I'm moving in 6mo and want to check out potential for shooting

[ChrisMcCracken]

Half way through my 4th year of medical school, I'm interviewing with residencies and will know on March 20, 2008, where I'll be living for the next three years. Thankfully, I'm going into family medicine and pretty much have my pick of residency location. Here is a list all the places I'm considering. I'd appreciate any input y'all have to offer. I'd be interested to know about any good ranges or gun clubs as well as USPSA and IDPA matches with which you're familiar.

Locations:

Asheville, NC

Hendersonville, NC

Lancaster, PA

Washington, PA

Fort Collins, CO

Grand Junction, CO

Boise, ID

Pocatello, ID

Klamath Falls, OR

Thanks!

Chris

Edited December 5, 2007 by Erucolindon

[Matt Cheely]

While I don't know about the shooting opportunities, Asheville and Fort Collins are tops on my list of places to move to... Beautiful scenery, and I love the mountains.

[ChrisMcCracken]

While I don't know about the shooting opportunities, Asheville and Fort Collins are tops on my list of places to move to... Beautiful scenery, and I love the mountains.

Yeah, that was pretty much one of the criteria to make it on the list. My wife and I both love the mountains.

[SA Friday]

I grew up in Ft Collins, CO. There is a USPSA club about 30 minutes east of there just past Ault. Good club, and good shooters up there. Everyone pretty much travels up and down the front range and shoots the matches from Northern Pueblo up to the Weld range. BTW, I don't know if your are single or not, but the percentages are definately favor the single man in Ft Collins. Last I heard it was 8 to 1 there because of CSU.

Oh ya, Ron Avery has a shooting school just north of Ft. Collins too....

was typing while your last post was posted.... disregard the female to male percentages.... better yet, I wouldn't mention it to the wife . It's less than an hour drive from Estes Park though. Take your wife there and no other place can compare after that....

Edited December 5, 2007 by SA Friday

[eerw]

of those..like Fort Collins and Boise..

lived in Boise for a few years..really enjoyed the area..mountains and back country close by..river through middle town to tube on in the summer.

Fort Collins ..nice college town..clubs are close by..shoot every weekend in Colorado

[Nik Habicht]

Lancaster PA will put you close to York, which reportedly hosts one of the better matches in the Mid-Atlantic Section as well as the Summer Blast. You'd also be 60-80 minutes from Topton, about 200 miles from East Huntington, home of the 08 Area 8 match, and probably a host of ther matches I'm forgetting......

It's one of those places I'd consider moving to.....

[HoMiE]

KFalls, as they call it, area has a shooting range just southwest in Keno, OR (11 mi.) It is pretty much shut down during Nov-Apr due to snow. I think they have some steel matches during the winter depending on how many people show up. Medford is ~80 miles west(northwest) from there for your next closest match shooting opportunities. Next closest I believe is to head up hwy 97 to Bend approx. 160 mi. All of those clubs have, steel, IDPA and USPSA matches, but mainly March-Nov shooting season.

[EricW]

K-Falls wold be a nice place to land, but do factor in the 9% income tax. Oregon has no sales tax, however and is a Class III state.

[Flexmoney]

Washington, PA puts you on top of lots of good shooting. Something fairly close ever weekend, I think.

Fairly close to a big city (Pittsburgh), as well as being as far from that as you want to get.

At the intersection of two interstates. In the edge of the App. Mts.

[ChrisMcCracken]

K-Falls wold be a nice place to land, but do factor in the 9% income tax. Oregon has no sales tax, however and is a Class III state.

What do you mean by Class III state?

[EZ Bagger]

As with CO, you may own fully auto weapons and silencers.

[scirocco38s]

I know there is 1 club in the asheville area, 1 30 minutes away in Lake Lure, and the you drive down I-26 about 45 minutes to Greenville /Spartanbutg, SC for a couple more clubs. I am not sure about east Tennesse but I am sure there are 1 or 2 within 1-1.5 hours of Asheville. Go to the club locator and it should help. Your next closest club after that is Creemoor, NC which is north of Raleigh which would make it a weekend trip.

[mjbine]

Washington, PA puts you on top of lots of good shooting. Something fairly close ever weekend, I think.

Fairly close to a big city (Pittsburgh), as well as being as far from that as you want to get.

At the intersection of two interstates. In the edge of the App. Mts.

Yep, Flex is right on the spot with Washington, PA. The closest club would be my club, McDonald's Sportsmans Club. We have great USPSA clubs in this area. East Huntington is not the far from Washington and it is hosting the Area 8 in 2008. You can go to a match every weekend if you live in Washington.

Later

Mike

[CDRODA396]

Plenty of shooting in NC, on top of the awesome mountains, not as high as out west, but still beautiful. Linville Gorge, the Grand Canyon of the East is just a stone's throw away (60 miles/hour and a half)...

Here is the link to the NC Section Page with links to most of the clubs and when their matches are throughout the state. As someone else mentioned, SC is not too far away with some good matches, as well as southern VA.

http://www.ncsection.org/

[Putty]

Your last three on the list I might stay away from.

Especially Pokey. It just sucks.

[EZ Bagger]

Remember, if you choose somewhere outside of Colorado, well, you're not in Colorado.

Seriously though. You do need to consider lifestyle and societal issues. Some people like living where there are 50 billion other people on top of them at all times, others don't. Weather is also an issue. While Colorado can be warm in the winter, we have few days over 100 (Fort Collins may have zero in any given year) and very low humidity levels. Colorado may be "cold" in the winter, but snow (for me anyway) is far superior to rain, mud and ice storms.

[Jeff686]

Yea, I vote for Boise!! Lots of sun, all four seasons. Skiing, boating, mountains, beautiful downtown (not too urbanized), and desert are all nearby. The airport is a perfect size, not too big, but big enough for daily flights to the big hubs (MN, CO, WA, CA).

Home prices should be good right now. Lots of inventory to choose from. I could find a home there in a couple days of searching. Where I live now, I had to build custom.

My wife worked for the hospital in Boise. It was really nice!! Our son was born there; the facility was great, and the people were wonderful. The hosptial had day-care a half block from her office. She used to visit him 2-3 times a day when he was little.

I loved it, and would move back in a heart beat.

I never shot IPSC there, but hear they have a nice group of guys. Class 3 friendly, if that matters.

[Jeff686]

Your last three on the list I might stay away from.

Especially Pokey. It just sucks.

Although I agree with your about Pocatello, I find your lack of details dissapointing, and not very useful.

I loved living in Boise, and explained why in another post. Could you add details about why you didn't like it?

[Putty]

Your last three on the list I might stay away from.

Especially Pokey. It just sucks.

Although I agree with your about Pocatello, I find your lack of details dissapointing, and not very useful.

I loved living in Boise, and explained why in another post. Could you add details about why you didn't like it?

So if you agree, then why do you need details?

As for Boise, it is just a feel about it. Sometimes you just have to go there to know for yourself. Places that I like, sometimes do not make sense to me in a logical fashion, like Portland, OR. Others that I think I should like, I don't...like Boise, Wenatchee, WA, and the state of California (Santa Cruz, Chester, Mt. Lassen, excepted). You will know soon enough if Klamath Falls fits your demeanor.

My suggestion is to narrow it down, then fly out to your final three and stay a week or more in each.

[ChrisMcCracken]

The way it works is I apply, they offer interviews, I visit and interview. These are all of the places that I am interviewing and considering. The one's out west, I haven't visited, yet (I flew into Boise a few hours ago). After all the interviewing is done, I can do a couple second visits with the Mrs. Time for those is limited by her schedule to long weekends at best. I then make a list of the places I want to go in order of preference, and the programs do the same thing ranking applicants. Those lists get put into a computer that "matches" applicants to residencies in as fair a way as possible. Match day is 3/20/08 and is the day I get told where I'm going.

Yeah, so Boise was pretty cool to fly into. The big wall of mountains and lots of flat going away from them make for an interesting contrast. I'm crashing with one of the current residents in the program, interviewing tomorrow, and then leaving either Saturday or Sunday. Anyone got recommendations for something to do on Saturday that's interesting? I've got to get to Pocatello on Sunday, so anything between Boise and there is fair game for Saturday adventuring.

Keep the info coming, preferably listing semi-objective reasons for why you don't like some place. Thanks!

Edited December 7, 2007 by Erucolindon

[Sac Law Man]

If you are serious about shooting you should consider the climate. Being able to shoot year round is a plus. Many of those places you mentioned have cold winters.

[ChrisMcCracken]

If you are serious about shooting you should consider the climate. Being able to shoot year round is a plus. Many of those places you mentioned have cold winters.

I'm more serious about getting properly edumacated, so I can practice rural medicine without concerns of causing one of my patients harm. Besides, I'm too poor to be any more serious about shooting. That being said, the cold sucks. Shooting in the cold sucks worse. That is why I want to build a range in my basement once I can build a permanent home.

Surprisingly, it's 45 degrees here in Boise yet 5 degrees in Chicago where I had my layover.

Edited December 6, 2007 by Erucolindon

[Sestock]

Washington, PA

Northern Washington county is basically a suburb of Pittsburgh.

You have 5 active clubs in the Pittsburgh area. Within a 3 hour drive that doubles.

Other good things.

Close to the Airport

Less than a days drive from most of the major east coast cities and beaches

It's Pittsburgh

The Steelers

Gun Friendly Area

You get to experience all four seasons

Short drive to the mountains

Good Skiing in PA and WV

[Steve J]

Half way through my 4th year of medical school, I'm interviewing with residencies and will know on March 20, 2008, where I'll be living for the next three years. Thankfully, I'm going into family medicine and pretty much have my pick of residency location. Here is a list all the places I'm considering. I'd appreciate any input y'all have to offer. I'd be interested to know about any good ranges or gun clubs as well as USPSA and IDPA matches with which you're familiar.

Locations:

Asheville, NC

Hendersonville, NC

Lancaster, PA

Washington, PA

Fort Collins, CO

Grand Junction, CO

Boise, ID

Pocatello, ID

Klamath Falls, OR

Thanks!

Chris

Chris, consider Scott and White in Temple, TX or the VA Hospital. From Temple it's 2.5 hours or much less to a match every Saturday and Sunday of the year. Sometimes there's several to choose from if your favorite match gets rained out. USPSA, Steel Challenge, IDPA, and the beloved "outlaw".

PROOF

MAP

Edited December 8, 2007 by Steve J

[Throwin Lead]

Washington, PA

Northern Washington county is basically a suburb of Pittsburgh.

You have 5 active clubs in the Pittsburgh area. Within a 3 hour drive that doubles.

Other good things.

Close to the Airport

Less than a days drive from most of the major east coast cities and beaches

It's Pittsburgh

The Steelers

Gun Friendly Area

You get to experience all four seasons

Short drive to the mountains

Good Skiing in PA and WV

Doug forgot a few other things about living in Washington PA.

The Pens

Iron City beer

Fantastic fireworks displays in Pittsburgh

A chance to expand the English language with terms like Yinz, N'at, redd up, dahntown(down town)

A chance to sample cusine like perogies and Primanti Bros "Almost famous sandwiches"

Friendly folks

Great bike trails if you are into biking/trail riding.

Rumor has it that there is a Major League Baseball team in Pittsburgh but I don't think they have showed up for several years. That's OK as there is the Washington Wild Things a minor league team that provides great games and fun right in Washington, PA.

The PONY League World Series is held in Washington, PA

Great place to raise kids

Affordable housing.

Cabella's is less than an hour away in Wheeling, WVA

You don't pay sales tax on food or clothes but you can't beer in a grocery store.

If you live in south western PA you learn early in life to appreciate sunny days. Sunny days can get to be as rare as hen's teeth at times!

With the profession you are in, the healthcare that is available in the Pittsbugh area is arguably second to none anywhere in the country. Places like UPMC & Allegheny General are world renowned for their achieviements in medicine such as cancer research, organ transplant, burn clinics, children's hospital and cardiology.

Let us know what you decide - I'm sure Mike, Doug or I can help you out in some way if you make the move here

Good luck in your decision & residency wherever you decide to go.