Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

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Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby nathanielx on Mon Jul 11, 2016 10:04 am

I started shooting this January and immediately got into USPSA as soon as the outdoor club matches started. Id really like to get better practice in but I feel that the indoor range I go to is limiting my practice since I can't set up multiple targets and draw from holster. Id really like to find a club where I can do both so my practice sessions have more options. Do you guys have a recommendation of a club I can join to accomplish this? It would be a plus if the club would allow me to use their USPSA equipment.

I live in Richfield so most clubs seem to be ~1 hour away.
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby Sigfan220 on Mon Jul 11, 2016 4:46 pm

No club I know of borrows equipment. They have a hard enough time with theft and vandalism on less valuable items. I have factory 2nds every now and then. You wouldn't need much to practice.

Most clubs are going to be a drive from the inner city. If you want to save money gopher campfire is real nice. If you want something closer beaverbrook is good. There are clubs south of town but I am not too familiar with them. They would be worth looking into if it saves you time
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby andrewP on Mon Jul 11, 2016 6:07 pm

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?
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby xd ED on Mon Jul 11, 2016 9:10 pm

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
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby andrewP on Mon Jul 11, 2016 10:24 pm

xd ED wrote: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.


Pine Island is a BEAUTIFUL facility - I've been there for the MN USPSA section match the past two years, but it's about a 70 minute drive for me, assuming no traffic. It'd be closer for Nathan driving from Richfield, but still a fair distance for practice sessions.

Regarding Forest Lake, yeah, I saw that it was a share, but regardless of whether it's refundable when/if you decided to end your membership, it's a hefty up-front cost.
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby nathanielx on Tue Jul 12, 2016 8:29 am

Andrew! Great shooting with you as well.

Id have to agree that Forest Lake fee might be too much but I might attend a few matches there to see what its really like.

Thanks for the suggestions XD ED. I will have to do more research on Beaverbrook. I have been to a match at Pine Island and they bays are really nice. I think they may be one of my top choices.


I did have another question. How do bays work? Do people share the bay or do I get a bay all to myself? Is there a time limit if I get it to myself?
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby xd ED on Tue Jul 12, 2016 9:30 am

nathanielx wrote:Andrew! Great shooting with you as well.

Id have to agree that Forest Lake fee might be too much but I might attend a few matches there to see what its really like.

Thanks for the suggestions XD ED. I will have to do more research on Beaverbrook. I have been to a match at Pine Island and they bays are really nice. I think they may be one of my top choices.


I did have another question. How do bays work? Do people share the bay or do I get a bay all to myself? Is there a time limit if I get it to myself?


Interesting question
My schedule has allowed me range time when no one else is around, so I've never had a conflict; always had a bay to myself, for as long as I wanted. And quite frankly, I would not shoot when anyone else was in close proximity(same bay) doing the same thing.

As it's never been an issue, I don't recall seeing any rules, but myself, I didn't often spent more than an hour or so per session, and would cut that short if someone was waiting, and I had been there longest.

When I was a member, BeaverBrook had 3 bays, I think they've since expanded that to at least 6...
ETA: Looking at the website, there's an aerial photo of the new bays; the 3 original are the smaller seperate bays
http://www.beaverbrook.us/index.html
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby andrewP on Tue Jul 12, 2016 2:11 pm

nathanielx wrote:Id have to agree that Forest Lake fee might be too much but I might attend a few matches there to see what its really like.


Let me know via PM on here if you're going to go to a match up there and I might join you. If nothing else, they keep shooting matches for a few weeks after Oakdale ends, so I think I'll probably use that to extend my season. You'd be more than welcome to drive up to my place, put your gear in my car, and I could drive the rest of the way; that way you'd at least save some gas vs driving all the way yourself.

xd ED wrote:And quite frankly, I would not shoot when anyone else was in close proximity(same bay) doing the same thing.


I could see sharing a bay with someone you specifically wanted to practice with; it'd be nice to set up mini stages and drills to practice specific things and run the timer for each other, etc. I wouldn't do it with a random stranger, though.
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby xd ED on Tue Jul 12, 2016 2:29 pm

andrewP wrote:
I could see sharing a bay with someone you specifically wanted to practice with; it'd be nice to set up mini stages and drills to practice specific things and run the timer for each other, etc. I wouldn't do it with a random stranger, though.


Yeah, a mini - match; shooting sequentially- no problem. Fun and effective way to improve; (One of the reason I got away from organized action pistol is being the 1 of 30 - 50 shooters waiting to shoot; too much standing around for 40 sec of trigger time.) I just don't want to be shooting along side someone running' and gunning'.
Even though you could set up stages with the '180° rule', it would be a lot to keep track of with 2 shooters in 1 bay.
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby andrewP on Tue Jul 12, 2016 7:17 pm

For sure, xd ED. Multiple simultaneous shooters without a line and static targets to keep things under control is a recipe for disaster.
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby nathanielx on Wed Jul 13, 2016 9:39 am

xd ED wrote:
andrewP wrote:
I could see sharing a bay with someone you specifically wanted to practice with; it'd be nice to set up mini stages and drills to practice specific things and run the timer for each other, etc. I wouldn't do it with a random stranger, though.


Yeah, a mini - match; shooting sequentially- no problem. Fun and effective way to improve; (One of the reason I got away from organized action pistol is being the 1 of 30 - 50 shooters waiting to shoot; too much standing around for 40 sec of trigger time.) I just don't want to be shooting along side someone running' and gunning'.
Even though you could set up stages with the '180° rule', it would be a lot to keep track of with 2 shooters in 1 bay.


You should pick it back up again! The wait is actually not that bad for clubs ~1 hour away from the city. I think normally it would be 10 shooters waiting for their turn since there are multiple squads. Also, I do find the standing around helpful since you have the opportunity to watch better shooters take the stage on and learn from their planning process!
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Re: Looking for an outdoor shooting club.

Postby benny on Sun Jul 17, 2016 12:18 am

If your okay with the drive to Forest Lake you might want to check out Beaverbrook gun club in East Bethel, it is about the same distance out from Minneapolis as Forest Lake and it is only $170 for your first year. If you do the work credit it is $75 per year or if not it is $130 per year. There are now 8 or 9 bays for rifle/pistol and 10 100 yard benches for rifle , they don't supply equipment and your limited on holster work to slow draw and fire. You can set up your targets pretty much how you want so long as the bullets hit the back stop and not the ground. Steel can be shot if it is factory manufactured. rate, for your caliber and up against the berms .

If you want to check them out there are several new member tours on their calender with one being Sunday the 17 of July.

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