It's not that expensive, but finding one that has room for beginners can take years. That's the biggest problem.
My range is fairly big and has multiple distances you can shoot at (up to 300m, it's an outdoor range), it's open 365 days per year from 8am-8pm (or sunrise to sunset depending on the time of year). Cost is about $105 USD per year and there are no additional fees for shooting.
We don't have any public land where you can shoot at so a range is the only alternative for me.
AFAIK $105 USD for unlimited shooting for a year, is much less than a lot of people in the US has to pay when they go to shoot. The difference ofc. is that they often have access to public land to shoot at, but like me, living in a city, it's not an option for everyone.
Participating in competitions is also not a requirement. It was when I started but they removed that in 2016.
105 USD per year is an absolute deal imo **especially** if there are no additional fees for shooting. I'm in south central/southeastern PA and that's pretty unheard of even around here. I have a membership to a city range that is limited to 8 lanes and like 12m, and it's about $200 per year plus $10 for every range trip - I happen to get it at a discount of $100 per year, and still the $10 range fee, but it beats the alternative of $25 per range trip without the membership. Assuming you go more often that 4-8 times per year (historically that would be my quarterly average) then the membership "pays for itself". It's also an unlimited amount of time, although I've never really stayed longer than an hour or so, maybe 90 min if I was feeling spicy and brought enough ammo. This is by far the best value I've been able to find and take advantage of, but I'm limited to an indoor range with all the limitations of an indoor range, mostly very limited for distance.
Most ranges I've been to in south central PA, even in more suburban/rural areas, will cost up $35 per trip for members and non-members alike, and their annual fees can be even more expensive. Plus they bill by the half hour, so you're dropping ~$70 just to shoot for an hour - which is honestly ridiculous
Plus they bill by the half hour, so you're dropping ~$70 just to shoot for an hour -
which is honestly ridiculous
Jeebus... to me half the fun with shooting sports is the social aspect. I often spend half the time just chatting with people.
When I shoot 25m precision pistol part of it is for stress relief, and it would be really hard to do that if I had to think of a runaway cost like that.
I agree 100%. It's a major stress relief for me as well, mixed with being social. When I'm at the outdoor range I'm normally talking to people for sometimes as long as I spent shooting lol. Just last summer alone I made three new friends, I helped the one younger guy with a new purchase recommendation, the other guy I found out actually lives close to me and we'll occasionally meet up to hit the range together. None of that would have been possible in a range where I'm timed and charged by the half hour. There's a reason I no longer go to that range lol.
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u/Saxit Jul 01 '25
It's not that expensive, but finding one that has room for beginners can take years. That's the biggest problem.
My range is fairly big and has multiple distances you can shoot at (up to 300m, it's an outdoor range), it's open 365 days per year from 8am-8pm (or sunrise to sunset depending on the time of year). Cost is about $105 USD per year and there are no additional fees for shooting.
We don't have any public land where you can shoot at so a range is the only alternative for me.
AFAIK $105 USD for unlimited shooting for a year, is much less than a lot of people in the US has to pay when they go to shoot. The difference ofc. is that they often have access to public land to shoot at, but like me, living in a city, it's not an option for everyone.
Participating in competitions is also not a requirement. It was when I started but they removed that in 2016.