[jefnvk]

I am heading to Michigan Tech this fall, and I was wondering if there is anyone there now that could give me some genereal information:
What the weapon storage areas are?
What they allow on the rifle range, in terms of caliber, no wolf, those things?
Is there are any other ranges around there?
Does it cost anything to register weapons with the campus police, or to store them there?

Thanks

[ACP230]

Check out the website of the MTU Pistol Club at www.sos.mtu.edu/pistol/ for info on the Gribble Rifle Range.
Although not a student, I shoot there occasionally in the winter and it is rated for handguns up to .44 Magnum and shotguns up to 12 gauge. I have shot .22 and .357 Magnum rifles there, and handguns from .22 to .41 Magnum. I'm not aware of any restrictions on Wolf ammo, but I won't use anything but the .22 Match Target in my guns.

I think they still have gun storage rooms in the dorms at MTU, but I'm not sure.

There is a local range four miles outside Chassell on the Chassell-Painesdale Road. It's about 10 miles from MTU. It's the Portage Lake Sportsmen's Club and used to have a reduced membership for MTU students. It may still offer them.

I shot there yesterday and there have been a lot of improvements since last year. There's a covered range with good benches now, for instance. It was 80 degrees here yesterday, but cool and comfortable under the cover. There's Sporting Clays and Trap there, along with .22 rifle Silhouette and IDPA.

There's an active club in Pelkie, off M38 outside Baraga too. It's the Ottawa Sportsmen's Club and has a good outdoor range and a big Turkey Shoot on the last Saturday in September. Lots of types of shooting games and lots of fun. A friend of mine shoots off a blackpowder cannon at the shoot every year.

They have a couple of gun shows there a year too, and some other programs. There's a Junior Pistol team that goes to Perry each year, and a Practical Pistol program which meets Thursday nights.

HTH.

[Eric Bryant]

Nice to hear that the pistol club is still alive and kicking (I was a range officer from '97-'99).

When I was up there, storing weapons in the dorms was simply a matter of obtaining a locker from one of the management assistants. Getting access to the gun locker room simply involved finding an RA to unlock the door. No registration with the campus police was necessary at that time.

Limitations at the range included:

No centerfire rifle
No jacketed bullets
No pistol rounds over 1000 fps muzzle velocity

The last two were never really enforced, due to difficulty and impracticality. We did ask that people refrain from firing anything obnoixous during the busier hours (if one felt it necessary to try out their new bear-killing handloads, we'd kindly ask them to wait until the newcomers had cleared-out). There were no strict limitations on brand, as long as it was safe.

Additionally, we'd want to see some sort of proof of compentency before letting newcomers fire their own centerfire pistols. Nominally, one was supposed to qualify to NRA 7th-bar levels before shooting any centerfire pistol.

There were a lot of fun times up there at the SDC range during my four years as a member. Probably the best part was hanging out with the local guys - Ron Granneth(sp) and quite a few other folks whose names I (embarassingly) can't remember right now. And it's cool to see that Ladies Night is still a regular event :D

[jefnvk]

Hey thanks! So Im getting the impression that my .45 won't be a problem if I get soft points, and my 22/45 is perfectly fine. And I suppose that I can part with my rifles until I find a place to shoot :rolleyes:. I'll check ino some of those other ranges ACP mentioned.

[ACP230]

I'm not sure jacketed bullets are a problem now.
I know they've been shot on the MTU range without anyone saying anything.
Check when you join up to make sure, I guess.

[Eric Bryant]

I don't think there will be a problem shooting jacketed ammo. As I said, a rule against it was on the books when I was up there, but it was never enforced. After all, for the most part, you're going to be limited to what you can scrounge up at the local Wal-Mart and K-Mart.

jefnvk, don't feel that you have to leave your longguns at home, as those late fall/early spring trips out to the Chassell range sure were fun (if indeed you've got the slightly-twisted definition of "fun" that it takes to survive at MTU).