How far will you drive to a good range?

[jlacy]

The place I have used to shoot is not available anymore.
It appears I will need to drive about 50 miles to get to a good range I can afford now. It will be a little over an hour each way. There is a closer range or 2 that would be fine for some things but I do not like there very strict rules of ammo type and they only have 25 and 100 yrds.

I was just wondering how far everyone is driving these days?

 

[Redbeard55]

How far will ou drive to a good range.

My range is right at 40 miles. 20 miles closer than my previous range. There are closer ranges, but none with the facilities offered by my previous range/gun club.

 

[highorder]

I drive about 1 hour to use a deserted, private range with steel poppers, paper target stands, and gongs @100 and 150 yards.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Local Choices

My local choices are one at three miles (indoors, in town) and one at twenty miles (outdoors, national forest).

I'm fine with driving to the outdoor range, as it's free to members, and membership < $100/year. The last ten miles of road is narrow, winding, and passes a lake and lots of pasture. I would drive farther if I had to.

I'd be okay with 35 or 40 miles.

 

[XD Fan]

I drive about 35-40 minutes. I do not mind the drive though. It is lovely and peaceful. However, it is worth noting that I got there a lot less when gas was close to $4.00 a gallon. There is a better range much closer. The problem is that the better one costs $400 to join and $200 a year to maintain membership. Too rich for my blood right now.

 

[Jim Watson]

I am a competitive shooter and am mostly interested in matches, practice, and load/gun development for same.

I am 8 miles from the local range for practice and club matches which run once a month.
I travel 135 miles each way twice a month,
68 miles each way twice a month,
and 75 miles each way once a month.
I make an occasional 58 mile trip to a private facility for testing at longer ranges than at the local club.
Health and weather permitting, of course.

 

[dcal]

jlacy, I don't suppose you are from NJ are you?

I recently decided most of my local choices are too crowded, too dangerous, and don't provide enough in range, lanes, or anything else for that matter. I've decided to go private and my choices are two at $300/year that are 50 minutes away, and one that's $40/year at 70 minutes away. I haven't made a final decision, but either is currently acceptable to me.

 

[franconialocal]

Short Drive

I drive about 10 min. to a guys sand/gravel pit. Been shooting there for years. He shut it down for about 2 years due to some vandalism but a dedicated few of us that get his permission every spring re-painted his shooting stand, cleaned up all the brass, straightened everything out for him. He lets us shoot whatever we want whenever we want. It's the best. Yeah, I guess I'm lucky to be so close, but that's the price you pay for living in the middle of absolutely F'N NOWHERE!!!! :banghead:

 

[gotime242]

I drive about an hour for a private, 100 yr range.

 

[nwilliams]

The only good range where I live is actually about 45 minutes away in Albuquerque. There is a small pistol range here in Santa Fe but I don't care for it nor do I care for the shop that runs it, you've probably seen it if you saw No Country For Old Men. The indoor range in Albuquerque is pretty decent and you can shoot both rifle and handgun indoors. Of course there are plenty of good shooting spots around where I live and I don't have to pay anything to use them. However if I want an actually range then once in a while I'll make the make the one and a half hour round trip to Albuquerque.

 

[SilentStalker]

I usually drive about an hour to a nice police training range. It is outside and I can shoot pretty much anything I want. They also have nice facilities and an excellent staff. The way I figure it is that if I can pay all of this money for my weapons and ammo then I can afford the extra cash and time to drive to a good range.

 

[qajaq59]

Our county range, which is excellent, is 32 miles from the house. I generally go over twice a week.

 

[Triphammer]

The only real range around here is about 40 min away. Not too far when town is 30 min away & work is 35. It's on BLM & run by a couple local clubs. Costs $3.00 a day for adults ( under 16 shoot free) $20 or so a yr to join one of the clubs. I only get there once a year or so as there are several good shooting spots that I can shoot anything I want or from any position. The range has poured concrete tables that are absolutely the best way to shoot for group.

 

[michiganfan]

15 minutes pistol 35 minutes rifle

 

[Deanimator]

My pistol club is about twenty five minutes away on city streets. It's between ten and fifteen on the highway.

I used to drive an hour or so to shoot rifle at a 600 yard range. The guy I used to shoot with moved out of town. It's really a two man operation, so I stopped shooting rifle.

I won't shoot at the closest public indoor pistol range to me because it's dangerously unsupervised. The next closest isn't apparently open on Sundays when I'm typically free. I need to make time to shoot there because my regular range is 50' only, without target carriers. I'd like to occasionally shoot 7 yards.

 

[SeanSw]

I drive 60 minutes including the return trip for a members only 85 yard range with a single berm. I consider myself lucky to have one at all. It is a single shooter lane and I'm having to wait longer each trip for my turn at the range, only to be rushed out by someone else arriving next in line. It keeps me from shooting often and despite being a private range people still trash the place and blow down the target stands

 

[SilentStalker]

The biggest problem I have with any ranges around me is the fact that you pretty much have to have an offroad vehicle to get to them. I don't mind the drive.

 

[WardenWolf]

30 miles or so. Public outdoor range owned and operated by Arizona Game & Fish department. It's well-maintained and well worth the drive.

 

[Galen]

I regularly travel 8 Miles.

 

[Fractal X]

I drive 20 miles to the local outdoor range. They have a nice setup with steel silhouettes to 700yds (and paper out to 300yds) on the rifles side and a 100yd pistol range with a section of spinners out to 50yds and silhouettes all the way back to 100yds.

There is also a local indoor range but they're only 5 miles closer and they charge twice as much so I don't make it there very often.

 

[Pure Kustom]

My gun club range is 7 miles away. But I sometimes drive 70 to shoot with friends in the desert.

 

[steak-knife]

If I want to shoot out to 300 yards, I have to drive about 60 miles one way. However, this range has a real bathroom/running water, a deli (and if you insist on beef jerky or junk food, they have that too), a "pro-shop", and an over-hang on the firing line, so you don't get roasted in the summer.

The only thing that would make things better is to have some guy walk down range to change your target for you while you're sipping a cool ice tea.

 

[Geno]

Unfortunately, the family farm is 3 hours. The closest ranges, 45 minutes drive, are a mere 100 yards. I set zero at 300 yards for hunting. The ranges don't afford me much realistic practice. This year's hunt was the exception to this rule.

 

[BigBlock]

I will not, under any circumstances, be a patron of any range who makes me follow THEIR often ridiculous rules, including that ammo be purchased at the range. What fun is shooting paper anyway?

I drive about two hours out into the middle of the state forest just north of Timbuktu (seriously) and shoot whatever I want however I want for free. Yeah, it's a bit of a drive, but I don't have to pay range fees...