andrewP wrote:Welcome to the forum - it's been fun shooting with you this summer.
Regarding restrictive club policies, I think the ideal would be to join somewhere like Forest Lake that's got nice pistol bays and a pile of equipment so you could set up basically whatever you want for practice. After having shot a match up there a couple of weeks ago, I had a serious urge to ditch my BESA membership and join Forest Lake in order to get access to that stuff, even though it's about double the drive for me. Then I checked out their website and saw that the initiation fee is $526. Too rich for my blood. Does anybody know why that club is so expensive to join compared to others around the cities?
At Forest Lake, I believe you're actually buying a share of the club, which I believe has value(refundable/ resaleble) if you should choose to leave.
Only was there once , for PTC training, looks like a nice place.
As was mentioned, BeaverBrook, in East Bethel has some great pistol bays. I was a member there for several years until recently.
Another thought- I've never been there, and I'm not sure how far it is for you, but
Pine Island has a club very oriented in action pistol.
You definitely want a place that allows holster work, and doesn't get knotted up about 'shooting too fast'
When I shot action pistol, I had my own IPSC target stands,(made out of reject lumber for about $2/ each and my own targets. also used paper plates.
Most of the time I took my stands home with me, when I left them in the target shed, the uprights got shot up, but like I said, they were cheap to make