Besides a simple parcel to shoot on, what makes a range facility memorable? What makes it stand out in what it can bring to your experience? Bang for the buck, what is the best ancillary feature a range facility can have besides simple square ranges or shooting lanes?
Many of the ranges I've been on lack a flush toilet, so that's always nice...............
Maybe I'm just a simple guy, I want a safe berm, good target holders, and room to work.
I am the owner of Agile/Training and Consulting
www.agiletactical.com
Indoor or outdoor? As much as I enjoy shooting outdoors, I've spent far more time in indoor ranges (ranging from very modern to cave-like).
"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."
So had outdoor in my mind, but indoor is still a good discussion. The indoor range at my club has backstops that aren't rated for FMJ ammo...
Indoors? Good ventilation. I've shot at ranges where the air tasted bad and never wanted to go back.
I tend to judge indoor ranges by the lighting. Most indoor ranges have poor lighting that is only exacerbated when you step inside the booth. So far, the NRA Range in Fairfax remains the standard by which I judge other indoor ranges, as they actually installed light bars in each booth, which makes a huge difference. Elite Shooting Sports shows promise as the ranges are exceptionally well lit, but the booths are still dim by comparison (considering how much ESS has invested in making their facility state-of-the-art, I'm sure they'll address this relative deficiency).
Ventilation has already been mentioned and is another important factor. I've also never returned to ranges with poor air quality. A good size booth, with reasonable room for an instructor to work with a student, is desirable. It's the 21st century, so I expect electronic target carriers. I want reasonable range rules that establish a safe environment but are not so overly restrictive that they inhibit training.
Perhaps outside the scope of your question, but so much of what makes a range facility memorable is the staff. Over the past few years I frequented a range that had a revolving door of training staff and RSOs. Some were fantastic and some were terrible. I have some sympathy for the staff, as they must deal with a span of customers ranging from the complete novice with a rental firearm to highly skilled and trained professionals. However, some have proven to me that they are unable to distinguish at all between these groups.
Rental firearms are a feature that attracts business, and I've appreciated the opportunity to sample a firearm before making a purchase, but I very much dislike rental facilities. Too many times I've seen rental customers fail to follow basic range safety rules. I think any rental facility should have very hands-on range officers - but this a fine line.
Last, there are a number of facilities that I can visit to practice, but precious few hold memorable events, competitions or training classes with notable instructors.
"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."
This include handguns? What can you shoot there?Originally Posted by Jay Cunningham
I'm spoiled: I get to go to an award-winning 5 star indoor range that has a tac bay with programable target tracks, a motorized wheeled robot, a retail store that actually doesn't suck, and a whole training extension that does a buncha in-house training, as well as hosting guys like John Farnam and Mike Janich. Not bad.
Outdoor? A classroom facility, line shelter and a 3-sided raised berm and I'm pretty much GTG. Bonus if it's open at night on occasion, and allows vetted members to work from the holster and shoot faster than one shot per second.
Oh, and keep the derp out. Good luck figuring how to do that without limiting it to your friends.
For an outdoor range:
Some kind of steel targets--whether already there, or be allowed to hang my own. To this day i have not found a range within an hour/hour and half of philadelphia that would let me do that. Most ranges are set up for one thing and one thing only--zero your rifle of the bench. I always get looks from people when i shoot prone along the side of the bench, or work on my kneeling/squat shooting form. Having steel targets would make such practice a lot more enjoyable and efficient.
For an indoor range:
--proper lighting would be a god send. Or on the same note, perhaps have good lighting on an all bays, but a few--where you can practice in low light conditions.
--Proper ventilation-->this is not a want, this is a MUST.
List of features that i would have on an ideal range:
--Action shooting bays. They had them at one of the ranges in Florida. The "Bay" was basically a berm in the shape of an inverted U, with several of these bays side by side. This allowed for an almost 180 field of fire within the berm at various distances/targets. I believe that you had to pay extra to use the bays, and could only be used 2 people max at a time. However it provided for a way to practice shooting on the move/positional shooting at various ranges (i think the longest distance in the "bay" was 20 yards. For someone who has not taken a proper carbine class or participated in 3 gun competition a nice way to practice those aspects of shooting. Something that unless you have your own land, is not available in South East PA.
--As mentioned above steel targets. (i understand liability--but perhaps have a separate area where you would have to sign a waiver to use).
--"Nice" bathroom facilities. Would definitely make it easier to get my wife to the range. And on that note--maybe a covered area with tables/benches for none shooters.
--Distances beyond 100yards.
--An idea that i had the other day on the range when someone asked to borrow my spotting scope. Why not install the outdoor shooting scopes (think on top of empire state building) at the range. I'm sure there would be quite a few people that would feed them $.
--Since this is an ideal world--i want it to be within 30 minutes of my house... but i digress.
Outdoors: Clean, responsible and safe membership (extremely important and extremely rare with most ranges, even private), safe berms, enough room or bays to work, and secure (fences, membership checks, cameras as needed, outdoor lighting, etc), and CLEAN BATHROOMS. Not too many women or even men enjoy a nasty outhouse.
For my personal needs, long ranges on a rifle range with anchored steel (anything 500 or farther is good, anything below is not exactly a wide range of rifle distances IMO. Long ranges are rare in WI). Leagues where I can shoot various shooting sports in the presence of competent range officers is a bonus. No ridiculous rules like slow fire wooden firearms only and all that but that's a given with the circles on this site.
If I had a lot of money I'd just have a private range, but I don't so I make sue with what little is available in my area
Semper Gumby, Always Flexible
Bathrooms are important. I want to wash my hands. A place with A/C to get out of the sun is nice. Lots of room and bays are good. I don't like shooting cheek to jowl with strangers.
But what I would like more than anything - and which is hard to find around here at a reasonable price - is a long distance rifle range - 500 yards plus.
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