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Massachusetts Rifle Association - Woburn, MA

noxin said:
Why is there a six month wait for the outdoor ranges?
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Too many self qualified tactical mall ninja in da club (including me). They will shoot anything that go bang and hit the bunny strolling across the firing line.

Sent it from iPhone 5 LTE
 
So, when you join the club, there's a mandatory six month restriction on outside ranges? And then you have to qualify to use them?

What happens if you're just getting into distance shooting and aren't that good yet?

That seems.... asinine.
 
noxin said:
So, when you join the club, there's a mandatory six month restriction on outside ranges? And then you have to qualify to use them?

What happens if you're just getting into distance shooting and aren't that good yet?

That seems.... asinine.
Click to expand...

I agree it is not ideal for new shooters trying to qualify at distance with no experience, or for experienced shooters who have to wait months to do what they have been doing their whole lives.

But to play devil's advocate...look how many holes there are in the LOEB ceiling. If people start sending shots over the outdoor berms there is a decent chance that something bad will happen due to the proximity to a couple of highways, business parks, etc. I would rather have people need to deal with the PITA qualifications than have the club shut down.

That said, the qualifications aren't really a PITA outside of scheduling them. The shooting tests are not terribly hard to pass, and I would be willing to bet that if you went on a Sunday morning or Wednesday evening you could find a qualified member who would be willing to take you outside to practice for your qualifications a couple times before hand.
 
noxin said:
So, when you join the club, there's a mandatory six month restriction on outside ranges? And then you have to qualify to use them?

What happens if you're just getting into distance shooting and aren't that good yet?

That seems.... asinine.
Click to expand...

Very asinine. 3 months with a sponsor though. You need to hit 5 shots on a 3 foot target at 50yards with a rifle and pistol. Not exactly easy. Every member had 9mms as 40s when I did the qualification, and I brought my Ruger MKII bull barrel. They said why use a 22? I told them that there isn't much recoil at all and I can hit a target easily at 50yds. Guess who got the highest score? [wink]. 2 guys had to retake the test because they didn't hit anything. Definitely too strict but you can back your truck up to the range and start shooting.
 
Going to swing by and drop off my membership application and fees Wednesday evening. I'm looking forward to finally joining a club and start shooting again since I moved from North Carolina.
 
it's not assinine. Consider us fortunate to have a 200 yard range next to rt. 128. I happen to value that option. And btw the outdoor pistol range is available immedately. So 3 out of 5 ranges (not counting shotgun).
 
Its definitely not asinine. There are a lot of new shooters joining. Many can't hit the broad side of a barn and have little safety sense. It would only take one shot going the wrong way to shut the entire club down. Go to google maps and look at the clubs location. Car dealerships, schools, you name, its nearby.

With that said, you CAN shoot in the sanctioned rifle matches immediately.

Don
 
I know I wouldn't trust myself as a new shooter on a 200 yard range with "stuff" just beyond the range. I hope to get some experience and get on that range down the road a bit, but I get the reason behind the restriction. I'm not as sure about the 6 month delay in qualifying for someone who is experienced.
 
minininjer said:
I agree with Don. While HSC is great, MRA is hard to beat if you are going from Somerville. People are nice and the ranges are never full whenever I have gone.


Sent from my iPwn
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MRA is 30 minutes from where I live HSC would be an hour away as far as wating to go outside I have no isse with that since I am a total novice I would be sticking to indoor until my skill level increases
 
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Are you going to MRA everyday No. The place doesn't trust members to shoot I've said it before. Join HSC. It's worth the extra time in a drive. If you don't think so then you haven't been there.
 
twinbrook86 said:
Are you going to MRA everyday No. The place doesn't trust members to shoot I've said it before. Join HSC. It's worth the extra time in a drive. If you don't think so then you haven't been there.
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I'm new to MA, and I can say with absolute knowledge that the one area MA folks have it good is in the area of gun clubs. The requirement by some municipalities that LTC applicants belong to a club means that while a club may have 3000 members, its only got 300 active members. This means: 1) nice facilities 2) LOW LOW dues. 3) plenty of cash for a legal war chest.

If I thought that I'd get to Harvard more than 3 times a year, I'd join. Its cheap. They are all cheap. Anyone who has the time and limits themself to one club is a fool.

I just dont' have the time.
 
Thats fine. The club is what it is.

There are a lot of rules. Some reasonable. Some stupid. (No pistol caliber rifles/carbines on Pope).

The facilities are good, the people are friendly. What its not is "tactical". Oh well. I knew that when I joined.
Its also very convenient. I can wake up at 3 am and go shoot my machine gun at a place that is 15 minutes from my home, which is 10 minutes from Harvard square.
Kindof a nice combination.
 
dcmdon said:
Thats fine. The club is what it is.

There are a lot of rules. Some reasonable. Some stupid. (No pistol caliber rifles/carbines on Pope).

The facilities are good, the people are friendly. What its not is "tactical". Oh well. I knew that when I joined.
Its also very convenient. I can wake up at 3 am and go shoot my machine gun at a place that is 15 minutes from my home, which is 10 minutes from Harvard square.
Kindof a nice combination.
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That's all that matters. It depends on what you want to do. For me, it sucked for a variety of reasons. For others, it may be perfect.
 
Just left MRA. Want to be a member... Orientations aren't available until March. :( I'm gonna drop my application off sometime next week but damn.. Brutal wait time.
 
Machine Gun Fun - help me with a problem.

So I have a problem.

I just received 15 pre-ban metal mags for my M11/9/Lage in the mail.

They are old and need to be tested. The vendor has a great rep for customer service if any of them don't work. But I need to find any duds before he runs out of inventory.

This could be expensive. So I came up with a solution.

This Sunday AM I'll be at Loeb with my MG and new mags. If you want to volunteer to test a mag for me, just bring your own ammo (BYOA). It needs to be brass cased fmj 9mm.

Come by with your own ammo and give a machine gun a try.

MA rifle members and their guests only, please.

Post a reply if you are interested.
Your participation will legitimately help me out. And you get to have some good, clean, safe, fun.

Don

p.s. if you have never fired a machine gun, this is about as tame as you can get. It is shoulder fired and weighs about 11 lbs.
I start all shooters out with only 3 rounds in the magazine. Just as an intro. If you don't have the biggest sh%t eating grin on your face when you are finished, then you are not alive. Even my anti-gun sister was giggling like a kid after her first mag.
 
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I'll probably get there 9:00.

If you bring a lot of ammo, you can test more than one of my magazines. I haven't heard from anyone else.

Don

p.s. I'll be the guy with the machine gun. Ha. No seriously. Dark hair, 5'8", 40s. I'll probably have breakfast first.
 

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