Wonder Bread
03-31-2008, 07:50 PM
In order to be able to shoot around here, I needed to find some sort of range or club to join. Since MA isn't very friendly to guns as-is, this proved to be a little bit of a tedious task. Anyways, in choosing a range, I decided on five major criteria.
(1) Facilities
What do they have to offer? Gun ranges: Pistol or rifle? How big? Indoor or outdoor? Do they have trap and archery facilities? Depending on your interests, you may want all of these, or maybe a couple of them. Also, how are the facilities maintained? This is not as important, but do you want to be shooting on a range with broken target frames or firing stalls that are falling apart?
(2) Availability
What are the hours of the range? Do they fit in your schedule? Are they reasonable? Do they require a range officer to be present in order to use the range? If so, is there always a range officer on duty during range hours?
(3) Rules
What kind of rules does the range have? This will probably be the deciding factor in most cases. What are the restrictions on calibers and targets? Is there a restriction on how many rounds you can have loaded? Do they allow NFA items or rapid firing? Are you required to police your brass? Can you bring guests?
(4) Location
Where is the range located? This is a minor factor, however personally I did not want to be commuting 30 minutes each way just to shoot if I didn’t have to. Is it in a residential area? If so, will this cause issues in the future?
(5) Cost
How much does it cost? Is there a yearly fee? Is there an entrance fee? Do you need to pay every time you want to shoot? Again, this is probably a minor factor, but money adds up quickly in this hobby.
Now that we have that covered, I’m going to discuss a bit about how I ended up with my range. There were two ranges I considered (Andover and Tewksbury), both within 15-20 minutes of me. Like I stated earlier, I didn’t want to drive much further.
Both ranges offer trap, outdoor pistol/rifle, indoor pistol, and archery. This is cool, because I will end up doing all of those at some point. Andover’s facilities are well maintained and look real nice. Their target frames are kept in great condition. Tewksbury on the other hand… lots of mud and dirt, the trap range looks run down as does the firing booth on the outdoor range. Their target stands are also shot to shit.
Here is where it gets messy. The Andover range is open for trap and outdoor rifles/pistols from 9am to ½ hour before sunset. They are open 24/7 for archery and indoor pistols. They do NOT require range officers. On the other hand… the Tewksbury rifle range is also open from 9am to ½ hour before sunset… except they are only open from 9am to 4pm on Fridays and Saturdays… and closed on Sundays. Their indoor range is also only open 9am to 10pm for pistols larger than .22s, and open 9am to midnight for .22s. This is already a huge problem since I will probably be doing most my shooting on Fridays and Sundays. Tewksbury also requires a range officer to be present, or the range is closed. There also apparently isn’t a schedule for range officers either – if there isn’t one there, you need to call one and have them come down. So now you’re balancing somewhat crappy hours with the fact that there is no guarantee the range will be open anyways.
Lets talk about the rules now. Andover is fairly lax. You can fire any caliber on the outdoor range, and anything up to .45 indoor (except magnum rounds). However, you are limited to five loaded rounds in the indoor range (however I was told this was pretty much ignored by all). Paper targets only indoors, outside you can use paper, cans, bottles, etc. as long as they are not glass, and no trap clays. The club also has a few steel targets. You must police your brass. Full auto and rapid firing is allowed. Tewksbury is the same, except you can only use paper targets on both ranges, no indoor loaded-mag limit, and there is NO full auto or rapid-fire.
Cost is fairly similar. Andover is $130 yearly, with a $200 entrance fee. Tewksbury is $100 yearly, with a $100 entrance fee. No other fees are required.
Here’s some overhead photos, courtesy of the folk at local.live.com.
Andover:
http://mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/andover/surroundings.jpg
Here is an overhead view of the club and its surroundings. As you can see, it’s damn near by itself, and only thing next to it is some sort of development that has a farm at the end.
http://mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/andover/club_trap_indoor_archery.jpg
Here you can see the archery range, the trap range, and the clubhouse/indoor range.
http://www.mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/andover/outdoor.jpg
This is the outdoor range. Notice the shooting booth, with the 50, 75 and 100 yard berms on the top, and the 25 yard berm on the bottom.
Tewksbury
http://www.mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/tewksbury/surroundings.jpg
The overhead view of the Tewksbury range. You can see it is in a fairly populated area, which isn’t a good thing. The outdoor ranges are also all the fuck in the back, accessed by a long and single lane dirt road (which played havoc on my van’s suspension).
http://www.mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/tewksbury/club_indoor.jpg
The clubhouse and the indoor firing range. The clearing above is the archery range, but I have no idea how it works so I didn’t get a shot of it.
http://www.mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/tewksbury/trap_outdoor.jpg
The trap and outdoor range. As you can see, both are fairly crappy looking and pale in comparison to what Andover has to offer.
Conclusion:
In the end, I went with the Andover club. Even though it is pricier, their facilities are much nicer looking and in better shape, and is much more available hours-wise (especially since they don’t require range officers) than the Tewksbury range.
I think I’ve included everything, but knowing me I probably forgot something. If you want anything added or saw something I left out, let me know.
(1) Facilities
What do they have to offer? Gun ranges: Pistol or rifle? How big? Indoor or outdoor? Do they have trap and archery facilities? Depending on your interests, you may want all of these, or maybe a couple of them. Also, how are the facilities maintained? This is not as important, but do you want to be shooting on a range with broken target frames or firing stalls that are falling apart?
(2) Availability
What are the hours of the range? Do they fit in your schedule? Are they reasonable? Do they require a range officer to be present in order to use the range? If so, is there always a range officer on duty during range hours?
(3) Rules
What kind of rules does the range have? This will probably be the deciding factor in most cases. What are the restrictions on calibers and targets? Is there a restriction on how many rounds you can have loaded? Do they allow NFA items or rapid firing? Are you required to police your brass? Can you bring guests?
(4) Location
Where is the range located? This is a minor factor, however personally I did not want to be commuting 30 minutes each way just to shoot if I didn’t have to. Is it in a residential area? If so, will this cause issues in the future?
(5) Cost
How much does it cost? Is there a yearly fee? Is there an entrance fee? Do you need to pay every time you want to shoot? Again, this is probably a minor factor, but money adds up quickly in this hobby.
Now that we have that covered, I’m going to discuss a bit about how I ended up with my range. There were two ranges I considered (Andover and Tewksbury), both within 15-20 minutes of me. Like I stated earlier, I didn’t want to drive much further.
Both ranges offer trap, outdoor pistol/rifle, indoor pistol, and archery. This is cool, because I will end up doing all of those at some point. Andover’s facilities are well maintained and look real nice. Their target frames are kept in great condition. Tewksbury on the other hand… lots of mud and dirt, the trap range looks run down as does the firing booth on the outdoor range. Their target stands are also shot to shit.
Here is where it gets messy. The Andover range is open for trap and outdoor rifles/pistols from 9am to ½ hour before sunset. They are open 24/7 for archery and indoor pistols. They do NOT require range officers. On the other hand… the Tewksbury rifle range is also open from 9am to ½ hour before sunset… except they are only open from 9am to 4pm on Fridays and Saturdays… and closed on Sundays. Their indoor range is also only open 9am to 10pm for pistols larger than .22s, and open 9am to midnight for .22s. This is already a huge problem since I will probably be doing most my shooting on Fridays and Sundays. Tewksbury also requires a range officer to be present, or the range is closed. There also apparently isn’t a schedule for range officers either – if there isn’t one there, you need to call one and have them come down. So now you’re balancing somewhat crappy hours with the fact that there is no guarantee the range will be open anyways.
Lets talk about the rules now. Andover is fairly lax. You can fire any caliber on the outdoor range, and anything up to .45 indoor (except magnum rounds). However, you are limited to five loaded rounds in the indoor range (however I was told this was pretty much ignored by all). Paper targets only indoors, outside you can use paper, cans, bottles, etc. as long as they are not glass, and no trap clays. The club also has a few steel targets. You must police your brass. Full auto and rapid firing is allowed. Tewksbury is the same, except you can only use paper targets on both ranges, no indoor loaded-mag limit, and there is NO full auto or rapid-fire.
Cost is fairly similar. Andover is $130 yearly, with a $200 entrance fee. Tewksbury is $100 yearly, with a $100 entrance fee. No other fees are required.
Here’s some overhead photos, courtesy of the folk at local.live.com.
Andover:
http://mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/andover/surroundings.jpg
Here is an overhead view of the club and its surroundings. As you can see, it’s damn near by itself, and only thing next to it is some sort of development that has a farm at the end.
http://mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/andover/club_trap_indoor_archery.jpg
Here you can see the archery range, the trap range, and the clubhouse/indoor range.
http://www.mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/andover/outdoor.jpg
This is the outdoor range. Notice the shooting booth, with the 50, 75 and 100 yard berms on the top, and the 25 yard berm on the bottom.
Tewksbury
http://www.mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/tewksbury/surroundings.jpg
The overhead view of the Tewksbury range. You can see it is in a fairly populated area, which isn’t a good thing. The outdoor ranges are also all the fuck in the back, accessed by a long and single lane dirt road (which played havoc on my van’s suspension).
http://www.mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/tewksbury/club_indoor.jpg
The clubhouse and the indoor firing range. The clearing above is the archery range, but I have no idea how it works so I didn’t get a shot of it.
http://www.mattlavoie.com/fileserve/tfr/ranges/tewksbury/trap_outdoor.jpg
The trap and outdoor range. As you can see, both are fairly crappy looking and pale in comparison to what Andover has to offer.
Conclusion:
In the end, I went with the Andover club. Even though it is pricier, their facilities are much nicer looking and in better shape, and is much more available hours-wise (especially since they don’t require range officers) than the Tewksbury range.
I think I’ve included everything, but knowing me I probably forgot something. If you want anything added or saw something I left out, let me know.