Trying to find a range...

Boston Gun and Rifle is a $125 membership yearly membership. $60hr is for nonmembers. Every range except MFS near Boston is a private club with yearly membershipse of $100+ dues. It costs good money to maintain a facility in this state.
 
Waher said:
Boston Gun and Rifle is a $125 membership yearly membership. $60hr is for nonmembers. Every range except MFS near Boston is a private club with yearly membershipse of $100+ dues. It costs good money to maintain a facility in this state.
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They are a bargain too. Being a member pays for itself if you go to the range more than a half dozen times a year. The first year is a bit pricey with the new member fee, but after that it's a real bargain. Braintree facilities are quite nice and are heavily subsidized by a large member base, of which many do not regularly attend the range. I am often the only person on the rifle range on Friday mornings and have yet to be unable to find a spot on weekends. Private clubs are the perfect middle ground between expensive pay-as-you-go ranges and the zoos that are free, public ranges.

Braintree is a great club that pretty much anyone can join. The downside is that lots of people join and getting the new membership orientation scheduled can be a bit of a delay. Plenty of other clubs have had full memberships for years and long wait lists that never get shorter.
 
DeadEyeDan said:
Why is everything so hard in MA? September last year took the safety course and then called BPD for an Interview time, Interview 11/27. Go to Moon Island 11/28 to take the shooting test. Last Friday (2/22) I pickup my LTC at BPD HQ.

So I go to Sportsman’s Den on Saturday pickup a pistol and some ammo. I’m ready to go shooting, The closest range to me is Boston Pistol and Rifle... but they are crazy expensive, charging $60 and hour and you can only shoot the SinterFire ammo they sell at $22+ a box of fifty... I go on google and find the next two closest ranges Braintree and Weymouth. Go on the Website and see both are private. Try to join Braintree and see the I need to go to the new member orientation first, make an a appointment on the website and find that the next free slot is in April... Go to the Weymouth Sportsman’s club site and find out the I need to drop of a paper membership app with a check and then wait two week and do an orientation on the in March... all I want to do is a little target shooting! It’s so damn hard here!
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My advice is take your time finding a gun club that meets your needs. Yes it takes some time to become a member at most private clubs. They are private clubs and have membership rules in place mostly to make sure that the ranges are used safely. Be patient. Most clubs are around $200 a year.....worth every penny and if you shoot only a couple times a month you'll save money over rental fees at the public ranges in short time. When searching for a club make sure they allow the type of fire arms you own on the indoor range. Lots of clubs out there are 22 rimfire indoors and some have cal restrictions as well for center-fire.

open to the public rental ranges are few and far between. But like others have said mfs is a good option to get you going.
 
If you want a no frill place to shoot handguns, weymouth is fantastic. Nothing to it but a range, usually empty. I joined Holbrook because I rather shoot rifles, and i am very happy with my decision. Im in Quincy, but if I lived in Boston Id be torn between Holbrook and Harvard.
 
whacko said:
My advice is take your time finding a gun club that meets your needs. Yes it takes some time to become a member at most private clubs. They are private clubs and have membership rules in place mostly to make sure that the ranges are used safely. Be patient. Most clubs are around $200 a year.....worth every penny and if you shoot only a couple times a month you'll save money over rental fees at the public ranges in short time. When searching for a club make sure they allow the type of fire arms you own on the indoor range. Lots of clubs out there are 22 rimfire indoors and some have cal restrictions as well for center-fire.

open to the public rental ranges are few and far between. But like others have said mfs is a good option to get you going.
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I second the take your time and tour clubs comments. Additionally, its not too far of a drive to Granite state Indoor Range in NH for rental lanes, there is also another rental range not to far off in the MA side. Great to try guns, and get your fix while you join a club.
 
If I were you I’d go with Harvard.....
I finally dumped 3 of my memberships and just shoot at my private range..... to far to be any help to you.

All clubs have the tendency to have some amount of non-safety related drama....
 
DeadEyeDan said:
Why is everything so hard in MA? September last year took the safety course and then called BPD for an Interview time, Interview 11/27. Go to Moon Island 11/28 to take the shooting test. Last Friday (2/22) I pickup my LTC at BPD HQ.

So I go to Sportsman’s Den on Saturday pickup a pistol and some ammo. I’m ready to go shooting, The closest range to me is Boston Pistol and Rifle... but they are crazy expensive, charging $60 and hour and you can only shoot the SinterFire ammo they sell at $22+ a box of fifty... I go on google and find the next two closest ranges Braintree and Weymouth. Go on the Website and see both are private. Try to join Braintree and see the I need to go to the new member orientation first, make an a appointment on the website and find that the next free slot is in April... Go to the Weymouth Sportsman’s club site and find out the I need to drop of a paper membership app with a check and then wait two week and do an orientation on the in March... all I want to do is a little target shooting! It’s so damn hard here!
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Friends with private land is a must if you want non club shooting.
You will soon see here in mass we are actually pretty good as far as clubs go. We have a lot of clubs right around boston.
As for membership process, well almost all clubs are run by volunteers. Every 2 weeks or month is the norm for membership. There’s generally only a handful of new members being processed so doing 1-2 a week is a a PITA for someone not getting paid to process.
If you move south of Boston to Plymouth/carver area you will have 6 clubs with in 30 min to choose from
 
Compooky said:
Should be easy to find someone to bring you to Braintree while waiting for the orientation.
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Not necessarily given the rules for guests. I did that for lots of folks until the guest rules changed to be too onerous to ever bring a guest there. Great club but this is a problem for responsible people and created due to irresponsible members bringing literally >10 guests at a time that it is alleged weren't following good range safety or etiquette.
 
dw617 said:
I feel you. When I first got my LTC, it was several months before I was able to join a club. And that was behind the 4-6 month wait it took to even get the license. Friends took me as a guest to shoot, but that only goes so far.

Pick a private club and get the process started today.

IMO, Private clubs are the only way to roll in MA.
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Agreed that private clubs are the way to go. Well worth the wait to join one. You meet a lot of people who are interested in a lot of the same things you are into and generally you can shoot anytime.
 
I live in Malden and joined Harvard, it's definitely worth the 45 min ride for me. I was a member of Mystic Valley years ago, it's a great 24 hour indoor range but very limited in what you can shoot and gets very busy at peak times.
 
Len-2A Training said:
Not necessarily given the rules for guests. I did that for lots of folks until the guest rules changed to be too onerous to ever bring a guest there. Great club but this is a problem for responsible people and created due to irresponsible members bringing literally >10 guests at a time that it is alleged weren't following good range safety or etiquette.
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I think the majority of clubs end up with range rules that are in place for the less than 10% of the members that can't seem to act like responsible safe shooters on their own.
 
I joined Mystic Valley, haven't been able to go once because SHTF let me know if you want to shoot, because things have settled down for me now.
 
Thanks to Mass Firearms School for the great raffle in MFS/NES March Gun Giveaway!
~Matt

PS. I want the 20ga 870!

870ExpressCompactPink_81150_sm_lg.jpg
 
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I liked braintree when I lived in the area, do they still not allow any outdoor shooting without a range officer being there to babysit?
 
If you live in Boston, you will have to travel to a good range and go though the application process. Boston Gun and Rifle is your best bet now.
 
Len-2A Training said:
Not necessarily given the rules for guests. I did that for lots of folks until the guest rules changed to be too onerous to ever bring a guest there. Great club but this is a problem for responsible people and created due to irresponsible members bringing literally >10 guests at a time that it is alleged weren't following good range safety or etiquette.
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I was there a few weeks ago. One group had more than a few guests. Those dudes were rapid firing, hitting the ceiling, and repeatedly asking each other "You feel me!" Nope. I got outta there fast.
 
TomMontana said:
I was there a few weeks ago. One group had more than a few guests. Those dudes were rapid firing, hitting the ceiling, and repeatedly asking each other "You feel me!" Nope. I got outta there fast.
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That's exactly why the rules were changed. If caught/reported, these guys that are members will be expelled. The BOD handles these situations and isn't forgiving of intentional stupidity.
 

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