Disappointed at MFS

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42!

42!

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First I want to say that the past few times I was there everything was great. Even this time, last night, the people were great, the shop prices fair, everyone was friendly. I was planning on joining, their location is very close. But last night convinced me otherwise.

The range was freezing. We're talking " can see my breath" cold. Had to leave after only 20-30 min. Of course it's pay by the hour. I mentioned it to them and it was politely dismissed as just the way it is because it's cold outside. But isn't part of the reason for an indoor range so you can shoot when the weather sucks. I'll add that the restrooms were a disaster and the brass on the range floor so bad it was a hazard.

So despite being minutes from my house, and I would have been using their ammo exclusively, I'm not joining.

Hopefully someone from MFS will see this and take it as constructive and fix things. Like I said, my other experiences there were great.

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Last night?
It was record breaking low temps...That would take a lot of energy and $$ to bring range up to warm temps.
Personally, I'd give them a pass. [thinking]
 
So all experiences were "great" until this one and now it is "nope not going to join, never going back." Seems like a fair and even review on the coldest night in years [rolleyes]
 
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Had our BFS there a several weeks back and the live fire section was on the small range. Felt sub-zero to us. And confirmed on the bathrooms. With hundreds of people cycling through there with many classes a day, plus members and shoppers, they don't spend nearly enough time taking care of the heads.
 
Most gun clubs don't heat indoor ranges very well or at all, or you have to pay yourself to turn the heat on. Personally I'd never join an indoor range because they don't have long enough ranges for good rifle shooting and don't have shotgun sports.
 
20% make up air and 1/2" water column of negative pressure means huge make-up heating bills... This is the meaning of a modern range.

16,000 CFM, 208,000 BTUs and around $200,000 will be required JUST in air handling and heating to re-open the seven lane indoor range at my club.

With record cold, skip the range for a day or put on a few extra layers.
 
The indoor range at my club isn't heated. There is a room outside the range that does have heat, however as mentioned already it costs a lot to heat. As for brass we are expected to clean up our own. Not sure about MFS but maybe it was so cold they didn't think anyone in their right mind would be on that range with no heat....lol

Even so, I would cut them some slack for yesterday. Your choice though....
 
Ive been there before on some cold days as well. They do haventhe heaters above behind the firing line. It was cold no doubt but with the air circulation system I assumed it would cost way too much to heat the place to average temps. I could be wrong though. I wouldnt hate on the place because of this though.
 
Here's an idea; infrared heaters along the firing line...perhaps one for each lane triggered by some sort of 'occupancy' sensor. Of course, that isn't free either but you wouldn't be heating the entire facility.

An even better idea.... SUCK IT UP, NANCY! [wink]
 
The EPA mandated exhaust fans pull out heat along with the gunpowder smoke that may kill us all. Good thing we have the EPA looking out for our health. Don't know how I survived before they came into existence. There might even be lead particles. A cold range means a safe range!
 
Suck it up. You better hope when SHTF that the weather is perfect, not too warm, not too cold, not raining, and that you have pants and shoes already on.
 
I'll add another thing. If the brass on the floor is in your way, take 30 seconds and ****ing sweep it yourself! Are you kidding me with this?

Your Man-Card is officially REVOKED.
 
I'm a member with my youngest son, it's cheap money for a year and access to their loaner armory at no cost and one guest free.

I'm 45 minutes away and I agree some times it's cold in there as the cold air is cycled in. However the great thing as a member it does not matter if you stay 10 minutes or 2 hours. The have competitive prices, they're a really friendly bunch of guys, I bought my oldest son and father-in-law memberships for Christmas.

If you're that close, it's worth joining you can pop in for a 5 minute shoot or stay for hours.

welcome to New England, it gets cold here in the winter. [grin]

harry
 
This is coming from a newb.

I am 50/50 on the issue. Someone mentioned $200k to heat a range and that seems extreme. The facility can use heat on these cold days so MEMBERS can comfortably shoot. If i am a paying member, i would expect certain ammenaties. Indoor ranges in new england should be prepared for cold weather during winter. I am not saying to crank the heat up to 70...but is 50 or 60 degrees too much to ask for?

But as someone else mentioned, this past weekend we have been experiencing extremely cold temperatures. If this is the OPs only gripe in his/her time at this range then i would let it go.
 
Kirkmcpaterson said:
This is coming from a newb.

I am 50/50 on the issue. Someone mentioned $200k to heat a range and that seems extreme. The facility can use heat on these cold days so MEMBERS can comfortably shoot. If i am a paying member, i would expect certain ammenaties. Indoor ranges in new england should be prepared for cold weather during winter. I am not saying to crank the heat up to 70...but is 50 or 60 degrees too much to ask for?

But as someone else mentioned, this past weekend we have been experiencing extremely cold temperatures. If this is the OPs only gripe in his/her time at this range then i would let it go.
Click to expand...


Actual quotes. Seven lanes, Laminar-delivery of 16,000 cubic feet per minute to achieve seventy five feet per second past the shooters. 20% refresh of outside air, HEPA filters with two stages of pre-filters and a 208kBTU water coil to keep the range warm and three stage boiler system for the house load plus the range.
THIS is what I meant by "the meaning of a modern range."

A few years ago, another SE Massachusetts club built a new range with the structure, modern jellyroll water-washed bullet traps, and fully modern filtration as I've described above. I can't speak to the design air temperature, or expensive accouterments such as target systems and baffles, but the time-adjusted cost for a fifteen lane range was about $820k.
 
I appreciate where the OP is coming from on this. I also appreciate the good information that is in this thread as many of you understand how indoor ranges work.

Our air system is a 100% exchange system. We purposely built it this way so that the air quality would be the safest possible.

However, the downside is that on extreme cold days our heating system just can't keep up. It's a sacrifice we have to make to be able to achieve the air-quality we want.

On normal cold days, our infrared heating units do a great job. But this cold is just too much for our system.

Concerning the comment on the bathrooms I will definitely pass that along. I can say that we really try to keep up but with the volume of people coming through for classes recently is been hard to keep everything running as smooth as normal.

Thanks again to the OP for bringing this to our attention.

Steve
 
tk421991 said:
Most gun clubs don't heat indoor ranges very well or at all, or you have to pay yourself to turn the heat on. Personally I'd never join an indoor range because they don't have long enough ranges for good rifle shooting and don't have shotgun sports.
Click to expand...

That's a great excuse for a private club to have but a commercial pay range the excuse falls short.
 
My thanks to MFS for replying, no comment for those who don't get the difference between a for profit business and a non profit club. A constructive suggestion, let people know that the indoor range is freezing before, or when they leave because of this offer a credit for later use. The good will and traffic through the store more than make up for the costs to MFS for a little range time, particularly when I've never seen a full house. Not that it doesn't happen, I've just never seen it.

As for the personal shots, I just consider the source. Flame on.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
On, before someone says I'm fishing for free range time. If MFS is so inclined, put it up as a karma.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
42! said:
My thanks to MFS for replying, no comment for those who don't get the difference between a for profit business and a non profit club. A constructive suggestion, let people know that the indoor range is freezing before, or when they leave because of this offer a credit for later use. The good will and traffic through the store more than make up for the costs to MFS for a little range time, particularly when I've never seen a full house. Not that it doesn't happen, I've just never seen it.
Click to expand...

When I originally read your post I did not realize your paid a range fee to shoot at our range. Reach out to us via PM and we will get you a credit for another visit.

It is only in severe cold (which is not too common here) that our heating system gets overwhelmed. Having said that our range being too cold is not a common occurrence.
 
42! said:
On, before someone says I'm fishing for free range time. If MFS is so inclined, put it up as a karma.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I did not see your post before I responded. We really try to be fair. If you paid to shoot at the range and it was too cold we want you to come back at no charge. It is the right thing for us to do.
 
I love all the haters. He went to enjoy himself, not to train in subzero temperatures (or he probably would have gone to an outdoor range).

He has opinion, and while I don't necessarily agree with it, he's allowed to voice it.

Instead of piling on, go shoot outside and video your breath freezing as you shoot
 
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