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Advice on Shooting Clubs

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Advice on Shooting Clubs

Postby Beena » Sun Jul 15, 2018 10:32 pm

Hi there. I have recently decided to join a shooting club as I want to get into shooting small and large bore rifles. I visited a local club today and the facilities were good and the people seemed nice but it costs £25 for an all day pass for gallery shooting. I have looked at some other local clubs online and they are around £5 and below for range fees. When I phoned the original club up and queries the cost they said that most clubs are run as charities and work on a ticketing system where you have to wait for maybe 20 minutes to get a slot and then maybe only shoot for 10 minutes at a time. Is this correct? I am going to visit another club next week where the membership fees are similar but the range fees are £2 a pop rather than £25.
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Re: Advice on Shooting Clubs

Postby Lancs Lad » Mon Jul 16, 2018 6:18 am

Hi Beena;

I guess it depends where you are located and what type of club you initially approached. You indicate that at the first club the facilities were good but for £25 a pop I would certainly expect them to be.
Our club in the NW charges an annual membership fee of £60 and there are no range fees for using the club facilities (which are good). A small fee (£5) is payable when we attend Altcar for our outdoor shoots.
I would suggest you conduct an internet search of Home Office approved clubs in your area or alternatively, give an indication of where you live and ask the forum collective for their advice. Nothing beats first hand experience and the guys on the forum will be keen to assist.

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Re: Advice on Shooting Clubs

Postby Beena » Mon Jul 16, 2018 10:42 am

Thanks for the response Lancs Lad. Much appreciated.

I say the facilities were good - they weren’t stellar to be honest and I guess the biggest draw for me was that it’s literally five minutes from my house and the people there seemed like a nice bunch. As I’m very new to this I wasn’t aware of the costs of joining and shooting in these types of clubs, so I assumed they were all a similar price. Turns out that isn’t the case. For an annual membership of £160 plus the £25 a pop sessions it works out very expensive. I’ll have to see if other forum members have any experience of my local ranges.
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Re: Advice on Shooting Clubs

Postby flintlok » Mon Jul 16, 2018 1:25 pm

I'm in the US and I would expect to pay the prices they are charging you at a commercial range. Typically the range fees are $25 an hour. I prefer not to shoot on commercial ranges as the range distance is short and it's usually it has a cramped shooting line where everyone is close. Joining a gun club is much more cost efficient. Typically there are no range fees except for trap shooting. Those fees will cover the cost of the clays with a dollar or two as a service charge to maintain or upgrade the trap equipment. The annual gun club dues run anywhere from $100 to $200 a year to cover the operating expenses of the club. Running a gun club, even a non profit, is very much a business and the club officers operate it as that.
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Re: Advice on Shooting Clubs

Postby Beena » Mon Jul 16, 2018 2:36 pm

Thanks flintlok that’s some useful info there. I went and had a chat with the guy who runs it today and feel better about the cost. It is actually reasonably cheap considering it’s £25 for the full day (including loan of firearms) compared to the hourly rates I’ve been paying for Air Rifle ranges (£12/hr for a 24 metre range). Plus for the full day rate I can do clays as well as gallery shooting. The thing that really swings it for me is the guy who runs it, who is a really likeable and friendly fella.

I’m going to join on Saturday and start my journey into yet another expensive hobby :)
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Re: Advice on Shooting Clubs

Postby Coldfinger » Mon Jul 16, 2018 6:16 pm

In our club it's possible to shoot .22 rifle for less than £10 per week if you want to shoot every week, less if you don't. Club guns are available. You could shoot air rifle, .22 rifle or maybe both on the same night.

We have two firearms ranges, one is indoors the other is outdoors but they are 20 miles apart.

If it's busy you may have to wait for a go, if it's quiet you can shoot as long as you like. Later is better to avoid the early rush.

"Running a gun club, even a non profit, is very much a business and the club officers operate it as that" is correct but we are covering rates, rent, light etc, repairing the damage caused by all the bullets etc and we must have reserves for unexpected problems. Shooting isn't cheap but you can get by on a budget, it all depends on how many things you want to shoot and how often.
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Re: Advice on Shooting Clubs

Postby flintlok » Tue Jul 17, 2018 4:20 pm

Coldfinger wrote:......We have two firearms ranges, one is indoors the other is outdoors but they are 20 miles apart. ....


I belong to two ranges also, one of them 2.6 miles from my house and and the other 15 miles from my house. I'm a life member of the Tiverton Rod and Gun Club so I pay no dues at all, The other club, Copicut Rifle Association cost $50 dollars a year but members must maintain member in the NRA and a Massachusetts statewide pro gun lobby called Gun Owner's Action League (GOAL) at an additional expense of $65 a year or so. I'm a founding member of Copicut. There are several other are clubs within a 15 mile radius. I generally don't shoot at them other then in an occasional competition or as a guest. There is a local gun store within a mile of my home that features a 25 yard commercial indoor range. I can shoot there but there's no need to as it's expensive.

https://tivertongunclub.com/

http://www.copicutrifleassociation.org/
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