-
If you enjoy the forum please consider supporting it by signing up for a NES Membership The benefits pay for the membership many times over.
-
Be sure to enter the NES/Pioneer Valley Arms February Giveaway ***Smith & Wesson SD9VE 9MM***
Ames Rifle and Pistol Club
- Thread starter KAV
- Start date
use your card on the gate. if it opens it then you are still active if it doesn't, well...
or you can call Tim or Ira on the phones listed on their website. they both have lists of active members handy so they can check
they don't care about sponsors at least enough to make it a requirement. number of meetings i attended in the past couple of years people just showed up with the checkbook and became members. be ready for some small verbal hustle and strange questions from BOD or president . that's their way to greet newbies.
fencer
NES Member
I have never experienced that. In fact every person I have ever bumped into has been polite and friendly.
One time not long after I joined, I walked into the 300 yard range with my Sig 556 and there were a bunch of senior members in there shooting the breeze with a couple of bolt guns in rifle rests. Well I dumped a 30 round mag in about 20 seconds and that damn rifle is so loud I thought it would break the glass in the windows. When I dropped the mag and looked up, six guys were just staring at me, dead silent.
I smiled and said " Most fun you can have with your clothes on" and they all broke out into laughter. Then we all shot the breeze and a couple of the old times even tried my rifle. It was real cool.
They don't take kindly to bigger calibers.
i joined Ames shortly after the first of the year. a have a handful of friends that are members. so far its great. at the rate im going my money will be well spent for the cost of the initial membership. i have not had a single bad experience with any of the members. however, i did leave a small mechanics tool set there once and went back for it and it was gone. my own fault for forgetting it. im very pleased with Ames and i was speaking to a board member 2 weeks ago, they plan to rebuild the backstops and plant trees along the ranges very soon.
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2013
- Messages
- 431
- Likes
- 53
A few guys at my club are members at Ames too. I need to check this place out as it is near me and I need a place to shoot my rifles. My club doesn't allow a few of my guns so I need an outdoor long range place. Any dumb rules about amount of rounds in a mag or rapid firing I should know about? Thanks.
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Messages
- 57,033
- Likes
- 21,182
I suggest that you read this entire thread and make your own decision.
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Messages
- 57,033
- Likes
- 21,182
Yup, the politics is very, very deep there with lots of accusations flying.
I was a member for 3 or 4 years and quit due to a lot of that stuff. The outdoor ranges are fairly nice, except for the "EEE breeding ground" (my term for that area) that they were forced to "build" (between the 50/100 yd and pistol ranges) by the town (allegedly by the Conservation Commission due to some allegation of filling in some wetlands - at least that was the story I was told). It was insane for the ConComm to require that due to all the concerns about EEE, etc. in mosquito season . . . but I've yet to meet a ConComm that used common sense.
I bring a citronella candle for the mosquitoes and my own homemade target frame since the club supplied frames keep getting blasted to bits by over-excited shotgun owners.
It wasn't just "needling" when I was a member. They blatently changed the rules at their convenience to screw over some members. That shows you how much moral character the people who run the place have. If you are ok with allowing people to tramble all over you whenever they please, then this is the place for you.
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2013
- Messages
- 431
- Likes
- 53
So today alone I heard a few stories that I am not sure I believe. One is of a guy wore camo pants to his interview thing and they said he shouldn't wear them if he was not in the military and they denied him. The next is of a guy leaving an unloaded rifle with the bolt closed when he went down to change a target and they kicked him out, did not refund his dues and wrote a letter to his police chief about removing his LTC. I understand what he did was wrong but maybe a warning or something. The last I know is true. The young guy asked about membership and they told him to shave and get a haircut and maybe then they would consider him. This last one I know happened. WTF is wrong with these people? How has nobody confronted them or worked to overtake this place?
They're not exactly well kept themselves.... My thought is that they kick out anyone who asks questions, and then make up whatever story suits them to excuse their actions. I know this because I've witnessed their lies first hand. Its basically a few guys that want their own club to use whenever they like, and to stick the members with the bill.
Also, as far as them reporting members to the police, I have seen this as well first hand. They take down member's license plate numbers if they do anything "wrong" so that they can report them to the police. They're all scumbags as far as I'm concerned.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Messages
- 57,033
- Likes
- 21,182
All of this is believable.
When I joined, the club president bragged to me that they threw someone out, notified his police chief who pulled his LTC and that said ex-member sued the club, police chief and club president and won in court. The club president told me that he had to pay a significant amount of money out of his own pocket (court judgment). I always found it strange that someone would brag about doing this to a person that they don't know.
They threatened to sue me for "defamation of the club" due to my posting 2 pictures of the range when the grass was let to grow very high. The thread had been dead for 3 months when they threatened me, so I reviewed the thread, removed the thread (I was a mod back then) and notified them that I would not be renewing my dues . . . the response I got back was that "I was a valued member of the club" and that I should reconsider staying a member! If they had merely Emailed or called me the situation could have been handled a lot quicker and in a more business-like manner.
There is a lot more stuff, but you'll need to dig that out yourself and then make a decision that you feel is best for you.
We joined so that we could shoot our 50cal. Purposely went to the meeting and asked the president if it was allowed and that it would be the only reason for joining. After we paid our dues, we shot one round out of the 50 and the only other guy on the range (way on the other end) complained it was too loud, and they took our license plate and said we couldn't shoot it at the club. They're all liars. Don't believe a word they say.
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2009
- Messages
- 53
- Likes
- 4
...
Last edited:
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2005
- Messages
- 57,033
- Likes
- 21,182
I'll bet there were no changes at the top!
I hope I'm wrong, but history there leads me to believe otherwise.
Is that Ira guy still there? He was a dbag of the highest order if I remember correctly. Michelle was nice when I was a member there, at least I think that was her name. Then I heard they fired or kicked her out or something. Left that place and never looked back. Sucks because the range facilities are actually nice.
