Range changing - C2 in Virginia Beach

[Wayne Smith]

C2 has changed to membership only - and I think a good choice and told Kent so. $550 year minimum membership fee. It is the only outdoor range within reasonable reach - and it's a 40min drive from home. I'll be able to set up my chronograph without bothering others and way less competition - weekends were crazy and Kent realized that. I'll be joining.

[Winger Ed.]

Cool.
Our private range is a couple hundred a year with a annual raffle & fund raiser.
All things considered, I like it MUCH better than the public ranges I've fired on.

[Neverhome]

Dang.
C2 is has been my range for about 12 years but I haven’t been in some months. Too busy with work on weekdays and I NEVER go on weekends. Total madhouse.
I was a member back when price was about half what it is now but stopped when price went up and I knew I’d never get to go enough to make a membership worth it.
Now though I may have to reassess. Great range on a weekday!

[sigep1764]

Nice to have a range but that cost seems steep to me. Granted the range im a member of is indoor and limited to 25yards, but is only 275 per 13 months.

[kevin c]

My range is a private one with pretty low annual fees, but we stay in the black by charging the public to use the ranges and participate in matches. Members pay too, but at discounted rates.

Weekends are busy, but, if a member can get out there during the week, solo practice on a bay is often possible without a wait.

[Kraschenbirn]

Considering where Wayne is located...once upon a time I spent 6 months at Ft. Eustis...that membership fee ain't too awful. Our club range (300 yds.) is a bit less than 30 minutes from my driveway and dues are $110/yr. On the other hand, there's a commercial indoor range (12-25-yard lanes with powered target hangers) a half-mile up the road where individual memberships are $400/yr and $500/yr for family...and they don't allow lead boolits, reloads, rapid-fire, or draw-from-the-holster practice. Guess where I shoot, even when the weather is somewhat on the messy side.

Bill

[fcvan]

I spent a lot of years in a rural Nor Cal county where there were lots of places to shoot, many are some miles down bad roads. 90% of the county is state or national park, or Natl Recreation Area. Part of the Rec Area designation required there be a designated and maintained shooting area. The district ranger said 'not on my land.' I took this issue to the NRA Annual Meetings in 2012, subcommittee on land use, and they said they would 'look into it.' Some time later, she was reassigned, an area designated, and it is maintained.

A small county of 25k people, most shooters all know each other if only in passing at the range, the gun store (yup, one) and other community events. The longest shot is 125 yards, several hand gun sites. Common courtesy dictates that folks inquire 'how long have you been here' and such, and many folks will say if they are packing up soon and they do. If there was a private range, folks would be members, which often builds a better shooting community.

The only private range is shotgun/archery only, and has been that way for decades. When the county brought in a lot of new peace officers who shoot pistol and rifle, there was no interest in meeting that need. Too bad, many also liked shooting trap and skeet.

The best public range I ever went to was/is in Winnemucca, NV. Many ranges for archery, shotgun, small bore pistol and rifle, large bore pistol and rifle, and a range out to 40 yards. Covered firing lines, concrete walkways, pea gravel range surface, classroom, barbecue/picnic facilities, are for judges and scoring, etc. There are target platforms, steel plates, defined berms, you know, a nice place to shoot. The signage 'reminds' folks not to shoot steel with high powered rifles with examples of destroyed targets by such abuse. Shooting benches are made from plate steel, on a concrete pad, with adjustable stools.

There are signs 'requesting' that people police their brass, brooms and dust pans provided, locked brass bins for those who don't reload, and a statement that reclaimed/recycled brass goes toward range maintenance. It is a neat, orderly, professional place to shoot. Fees? Zero, zilch, nada. The most important thing is the signage as you enter "This range was constructed in part with funds from the US Fish and Wildlife Service, Federal Assistance Wildlife Restoration Fund, in cooperation with Nevada Department of Wildlife Hunter Education Program."

Why in the heck are we paying for programs privately that we have paid for publicly? I took lots of pictures and continue to share with my friends from Nor Cal. I am also working with folks in CO having retired (again) from CA. One of our best resources is us, the hunters, shooters, fishermen, all taxpayers, of course, Pittman/Robertson taxes that are over and above the average taxpayer.

It doesn't take much, just we the people squeaking the wheel. In reference to the 'previous' district ranger, I wish I could have said 'It's not your land (insert reference to female dog) It's out land. You work for us, not the other way around.' I never got the chance, she was promptly removed.

[poppy42]

That sucks the only outdoor range I could possibly go to and I certainly don’t have $500 a year to pay for membership ridiculous if you ask me

[poppy42]

The only public rifle range in the VA Beach area ( Hampton Roads) and it’s going member’s only. Might be great for all you professionals with fat wallets, but how’s the pool working slob, or someone like me on disability with a fixed income supposed to afford $500 a year for membership dues to arrange that’s 40 minutes away. Let me see join the range I don’t eat for a couple of months.

[Neverhome]

I hear ya, Poppy!
I’d need to go roughly 30 times a year to break even at that cost. I really doubt that is happening.

18 or so years ago I’d just drive all the way to the free range up at Chickahominy but it started to get too sketchy with people goofing off. I couldn’t do any serious target work while constantly waiting for some dumba$$ to accidentally shoot the awning or himself

[poppy42]

Maybe I’ll join and just stop paying my Dr bills lol

[richhodg66]

Didn't realize how good it is here (Actually, I did). The range I'm still a member of is still $100 a year. Great range, only downside is it's only open every other weekend and one Thursday a month, however, if you RSO there, which I do, they give you a key and you can go whenever. It's closed now due to Covid 19 and will be closed while they renovate it for most of a year. I think they get subsidized some by the state.

The club I was a member of it Topeka was $200 a year, they did a background check on you, you had to be an NRA member (no problem with either one) and you had to be vouched for by two current members which was a problem when I was new in town. That is a good club, full up shotgun range and several ranges for various purposes including a rifle range that went out to 300 yards. Had a key and could go whenever the sun was up.

I shoot mostly on my own place now. If all I had was an indoor range, I'd probably stop shooting much and take up golf or something, I absolutely despise those places.

[poppy42]

Well I don’t know what I’ll do. Now the only place I can shoot a rifle is at an indoor range that’s 20 yards. I don’t know about anybody else but 30-06 at 20 yrds makes absolutely no sense to me. There is a Club in Gloucester, about an hours drive for me. The dues are at least reasonable but once again when you’re on a fixed income it’s a lot easier to come up with a range free for a couple hours as opposed to paying the The yearly in one lump sum. Some would say just don’t go for a while save up the money and pay the dues but realistically something always comes up. Something breaks on the car, another doctor visit, and there goes the money I saved for the dues for range use!

[Bazoo]

Poppy, I wish you were near me. I'd offer you to come to the farm any time you like.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Member only range here , at $100 a year , pistol range to 50 yards , rifle to 400 yards , covered area to shoot from , pay a initiation fee when first joining .
I still like to drive up on the logging roads , state land as the timber companies have had enough of the slobs and trash , along with vandalism and theft .
See enough senseless acts of garbage , shot up signs and trees , over time they have dug up the roads to close some of the areas off , lots of off road quads and motorcycles tearing up the woods , but the state seems fine with that .

[poppy42]

Poppy, I wish you were near me. I'd offer you to come to the farm any time you like.

Thank you! I would certainly take you up on the offer if I was close enough! I think my wife would get mad if I told her I was going to the range and came back two days later though lol! I’ve been to Louisville to visit my nephew and that’s like 11 hours away. I certainly do appreciate the thought Bazoo.

[poppy42]

It really amazes me the lack of ranges and places to shoot in this area! It was easier to find a place to shoot when I lived in New York! That was 40 years ago though. I haven’t been back to New York since. I imagine it’s quite a bit different nowadays. Still it really stinks when it comes to places to shoot in this area! I’ll give my eyeteeth to be able to drive 20 minutes and shoot at some rock quarry, Woods, Farm, or whatever! What makes it worse is I really don’t know a lot of people in this area.

[shooterg]

We have a decent facility at Izaak Walton in Amherst Co. 50 yd. smallbore/Pistol, 300 yd Rifle, benches and covers on both. Two Action bays. Archery Ranges, Trap and Skeet, 5-stand, 2 lakes/tent and RV campsites and more on 300+ acres.
Was $35 annually in 1991 when I joined, now costs me $250. Even with 500 folks, you may be the only one on the Range some days.

[Wayne Smith]

Poppy, contact Kent and plead your case. He's human too and does have a heart. He has to watch the bottom line like any other business, and he told me he is actually losing money at the $550 level. This range is completely private.

[Neverhome]

I just mentioned it in a PM but to convey to a broader audience, something stinks here. I was a member at C2 about 12 years ago and have been going there ever since. Don't quote me on this but I believe my membership was around 200 for the year back then. Range rentals were expensive even then and I don't think they've gone up much but memberships have more than doubled. I have zero complains about the facilities but I haven't seen any significant/costly facility improvements. I've seen the number of shooters skyrocket. Training held there doesn't seem to have lagged. Still plenty of LE and MIL training there ever day I've gone.
If he's losing money at 550 a month then why potentially limit his clientele? I have no hard feelings about a business making money. No one opens one out of the kindness of their hearts. So I don't buy that he's losing money in this change. There must be more to the story.

He's the only show in town and knows it. Where else is anyone going to go?