Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

Is 1.5 hours too far for an outdoor pistol range


Recommended Posts

Just looking to get other's opinion on this one. Is an hour and a half too far for you for an outdoor pistol range that allows movement and USPSA style shooting?

 

For me, that's really damn far to train, which since I work a Mon-Fri 9-5, is only available on Sat. there, unless I took a day off of work, which couldn't happen consistently since I would run out of PTO. And it stands to reason Sat. would more than likely be busy making it even more difficult. I know dryfire is the obvious choice but I would rather not test my dryfire at the actual matches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Match, yes.  Do it all the time from Detroit suburbs to Brooklyn Michigan, which is south of Lansing for those of you not from the mitten state.  The quality of the match is also very important.

Practice, no... a 3 hour round trip is a bit much.

 

Find a closer club with outdoor pistol bays, work with the board of directors and start a USPSA club.

 

BC

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It really depends on if there is nothing else around you that you could use. I like 15 minutes from my club and it makes it easier to take a long lunch and go shoot quickly. But if I had nothing near me, I would drive the 1.5 hours if I had to but would likely only live fire once a month then and dry fire more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its like the gym.  what distance is going to make it easy to make an excuse not to go?  For me, thats way too far at this stage of my life.  When i lived in NY, I would drive that long to Calverton shooting range in eastern long island because that was the only real game in town aside from 25m indoor ranges.

Edited by 18111811
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends on if there is anything closer and how bad you want to shoot. The closest range to me that allows holsters and movement is 50 minutes each way. I am there 2 or 3 times a month now. When I was the youth pistol coach I was there 6 or 7 times a month. (did that for 6 years)This is in addition to shooting matches and working 55 hours a week. The key to me being able to spend that much time was that my son and daughter shot with me most of the time. Now that they are in their late teens and early 20's they have more important things to do than shoot with dad. (my son still does when he can) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to shoot 4 good, 6-stage matches a month, and none of them were closer than 1h20m away. The rest were 1-1/2h or more. 

 

BUT, the great thing was having them all (mostly) equidistant from my house. 

Every week I'd say, "But that's a long drive..."

And every week I'd reply, "No longer than the last one..."

 

I bought a membership at the closest one, and found I rarely used it. The drive after work was a lot different than match mornings on Sunday, even with church traffic. I let it lapse. I figured $350.00/yr. for 2-3 visits was just too damn expensive. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's doable if you do dry fire during the week and then are disciplined enough to plan your live fire practice days one or two weekends a month.

 

One thing to consider: how heavily used are the pistol bays at that club?  Are there any use restrictions?  I've been to clubs where the use of one range preculdes the use of all others due to some real or perceived danger arc.

 

Nothing would suck more than to drive 90 min then sit around wasting time because no bays are open for you or because they're are all closed due to some range conflict.

 

I'm lucky that my practice range is 30 min from work and on my way home.  One more reason NOT to live anywhere near a large metropolis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Depends on the match and what your are trying to accomplish.  I live 90 minutes from Universal Shooting Academy and 60 minutes from PRMPC where I've been a member for roughly 10 years.  For me, driving 60 minutes to practice is ok, as long as I make it a day trip.  60 minutes one way to practice for 60 minutes is a waste of time and resources.

As for USA, Shannon put on great matches (it's a shame to see him gone) I would drive 90 minutes to his matches anytime!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Depends on your level of involvement with your given sport and your desire to improve - obviously dry fire is huge path to getting better but having the ability to test that live-fire outside of a match environment is key.

 

For me personally, 1.5 is doable (thankfully I've only got about a half hour drive to my range) but I don't have a lot of the same responsibilities that others have.  My job allows me a very flexible schedule and I've driven up to about four hours one way for a club match.

 

If I was in your scenario, I think I would try to up my dry-fire (without knowing your current level) and plan for at least twice a month to make that drive for live-fire.  That way, you're at least testing some of these skills out.  Do you know what kind of membership levels the range has?  I know you were concerned with the place being busy but if it's anything like my local range - it has a significant amount of members but it's only truly busy on match days.

 

And one final thought - this is all coming from a guy that just got into USPSA about a year ago and is obsessed with it...come at me in another year and maybe I'll have burned myself out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/9/2021 at 10:13 AM, chrisstophere said:

Just looking to get other's opinion on this one. Is an hour and a half too far for you for an outdoor pistol range that allows movement and USPSA style shooting?

 

Okay I figured out the math:

 

At 1000FPS x 60 x 60 x 1.5 hours that shot is 

 

5 million, 400 thousand miles long!

 

Yeah that's too far for me to drive.

And definitely too far to shoot. Heck you couldn't even walk down to hang a target at that distance before lunch time was over!

 

Edited by Dr. Phil
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nothing replaces actual firearm practice, but airsoft isn't a bad alternative.  Good friend has a steel challenge course in his garage.  Uses garden netting behind the plates to catch and collect the 6mm  BBs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was younger...I had no problems driving cross town to the range.  Rio Salado in Mesa puts on a Tuesday Night steel match that is fun and some of the best shooters in the country attend. They still put on their Tuesday match plus a USPSA, ICORE and others throughout the month but the drive is just too much for me now.

 

Fortunately I have two ranges, each less than 30 miles away that keep me busy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

once you learn to move and shoot, you don't really need to do it as much in live fire. I have made tremendous progress the last few years by doing mostly simple 1-target drills in live fire, and most everything else in dry fire. Even if you can't 'move' at a range closer by, you may be able to shoot while shuffling your feet a bit. You don't need to be stock still in a perfect modern isoceles stance.

 

I also find that shooting a gun with a dot allows me to do a LOT less live fire and still maintain/improve. with iron sights I need at least a little bit of that recoil management training to stay consistent.

 

if i had to drive 90 mins to do uspsa live fire practice, I'd probably do it only once or twice a month, and I'd do 2 dryfire drills for every 1 live fire drill (which is very educational regardless of your situation) to be able to spend the most time running around without shooting a zillion rounds.

Edited by motosapiens
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to live 5 min from a club that had some goofy rules and therefore would drive about 70min to a different club just to practice. Did it one day a week, had work change my schedule to let me bounce a hour earlier on whatever day to try and avoid Detroit traffic (did't work) 

All depends on your level of commitment. You can live fire 2-3 times a month and dry fire alot more and save some gas. Or you can go whip rounds downrange. See if you can start meeting up with some training buddies at this range thats this far away, that way it'll make the drive a little better to shoot a bit, grab some food quick after and that type of thing.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...