Gurkha Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Hi, Where do you guys think is the practical shooting mecca of the world? My guess is somewhere in the States but if you think otherwise then also list where you think the practical shooting mecca of the U.S. is. I have heard two place be thrown around, one is Arizona and the other Florida. More specifically Frostproof and Mesa, but I am just guess on Mesa. The obvious range in Frostproof being Universal Shooting Academy. I have never been to Mesa but I am guessing Rio Salado Sportsman's Club. As far as the best indoor range for practical shooting in the world, I would personally have to say The Object in Moscow, Russia. That range is super crazy and a great practical shooting facility. Also, if anyone knows more about Arizona, where would you say is the best place for practical shooting specifically in Arizona? You might be wondering why I am asking this. Well, just for fun and also to add place to the list for future trips! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neomet Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Phoenix/Mesa. Three main outdoor ranges in the metro area. Between 150-200 people at TNS. Inspiring/depressing level of stunningly good shooters. 365 days of shooting every year. You can routinely shoot 2-4 matches a week. Home of the High Desert classic. Training available from legends in the sport. Dillon Precision and CZ Custom in town. Very gun friendly state. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurkha Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 Phoenix/Mesa. Three main outdoor ranges in the metro area. Between 150-200 people at TNS. Inspiring/depressing level of stunningly good shooters. 365 days of shooting every year. You can routinely shoot 2-4 matches a week. Home of the High Desert classic. Training available from legends in the sport. Dillon Precision and CZ Custom in town. Very gun friendly state. What are the three main outdoor ranges called? What is "TNS"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 If you are talking pistol, Phoenix/Mesa. But if you want to add in Rifle, Shotgun, hunting (pretty dang practical) there are several places that would beat out FL and AZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Vigilante Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Three ranges in Mesa/Phoenix are Rio Salado, Phoenix Rod and Gun Club, and Ben Avery I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neomet Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Rio Salado, Ben Avery, Phoenix Rod and Run. Sorry, TNS is Tuesday Night Steel. It is a mainly steel match that starts in early evening and continues under the lights. It is kind of a simpler form of typical USPSA matches run on a time plus penalties for misses format. Here is some no-name kid who might be good some day with a demo: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgardner Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 If you are talking pistol, Phoenix/Mesa. But if you want to add in Rifle, Shotgun, hunting (pretty dang practical) there are several places that would beat out FL and AZ. If you are talking pistol, Phoenix/Mesa. But if you want to add in Rifle, Shotgun, hunting (pretty dang practical) there are several places that would beat out FL and AZ. Name names? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROY NEAL Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 For practical pistol, it has to be Mesa..........a typical local match could qualify as a Level III classifier match as there are 3 or more GM's in many of the Divisions. Not many places can say that on a regular basis. Plus you have the culture of the gun clubs there. They have some of the best props (how many ranges can put down real Huey helicopter frames down on bays to shoot out of for example) and they also have a huge group of retiree's who contribute by building some of the best stages in the country. Besides......it Is the home of legends in our Sport...........It is where I got to meet our host Brian Enos.......Robbie, Angus, Matt B, Nick S, Mark H. ect............... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Anderson Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Agree now it's Rio Salado in Mesa, AZ. But St. George, UT is making a run. There are some pretty good shooters there and a few more moving to be part of the program. The range facility is excellent and in the short time they've been around their props are every bit as nice as, if not better than Rio. I remember the first year for A1 they had a stage with a shoot house. I showed up and they built a house. Framed and actual roof trusses. I think the biggest advantage they have is everyone seems to get along at the range. You don't have cowboys bitching about USPSA, USPSA bitching about trap and trap bitching about everyone. And the town area is incredible. I've never wanted to move to Mesa. I do want to move to St. George. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strick Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 (edited) I could be Houston with the amount of clubs and ranges we have. One could shoot USPSA, Steel Challenge, even IDPA, basically some type of practical shooting just about every day of the month. Plus there are at least 3 3gun clubs. Edited January 16, 2015 by Strick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ummm Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Moscow might have a nice range, but you couldn't call it a mecca, because traveling there (which is what people do with various meccas) with a gun would be a serious legal and logistical hassle, involving much planning, forms, approvals and bureaucracy. AZ would be the opposite experience. Cross the border, and you're freer than the state from which you just came (depending on the exact state, but even TX doesn't have open carry, yet). Plus AZ has more matches more of the time, and a bigger population of quality shooters & smiths than most places. Is AZ better in every regard than every other place? Of course not. But in the overall scheme of practical shooting, I'd guess it'd place pretty high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogiebb Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Phoenix/Mesa gets my vote.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsons1480 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 I could be Houston with the amount of clubs and ranges we have. One could shoot USPSA, Steel Challenge, even IDPA, basically some type of practical shooting just about every day of the month. Plus there are at least 3 3gun clubs. The only problem here is that we have too many people and not enough venues for practice. I waited over 2 years on the waiting list before I got into PSC, and that's over an hour from where I live. As far as matches go; you're right, we have a ton of very well run matches in the area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motosapiens Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 (edited) I think the biggest advantage they have is everyone seems to get along at the range. You don't have cowboys bitching about USPSA, USPSA bitching about trap and trap bitching about everyone. And the town area is incredible. I've never wanted to move to Mesa. I do want to move to St. George. Yeah, st george has a whole separate range (looks really nice too) for the cowboy shooters and shotgun guys, so they're not trying to share limited resources. My only gripe about st george is the lack of local breweries, but that's probably a good thing when I go there for a match. I think there are probably a lot of places that are pretty dang nice. Where I live we have 3 clubs with nice outdoor ranges, low annual fees ($100 or less) and no waiting lists or any silly crap like that. Definitely colder than st george or mesa, but I appreciate that for at least half the year. Edited January 16, 2015 by motosapiens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Anderson Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I've heard that complaint about St George before and I have no idea where people are going. I've never had a problem finding something to drink in St George. And I'm a beer snob. There are a few good ones and plenty of hard alcohol to be found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurkha Posted January 17, 2015 Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 (edited) Great info everyone, very interesting stuff! All the places listed sound very good. ummm, I didn't call The Object in Moscow a "mecca" I said it was the best indoor range for practical shooting from my experience. It is an amazing facility for IPSC and they put on great matches for an indoor range. I do agree that it would not be as easy to get to for an American as Arizona, that goes without saying, but I am not just talking about Americans. There is a huge world of IPSC competitors outside of the United States. There are lots of international Practical shooters who use this forum. There are many international shooters who travel to Russia regularly for matches. I do agree, it is a more strict to bring your guns into Russia compared to some other countries but I have been to far worse countries. As far as what you said that it would be a "serious legal and logistical hassle, involving much planning, forms, approvals and bureaucracy" I do not agree with that statement at all. It is actually pretty simple if you are going to an actual match. If you are going to a match at The Object then they will do all the paperwork for you compared to a foreigner coming to America who has to get a form 6 from the ATF by them self without the help of the match organizers. Then when you land, an employ from The Object will meet you and handle everything with customs so you don't need to know a word of Russian. I have never heard of someone from a match doing that for foreigners coming to the States. The employees at The Object treat you extremely well. The only thing I don't like is you can't keep your guns with you because of their laws. They need to be locked up at the range so you can't do dry firing in your hotel room or anything like that. It is actually not a big problem though because they have dry firing areas at the range and they also have an entire bay set up during matches where you can shoot all your want and warm up all you want. It is a pretty amazing facility and it is great meeting all the international competitors who come to their matches. Still, no country in the world even comes close to America when it comes to anything gun related, America is certainly the gun mecca of the world, no doubt about it. Just about every practical shooter from around the world wants to come to the States to shoot matches and train but for some it is not very easy because of the countries they are from. Edited January 17, 2015 by Gurkha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpaw Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I just moved to Phoenix; coming from NJ it certainly feels like a shooting mecca! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motosapiens Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 I've heard that complaint about St George before and I have no idea where people are going. I've never had a problem finding something to drink in St George. And I'm a beer snob. There are a few good ones and plenty of hard alcohol to be found. They have plenty of decent beer, just no local breweries. As an avid homebrewer, one of the things I do when I travel is visit small local breweries. Admittedly, not high on most people's lists. At any rate, I'm glad I live in america. I just drive to big matches and don't worry about the hassle and expense and form-filling-out to bring my guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurkha Posted January 17, 2015 Author Share Posted January 17, 2015 At any rate, I'm glad I live in america. I just drive to big matches and don't worry about the hassle and expense and form-filling-out to bring my guns. Yeah, definitely a very huge advantage, we are very fortunate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike cyrwus Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 there are a lot of matches in oklahoma, n. texas, and west Arkansas. Add Wichita, KS and SW missouri, and there are a lot of opportunities for a shooter to get divorced.lol. Im very happy where I am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsons1480 Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 What surprised me a little bit is how little shooting opportunities there are in northern Louisiana. I wanted to take my father in law to a match but that is a dead zone for competitive shooting. What's weird is his range is Jerry Miculek's home range Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 How fun could it really be for your typical middle of the road club shooter to live in Phoenix? I mean really, once the guy gets over being dumbfounded by all the legends that shoot there how fun could it be to get hammered every single match? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motosapiens Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 How fun could it really be for your typical middle of the road club shooter to live in Phoenix? I mean really, once the guy gets over being dumbfounded by all the legends that shoot there how fun could it be to get hammered every single match? If one is the sort of person that doesn't practice, and wants to 'win' a match because there was no one good there, I guess it would be no fun. OTOH, if one is the sort of person that considers getting better to be a more worthy immediate goal, i think there would be LOTS of opportunity to learn and improve very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Little fish in big ponds get eaten or become big fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 How fun could it really be for your typical middle of the road club shooter to live in Phoenix? I mean really, once the guy gets over being dumbfounded by all the legends that shoot there how fun could it be to get hammered every single match? If one is the sort of person that doesn't practice, and wants to 'win' a match because there was no one good there, I guess it would be no fun. OTOH, if one is the sort of person that considers getting better to be a more worthy immediate goal, i think there would be LOTS of opportunity to learn and improve very quickly. How did I know some smart a$$ would equate what I said into how you characterized it? I could practice every day for 5 years and still not beat anybody on the super squad. That has absolutely nothing to do with it. Yes I would always be a small fish, so I guess you big fish could eat me. After all the threads and discussions about how much of a PITA it is to run, score super squads I can't imagine that nightmare 3 times a week! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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