So how far is it?

[Ruger]

Warty came up with a good point . . . he mentioned that he didn't have enough gas to get to the Range.  I thought it would be a good topic.  How far is the range you like to frequent; summer, winter, leagues, etc.?

I have an outdoor range about 4 miles away, but you can't shoot any necked ammo there; so most of the rifles I like to shoot can not make the visit with me.  They only charge $5/hour, but you have to bring all your own target stands and other perifial toys if you easily get tired of watching the dirt jump. 

I also have a 110 yard pistol/rifle range out my back door; and yes I shoot all of my necked ammo toys there.   I sometimes forget that there are so many of us living within city limits, or have no property, to allow them to "take aim off the back porch".

I have visited friends near Washington DC.  We spent some time at their local indoor gun range, but we have had to wait as much as an hour to get a lane, and the gun range had all your typical gun range ninjas, geeks, and elephant guns that really makes the experience less fun for me.  Plus it cost ~$15/hr.  And don't go over!

I think it would be interesting to hear where y'all go to test out your toys.

[MR_22]

My closest range is about a mile away. it's free. It's open BLM land. There are better places to shoot within 5 miles away.

I rarely go to an indoor range. In fact, I've been to an indoor range probably less than 10 times total. I'm an outdoor shooter. When I was growing up on a small 35-acre farm in eastern Utah, I would often take a few steps outside and shoot the woodpile in my backyard. Or we would shoot up against the dam my dad built for our small irrigation pond.

During the summers when I was in high school, my friends and I would pack our gear and go camping in the foothills about 10 miles from my house and take our guns for 2 or 3 days of shooting. That was a lot of fun. I wish I could do that now, but I have a life.

[cbl51]

I've got a 22 mile drive. There's no real shooting rage in Georgetown Texas, but I joined the Best of the west shooting range in Liberty Hill Texas. Great open place with static pistol ranges, tactical bays, rifle ranges, and clay bird. Pay  a hundred a year and that gives us reduced range fees. I hate indoor ranges with a passion.

We go shooting at least once a week, and in cooler weather twice a week.

[ikoiko]

I've been to a range once. That was for my ccw. the rest of the time has been on farm land / woods.
Used to be able to shoot on the back of the property when it was township, but now that it's village, can't.

I do have pellet guns that I can shoot at home.

[Warthog]

It takes me 20 minutes to drive to the local range near me.  There is one closer but they have so many rules and classes you have to take to become a member, plus it costs a lot more, I go to the range I got to instead.  We have a new indoor range just down the street from me but it costs so much to shoot there I don't use it.  Besides, I like shooting outdoors.

[seak]

Free town owned range about a mile away and during winter indoor range at the cop shop for handguns half mile away.

[heyjoe]

why would they prohibit necked cartridges? even 357 sig?

there are a lot of ranges here...the closest indoor about a mile and the nicest outdoor about 16 miles.

[Ruger]

why would they prohibit necked cartridges? even 357 sig?. . . . . . . . .

Yup.  Even the 7.62x25 Tokarev pistol ammo.  They have a sign that just says "NO NECKED AMMO ALLOWED ON RANGE".  I would think that at the time they hung it, the owner meant rifle rounds, but range safety people aren't always on top of things.  "No necked ammo means no necked ammo".  Rules is Rules.

[Canoeal]

20 minutes to the indoor range, and while there are two outdoor ranges nearby they are not really set up for handguns. Mostly the AR crowd...

[MR_22]

Yup.  Even the 7.62x25 Tokarev pistol ammo.  They have a sign that just says "NO NECKED AMMO ALLOWED ON RANGE".  I would think that at the time they hung it, the owner meant rifle rounds, but range safety people aren't always on top of things.  "No necked ammo means no necked ammo".  Rules is Rules.

Even .17HMR? .25NAA? .32NAA? A .44-Magnum would have more force than those. Heck, even a .357-Magnum would.

[Warthog]

Well the place that is closer to me requires a class to be considered first.  Then if you are awarded the membership, after you pay the $100/year fee, you take another class, and you must be able to make it or you start over again.  If you do all of that then you are in but don't be late with your fee the next year, even a day, or you go back and do it all again.  No exceptions unless you are one of the special guys who know the owners, then you can be as late as you want and there are no classes.

The place is poorly laid out too.  In order to shoot a handgun, you must get the rifle range to hold fire.  Then you drive out to the handgun range and hope no one shoots you.  The handgun ranges are all down range from the rifle range and have a berm built around them which is supposed to block the rifle rounds.  To get back out, you have to wave your hands and yell to get the rifle folks to hold their fire.  The reality though is they aren't really well made so rifle bullets get into the handgun ranges all the time but for the most part only hurt the vehicles.  No damages can be paid for by anyone other than the owner of the vehicle damaged because you have to sign a waiver saying you take full responsibility.

THIS is why I would rather drive twenty minutes than be able to go to the range that is about two minutes from my home.  The nearer range is ridiculously popular though.  The range I use only ever gets really busy on the weekends which is why I usually go during the week.  My range is the one the police in my area use as well as the military base which tends to train at my range.  That is the only time I have to use the range that is for everyone/everyday.  The range in the valley though is nicer so when I go it is what I usually use.  As long as the police or military aren't using it, and it is on a schedule so you can check before you go, I use the one in the valley.

[Ruger]

. . . . . . Even .17HMR? .25NAA? .32NAA? A .44-Magnum would have more force than those. Heck, even a .357-Magnum would.

I don't think there is a test for being a business owner.  This particular range is just a backwater barn-like place that does sell new inventory, but most ammo is reloads.  It has a checker board near the front door, and a pot belly stove near the back to "hang around" if you are a regular.  It is nice enough, but the owner is the only counter guy and does push Glock a lot.  I don't visit there much, maybe twice a year, as there is a really nice mom & pop LGS just a few miles beyond; no range but good people and lots to choose from, great prices, too!  I consider that one MY LGS.

[OLD and GRUMPY]

30 miles but the 13 after the last house don't count They are part of the joy. Pistol line is 45 to 75 yards for everything (including Black powder cannon) except center fire rifle.  Rifle line is 50 to 200 yards. They have a 500 yard range they don't talk about.

New web page----   http://level6.burrocanyon.com/

Clay park is about 15 miles. $10  for a round of 25 includes range fee. Was used for the 84 Olympics . Full of old farts that look like me!

http://triplebclays.com/info-rates.php

There are others with more restrictions and high fees. Don't need that.

[Bj]

I setup a place to shoot into a dirt filled stack of 4x4's behind my barn, behond that is a Creek and woods still on my property.  I had to do CCW qualification indoors where I took the class, otherwise it is behind the barn.  Other housing is nearly a mile behond where I shoot, livestock more like a half mile.  And to think I don't get out there to shoot very much, busy with other stuff.

[David Culp]

I got my conceal carry so I could drive to the range without having  to follow all the gun transport rules. It's a few miles away. I just shoot  in my back yard now.

[smokeless joe]

I've got two lcs that have indoor ranges within about 5 miles of my home. Price is too steep for me to use them. I drive about 25 miles north and go to an outdoor range that costs me 28 bucks a year to use and I love it. I can stay there all day if I want. I'll usually go for an early breakfast then head up there on the bike. Makes for a good day. Breakfast. Bike. Boom.

[Bigbird48]

 Don'y ya mean BIKE- breakfast- BIKE-- BOOM!! BIKE 

I've got two lcs that have indoor ranges within about 5 miles of my home. Price is too steep for me to use them. I drive about 25 miles north and go to an outdoor range that costs me 28 bucks a year to use and I love it. I can stay there all day if I want. I'll usually go for an early breakfast then head up there on the bike. Makes for a good day. Breakfast. Bike. Boom.

[smokeless joe]

Don'y ya mean BIKE- breakfast- BIKE-- BOOM!! BIKE 

I've got two lcs that have indoor ranges within about 5 miles of my home. Price is too steep for me to use them. I drive about 25 miles north and go to an outdoor range that costs me 28 bucks a year to use and I love it. I can stay there all day if I want. I'll usually go for an early breakfast then head up there on the bike. Makes for a good day. Breakfast. Bike. Boom.

You nailed it BB

[Bigbird48]

I Can go about a mile up the road and shoot in the desert, but hey I have Ben Avery range about 25 mins away. Its one of the largest out door ranges in the country and it has everything. Pretty expensive tho $7 a day
Now you'll all be jealous it is an awesome range tho.
Facilities

    67-point covered main range and specialty ranges
    Five field archery ranges
    FITA range
    Clay Target Center
    99-site improved Campgrounds

Public ranges are available throughout the year with no reservations, including the clay target center. Specialty ranges are for user groups only.

Public Use Ranges – No reservations required

Main Range – This range is used by the general public for recreational shooting. It has 67 positions at distances from 5 yards to 200 yards. All types of firearms may be used with the exceptions of .416 Barrett Round, .50 BMG (Browning Machine Gun) Round, Tracer Rounds, and Armor Piercing Rounds. This range is restricted to public use only.

Clay Target Center – The Clay Target Center has the traditional games of trap and skeet, as well as sporting clays and five-stand. Visit the Clay Target Center page for more information, including hours and fees.

Range 1- Upper Hill Animal Range

This public range provides archers the opportunity to practice their hunting skills by shooting at animal silhouette targets at a variety of distances and angles. 14 burlap animal targets are set amid steep terrain with challenging shots of up to 60 yards.

Range 2- Lower Hill Animal Targets

This public range provides archers the opportunity to practice their hunting skills by shooting at animal silhouette targets at a variety of distances and angles. 14 burlap animal targets are set amid steep terrain, challenging shots of up to 80 yards.

Range 3- Field Range

This public range provides archers the opportunity to practice shooting at bulls-eye targets at fixed distances, with 14 targets and shots of up to 80 yards.

Range 4- Animal Range

This public range provides archers the opportunity to practice shooting at 14 burlap animal targets set within flatter terrain, with shots of up to 60 yards.

Range 5- Hunter Range

This public range provides archers the opportunity to practice their hunting skills by shooting at targets at fixed distances.

Range 6- Known Distance Practice

This public range provides opportunity for archers to practice at fixed distances from 15 to 60 yards. You will also find broadhead and crossbow targets here. This range has a covered area and lighted tables.

FITA/World Archery Practice Range

This public archery range is for FITA practice.

Specialty Ranges – User Group Agreement Required

Indoor Airgun/Archery – The indoor airgun and archery building is an air conditioned configurable building that can meet a variety of shooting needs. It has firing positions for 40 Air Guns OR 24 Archery OR 12 Air Gun and 24 Archery positions available. This building may also be reserved for large events or ceremonies. Note: Extra fees apply for use.

Smallbore Range – This range features lighting for night shooting and a covered concrete shooting pad with wooden shooting tables. This is primarily a rifle range, although pistols may be fired on this range with some restrictions. Target holders are located at 50 feet, 25, 50 and 100 yards, and 50 meters.

High Power Range – This range features shooting positions at 100, 200, 300, 500, 600, 800, 900 and 1,000 yards, and is used for competitive shooting as well as training purposes. .

Rifle Silhouette Range – A covered cement shooting pad featuring silhouette animals at varying distances, maximum of 500 meters, specifically designed for the rifle silhouette shooting discipline.

DPS – Uncovered 100 yard range with target holders available to use at 100 yard position only located at the backstop. The firing line can be backed up from the target holders to meet the distance needs of your event. Covered bleachers are available for shade.

Benchrest Range – This range has a maximum distance of 300 yards, and although it is designed for benchrest competitive shooting it can be used for other types of shooting disciplines approved by a Rangmaster.

Pistol Ranges 2,3,4 – Open 25-yard bays, with canopy, no tables and 15 target positions located at backstop only. Pistol only.

Practical Pistol Bays –

    6 available bays, A, B, C, D, E & F
    Bays A, B, C & D are 100 yards
    Bays E & F are 15 yards
    Bays C & D have cement pads, a canopy, wooden shooting tables and stools. Lights are available for night shooting on bays C & D.

Pistol Silhouette Range – A covered cement shooting pad featuring silhouette animals at varying distances out to 200 meters, specifically designed for the pistol silhouette shooting discipline.

Mounted Shooting Arena – Two enclosed riding areas for practicing the discipline of Cowboy Mounted Shooting.

Rifle Ranges 1 & 2 – This range features a covered concrete shooting pad with wooden shooting tables, stools, 15 shooting points with 50 meter, 50 and 100 yard target distances.

[OLD and GRUMPY]

Ya?   Well we got crazy people with home made golf ball and beer can CANNONS  !    And the deer walk the range during live fire.

And killer street tacos.

And I got this guy my range buddy. He is stone def .

[mrmurl]

I have my own range out to 300 yards.  It is on my farm outside of town about four miles.  There is a tall bluff that would require at least a 45 degree angle to shoot over.  I have a wood bench on a gravel pad and a tin roof over head for shooting rifles to the 300 yard target.  Can drive my truck to the targets or use the four wheeler.  I live in a small rural community and can shoot in my back yard with a little preparation and a watchful eye.  It is only out too the extreme about 100 yards.  Don't do much shooting in town, just to test out a gun or maybe practice a few rounds.  Don't want to make too much noise.  They might not like me quite as much if I got real noisy.  I also hunt on my farm, where I killed an eight point buck on Saturday.  Opening day of Missouri deer season.  Has the ugliest rack you ever saw and was crippled.  Neighbor told me that he had seen that deer last fall at his place.  Got him out of the gene pool and also made sure he suffered no longer.  The right front leg was gone from the knee down and looked like it had been surgically removed.   

[RogueTS1]

Private Club .................... annual fee but nothing more to use after that.

Farm .................. no cost, just watch for the cattle.

Near Future ................. something beyond compare; hopefully.   

[tocsn40]

Well I'm bumed. You all seem to have great places to go. It seems like dum ass around here won't pick up and place after place gate up and won't let shooting any more. No gun range any where close 76mil away. Mt. Is the go to place 20mil away.

[LHB]

Grew up on flat land farm, with 22s and shotguns, had to worry about livestock and neighbors houses.  When we moved to the Peoria area, 125 miles from the farm, couldn't find a place to shoot.  In 73 joined the Chillicothe Sportsmen's Club Inc. at that time 150-200 members in an old 50 acre gravel pit, with a 100 yd. rifle/pistol range and one mechanical trap.  The dues were $20. and ten work hours per year.  The club is a not for profit corp. owned by the members, with no employees, does not sell any thing, contracts out major jobs, and exists to give the members a place to shoot.  The club is 4 miles from my house, but only a mile out of Chillicothe.

Time pasted, membership grew, dues went up, now 1025 members, $125 per year, with 40X80 club house with a 50 ft. range in the basement, the enlarged 100 yd. range, 4 electric traps, a cowboy town, 10 pistol bays, a 75 yd. range, 100/200/300 yd. range, 30 acre archery range, and 80 acres of farm land between the club and the nearest houses.  There are plans for another 100 yd. range, 50 yd. range, and room for four more bays.

When I joined in 73, 90% of the members were vets, with the end of the draft that changed.  A lot of the younger members are now vets, but the middle aged people are not vets.  Several years ago problems started to develop with people shooting rocks on the ground, with bullet skip, handling guns with people down range, sweeping the line, etc.  The club started to require an orientation session for all new members, and for most of them, it is the first firearms safety training they have ever had.  After paying their dues, and the class, they get a gate key for 24/7 access to the grounds.

Due to our location, we have noise complaints, and live in fear of bullets leaving the grounds.  No 50 BMG. or cannons due to damage to the backstops, so centerfire before 7:00AM, or any shooting after 30 minutes after sundown (Hey, it's too dark to see), (except for official events like trap league under the lights) which is the end of legal hunting hours in Illinois.  The 12 point indoor range, which was state of the art in 1978, only has a 3/8 inch plate set on an angle, so only rimfire rifles, and no bottleneck or magnum handgun loads.

With no employees, the required 10 work hours, or pay $15 per hour, gets help to maintain the ranges, but we have problems convincing people that the board is not their mother, and they need to pick up their own trash.  So far we have got along with out having range officers, but if we are forced to go to range officers, either the hours will be greatly reduced, or the dues will go up.  Have been told that if we were closer to Chicago, and we have several members from there, the dues would be $500 per year.

[Dinadan]

For me it is twenty miles, thirty minutes to the range. However, I do not use the range much if it is just me and my minis. I prefer to make an outing with my kayak and shoot out in the woods. I still have to drive fifteen to twenty five miles when I do that.

[zburkett]

Back porch.

[linux_author]

my nearest range is indoor and across the street (highway, actually)... very nice place with friendly folks... there's also a scuba training pool inside, and outside a 2-acre impoundment for fly fishing classes

takes about 2 minutes to get there.. the next nearest range is about 10 minutes away - we live about 15 minutes from the beach

willie
on the sunny and warm Gulf of Mexico

[Ruger]

Back porch.

Perfect . . .

[To Old To Run]

I have two indoor ranges close to me, but have been holding off looking for an outdoor spot to replace the one I had to give up.
So I haven't been shooting in a long time, just don't care for the indoor ranges either.

[boone123]

Country road right of ways. Favorite spot, by a mostly dry creek bed with a dirt bank. Am two miles from an outside range full of wood ticks in the summer, so don;t use it much. Sometimes I drive down country roads like I am hunting, shooting whats there along the way. Cow pies work great. No clean up. Small rocks, dirt clods, and whatever else.
Awhile back I took my 13 year old grand daughter out  on a grass road, set up a cow bell type metal target and taught her hand gunning with a Colt Woodsman. She's in! When I am gone, I told her dad that the Woodsman and the target is her's.                 

[Ruger]

A few years ago I replaced my 20 year old backstop with the one shown below.  You can go back 110 yards; further if you don't mind being seen from the road.  The road behind the backstop is 1.75 miles away, with large grown trees in between, no buildings, sheds, creeks, etc.  The plywood in the front is replaceable.  I've done that twice now.  the steel plates make me feel more comfortable shooting the 5.56 & 7.62 stuff.

[Ruger]

A Few more . .

[Ruger]

and another . . .

[Ruger]

last one . . .

[Ruger]

Steel plates . . .