10 ranges; everything from hunting clays through pratical pistol to 1000 yd rifle. I get a lot of use from the pistol and rifle (not 1000 yd) ranges.

 

[bloo]

The club I belong to is mostly a shotgun club. Trap and skeet dominate but we do have a rifle range that is getting more use every year. Dues are $30 a year with 30 work hours. I don't shoot trap or skeet. Our rifle range has 25 50 100 200 yard berms with a covered shooting platform with benches. We had two indoor ranges in the area that were owned or run by shooting clubs. One was located in the basement of a middle school. Anti gunners got that shut down. The other was a real nice range located in the basement of a city owned building in a near by town. They had a major flood that filled the basement to the ceiling and did a lot of damage to the building. The city demolished the building rather than repair it. Now the closest indoor range is in a sports shop 50 miles away. They charge $11.00 per hour.

Ted

 

[Engineer1911]

I bought an annual $200 membership to an indoor range. After that the only expense was a $1 target. I picked up about $2,000 worth of empty brass in a year, 1,500 44 mag cases, 15 gallons of 45 acp, plus 38 spl & 357 mag. One month after I bought the membership I was laid off. Do the job search thing in the morning, shoot from noon to 5 PM, reload after supper. Life was tough.

 

[snowman]

Hi, Wrench. I belong to one in order to have a safe place to shoot. It costs $35 per year. The only requirement of a member is to work at one of the meetings when your name comes up alphabetically. With our present membership total, this means that I have to work at one meeting roughly every 1-1/2 years. So I get to shoot as often as I want, for as long as I want, whenever I want, for $35 a year and the expenditure of around an hour and a half every 18 months -not bad at all in my book.

You don't need to be told this, but just find out all the requirements, rules, costs, etc., etc., etc. beforehand, and you'll know whether or not it would be worth it.

Best wishes with your decision,
Andy

 

[bp231986]

Too much money that i dont have. last time i checked they were wanting 300 for a year. I could almost get a new M&P pistol for that price. Thanks but no thanks ill stick with going to the lake that has two shotgun ranges, one pistol and one rifle range all for free!
I go early in the week and early in the morning like at 0800 when am the only person there. Late in the week or early weekend to many stupids that dont practice safety what so ever.

 

[ladyT]

I'm a member of one club and will be joining a second here soon. One is an outdoor range and the other is an indoor range.

 

[carpriver]

I belong to a Sportsman's Club, it cost $35 a year and $2 to use the range. The Club is big into Sporting Clays and 5 stand trap and skeet. There is an outdoor pistol range for IPDA and Cowboy action leagues. a outdoor rifle 25, 50,75, 100 yds. There is a medalist league in the summer months There is an indoor pistol range and it is also used for archery one afternoon during the week. In the winter there is a 22 pistol league and a 22 rifle league both indoors. The range is open from 8am to 8pm daily. It is located about 15 miles from my house. Each member is given a key card to get in to the indoor range. Most of the time when I go to the club I am the only one shooting.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have a life membership to commercial range (25-30 Min from my house), the ownership has changed 2 or 3 times since I bought in abuot 30 years ago, the current owners have made the prices pretty steep. There is a 2nd comm. range 10 min from my house. This range has nice clean facilities and bills itself as "Lady Friendly" but is two 5 lane (50feet and 75 feet) very high priced ($14 an hour w/ $100 Yearly membership, $18 hr without) indoor ranges. I also have a Life membership to a Conservation Club that has a 25 yard pistol range a 50 and 100 yard outdoor rifle ranges, fishing, archery, trap and skeet. Most members are pretty good. It is 15 min from the house. Also a membership to a shooting club for $10 a year that is 75 min from the house in the middle of nowhere that I meet friends at, that I go to most of the time. We have to rebuild the the target areas once or twice a year, or it won't get done. Some ranges are run by control freaks others are uncontroled and unsafe, others are self controled and can be what you make them when you are on the range. Some ranges have costs that aren't money but are worth it, others are cheap but the price is too steep. Ivan

 

[Raider]

Capt

PM for you.

Charlie

 

[blujax01]

Luscious and I belong to the local indoor range. Two ranges w/6 stations each, one 50 feet and the other 75 feet. Totally automatic target deployment using electronic keypads and garage door opener type rails. A/C and excellent ventilation. Well lit, country club atmosphere. They don't mind a bit of range brass scrounging as long as you don't get greedy. Just a nice place to go.
Non-member fee is $21.95 per visit plus $9.95 for an additional person sharing a lane.
OR: $250 per year plus $50 for each additional person in your immediate family. Shoot free M-F and $10 on weekends. Members can bring a guest for free.
If we shoot once a month, we're money ahead of the pay-per-play fee. I shoot a lot more than that because, like you said, I can drop by on my way home from work and let off a little steam any time I feel like it. http://nasr.com/

 

[ordy]

The club I belong to costs $150 per year. For that I have access to five trap ranges, two skeet ranges, a five stand range, pistol range, small bore, large bore and black powder ranges and two archery ranges. There is a club house with a shop where you can get ammo, targets,etc. They also have a snack bar. All ranges are outdoors so I don't use the club in the coldest months. Still worth it in my opinion.

 

[Dominus_Lex]

I am a member of two clubs (one near our home and the other near our cottage), and both are worth the cost for what I get in range time. While neither is expensive, as shooting sports go (one is about $200 per year the other $50) the more expensive is simply a place to shoot, and I have never gotten into the "culture" of the membership (not that they are bad folks at all, we just don't fit in).

On the other hand, the less expensive club took to my son's first and then decided "dad" was ok as well. The members have provided more coaching in shooting clays to both boys then I could ever pay for via membership dues. By the age of 10 or so my wife was comfortable dropping the boys off for a night of clays, and the membership trusting the boys, was happy to have them. When either of my son's have a great hunting or fishing story the first folks they want to share it with are their friends at "The Club". My oldest who will graduate from H.S. this year has requested we have small party for him there as "this is where his best friends outside of school are".

For our family both are a good investment, but if you find the right place it can provide so much more.

 

[sheepdawg]

I'm a member of the Memphis Sport Shooting Association, the largest gun club in Tennessee. It's the best $240 I spend a year. Skeet, trap, cowboy, you name it we got it. Me and Mrs. Sheepdog love to take one of my Mausers out on the weekend to see what we can do or go to one of the pistol ranges with my assortment of handguns. Well worth the money and the other members make it even better.

 

[bgrafsr]

I feel that I'm very fortunate, as I belong to 4 clubs:

One is strictly muzzle loading and has been in existence so long that the local indians would come to shoot there way back when. It is the Canal Fulton Muzzleloaders club.

Another is North Olmsted Sportsmens' Club, which has a trap field and a 50 foot indoor range. The club is right in a residential neighborhood, so to keep the neighbors happy, the trap field is only used every other Sunday afternoon. The indoor range will accomadate up tp 44. magnum, and their is a Jr. & Sr. rifle league for .22, PPC, IDPA, and some other shooting venues.

3rd one is West branch Rifle & Pistol Club with a 100 yard rifle range and a pistol range which goes to 50 yards. Lots of shooting venues there too.

Finally I belong to Middle Ridge Sportsmens' Club, which is for trap, sporting clays, and skeet.

I also shoot at a range called Tusco which has several ranges with one going out to 600 yards, which I never use. They have machine gun shoots, steel plate shoots, & plenty of other venues. I shoot steel silhouette with a single shot replica of a Sharps Model 1874. I've thought about joining it, but it is an hour and a half to 2 hour drive for me, so it's not worth it.

I shoot a lot and being retired helps.

 

[BearBio]

Ours is $75 a year, I think. Just went up. Covered and uncovered pistol bays, trap, skeet, 100, 600, 1000, and 200 yard rifle. Also, a SASS/CAS ghost town. Open to members and limited guests (guests have lower priority when crowded). Families included. Closed only when the adjacent race track is running (pistol always open). Various competitions regularly scheduled.

Only problem is that it is self-policed, so we get a lot of mall-ninjas and the "spray and pray" crowd. Sunday mornings are pretty quiet.

 

[Straightshooter2]

I used to belong to Gateway Rifle and Pistol Club in Jacksonville and it was well worth it with pistol ranges, multiple rifle ranges, archery range and all purpose range. They also had a daily membership but I went often enough that my yearly fee was a better deal than daily. There is a club about 40 miles away from me here in Atlanta but it's something like $300 a year and a $200 initiation fee the first year. My cousin's farm is about 20 miles farther and we have 200 acres plus a range set up there for free. The only drawback at my cousin's place is if the cows wander into the range area we have to stop shooting.

You might check and see during the Grand Opening if there is an initiation fee and if they are waiving it at that time.

CW

 

[1911a2bphil]

I dont belong to a club and doubt I ever will. I go to a DNR range thats 45 min from the house. Its free and usually not crowded. I dont know if all states have these or if we are just lucky in SC

 

[steamloco76]

I belong to three clubs with ranges. One is close to home, however it is more of a social club that happens to have a rifle range. Handguns are OK unless a rifle shooter is there, so I rarely go to that range. Cheap at $20 per year.

Club two has rifle, IHMSA pistol and .22 caliber IHMSA outdoor ranges, a sheet range that is currently un-used and a 5o foot indoor handgun/ .22 rifle range. $100 per year. Decent club except the outdoor ranges are all side-by side and bermless. All shooting stops every time anybody on any range needs to set a target. We also have trouble with the AR/AK crowd blowing away all the practice handgun silhouettes.

Club three is furthest from my house, but is my favorite outdoor place to shoot. Five separate 25 to 75 yard (max) pistol ranges with covered benches, a large 100/200 yard covered bench rifle range and a huge indoor archery range. Active IDPA, CMP and Cowboy shoots, plus indoor and outdoor archery leagues. $75 per year. Our biggest problem is sneaky members with tactical shotguns. These morons can't resist blasting every target holder to splinters. They've even shot up the props for Cowboy and IDPA shoots. Club tried cameras, but they were stolen within days.