North Texas--looking for a rifle range, private or public

[TexasSkyhawk]

I'm looking for a decent rifle range in the north Texas area, north of Dallas/Fort Worth. I know of the ranges in Las Colinas, the Garland public rifle range, and so on. Don't mind driving a bit, for instance, if there is a good range around Sanger or Gainesville or Decatur or Bridgeport.

Just looking for a semi-quiet, relaxed range to shoot at. The ones so close in to the city get a little crazy at at times.

Looking for ranges--public or private member--that are north of LBJ (I-635) in Dallas and north of Loop 820 in Fort Worth.

ALSO, I've heard rumors of a 1000 meter range somewhere around the Stephenville/Dublin area. Someone at a gunshow gave me the guy's card who is supposed to own it--said he was a former/retired SAS sniper.

Much appreciated.

Jeff

 

[TexasRifleman]

Here's the 1000 yard range you heard of.

http://www.tacproshootingcenter.com/

 

[mattsb2000]

You probably know about http://quailcreekrange.com/ already.

The times I have been there everyone has been nice.

 

[M2 Carbine]

This range is a little west but it's an excellent range, pistol rifle and shotgun.
Dues are $70 a year with a one time new member fee.

I haven't been there in almost two years but I keep up my membership.
(I'm too lazy to drive when I've got a range at home.)

http://www.parkersportsman.com/

 

[The Annoyed Man]

The Grand Prairie Gun Club has a 200 yard range that is not at all crowded. To join, you have to buy a $750 share in a land investment company (I forget the name). That gets you on the waiting list. When a slot opens up, you pay an annual fee of about $125.00. All of your shooting visits are covered by the annual fee.

There is also the Elm Fork range on Luna Road, off of Northwest Highway, east of the 114. Their 100 yard range is currently being rebuilt, but should be finished soon.

Finally, there is Tiger Valley, located north of Waco, which has a 1,000 yard range.

 

[Deamon]

Everytime I've been to Qual Creek range by myself or with my wife the guy in the office is real nice, but the range officer is very rude.

 

[mattsb2000]

Everytime I've been to Qual Creek range by myself or with my wife the guy in the office is real nice, but the range officer is very rude.

That sucks.

They have been nice to my gf and I when we have gone there.

 

[SVT93]

Everytime I've been to Qual Creek range by myself or with my wife the guy in the office is real nice, but the range officer is very rude.

Thats what I've noticed too. The range officer they normally have, always seems pissed off and in a bad mood.

 

[mmay1]

If we are talking about the same guy, I thought he was a bit gruff but he ran a tight range. I thought he might have been a drill instructor at some point in his career. I'll take that any day over an unsupervised range where you have to walk down range to change targets and there is no supervision.

 

[The Annoyed Man]

The last time I was at Quail Creek, the range officer was an OK guy, if a little tight jawed, but it seemed like he called a cease fire every 10 minutes. I couldn't get 6 rounds down range before he'd call another one. It was a little bit annoying.

 

[Deamon]

I like the range a lot the setting is perfect, nice and woodsy. But if its the same guy ya'll are talking about, everytime I was there he seemed to go out of his way to be rude to people. I do think they have a few different range officers though, but this was always the same guy.

I was there one time when he started talking "at" a guy. It had to do with they guy having trouble with the staple gun and didn't get back quick enough for the range officer's liking. I think the guy shot one more magazine and left. I felt bad as it was an older gentleman. I've been several times and it's a tight run range but I come to enjoy myself not to be berrated by a disgruntled employee. Not that I'd give a reason to be berrated, mind you. I'll just say I'm very cautious of guns. It seemed everytime I was there he had to "correct" someone, in his mind. Maybe he just saw things I missed I don't know.

I plan on joining Park County Sportsman's club. I read on their sight they're just about to open a new pistol range on their grounds, and membership fees don't appear to be too bad.

 

[txgolfer45]

If you are looking for pistols and .22 rifle only, Dallas Pistol Club is a good deal. It's private. You can shoot targets, steel, silhouettes.

 

[The Annoyed Man]

I've seen two different range officers at Quail Creek. One was a taller fellow, and the other was shorter than him and heavy set. Both guys have white hair and facial hair.

Both are grumpy. The last time I was there, the taller guy was the range officer while the shorter guy was working in the office. That was the first time I had seen the taller guy. There's usually an older gentleman working in the office too, but he seems like a real nice guy - more customer oriented than the other two. I've never seen him working the range itself.

The very first time I was there, I brought my son and one of his friends along. They were both 17 at the time. My fault for not thinking about it I guess, but I had bought some cheap Remington copper jacketed FMJ .308 ammunition for my son's friend to shoot from the rifle we had loaned him to use that day. (Back when I lived in California, I had never been told that FMJ ammunition wasn't permitted at a range, only steel jacketed FMJs, so I didn't think anything about it when I bought it.) Anyway, when I got to the firing line, short and fat demands to see what kind of ammunition we intend to shoot, so I show him. He literally confiscates the FMJ ammo from me and puts it in the back of his Mule, and tells me that I'll have to buy more ammo from the office if I want my son's friend to shoot. He just grabbed it away from me without even asking me to hand it over to him. I went to the range office and bought some of their cheap federal JHPs, and the price wasn't a total ripoff, but what a dick the guy was in the way he handled it.

The problem is, other than being a dick, short and fat ran a well organized range, with longer times between cease fires to where you could actually get some shooting done. The tall guy seemed much nicer, but like I said above, he calls a cease fire about every 10 minutes, so if you're bench resting, you never get enough shooting done.

The Alpine Shooting Range in Fort Worth is a much longer ways away from me, but they run a much friendlier place down there, and I'll probably be giving my business to them in the future.

 

[TexasRifleman]

The Alpine Shooting Range in Fort Worth is a much longer ways away from me, but they run a much friendlier place down there, and I'll probably be giving my business to them in the future.

Depending on who is running the range that day Alpine is pretty bad about the FMJ too. When I would go there I would be asked to show my ammo probably 3 out of every 4 trips and asked to take the FMJ to the car.

Finally joined a private range and don't have to worry about any of that anymore.

Alpine has decent facilities though, lots of room, friendly enough people.

 

[hanko]

Quail Creek is nice...I used to shoot skeet there every Sunday morning; I left TX in 2000 & therefore can't comment on the current RO's.

See if the Arlington Sportsman's range is still open...VERY nice. You'll need a reference from a current member.

Wait 1, google came through...http://www.animedge.net/asc/index.php?id=const

hth

-hanko

 

[The Annoyed Man]

I don't have a problem with a range having rules against FMJ. It's their sandbox and their rules; and for all I know, there may be very good reasons for why FMJs aren't allowed. What I DO have a problem with is the range officer literally grabbing the boxes out of my hands and brusquely marching off to his Mule and tossing the boxes in the back of it. He didn't ask me to hand it over, he just GRABBED it out of my hands and marched off. The guy is a dick. He could have asked me to put it away and not use it, and I would have complied. He could have told me that I will have to put that ammo in my car, but that appropriate ammo is available for purchase at the office at a reasonable price (which is eventually what I did anyway), and I would have complied. Heck, I hadn't even set up to shoot yet, so it's not like he caught me doing something wrong. You just don't grab stuff out of somebody's hands like that, particularly when I am a gray haired old fart myself and deserve a little bit of respect for no other reason that that. The guy is an ass hat.

And if you google for comments about the range officers at Quail Creek, the 'net is FULL of complaints about these guys, so it's not just me. In this thread alone, there are several others who have the same complaint. You would think that, somewhere along the line, the range owners would get the word that their range officers are pissing off a lot of their customers, and driving other customers away, and they would do something about it.

On the other hand, maybe they have heard it, and they just don't give a rip.

 

[AndyC]

I would like to find an outdoor range in the area that does permit .308 FMJ *sigh*

 

[SVT93]

I'd go somewhere else other then quail creek, if there was somewhere else to go close by, I don't shoot enough to bother with a private range.

 

[kds99]

Gibsons in Mesquite allows FMJ but they can be a bit grumpy out there as well

 

[Deamon]

I hear you The Annoyed Man, one of the times I went there I had the guy ask me what I was shooting.

I replied, "Soft point of course." He replied, "Good". Now I had called in advance to ever going this range before to find out the rules of their range and knew FMJ wasn't allowed. I had been times previous and new this to be the rule. No big for me, HP, JSP, FMJ, I could care less as long as it's minute-of-badguy and goes boom everytime. So I unload my stuff, I bring a backpack for mags and ammo and I'll reload several magazines in between live fire sessions. So I'm getting all set up and he comes over and asks, "What are you shooting?", "Soft Point", "Can I see it?" So I pop one out of my already loaded mags and hand it to him. He looks at it and fiddles the exposed soft point with his thumb, hands it back and says, "OK" and walks off.

I would think if its such a faux pah, than why ask me what I'm shooting in the first place? Just ask to see it. I mean I understand the concern, the guy in the office told me they do it to help prevent bounce backs from the berms as they're more sandy loam top soil than actual sand. I'm not a geologist with a background in ballistics so what do I know, sounds like good reason to me.

But the way they deal with people is really detrimental to the sport. I can see taking someone there or someone shooting for the first time going there and turning right around and selling their firearm because they get the idea that this is how all ranges are and how all shooters act to people. Safety is a must on any range but people aren't recruits they're paying customers and deserve to be treated as such.