Yes, one of the ranges I belong to has a bar and also a kitchen that serves meals in the evening . Folks hang out and socialize after hitting the range or just stop in and have a drink and a meal . It brings in extra money that helps offset the costs .
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Gun Clubs Today: Is this a normal practice?
- Thread starter Strbrd22
- Start date
I can find a lot cheaper ranges to go to that don't require all this B.S. about forcing you to go do their work for them or some kind of co-op B.S. about how many hours you have to give them of your life.
Plenty of ranges around here, and good ones, more than happy to charge a fair, lowish price and do all the work and such.
Plenty of ranges around here, and good ones, more than happy to charge a fair, lowish price and do all the work and such.
$250 a year in New York, 3 sporting clays courses, 12 skeet/ trap fields, 8 pistol bays and rifle to 200 yds. Full licensed bar and kitchen.
Full time manager and about a dozen part time employees. About 1600 members.
Members are comped $80 a day for volunteering at events.
Great club.
Full time manager and about a dozen part time employees. About 1600 members.
Members are comped $80 a day for volunteering at events.
Great club.
$5,000 gets you what, exactly? Why become a member? Is it members only? Or is it also open to the public?
There's a club local to me that's members only. $170,000 to join. Then it's another $500-600 every month. Then you still pay for any clay you shoot, you pay to use the carts, etc. After something like 30 years you get your initial $170,000 back (supposedly). But after all those monthly dues, you've already spent another $180,000 and that initial $170,000 that gets returned to you is without interest. A 30-year $170,000 interest-free loan doesn't sound like a good idea, especially since 30 years of inflation means it's worth even less. Boggles my mind why anybody would agree to that just so they can hang out and smoke cigars in a half-empty shooting club.
I along with a few close friends volunteer in a variety of places (church, kids' school, Scouting), and something we see everywhere is that everyone is that people are kinda willing to write checks for modest sums of money but no one will give up their precious time. So what you get are the same few people doing everything, and then they burn themselves out in a few years and the whole organization suffers.
I support this range's policy.
We had INDOC/Safety upon joining my range. It happened to be a work day. Range officers and volunteers mowing, picking up trash and changing target boards at the 50/100/200…..I finished meeting and helped hang new plywood. A little effort goes a long way.
I sure as shit wouldn’t work kitchen or bar.
I sure as shit wouldn’t work kitchen or bar.
That $5000 buys you the privilege to pay monthly dues. Yes, the club is private, but they run a metric butt ton of NSCA shoots there. A non-member could shoot there 2 weekends per month just by shooting the matches. It was the “home range” for my son’s FFA shotgun team, when he was in highschool.
That said, my 4 years as a sporting clays dad taught me that- compared to the shotgun sports- PRS shooters are professional poors.
The range I go to is volunteer help. If you work a shoot you can shoot the next one free and after working several times your membership is refunded. Hours worked on work days go towards refunding the membership fee. Routine stuff like cleaning the bathrooms, cleaning up the indoor range, taking out the trash etc... is done by anyone and everyone. It's a club and there's a little bit of treating it as you would your own home as a club member. It's open to members 24/7/365.
There's an elected president and board that takes care of the paperwork and scheduling shoots
There's an elected president and board that takes care of the paperwork and scheduling shoots
They require five volunteer hours. Does it have to be you? $280/5=56. You stated you would pay $500 in annual dues to not have to do volunteer work, so 500-220 (your dues) = 280
280/5 hrs = 56
Could you find someone to take your place who would happily take $56/hr or less?
That way you save your limited time for what you choose to do. The range gets its volunteer hours and work done. And the person you pay, gets money he may actually really need.
280/5 hrs = 56
Could you find someone to take your place who would happily take $56/hr or less?
That way you save your limited time for what you choose to do. The range gets its volunteer hours and work done. And the person you pay, gets money he may actually really need.
It’s pretty normal to ask but typically not mandatory. Most of the ranges I’m a member of ask for help and if you show up 2x a year they’ll give you a discount. If you don’t show up, no biggie, they just charge you a fee at renewal time.
I hope it's a nice course then. $5K initiation is steep. Is it the only club in the area? And yes... clay sports are expensive as hell. I thought my custom bolt-action was expensive, especially with the TT glass. I never thought I'd drop more than that on a firearm but here I am with a Kolar and a plane ticket to Nationals...
- Nov 3, 2010
- 9,691
- 20,355
This is a dying attitude IMO. People don’t take care of stuff like it’s their own anymore.
There is between 720-744 hrs in a month, depending on the specific month. Yet, someone can't find 5, give me a fucking break. People that tell me they can't find time for this or that, are typically people I'd never even ask to do this or that, because they are full of shit.
5 hours is 300 minutes. If you spend 10 minutes on this shitter each day, you just spent 5 hours. Cut that down to 5 minutes and your halfway there.
Post made 10:16am, then monitored and last responded to at 12:48pm. I just found another 2 hours, and 32 minutes. Between the shitter and the hide, I just found your five hours. I get it........LIFE is rough!
5 hours is 300 minutes. If you spend 10 minutes on this shitter each day, you just spent 5 hours. Cut that down to 5 minutes and your halfway there.
Post made 10:16am, then monitored and last responded to at 12:48pm. I just found another 2 hours, and 32 minutes. Between the shitter and the hide, I just found your five hours. I get it........LIFE is rough!
Thata how our club is. You can either volunteer for 10 hours per year or you can pay more. Seems like it works well so folks with more time than money can make it work and those with more money than time can make it work. It can be pretty tough to find 5 hours on a Saturday (which is really the only option for dudes that work a lot) when you have to work in Sat some too. However, when you join a new place, I think it's highly advisable to do what you are supposed to do. I mean, if it's just one time in the first month I think it could be done. You have 4 Saturdays to volunteer once for 5 hrs. I understand, I work 60+ and coach ball (which means I don't shoot much right now anyway) but I'd think long and hard before I decided to not comply with the rules that everyone else is complying with when joining a new place.
While not exactly the same. The hunting lease I am a member of has a similar rule. Each member is required to do several hours of maintenance work on tree clearing or road maintenance. You can however buy yourself out of those chores at $100 per hour of required time. I usually just buy my way out since it is several hours away.
Five hours in the first month is just a little over an hour a week. Not a big tasking in the great scheme of things.
When I belonged to one we had a "work buy out". If you couldn't make your 12 hours of work during the year you could buy out for $300. If you were over 65 you were exempt. The buy outs paid for materials and the work guys fixed stuff up. It worked out and the club needed both to keep dues low. Now I just shoot on BLM and end up doing a bunch of work keeping the place cleaned up so it doesnt get shut down to rec shooting.
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Maybe. Maybe not. All the clubs near me are NOT near me. It's a 2-3 hour drive each way. So trekking 4-6 hours to volunteer 1 hour per week is not 1 hour per week, it's one day per week. That said... might as well just dedicate a whole day at the club and get it done at that point.
So, update on this: I showed up on Sunday with a buddy of mine (also a new member) for a work party IOT clear trees for a 50 yd extension to the range. Brought the saws and figured working on an extended range was something that made sense for me given my purpose for joining. I appreciate all the responses / guidance.
Showed up at 0800 (when we were told to at the meeting), nobody else showed up until 0900 haha. Turned out to be like 6 other old guys with saws (no other new members) and nobody in charge. I have a lot of experience sawing so I had to herd the cats and come up with a plan to not kill someone. One of the old guys, while cutting a sappling with his 24" bar, nearly severed his leg when his saw slipped, ripping his jeans on his inner thigh. Needless to say, I had seen enough. Logged my hours, and got the hell out of there. Five hours complete, never again volunteering (until things are better organized).
Showed up at 0800 (when we were told to at the meeting), nobody else showed up until 0900 haha. Turned out to be like 6 other old guys with saws (no other new members) and nobody in charge. I have a lot of experience sawing so I had to herd the cats and come up with a plan to not kill someone. One of the old guys, while cutting a sappling with his 24" bar, nearly severed his leg when his saw slipped, ripping his jeans on his inner thigh. Needless to say, I had seen enough. Logged my hours, and got the hell out of there. Five hours complete, never again volunteering (until things are better organized).
True when you put it like that. But it takes 30 mins to get there (1 hour round trip), I work 5-6 days a week, and have a 2 yo kid I actually like spending time with (when he is of age, I will immediatly put him to work) haha
I ran & was on the board at my local club and had the privilege to help run the club through covid. Most clubs have more politics than CNN or Fox News. 1/2 the members are old and don't want to advance the club or bring in new members. The other half are a bunch of young entitled pricks who complain about everything.
At the end of the day, most clubs are run by 2-3 individuals who dedicate a fair portion of their life to keep the club functioning. It's pretty hard to run a not for profit organization and have a some of board members or volunteers, not treat the club like their personal playground.
I tend to look at volunteering my time as a way to build relationships with other like minded people. The problem is, your need to set realistic goals, and realize most other members wouldn't be in your social group, outside of the club.
At the end of the day, most clubs are run by 2-3 individuals who dedicate a fair portion of their life to keep the club functioning. It's pretty hard to run a not for profit organization and have a some of board members or volunteers, not treat the club like their personal playground.
I tend to look at volunteering my time as a way to build relationships with other like minded people. The problem is, your need to set realistic goals, and realize most other members wouldn't be in your social group, outside of the club.
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I don't know if I have a stick stick up my ass but you sound like a real puss
Lol, I had to look. From NY, not California. But perfectly embodies the GBPSE AI guys.
lol
Oh man, I only live in NY on the weekends...... but I spend all my free time at your mom's house so these five volunteer hours are a real inconvenience
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Cant look up what a "stick stick" is right now but I dont discriminate against your alternative lifestyle. Fly it proudly, bro (or whatever pronoun)!
I run the Quantico Shooting Club, lots of good advice in the thread and similar situations as our club. We got rid of the mandatory work hours and the higher dues payment (a $50 deposit) trying to force volunteering. We just didn't have the means (or money) to track either to success. The local IWL I belong to also has a volunteer requirement and plenty of work parties. The QSC is on a military base, so some of the infrastructure, grounds and facilities issues are attended to, but 5hrs in the first month is nothing considering the must pays most clubs have just to open the doors, let alone to operate.
