Why are ranges rather expensive?

[csa77]

my indoor range charges 10$ for public (not per hour but per day) for pistols and 15 $ per hour for public rifle range.


if your a member(145$ a year) it is free to use ether pistol range or rifle range and you can stay at both as long as you want.


the only downside is they have very poor ventilation , lead exposure is a real concern. you can taste it in the air on days their are more then 3-4 people shooting. that and their is no air conditioning, they just pump in the outside air, in central florida in the summer it gets brutally hot and humid. i bring towels to wipe the sweat of my face and the fog off my glasses.

 

[jdowney]

Man, those back east prices are making ammo look cheap!

I like shooting at the Butterfield range in Las Cruces when I'm down there. Lots of space, no fees, no certifications, no range officers demonstrating their importance in the world

 

[beatledog7]

If I owned/operated a range, I'd charge enough to generate for the business a reasonable profit so I could keep making capital improvements, expand, make more profit, etc. And I'd include in the costs a reasonable return for the owner, that being me. That's what businesses do, and I'm sure that is exactly what any range owner does.

 

[esheato]

I like EITHER membership fee or a hourly fee...not both. And of the two, I prefer to pay an annual rate....I feel like it's a constant dip in my pocket when it's an hourly rate. I'd much rather write one check per year and be done with it. I also don't mind work days but hate them being mandated. Let me show up because I like the facilities and want to make them better...besides it's a good way to meet people of similar interests.

Here in W. Tx, the range is 1 x 50 yard bay, 3 x 100 yard bays, 1 x 200 yards and 10 private bays with dirt berms on three sides. Get there early and the whole bay is yours for as long as you want. I can even go in the middle of the night and practice low light if I want, and I have before. Steel, holster work, IDPA/IPSC practice, no silly time limits on shots. I frequently hear full auto fire and I usually go throw a brass bag next to their bench....just staking my claim to their leftovers

Annual membership w/ key is $80.

The cons for this location is the closest long range is 3 hours away....unless you know people w/ property. Luckily I do, and 1500 yards is only 10 min away.

 

[DammitBoy]

I love my range, $75.00 a year and it's a brand new homeland security range, built by the county and the state.

 

[medalguy]

Well, I shoot on BLM land near Albuquerque, open land where I can shoot anything up to 1,000 yards when I can see that far. Cost: only my taxes.

 

[RNB65]

I pay $100/year for a private range membership. That's it. No hourly fee. If I take a guest, he pays $5 to shoot.

 

[SSN Vet]

One word drives this bus.....

INSURANCE

If the NRA didn't subsidize the cost of insurance to private gun clubs, a large number of them would shut down over night.

$12/hr doesn't add up to a lot of money, when you think about it.

 

[mgmorden]

That's pretty pricey. There are several ranges around here - 2 are public and free to use, but they're usually too crowded to really use.

Another indoor range is $125/year that gets you on the range whenever you want at no additional charge, or $5/day if you're not a member (I'm not - I go there fairly often but not enough to make up the $125/year cost).

Another outdoor range is a bit pricier (but the nicest around). It's a $500 initiation, then $250/year afterwards, but you can put in 2 work days over the year for a $50/workday credit (so $150 if you put in the work days). No daily fees outside of those.

 

[JayBoogs]

Here in NY it is somewhat pricey depending on the location. My local city run pistol/rifle range is $20/session which isn't that bad. Facility isn't the best tho and only 50yrds and 7lanes so it's somewhat small. Membership is $275 with unlimited use for a year. They rape you on ammo prices here tho.

A couple other ranges seem to like membership + hourly rates. Seems kinda ass backwards to me but hey.. We are limited in Westchester county unless you want to drive north in/past Rockland.

 

[mgkdrgn]

1) insurance
2) taxes
3) even more insurance
4) insurance insurance
5) more taxes

 

[bluetopper]

I'm a member of a local gun club/range on city owned property. With a $50 a year membership they give you the combination to the gate. They have posted rules, no range officer and no daily use fees. They ask you to abide by the rules and clean up after yourself.

 

[BADUNAME37]

Liability Insurance, I would guess.
Second might be the amount of upkeep necessary to replace things that people shoot up that are part of the range's construction and equipment!

We have an outdoor range where I live (about nine miles from here). I think it is $35 a year and they give each member a card stating their name, and a new key. January 1st every year, they replace the main gate lock, so only those who have a key can get in. The key is stamped "Do Not Duplicate" - however I am sure there are some people who could deface that stamp and have a copy made. If that happens, anyone at the range can walk up to anyone there and ask to see their current range card.

 

[Loosedhorse]

If your range is a private range, see if you can volunteer for the finance committee (or whatever your range calls it), or attend a few meetings. That'll answer all questions, and how!

 

[CharlesT]

Wow, the range I go to is $15 all day long. And $200 to rent it all to yourself.

 

[MrWesson]

It depends on your area.

Where I was before was 110 per year for an outdoor 300yd,100yd,pistol, and skeet.

Here its 250 per yr for .22 rifle and handgun ammo only.

I shoot at an indoor range that charges $7.50 per day come and go but most everything else is 10-20 per hour.

 

[P5 Guy]

Sounds to me you are talking about indoor ranges mostly. Ventilation, scrubber filters and disposal, lead clean up from the bullet trap and removal, electric and maintenance to the fans and all the other stuff already mentioned. Now for the lights, staff, fixing the holes in the roof and insurance. Is the building owned or rented? That's a lot of expense.
Two outdoor ranges in the Tampa Bay area are a bit cheaper. One is in town and has to be pretty strict. The other is huge, 1000 yard line, bays for rent, and lots of benches 500, 50 and 25 yard. Shoot until closing time at both is $20. How long you shoot depends on when you get there.
The indoor ranges are about the same price for an hour, $20.

 

[Psa1m144]

My range is $60 per year.

 

[Dnaltrop]

$150 a year, but it's only a 50 ' pistol caliber range ( no magnums, no rifles larger than .22) I'm allowed 2 guests. No additional fees. It is LITERALLY surrounded on all sides by residential living. (hence the sound limits) The range pre-dates the entire neighborhood. Fully enclosed, decent ventilation but I'm going to start wearing a lead-rated filter mask... had a BIG spike in my lead levels (I shoot a LOT of soft lead .45 colt)

Hand crank target returns, netting spaced between every other lane to stop flying brass, the only things for sale are paper targets, earplugs and goggles on the honor system.

Keycard access, 8 am to 8pm, but can remain in the building till 10 pm ( doors cease unlocking for outsiders at 8. If you get locked out, you leave a message for the guys who clean the range every morning, and they'll lock your trapped guns up in the office until you can retrieve them.

 

[Owen Sparks]

What does liability insurance cost for a commercial shooting range?

 

[Hunterdad]

Just re-uped my membership at my club for $36 for the year. That's all I'll have to pay unless I decide to join on of the leagues and that's never more than $15 for the entire 8 weeks. There's another club not too far that charges $100 a year but its a bunch of stuck-up trap shooters that don't allow black guns or rapid firing anything.

 

[DavidMS]

For me, the nearest decent range is at the NRA HQ. And that is ~$18/hr. There is an outdoor range in Frederick MD, but not as nice and I prefer the rules at the NRA Range. If I was engaged in rifle shooting the Frederick range would be better as it has a 100 yard rifle range. I think its something like $10/hr.

 

[DoggerDan]

$12 an hour is very high. There's a range here in Colorado Springs that charges $10 a DAY, but that's only for the first member of a group. It's just $8 for the others.

No membership is required. In fact, I don't think a membership is even available.

Link: http://www.dragonmans.com/dragonmansrange.htm

 

[Jenrick]

For a nice indoor range, I'd be willing to pay up to about $25-$30 and hour. However this would be for a well lit, well ventilated, electronic target runners, etc. type of range. Think the Olympic shoot venues. The current rather shabby indoor ranges here are IMO only worth about $5-$10 an hour if that.

For an out door facility I think $15-$20 a day is reasonable if the range is well maintained and has adaquete lanes, benches, stands, etc. I'm fine with paying $30-$50 per day to rent a bay to do what ever I want to. I'd love to have somewhere that had computerized hit detection (like you see in videos from most European rifle ranges) on the rifle range so there's no need to go down range, paste targets, etc. I'd pay extra to use those lanes just for the convenience.

One idea that I have pondered was the idea of having a long range rifle range (100-1000yds) that you pay per target pulled and scored (say $1 per pull and score or something similar). That way if all you do is come and fire 5 rounds at 100 to verify your zero you're only out a buck, and the range can simply paste your target and waits for next guy. On the other hand you want to shoot a full practice high power match, you pay for the fact you're basically having a dedicated target puller.

-Jenrick

 

[JohnBT]

I pay $100/year for a membership to an outdoor range with covered benches and ranges from 15 yards to 100. Maybe it's $125 now, it's inexpensive.

Come 2012, there will be a new indoor range 2 miles from my home.

http://colonialshooting.com (not much on their site yet)

www.henricocitizen.com/index.php/news/article/02351 (newspaper article)

Membership will be $100 plus $35 a month. Also open to non-members. One hour will be $20. I don't know about the member vs. non-member price, but I'm on the mailing list to be notified when they begin taking money.

I know, but folks, they're putting $6,000,000 "...or more..." into renovating a huge furniture store. They're saying it will be the largest in the country.