RIPOFF: S. Florida shooting ranges now allow you to shoot ONLY ammo you bought there!

If only I had the problem discussed here, I would be a happy camper. Here in Florida whre I live, we had an indoor range, (air conditioned sometmes) where you could shoot what you brung as long as it was not jacketed.

Owner decided he would rather use the space for storage, so he used the bogus "increased insurance cost" as the reason to close. Finish business, end of story.

Looked into opening another range. This county simply will not entertain an application for a range , period. (safety you know)

There are no other indoor ranges in the county and the nearest is 40 miles away.

Closest range is OUTDOOR, 30 miles away and in the summer is not an option.

To keep the indoor range I had, I would gladly have purchased range ammo there, much cheaper than gasoline at $230 a gallon

What they did at your range was CS I admit, but at least you still have it, evn if the AC doesn't work.

Trade You.

I am sorry to hear that your ranges are that way in flordia. I am lucky that I have a very good indoor range thats less then 15 minutes away. The range has complete AC, very good lighting, and is always clean. Of course it costs 15$ an hour, but its well worth it compared to a lot of the other ranges in the area. Their ammo prices are very good, as a matter of fact I just checked on the .44 mag 50 round box I bought from them for the rental gun I used, and they are 1$ higher then the cheapest online price I could find (shipping not included). I know how tough it can be to shoot on poor ranges, one that I went to in chicago was really bad. It had no A/C, pratically no lighting, most of the taget retrivers didn't work, not to mention their prices for ammunition were out of sight.

Do what I do, buy a small amount of their stuff. Shoot it. Then go into your bag and get your stuff out.

Just don't tell them that you have anything

We have two local indoor ranges, both require that you purchase ammo from them IF you are using their rental. I think that's a fair business practice.

From the range operators viewpoint, there are gunowners who have a bad batch of reloads and rent a gun to shoot them. There are a few around here that buy steel case ammo and put it in WWB or Rem boxes to use at the indoor range. This destroys the profit margin on recycled brass.
I resent the fact that all of the ranges in the county have the exact same policy. This policy is de facto price fixing. It is true that price fixing has taken place IF PRICE OR AVAILABILITY has been discussed with competitors. In business, availablity is commonly used as a price fixing tool. The justice dept trulings reflect this common use.

Heres the thread I mentioned about earlier.

No wonder I couldn't find it earlier. It was over on 1911forum

Anyways, heres a similar account and some useful tips/advice.

http://www.1911forum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108883

My local range does the same thing.

If you rent one of their guns, you must shoot their ammunition.

However the ammunition they provide are their OWN reloads, so they charge about a 1$ over what you would pay at wally-world on ammo.

True pietro,

All California ranges require that you shoot their ammunition with their rented guns, but forcing the customers to shoot their ammunition in our pistols is different.

Even us in the PRK hasn't been hit with that type of bogus rule.

The local indoor range has required it for years. It began shortly after they paid umpteen thousand dollars in medical bills for a customer to blew the mag out of his gun. He had his off hand under the mag.

JT

Dude, shop around. If you have to drive an hour to find a range that does not do this, then do it.

I have a range within 10 minutes of me that will not let you shoot FMJ on their rifle range. So, I drive a little more than an hour, one way, to shoot at a range with no such restrictions.

It is an inconvenence but it might save you from a rage induced stroke.

Problems, problems. At least you have choices.

The nearest indoor range to me is a minimum of 45 minutes away, and can be an hour during commuter hours. The next nearest is a minimum of an hour away.

The hourly rate at the "nearby" range is $18/hour, $10/half hour. I'm a member, so I shoot as often as I want for a fixed fee, but I have to shoot a lot of times to break even.

On the brighter side, they don't make you buy their ammo or targets. Nominally they charge $1 each if you shoot up their target hanger clips, but I did just that with a new pistol that should never have left the factory and the owner forgot to charge me. I paid him anyway. The last time I was there I had some bullseye targets but I wanted a silhouette. He gave it to me and I went downstairs to shoot. When I came back up and wanted to pay for the target, he wouldn't tell me how much it was and I almost had to break his arm to put a dollar into his hand.

Needless to say, when I want or "need" a gun I buy it from him or have him handle the transfer, and I don't argue with his transfer fees.

As I have observed this from both sides of the fence, it really boils down to the fact the business owner has to do what he can to stay solvent and can do whatever he wants.

The customer can vote with his wallet though and that can be most important if enough people do so. As I used to tell the employess, we are not paying you, the customers are.

I can tell you though that when we used to see that wal mart bag come in to the range, said customer trying to sneak that ammo in our rentals, and still asking for a discount, you can see why some ranges have to take measures and yes I have told customers that they should ask Wal Mart if they can shoot off that bargain ammo out in the back of the store or on aisle 4!

Keep it up guys and don't expect too many ranges to be around and your saving in ammo will be eaten up with gas and time at least for those of us in urban areas. I'm not one of those people who hate Wal Mart or anything else but simple economics dictate that a range needs to make some money to survive and a 10 dollar range fee and no targets or ammo is just going to stretch so far. Try seeing how much it costs in electricity to provide a/c and light in a range let alone rent and salaries and...

The indoor pistol range I frequent charges $7 for unlimited time. Open 10 AM to 10 PM just about 7 days a week. You can bring your own ammo, but they will tell you they want only factory ammo that is jacketed. They don't allow magnums either. They will jump on you for that if you forget to bring you 38 spl.

Around Houston, I don't think an indoor range could stay in business without A/C.

The only open air range close by charges per gun. I don't like that as I always like to bring at least 3 or 4 guns to shoot.

I started complaing a while ago about this....

Run a search on my name.
G R E E D , biting the hand that feeds them, yes its there place there rules, thats why I pay range fees. DONT gouge the public by charging almost double for the same ammo.

Charging by the gun? Thats a new one to me, now I've seen everything! I've brought upwards of 15-20 guns to the range before so I guess that would not work for me!

And actually there is a range in So Cal area, in Compton of all places that does or did not allow outside ammo so Californians brace yourself! Actually parts of Compton can seem like an outdoor range at times! At least this range rents or did rent Ar's and AK's, a rarity in California, esp. at an indoor range as most in area are pistol and shotgun rated only.

Do you guys have a problem with paying a surcharge for bringing your own ammo, say 2-4bucks? Some ranges do this and that does not bother me. Hell, On Target range was charging a surcharge for the high electricity costs during Californias powr crisis and I though that was a bit strange but understandable, I think their electricity provider is one of the highest cost ones in the nation.

Ranges vary in rules, they can be strange but understandable. I've seen one that allowed outside ammo but no ammo customers had reloaded themselves. Seeing some of the injuries and irresponsibilty certain but not all reloaders caused in an indoor range though I can understand this. Blown up guns are no fun nor are the injuries they can and I have seen them cause.

Your situation sux. But this type of situation has been going on for a long time. The range by where I live charges an excess amount for ammo and targets. The range prohibits the use of any target not sold by them and poster size targets cost about $1 a piece. The store is nice enough to allow you to bring your own ammo if you want, but they charge you a fee for doing so. To make matters worse I heard they went (or are going to go) lead free, so if you show up with FMJ’s, your options are either shoot what they sell or go home.

But wait… It gets better. This is the only range that exists in the city. It still gets better. The city has an ordnance prohibits shooting ranges, and this was the only range that grand fathered the local ordnance.

I have a feeling your thinking this can’t get any worse. But it does. Apparently the adjacent cities have adopted the same ordnance. So if you want to drive 20 miles you can shoot in a pawnshop’s 50ft range (only range in the surrounding cities). Where again you are required to use their ammo.

There are basically 2 options left. You can drive to next closest range (hour drive). Here the prices are really good and they don’t have these restrictive rules. Or you can join a private range that about 20 miles away; you just have to find a member in good standing that is willing to sponsor you. Finding a sponsor is a lot harder than it sounds, it took me several years.

Just for fun can anyone guess what city I live in?

Google is Your Friend

Florida Gun Clubs and Shooting Ranges
Another Site with FL Listings
Gunclub FL - Google Search Results

Somewhere there's an actual gun club you can join with a good outdoor range you can use. Find one. Join it. You'll save money and never go to an indoor range again.

Indoor ranges suck and are not good for your health either. Of the many I've used in 30 years I've never once left one that I didn't have a sweet taste in my throat (unless I was shooting FMJ's only). Most are poorly ventilated and shooting down a single lane at a single target at usually no more than 25 yards is booring as hell.

Believe me - find a good gunclub in your area with a members only outdoor range and join it. Go to the meetings. Make new friends and expand your shooting horizons.

And I thought I hated my range, after this though it seems like heaven. My range is county run, it's 32 miles from my house so on a light traffic day I can make it in about 45 minutes. $10 for the large bore range, 100 yard target, targets are the NRA ones only, no other targets allowed and are supplied by the range officers. 1 round in the rifle only, one guy last week had 5 in and they banned him from the place. They're resonable though you ask them if you can do it once or twice they usually let you. Open only on Saturdays and Sundays, and holidays that fall on Monday. You can shoot the ammo you want, but they don't allow tracers or incendiaries due to it being an outdoor range, someone was probably scared of brush fires.

The ammo prices there are about $4 over what my gun store charges, box of FMJ Sellier and Bellot 8mm there goes for about $16 for 20 rounds at the range, $12 at the gun store. That's pretty much why I've got a 900 round case of Yugoslavian ammo coming to my house tomorrow, cost me about $70 with S&H lol

Moonclip said:

yes I have told customers that they should ask Wal Mart if they can shoot off that bargain ammo out in the back of the store or on aisle 4!

Click to expand...

That might make sense if Wal Mart was a shooting range to begin with, but you wouldn't want to ruin your clever little slogan with logic.

Bring yer own

If any of you lot come to my range, you better bring your own ammo. I don't care if it says Walmart or whatever.

You better bring beer, too, for after the shoot.

My range is my yard.

Um, could you kindly explain how it is that BEFORE they started doing this, ranges stayed in business for, um, all the decades since the dawn of shooting ranges?

Click to expand...

Times change. Business models change. Tort lawyers get more aggressive. Insurance prices go up. EPA regulations get stricter. Property taxes go up. Employee health insurance premiums rise. Employees demand higher pay. The owner decides he (or she) wants to buy a boat. ALL are valid reasons a range owner might feel the need to raise prices, directly or indirectly. He owns the place, he gets to set the rules. You frequent the place, you get to stop going if you don't like it.

Whoever owns/operates the range has decided they can't operate sufficiently profitably doing things the way they used to. It happens. If you don't like it, vote with your wallet and go elsewhere, or get together with a bunch of friends and open a competing business. If you can't do either, it's your right to complain about it all you want, but that doesn't mean they don't have one or a dozen good reasons for doing what they did. Even if they have no reason, it's their right as a business owner to change their business model. It's your right as a customer to patronize another establishment.

As for all the talk about collusion and "price-fixing," it's perfectly legal for one business to set a price or policy, and for all the other businesses in town to follow suit. If Walmart decides to sell Coca-Cola for 50¢ more per case, and everyone else in town decides that now would be a good time to raise their price too, that's not price-fixing. That's finding the price the market will bear. Now, if the business owners get together in advance and decide to do that, that's collusion. But there's no evidence that that's what happened here, from what I've read.

-twency
_____________________
[Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here? Someone turn on the A/C. And whaddya mean I can't bring my own electrons anymore? I don't want to use yours.]

I stopped going to the (only) indoor range in town after my first trip to the outdoor gun club. Last time I was there, their range ammo was Speer Lawman and it was quite a bit more expensive than WWB or any other decently priced ammo. They had no problem with you bringing your own ammo, and the charged a range fee. I think it was $12/hr $8/30min. They charge to rent guns, but I never did so I don't know if they made you use their ammo or not.

A range up in Charlotte that I went to had an MP5 for rent. If you rented their guns, you had to use their ammo. I made a comment on how the ammo I brought was of much higher quality than the PMC they wanted me to put through the $12,000 gun, but obviously that was not as important as them making an extra $3 off of the box of ammo. Honestly, I have no problem if a range wants you to use their ammo in their weapons. They DO have liability concerns, especially with handloads. When a range doesn't let you bring your own ammo just because they want to make a few extra bucks, that's totally different. Getting together with a group of people in your area and letting the range know how you all feel may bring about change more effectively than simply not going anymore.