Bayou Rifles Club or other Houston Area Gun Clubs??

[Monkeybear]

I am currently looking into joining a gun club for some quite safe range time.
Is anyone here a member of the Bayou Rifles or any other private gun club? I am interested in centerfire pistol and rifle shooting in a well maintained private range without the gangbangers.

Any ideas?

 

[zedsdead]

I'm a member of PSC

http://psc-range.com

Won't allow full auto or fifty cal. Other than that, I like it.

 

[wally]

+1 to PSC.

--wally.

 

[BobCat]

I was membership director for Bayou Rifles in 2003 & 4, am still a member, and shoot Highpower there the second and third Sunday.

The club has two ranges; Juliff, South between I 288 and FM 521 - has 3, 7, & 15 yard pistol, 25 & 50 yard pistol/rifle, 100 yard rifle, 200/300 and 600/1,000 yard rifle. The Addicks range, West of town, has 3, 7, 15 yard pistol, 25/50 yard pistol (Bullseye matches fourth Sunday), 40,75, and 100 meter (and one more distance I don't recall) centerfire pistol silhouette, and small-bore (rimfire) silhouette. No centerfire rifles at Addicks; centerfire pistols are fine on all ranges except the small-bore.

I am often at the Juliff range about 5 PM at the pistol range. If you want to meet there and see the range, PM me and I will give you my cell phone number. If it is not raining this Sunday, come to the match and either shoot or look around. I will be happy to show you the range after the match (probably about 12:30 PM plus or minus). I'm the chubby old guy with hearing aids in both ears; or ask one of the shooters there to point out Andrew.

I think membership is a bargain. The dues are not out of sight, and the people behave a lot more safely than at public ranges I went to 20-25 yeears ago in the Chicago area.

Sorry for the dissertation - but you asked.

Regards,
Andrew

Edited to add: PSC is a top-notch outfit, better than Bayou if you are mostly into pistol shooting. They do have rifle ranges but they are best known for IDPA. Also, Greenwood (farther south than Bayou) has an excellent reputation. I did not mean to slight either club, but I am a member at Bayou so that is what I wrote about.

 

[Monkeybear]

BobCat- Thanks! That was an excellent post. I think I'll take you up on your offer but maybe not for another month or so. Bayou seems like great place to shoot, I just wanted to make sure I wasnt missing anything.

Monkeybear

 

[Detritus]

Also, Greenwood (farther south than Bayou) has an excellent reputation.

well Bobcat beat me to mentioning them, but if you ever wanted to check out Greenwood as well, i am a member there, and we could arrange to meet for a visit.

I know i've posted on a few different "what's YOUR range like" threads in the time i've been on THR, and like Bobcat i won't say any place is better than another. but basicly if you compared the two for physical features, greenwood has larger/longer firing lines than bayou, a 600 but not a 1K range, shares the land (but not any actual range areas) with the local archery club, and is a more heavily wooded plot of land (more shade/tend to stay cooler for when not actually shooting). first big downside is that for anyone coming from the houston area, Greenwood is/can seem to be a ratehr long drive to get to.

 

[BobCat]

Monkeybear,

No rush - the invitation is good for whenever.

I need to mention a couple of not-so-good things.

1) Bayou has a rule against drawing from the holster and firing. They are apparently afraid someone will shoot himself / herself in the leg. In my arrogant opinion, if someone can not draw his pistol without shooting himself, he does not need to be on the range with me. You can draw, "ground" your pistol to the bench, and fire - just no draw-and-fire fast drills. There is no restriction on how many rounds per second or whatever - you can empty the mag as fast as you want, if that is your cup of tea, as long as the bullets hit the impact berm.

2) In the 200-2001 time frame there was some dissention within the club and the shotgun division got axed. Plenty of blame to go around, I will not go into details, but you need to know this because you will hear comments about it from some in the shooting community in Houston; nothing to hide and over with, but part of the history.

3) The short-range (3, 7, 15) at Juliff attracts shooters with the lowest discipline in terms of picking up their brass and also in terms of not shooting up the wood target frames. I have not seen unsafe behavior there, but in truth I usually am alone at that range, given the time of day I'm there.

Anyway, PSC is preferred if you are into IDPA, Greenwood is great and I think their dues are lower (a lot of Highpower shooters go to the match at Greenwood - the clubs staggered the match dates so as not to conflict) - a lot of Highpower shooters drive all the way to Beaumont to compete, too.

North of Houston, near Bellville, there is a club called Austin County Rifle and Pistol CLub (I think) - not to be confused with Austin Rifle Club which is actually in/near Austin. I have contact info somewhere on my computer and can find it if you want. I've never been there but told they have a 200-yard range.

Also North of the city, there is the Tomball club. I know a guy who is a member and can get info on it if you wish.

Got to go get more coffee... I hope this is not too incoherent, I have no business writing things down before being really awake... Good luck with your choices and remember it is not an either-or situation; mentally amortize the dues over a year and you might join more than one club, if you want more options.

Regards,
Andrew

 

[Detritus]

Greenwood is great and I think their dues are lower

i think they still are...

we just went up to $75 a year, plus a one time "initiation fee" for new members of something like $50-60 (this goes directly to the land acquisition fund), oh and the membership cap was just raised as well.

Oh and the mention of a shotgun division reminded me that i forgot to mention Greenwood's shotgun range, which is in a separate location from the rifle/pistol range. the rifle/pistol range is off of the far end of FM 521, shotgun area is out on FM 2004 about a mile north of where it crosses FM 523.
facilities include Skeet, trap, 5-stand, and what i am told is the only olympic style bunker trap setup within reasonable driving distance (Brazoria county 4H sent the highest number of kids per-capita to the "National Junior Olympic Trap and Skeet Shooting Championships" of any county in america in 2003, and Greenwood decided not to make them drive to Dallas to practice). downside is the shotgun range only operates on sundays, or by special arrangement for groups.