Gun Club without commitment

bigbravehog

NES Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2013
Messages
6,343
Likes
16,440
Feedback: 1 / 0 / 0
Because of my work schedule, I don't have time to commit to any volunteer activities or club meetings, etc.
Does anyone know of any indoor or outdoor clubs or ranges in or near central MA to shoot my rifles.
 
MFS in Holliston is a membership not necessarily a club. No meetings or anything.
Indoor only, But rifle is 22 and pistol caliber and shotgun.

But I'm going to say most bigger clubs don't require meeting attendance or work.
Like Harvard or Holliston.

Gun Parlor in Worcester has an indoor range as well.
 
MFS in Holliston is a membership not necessarily a club. No meetings or anything.
Indoor only, But rifle is 22 and pistol caliber and shotgun.

But I'm going to say most bigger clubs don't require meeting attendance or work.
Like Harvard or Holliston.

Gun Parlor in Worcester has an indoor range as well.
Thanks. I already belong to MFS. I'll check GP for single day range time , since the yearly membership is expensive
 
Marlboro but limited to 100 yards.
$150.00 a year. I believe it's $100.00 if you show up for some workdays....
They have made some improvements lately and usually when I go, I either have the place to myself or maybe 1-2 other guys.
 
If you have the time to shoot at a club you have the time to help out at a club. Clubs without work hour/volunteer requirements still have members volunteering time throughout the year to help maintain or improve the facilities. A few hours over a years time isn't much but could mean a lot to a club, more so than if you missed meetings.
 
If you have the time to shoot at a club you have the time to help out at a club. Clubs without work hour/volunteer requirements still have members volunteering time throughout the year to help maintain or improve the facilities. A few hours over a years time isn't much but could mean a lot to a club, ...
Yahbut turn up the "assessment in lieu of work hours" knob (my club's is $12.50/hr),
and graph the impact on:
  • Number of volunteer hours contributed to the club.
    • -and-
  • Number of member renewals.
Make it more expensive to nope away from work parties,
and more people will pitch in.
-but-​
Make it more expensive to belong to the club,
and more people will just quit.

After all, no matter how desirable a club is -
how long the line of applicants out the door and down the street -
many people never use the facilities even once in an average year.
They just renew out of loyalty or to keep their options open.

Those stay-at-homes ("ghost members"?) may not help run the club,
but their dues help keep it running,
and they place no direct demand on the facilities either.

Make it costly enough and they'll just punt.

If you think it's a pain to manage a club with a tiny group of volunteers (heroes),
try managing a club with a tiny group of volunteers and no budget.

... more so than if you missed meetings.
Ironically, meeting attendance is where those volunteers are manufactured.
 
Yahbut turn up the "assessment in lieu of work hours" knob (my club's is $12.50/hr),
and graph the impact on:
  • Number of volunteer hours contributed to the club.
    • -and-
  • Number of member renewals.
Make it more expensive to nope away from work parties,
and more people will pitch in.
-but-​
Make it more expensive to belong to the club,
and more people will just quit.

After all, no matter how desirable a club is -
how long the line of applicants out the door and down the street -
many people never use the facilities even once in an average year.
They just renew out of loyalty or to keep their options open.

Those stay-at-homes ("ghost members"?) may not help run the club,
but their dues help keep it running,
and they place no direct demand on the facilities either.

Make it costly enough and they'll just punt.

If you think it's a pain to manage a club with a tiny group of volunteers (heroes),
try managing a club with a tiny group of volunteers and no budget.


Ironically, meeting attendance is where those volunteers are manufactured.
Good analysis! [thumbsup]

I have always thought of work requirements as a way to keep a club's membership numbers under control... and keep people like me out. [cheers]

And it has worked very effectively! [laugh]
 
Good analysis! [thumbsup]
Thankew. I always give alterations to dues, etc. a strong squint.

I have always thought of work requirements as a way to keep a club's membership numbers under control... and keep people like me out. [cheers]

And it has worked very effectively! [laugh]
Ironically, one of the most systematic analyses I've seen my club do
was the evaluation of whether it was time to cap membership.

Conclusion:
The facilities were almost never stressed from overuse,
so why deny prospects the opportunity to belong,
for no benefit to anyone?

There had been no strong or broad sentiment
to cap the membership,
but the results of the study were very strong.

(Leaders have doubtless burned far more midnight oil
braining about other stuff, but they didn't lay out as much analysis).
 
The first few years I belonged at my Club, I did nothing.

When my kids got older (5-6), I was able to do more stuff around the Club.

As noted above, Clubs without volunteer commitments (is it truly volunteer? I think not.) still have volunteers.

My Club has 900+ Members. Maybe 60 -70 are active. 30-40 people run the place (Officers, Directors, Committee Chairs, Committee Members)
 
We have around 1000 members at Hopkinton, we a similar small number of people that get stuff done (hmm...maybe we're talking about the same place) - either buildings/systems/ground maintenance; managing admin stuff like membership/dues/range qualification; or maintaining ranges used by their activity and contributing their labor to matches and events.

One thing we have noticed is that the people who "make stuff happen" contain a relatively high percentage of people who have joined the club within the last few years. If we capped membership, we would have lost out on some incredible assets to the club. Plus, new members tend , on average, to be younger than those of us 50+ and are the kind of new blood the club needs to survive long term. When the current leadership dies off it is these new members who will be the lifeblood of the club.
 
Last edited:
Don't believe anyone's asked me to do anything at my club since the once mandatory cleanup day when joining. They ask for volunteers occasionally when sending out the meeting minutes at the end of the month. I try to make it to one Saturday a year but I do have young kids so its tough.
 
Don't believe anyone's asked me to do anything at my club since the once mandatory cleanup day when joining. They ask for volunteers occasionally when sending out the meeting minutes at the end of the month. I try to make it to one Saturday a year but I do have young kids so its tough.
  • Are you making some use of the facilities, despite family priorities?
  • It's good you're actually reading the minutes.
  • Are there things for the kids to do there at their current ages? Even if it's to putter around someplace safe?
    • (When I was little, from time to time my parents would drive to a park pond infested with mallards, and toss some spare bread like everyone else did. Maybe a lot of clubs have no room for a pond or trails, but at some age your kids might love to sit and watch guys busting clays (with kids' earmuffs, of course)).
The more ways you can find to sneak some speck of engagement with the club,
the more you'll get out of it, and the family can benefit too.
 
I isn't that I don't WANT to be involved, it's just that my work on-call schedule prevents me from doing so, at least for now.
 
  • Are you making some use of the facilities, despite family priorities?
  • It's good you're actually reading the minutes.
  • Are there things for the kids to do there at their current ages? Even if it's to putter around someplace safe?
    • (When I was little, from time to time my parents would drive to a park pond infested with mallards, and toss some spare bread like everyone else did. Maybe a lot of clubs have no room for a pond or trails, but at some age your kids might love to sit and watch guys busting clays (with kids' earmuffs, of course)).
The more ways you can find to sneak some speck of engagement with the club,
the more you'll get out of it, and the family can benefit too.
Fair point. Club is generally shut down on cleanup days so there really wouldn't be much for the kids to do other than follow me around and help cleanup a little bit but even that's better than video games and youtube
 
Fair point. Club is generally shut down on cleanup days so there really wouldn't be much for the kids to do other than follow me around and help cleanup a little bit but even that's better than video games and youtube
(Just highlighting a corner of reality where you might discover a previously overlooked win/win.
Thank you for your consideration).
 
WPRC doesn't require any work commitment or meeting attendance, you get $$ off your membership if you join a work party but I just pay the full rate. I go to a meeting when I can but there is no obligation.
 
If you have the time to shoot at a club you have the time to help out at a club. Clubs without work hour/volunteer requirements still have members volunteering time throughout the year to help maintain or improve the facilities. A few hours over a years time isn't much but could mean a lot to a club, more so than if you missed meetings.
Easy to make general statements. Not everyone spends countless hours at the range.I know/see plenty of people who go to the range shoot off a box and leave. They probably don't even shoot for a total of 4 hours a year. That being said i think an understanding upfront is fair. A lesser fee for those who help and higher fees for those who don't. I can't imagine people having an issue with that.
 
If you have the time to shoot at a club you have the time to help out at a club. Clubs without work hour/volunteer requirements still have members volunteering time throughout the year to help maintain or improve the facilities. A few hours over a years time isn't much but could mean a lot to a club, more so than if you missed meetings.
My club requires new members to help with the spring or fall cleanups, come to 1 meeting, and get a sponsor. That’s it.
Are other clubs requiring much more than that?? I get that there’s people who don’t shoot much but JFC I think someone can manage going to 1 meeting and 1 cleanup.
 
I am a member at two clubs. One I frequent, and one I seldom. I put in a decent amount of work at the club where I am a regular, but not at the club where I haven't shown up for anything other than a "open to non-members" match in a few years. I get no direct benefit, but have been a member for decades and want to support the club in a small way by maintaining my membership.
 
Last edited:
I belong to 2 clubs.

one I never shoot at but I do volunteer at. They send out the routine email and list out all the volunteer opportunities for people

the other, which I shoot at way more often, but I rarely volunteer. Why? Because they don’t list out any volunteer opportunities so it’s hard to put in any work equity.
 
I am a member at two clubs. One I frequent, and one I seldom. I put in a decent amount of work at the club where I am a regular, but not at the club where I haven't shown up for anything other than a "open to non-members" match in a few years. I get no direct benefit, but have been a member for decades and want to support the club in a small way by maintaining my membership.
Good nuance. (@LuvDog's plaint is rather parallel, as well).

Pondering the potential for imposing work requirements
upon "inactive" gun club members who just want to
send their old club a kiss in the mail every year...
...puts me in the mind of a memorable outburst from a
very respectable prince of a guy in ham radio.

Informed in passing of creeping requirements
for EmComm volunteers to get sheep-dipped
in the latest trendy DHS "Incident Command System" training,
he responded earnestly...

That's just great!​
If they keep that up,​
no one will want to help out.​

That's far from the only crumb of wisdom to fall from his lips, either.
Every moment in his presence was quality time.
He retired out of state some years back.
God how I miss him.
 
At Woburn Sportsmen in Bedford new members are required to attend a membership orientation, go to one members meting and have a sponsor and do some work hours to become a full member. After that, once you are a full member you don't have to attend meetings and the yearly fee is discounted if you do work hours but if you don't do them, you just pay the full price when re-upping for the next year. Usually showing up to one cleanup day is enough to cover the hours.
 
Back
Top Bottom