[Unisaw]

I am considering a job in Kirkland, WA. Do any of you have personal knowledge of any good (or bad) shooting clubs in the area? I mainly practice defensive handgun at ranges of 25 feet or less. Also, I reload and thus would want to avoid any ranges that require commercial ammo.

[priv8ter]

Bellevue, about a 15 minute drive south on a no traffic day, has a few indoor ranges/clubs. From what I here, the best one is WSI, Weapon Safety Incorporated www.weaponssafety.com

Not to sure about actual clubs, as I live across The Sound, but I know there are a few Eastsiders on here...all depends on how far you want to drive.

Greg

PM me if you have anymore questions!

[USGuns]

Also in Bellevue is Wade's Eastside gun shop with a decent sized indoor range: http://www.wadesguns.com/

[priv8ter]

From talking to other people, there have been 3 cases of people renting guns, and then committing suicide in the bathroom with their rented guns.

WSI is slightly more discriminating when they rent out their lanes, and despite whet the civil rights folks tell us, there are occasional situations where being discriminating is a good thing.

[Marty Hayes]

Snoqualmie Valley Rifle Club is a few miles out of town, and is a very suitable NRA club. If I lived in that area still, I would still be a member.

Interlake Rod and Gun club, and outdoor club is all but shut down due to encroachment.

Renton Fish and Gun Club is a pretty good club, about 15 miles from Kirkland. Don't know what their member facilities are like these days, but they do a lot of IPSC, Cowboy and IDPA shooting.

Indoor ranges are Wades and WSI, both are fairly spendy, but have good retail sections. Check them both out bfore you join either.

North of Kirkland in Kenmore is Wildlife Committee of Washington, but not recommended for self-defense purposes. Very restrictive on rules, (one round in gun, etc).

Also, I believe the Seattle Police Athletic Association takes civilian members, (they are in Tukwilla). Don't know more than that.

Bottom line, is that the Seattle area is ripe for shooting opportunities, and I believe one can even take some pretty good training in the area.

:)

[Tommy Gunn]

Renton Fish & Game Club (http://rfgc.org/)
17500 S.E. 144th Street Renton, WA 98059
Phone: 425-226-1563


The facilities at the Renton Fish & Game Club have been steadily improving. Great place for pistol, IPSC, and Cowboy Action Shooting.

[FPrice]

Do you know if The Marksman, Inc., down in Puyallup is still there? I used to shoot there in the 80's while I was at McChord and it was fairly decent at the time. We used to host indoor IPSC matches and had a fairly good draw. I left in '91 and don't have much contact with anyone out there.

[Phil in Seattle]

FPrice, The Marksman is still there in Puyallup right on Canyon Road. They set up for the WAC gun shows and I drive by the shop all the time going to and from my club, the Tacoma Sportsmans Club, to shoot.

[FPrice]

Thanks for the update. I kinda miss that place (WA state, that is). Would love to retire back there but wife is dead set against that. Wants to go to AZ. Might have to get two houses...

[illuminatus99]

Wades in pretty nice, good for working at handgun ranges, it's indoors and has an attached shop with good selection (even Class III stuff they won't let anyone buy). IIRC they don't allow rifles.

the one I shoot at is Sams in everett. they have friendly knowledgeable people, NRA certified instructors and they allow rifles and even black powder. I've also had no trouble doing rapid fire drills with the semi-auto rifles, for the most part if you can keep it on the paper and be safe they don't care how fast you shoot. I think they also do IDPA or IPSC stuff there too

most of the outdoor ranges around here will only allow you to chamber one round at a time unless you're a member. so in other words don't bother filling up the 30 rounders, or even fully loading a 5 round internal magazine.

[Tommy Gunn]

Thanks for the update. I kinda miss that place (WA state, that is). Would love to retire back there but wife is dead set against that. Wants to go to AZ. Might have to get two houses...

It's not what it was twenty years ago, urban sprawl has consumed much of what was the Evergreen State. :(

[FPrice]

" It's not what it was twenty years ago, urban sprawl has consumed much of what was the Evergreen State."

That's what I have heard. I may have to stop a little further east, like Montana.

[Traveler]

Marty Hayes has moved further South. He's closer to Kelso.

His wife (Gila)has an article in this years Glock Annual.

Don't forget one of the best shops in the country, let alone the NW is just up the road in Bellingham.

[pax]

Marty Hayes has moved further South. He's closer to Kelso.
Naw, Kelso/Longiew is a good 45 minutes from Onalaska. Marty's place is close to Chehalis/Centralia -- 'bout an hour south of Olympia, give or take a few.

Sleepy little town. Not much to do there, but the shooting's good.

pax

I spent a year in that town, one Sunday. -- Warwick Deeping

[Unisaw]

Many thanks for the replies. I'll have a good list of ranges to check out if I make the move.

[Unisaw]

Thanks, everyone. I took the job in Kirkland and will be heading to the Seattle area next week.

[pax]

:cool:

Welcome to Washington.

pax

If you don't go fishing because you thought it might rain you will never go fishing. This applies to more than fishing. -- Gary Sow

[D.W. Drang]

WSI is going to be closing it's doors and moving to a new location "Closer to I-405."
Not sure of a timeline.

BTW, Welcome aboard, Marty!

[Unisaw]

I'm glad to see that WSI will be re-opening. I feared that shooting ranges were being chased out of the metropolitan areas.

[D.W. Drang]

Unisaw:
Getting increasingly harder to find property where they'll let you open a range.
Our FLG is planning to open a facility in north Kent (or south Renton, it's kinda fuzzy there...) in the industrial area off of Hwy 167. Many municipalities won't even consider opening a range, and manhy landowners won't rent land or facilities for that purpose for fear of liability.
Most recently, the city engineer suddenly decided that the place he got a lease for suddenly had inadequate drainage and all the sewer need rebuilding...:fire: :cuss:
OTOH, when he was checking it out and ther neighbors asked him what he was opening--"It's not a warehouse, is it, we don't need no more big @$$ trucks 'round here"--and he told them "Just a pistol range" they saiod "Oh, good, we were worried..." :D

[NRA4LIFE]

I used to be a member of the Renton Fish and Game Club, pretty nice place if you can put up with the crowds. However, they dramatically raised there prices last year and I dropped mine. Plus, the range master told me that they could no longer have their members only days due to their non-profit status (???)

[Mark D]

Welcome to the greater Seattle area...

Where, "EVERY hour is Rush-Hour."

[FTG-05]

How about the Cascade Rifle and Pistol Club near Ravensdale (east of Auburn)? It used to have pretty good facilities, including a 500 yard rifle range. They also had a pretty scary bunch of
"tactical" pistol types that used drugs and alcohol, ran a bunch of people off when I lived there.

Anybody know the latest?

Albin

[UnknownSailor]

You are gonna have to try to make it up to Kesselring's (http://www.kesselrings.com). The only place I've found that has about 5 of everything they stock, and their used rifle/shotgun section is pretty good sized. I do all of my brick-and-mortar shopping there.

[Bart Noir]

Senor Drang, I know who you mean and for more than a year I have been listening to his problems getting that shop/smithy/range opened. Let's hope he is successful. OBTW, what is "FLG" to somebody who is acronym challenged?

I like Renton Fish & Game because I can shoot blackpowder there. The indoor ranges don't let you. I wonder why not.

Bart Noir
The only Government I need is a .45/70 Government.

[JohnK]

Before they closed the guys at WSI told me they were going to be re-opening in around 10 months in Renton, they didn't say exactly where but the owner already owned the property and was building the place from the ground up.

Wades is a good range, they used to have bowling pin matchs there every week, I'm not sure what they do now but I'm sure there are some matchs going on.

[FPrice]

for a retiree to consider moving to near the Seattle area? I lived in Washington from 1982-91 (Tacoma, McChord, Steilacoom, Federal Way, Bellevue, then finally Everett). I moved to Massachusetts in 1991 for a job and may be retiring as soon as Sep 2004. I need to start thinking about where I want to settle and the Pacific Northwest is at the top of my list.

[lurker]

for a retiree to consider moving to near the Seattle area?

FPrice,

Check out the July 2003 issue of Money magazine. It lists Bellingham, WA as one of the best places to retire. Not exact in Seattle but your retirement dollars will go a lot farther.

Regards,
~L

[Dain Bramage]

I second Bellingham and the surrounding area. It has the amenities of a small city, and some of the most beautiful scenery in the state.

Also consider the peninsula sunbelt. Sequim has the most sunshine in Western Washington. Port Townshend is rich in culture and history.

If you want more isolation, Whidbey Island is great, especially the middle part. Plus easy access to Everett, and all of the cities listed above. My wife, a local gal that has been to all these cities, says it is her favorite place on Earth.

If you have a lot of cash, are non-allergic to Yuppies, and/or are plain weird, consider the San Juan Islands.

[FPrice]

" Check out the July 2003 issue of Money magazine. It lists Bellingham, WA as one of the best places to retire. Not exact in Seattle but your retirement dollars will go a lot farther."

I could do Bellingham. How is the Sedro Wooley area right now?

[FPrice]

"If you have a lot of cash, are non-allergic to Yuppies, and/or are plain weird, consider the San Juan Islands."

Hmmm, let's see.

A lot of cash.

Nope.

Non-allergic to Yuppies.

No problem. I can irritate them more than they irritate me.

Plain wierd.

Nope. Just regular weird.

I had forgotten about Whidbey Island. That could be a possibility.

I HAVE to get back there and look around for a while.