Will Do! Looking for campgrounds to tent for a few nights. Camp-n-Range sounds like a great weekend!!
1 Like
Nickerson state park in Orleans is pretty cool, if you want to fish while you camp, Bourne scenic park is right on the canal right under the sagamore bridge.
1 Like
Elite Shooting Sports in Manassas, VA. Very diverse staff and clientele, friendly. They allow you to draw from the holster and to move laterally within the lane which I use to “move off the dot” when reloading. It is also great that the 2 USCCA coaches I have used, make that their main training range. I would really like to move to an outdoor range to be able to practice more movement, but they are expensive clubs in my area. I do use dry fire to practice movement (I use Mike Ox dry fire cards as well as Mike Graham’s 30-10 pistol training guide.
1 Like
Oops it’s under the Bourne bridge. 
1 Like
How important is it to you Is the staff at the range?
Way to put me on the spot! I think the range definitely always needs at least 1 RSO. There is a range in our area that the RSOs act as a concierge service, if you need water or more ammo they will get it. I think that’s a really stupid idea. I won’t shoot at any range unless there are attentive RSOs. I mean sometimes at our club there might not be an RSO at noon on a Monday, and that’s alright, but our range isn’t public.
Oh geez! Better answer this correctly, you know where to find me. 
The staff is very important at a range. Public and private ranges. Private ranges, all members are staff members. Members tend to watch over the area because it’s ‘their’ range. If someone steps out of line it directly effects each member. Not all firearm related, but littering, cleaning brass, use of equipment, etc. Where as public ranges are exactly that, public. Who’s walking thru the door? And what are they going to do? It’s up to the outnumbered staff to monitor everyone walking in and everything going on.
RSO’s are very important of course. Attentive, present, approachable.
All staff should: have safety first and foremost. Be welcoming, friendly. Take pride in their range. Be knowledgeable and helpful.
The only problem I’ve had at ranges is…well, simply said,…being treated like a girl. To keep this short, one example, I’ve literally stepped on an RSO unaware he was so close behind me. The reasoning? Making sure I knew what I was doing slamming home a magazine. Not cool. I didn’t see you hold anyone else’s hand Mr RSO. The rest of that hour I felt so hovered over. It killed it for me. Treat your customers by experience. Ok, rant over.
2 Likes
I know what you mean, Kelly! I’ve had a similar experience. I actually went to a different range because of it. I haven’t gone to a new range in a very long time - I like the one by work 
I will say as I’ve RSO’d a few times. There are people who I will hover by because I’ve seen questionable behavior (barrels aimed anywhere but down range is a big one for me). I’ve also seen brass go down shirts and people forgetting there was a live gun in their hand with a finger on the trigger. 
But I never hover because the person is a girl.
Understandable! Again, treat by experience. It’s funny, I actually keep a book in my desk where I draw comics of the stupid things people say to me at the gun counter. 9/10 it’s gender related. 
funny to look back at them.
I was at a well-known sporting goods store gun counter watching an interaction between a man, a male salesperson and a the man’s wife/girlfriend. The two men kept trying to talk her into a specific gun that she was not comfortable holding and didn’t like.
I’ll admit it - I was a butt-in-ski and said if she doesn’t like it she won’t carry it. And then pointed out three other guns that would fit her hand better. She went with one of the guns I suggested. She turned to her husband/boyfried and said something along the lines of “See, I told you I have to like the gun.” It was hilarious. The sales guy wasn’t happy that I stepped in, but he got a sale out of it.
1 Like
I’ll stick to the farm for my range. Even with the occasional deputy showing up just to check things out. lol. They’ve always been nice and respectful, with a joke or two thrown in. My stepdad was out in the drive talking to a deputy one time, I walked out to join the conversation and the deputy stated that he was there for me. I threw my arms behind my back and stated “Alright lets get rollin, I don’t wanna mis the gourmet dinner”. We had a laugh and went on to talk about the plethora of firearms we were using. #BackTheBlue #America
3 Likes
You gave me a great idea for a new topic! Check it out @2A_American_Patriot: https://community.usconcealedcarry.com/t/backtheblue-whats-the-best-conversation-about-firearms-youve-had-with-a-police-officer/447
1 Like
These are the ones I use around my house and the OK Corral in Woodbury is a outdoor range for anything you have in your arsenal.
1 Like
@Dawn, On the staff: I have to feel comfortable there - that means I need to feel they’re keeping it safe, and that they are competent and knowledgeable, and they are approachable if I have a question. I want to not be treated “like I’m a girl” and I don’t want to be talked down to. That said, if I’m doing something wrong, particularly if it’s unsafe, I expect them to step up to address it.
On the facility: Needs to be adequate for what I’m training for. Indoor, outdoor, proper galleries, good berms, shade and windbreak, functional equipment. Aside from that, I particularly appreciate a place to sit, somewhat comfortably, and also clean bathrooms.
My favorite range: Is my farm. Not much in the way of modern equipment, but still my favorite.
On what makes a place not my favorite: When I was in So.Cal, a new range opened up… tons of hoohaw about it in advance, expensive, new, huge, well funded, lots of different distance setups, multiple indoor and outdoor ranges. I volunteered to teach at an NRA Women on Target event there and it was pretty spiffy.
(sideline, 14 instructors there at a woman’s event and I was the only woman teacher… 
)
Anyway, I thought I might become a member… $1000 to join plus a monthly fee 
… well, ok… it really WAS pretty nice. So I asked for paperwork to sign up. The “range rules” form you had to sign was ELEVEN PAGES LONG, mostly single spaced. 
YeahNOPE. You almost had me even with the $1000 entry ticket. But 11 pages of range rules? I just don’t think we’re the same kinda people. Pretty sure I’ll be violating SOMEthing in there and you’ll pitch me out. Who can even remember all that?
The bathrooms were really nice and super clean, though.
1 Like
11 pages?! That’s kinda crazy. No one can remember 11 pages of rules.
Btw- Bathrooms are a great indicator of a business. If the bathrooms are clean you can be sure they’re taking care of the rest of the building.
1 Like
Don’t have many choices. You’re either a member of the one formal gun club, or you go shoot in gravel pits on backroads. Our range is the Snowshoe Gun Club just outside of Kenai, AK. It has a nice clubhouse, a couple trap ranges, a couple clay ranges, a 1000-yard rifle range (with a heated indoor house on one side for winter shooting- you shoot out through window-sized doors on the downrange side), a black powder-only range, a 300-meter “black rifle” range, and 9 separate 25-yard pistol ranges (two of them with heated shoot houses for winter use). The range is members-only and you have to buy a key annually to get in. There is no range staff. When you want to shoot, you go unlock the gate and go in.
http://www.snowshoegunclub.com/
2 Likes
I am a member and my wife is an associate member (can not vote and only has to do 1/2 of the service hours) at the Oakdale Gun Club in Lake Elmo, MN.
OGC is an outdoor club.
We have 3 trap ranges, 210 yad (200 meter), 100 yard, 50 yard, 25 yard (with movable target targets so you can shot shorter), a competition range - mostly used for Bullseye and Olympic, and a 10/7 yard pistol range.
Membership dues are very reasonable since on weekends during the summer we do open up to non-members the trap, 210 yard, 100, 50, and the 25. Members can still use these ranges and the other member only range (the 10/7) but non members have priority unless you want to pay the non member rate for the day).
Members have to do 18 hours of service work a year in addition to the $125/year dues.
We also have a yearly picnic with games for the whole family.
1 Like
I like how your range requires service hours – that makes so much sense and helps everyone have a feeling of ownership and pride in the club.
1 Like