Looking for club (NW of Boston)

Prepper

Prepper

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I'm looking for a club nearby so that I don't have to drive up to Manchester anymore, plus I also want to shoot a new rifle (w/o using expensive frangibles).

I see several have recommended Westford Sportsmen's Club. I was thinking of the Woburn Sportsman's Association, but was surprised that they don't allow jacketed ammo there; It's not that I mind buying other ammo, but I have a few cases, all of it jacketed, so it'd be good if I could actually use it up. I'm also wondering about Mass Rifle; I find it interesting that I can actually shoot rifle indoors there. Mass Rifle's a bit out of my way though and in a more citified area, but I'm otherwise still keeping that option open.

Westford's about 20 minutes away from me, which'd be pretty good, plus it's a scenic drive over there. Are there any times that they are open for tours? I understand this club requires sponsors? Any odd restrictions on ammo, or how many you have in the mag at once, or type of target, or other rule that I may not think about until I see it? Does it's indoor range have a pulley for each lane to put the targets out there, or do you have to get people to cease fire and then walk the target out there?
 
If you're only 20 minutes from Westford you should check out Harvard Sportsmans Club. We have it all there. 100 yard rifle, 200 yard rifle, 300 yard rifle. Several action shooting pits where you can SAFELY practice drawing from a holster. An indoor range, machine gun range, archery range, trap range and so much more. The place has it all!!!
 
The Harvard club sounds great, but I live 20 minutes in the other direction from Westford. So Harvard would be... hmmmm... 40 minutes maybe? (That brings back memories... I've been to Harvard a couple times before, there's a youth hostel there that we were having an event at.)
 
I really should look things up on a map before I post. It's right off of 495 so I could do that in about 25 minutes. That's doable; I can keep Harvard open as an option.
 
Prepper said:
I really should look things up on a map before I post. It's right off of 495 so I could do that in about 25 minutes. That's doable; I can keep Harvard open as an option.
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The Harvard Sportsmans club is right off of rt 2. Basically take 495 to rt. 2 West and immediately take the Taylor St. exit and the range is about 3 minutes off the exit. It is totally worth it I'm telling you. If you're free on Wed. night between 4:30 and 7:30 you should take a swing by and check it out. We are having a practice IPSC match and one of us would be more than happy to show you around the facility.

Pete
 
PistolPete said:
The Harvard Sportsmans club is right off of rt 2. Basically take 495 to rt. 2 West and immediately take the Taylor St. exit and the range is about 3 minutes off the exit. It is totally worth it I'm telling you. If you're free on Wed. night between 4:30 and 7:30 you should take a swing by and check it out. We are having a practice IPSC match and one of us would be more than happy to show you around the facility.

Pete
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I think I can swing by on Wednesday. So, just show up and go to... is there an office or something obvious on how to find?
 
Harvard club's web site says: "Requirements: Sponsor, NRA membership, and Range Safety Class". Is GOAL membership sufficient or does it actually need to be NRA? (I can join if need be.)
 
Jim Conway and Ken Maurer are both members of Westford. I'm sure that there are numerous other Westford members here.

Likewise, I know that there are numerous NES'rs here who are members at Harvard.

If a club requires NRA membership, this usually indicates that the club has their insurance policy thru NRA (which thus requires 100% NRA membership). So being a member of GOAL won't suffice.
 
LenS said:
Jim Conway and Ken Maurer are both members of Westford. I'm sure that there are numerous other Westford members here.
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I am also a Westford member! It is by far my favorite club to shoot at! As for Woburn Sportsman's... I don't know if they will get my renewal money this year! the only 2 things they have over Westford is that the club is literally less than 2 miles from my house, and their rifle range goes out to 200yds. Other than that, the 10 round mag limit, and the not being able to shoot faster than 1 shot every 2 seconds, and the crotchety old geezers that take the time to walk from the black powder range to the rifle range to tell you "It's people like you, shooting guns like that, that will get this range closed down" make me want to puke!
 
You have to be a member of the NRA to join Harvard,GOAL will not suffice.I'm pretty sure the NRA gives us grants for youth shooting programs and other things.

Damn Adam,that range sounds ate up.

I would like to check out Westford one of these days..I drive by it all the time and the place looks really nice.
 
Adam_MA said:
the crotchety old geezers that take the time to walk from the black powder range to the rifle range to tell you "It's people like you, shooting guns like that, that will get this range closed down" make me want to puke!
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That would have gotten me to quit on the spot... after suggesting that these idiots didn't know WTF they were talking about.
 
Westford Sportsmen's Club

Prepper
I shoot at Westford every Sunday from 1:00 PM until whenever. I am holding a 2 day class there on May 19 and 20, so I will not be able to show you around those days. You are more than welcome to come a look. Please let me know what is convenient for you. BTW, Westford is a shooters club with no range Nazis and no silly range rules. You can even shoot from the holster.
 
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I'm about 10 minutes away from the club and have a pretty flexible schedule, so if anybody wants a tour of Westford any other time, just PM or EMail me beforehand.

Ken
 
dwarven1 said:
That would have gotten me to quit on the spot... after suggesting that these idiots didn't know WTF they were talking about.
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That just caused me to switch to an even louder gun! I put 40 rounds through my chopped down 91/30 and shot them as fast as I could work the bolt, and reload. After I was done, I looked over to the BP range and waved, then started to do it again. I guess they got pissed and left! Thank god too, because my shoulder was telling me to stop, even though my heart was telling me to keep up the pace!

There was another time that two others approached me, and told me there was a 7 round magazine limit, and they were going to take my license plate # down and turn it in, because I was shooting 10 rounds, then doing a "speed magazine" change. I didn't say a word, just reached into my range bag, handed them a rule book, smiled and turned right back around and kept shooting! The last time I was even there (december I think) I was at the indoor range testing out some new reloads. I was informed by another shooter at the indoor range that the club had a 5 round mag limit. I stepped outside the range, where there were some rule books. Walked back in, handed it to him, then shot all 10 rounds.

One day, all the old geezers that go there, shoot 5 rounds in 5 hours will all be gone from the club. If they don't change their ways, they will fail!

BTW, if anyone wants to check out Westford, they can also PM me. I will do my best to make some time to show you around!
 
Crotchety old geezers
Just because someone may be older than you, does not make them either crotchety or geezers. Either Ken Maurer or I would be happy to enlighten you on this point. Ken, I am sure that you have some ideas how to deal with young, wet behind the ears, punks.
The thing to remember about an older shooter is that we already know and have practised all of the dirty rotten tricks. Age and treachery will win every time.
 
Thanks this is all useful info. Knowing in advance about rather odd rules like how many rounds can be in a mag at once is helpful. I can't even imagine why filling up the magazine would be a problem, so I'd prefer a range that doesn't care about things like that. Somewhere I found a link to a club that said you could only put one cartridge in a mag at a time; that seemed ridiculous.

Only one shot every 2 seconds? That'd explain why at the range near my house (that I can hear from here), I never hear anyone fire rapidly. I was wondering about that, must be the rules. I wouldn't necessarily mind that rule for the outdoor ranges but it better not be at the indoor ones; I need to practice several shots in rapid succession to simulate what'd be necessary when a Bad Guy comes at me. The BG won't wait for me to pause and count to 2.

I don't mind older people, as long as they aren't too crotchety. The descriptions of the ones at Woburn sounds unpleasant, so it'd be good for me to avoid clubs with a high crotchety geezer quotient. I'm in my late 30's myself.

I'll try to figure out my schedule and see when I may want to go visit the one in Westford, hopefully this weekend; I'd like to check out that club first then maybe Harvard second.
 
In the IPSC pits at harvard you can practice rapid fire so long as you're safe. Harvard also has a pair of steel plate racks that are setup all the time which is a blast to shoot. You can shoot that whenever you go. If you want to come down any Wed. night and check things out you won't be disappointed.
 
Steel plates? I've never seen those in person. Are those the ones where a hit causes the plate to be knocked down, and after you've knocked them all down it resets itself somehow? Sounds fun. I'll really have to check out Harvard.

BTW, this may be a dumb question, but do any ranges ever support moving targets? I can imagine this would be trickier to support since someone might have an easier time accidentally firing over the berm if they're going for a moving target. And are any ranges ever large enough that the berm is no longer an issue because a shot over the berm wouldn't exit the range's property? (That'd have to be pretty big, a couple miles back, and no one back there on that property doing whatever they might be doing.)
 
Just my $.02 - I was at Westford this past Sunday and was pretty impressed with the place (plus I got some range time in with Jim, which is always a good learning experience - and I got to put my first rounds through my new S&W 1911PD while I was there, which was extra fun). I'm going to get my application in at the next business meeting.

I went to Harvard a long time back and remember that as being a good club as well. I got an early introduction to competitive shooting there and watched an IPSC match that they hosted. It was a good time.

What I'd recommend, and I'm sure others have recommended, is to check them both out and see which one you like better. Of course, if you're made of money you can join both ;)
 
Prepper said:
The Harvard club sounds great, but I live 20 minutes in the other direction from Westford. So Harvard would be... hmmmm... 40 minutes maybe? (That brings back memories... I've been to Harvard a couple times before, there's a youth hostel there that we were having an event at.)
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The Harvard club is almost directly across the road from the hostel that you remember, so you'll probably recognize the route.

I strongly agree with the sentiment, "join both clubs." All clubs are nice and each excels in certain areas. You can't beat Westford's shotgun facilities and it's hard to find a 300 yard range, sub-gun range, and 10 action shootng pits like Harvard. Yep, no choice, you gotta join both.

(While you're at, Shirley has the most amazing in-place 3-D Archery range I've ever seen.)
 
Westford or Harvard SC's?

I was hoping I could ask you all about your opinions of Westford SC and Harvard SC. I have never been a member of a club before, and am looking into hopefully joining one of these 2 clubs. Looking through the threads discussing Westford and Harvard SC's, I find that both are looked upon very highly by pretty much everyone, member or not. I hoped to gain a bit more insight into some specifics about either one before actually visiting them. Both have seemingly great outdoor facilities. But with regards to the inddor range, would one club have facilities more geared towards indoor pistol regardless of caliber or jacketing?

Thanks for any help you can offer!
 
Don't know what Harvard has. Westford's indoor range is open essentially 24/7 (closed only for required maintenance and posted meeting upstairs). Any handgun ammunition (jacked/lead/frangible) is allowed as long as the muzzle velocity is under 1300fps. This excludes some light bullet weight magnum loads, but allows most anything else. Rimfire .22 rifles are also allowed.

Ken
 
Havard is similar. It's open 24/7, and allows most ammo. Don't remember exactly what the rules are though, as I haven't actually used the indoor range in a long time. I lost my keycard and have been too lazy to get another one. They've just finished up a bunch of renovations on it I believe.
 
PulpBuster said:
I was hoping I could ask you all about your opinions of Westford SC and Harvard SC.
Click to expand...

I've been a member at Westford since June. For me it was like real estate: location, location, location. I live less than 5 miles from the club. For me it was a no brainer. It's a very nice place with a great group of people. It has a lot less of the BS rules that other clubs have. They have a 100 yard rifle range, a 25 yard pistol range and a 50' 4 bay indoor range. They have two trap fields and sporting clays along with lots of archery and a stocked trout pond. They also have a game preserve. If you want the dime tour PM me and I can show you around.

Harvard is also very nice. I've only been there once to their 25/50 yard range. I met some of the leadership when I arrived early for a mini-appleseed. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.

I suggest you take a look at both clubs and see which fits your particular needs the best. I'm sure a member of HSC would be happy to show you around.
 
Thank you all for your input! In terms of location, Harvard is 9 minutes (according to google map) further than Westford. So, it's kind of a toss up. I thought I heard that Harvard indoor range was only for .22 caiber handguns. It would seem I was mistaken. I can't seem to find out too much about Harvard's indoor range from their website.

What's left is to go and visit. Would stopping by either of the clubs on a Sunday afternoon to take a look make sense? I figure that way I wouldn't have to inconvenience anyone to meet me at the club just to show me around...wouldn't want to be viewed as a trespasser though, some clubs seem to take that quite seriously.
 
PulpBuster said:
What's left is to go and visit. Would stopping by either of the clubs on a Sunday afternoon to take a look make sense? I figure that way I wouldn't have to inconvenience anyone to meet me at the club just to show me around...wouldn't want to be viewed as a trespasser though, some clubs seem to take that quite seriously.
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Unless there happens to be an event going on, you wouldn't get into Harvard. It's members only, and has a gate. Westford may be the same way, I've never been there myself. I'd be happy to show you around Harvard, but I don't currently have a keycard to get into the indoor range. I've really gotta get me a new keycard...
 
Prepper said:
I'm looking for a club nearby so that I don't have to drive up to Manchester anymore, plus I also want to shoot a new rifle (w/o using expensive frangibles).

I see several have recommended Westford Sportsmen's Club. I was thinking of the Woburn Sportsman's Association, but was surprised that they don't allow jacketed ammo there; It's not that I mind buying other ammo, but I have a few cases, all of it jacketed, so it'd be good if I could actually use it up. I'm also wondering about Mass Rifle; I find it interesting that I can actually shoot rifle indoors there. Mass Rifle's a bit out of my way though and in a more citified area, but I'm otherwise still keeping that option open.

Westford's about 20 minutes away from me, which'd be pretty good, plus it's a scenic drive over there. Are there any times that they are open for tours? I understand this club requires sponsors? Any odd restrictions on ammo, or how many you have in the mag at once, or type of target, or other rule that I may not think about until I see it? Does it's indoor range have a pulley for each lane to put the targets out there, or do you have to get people to cease fire and then walk the target out there?
Click to expand...

Hi Prepper,

I am not sure exactly where you live, so I am not sure if this club would work for you - Andover Sportmen's Club, http://www.andoversportsmensclub.org/. Check it out. It provides all of what I think you want, plus some great members who are friendly and helpful. Indoor range open 24/7 with electric pulley system for targets, and now considering having moving targets. Archery, trap, and outdoor range with 100 yd steel target (maybe, a 200 yd, but not sure - I fire handgun). I have been a member for over a year, and am very happy with the club [grin]
 

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