Red's North in Austin/Pflugerville?

[davidtx]

I shot skeet at ARC once - it's about an hour from my house. There used to be a range down Hamilton Pool Road from me. It was apparently owned by a "colorful" character and is no longer in business. I'm in San Antonio a couple of times a week - my best bet may be Bass Pro Shop. $10 per half hour, but $100/year. I don't know how hard it is to get range time though.

I'm not sure where you're talking about, but it sure isn't the Austin Rifle Club. There's no skeet or trap there. Perhaps you're thinking Capitol City Trap & Skeet Club? It's a few miles away but it not affiliated with the ARC.

The ARC has seen many changes recently, and it's an outstanding value, but you can't walk up to any range and shoot the way you want to (Sheesh...if we had that, we'd have loads of 20-somethings out there trying to play "curve the bullet" like in that awful movie "Wanted").

Sorry, you're right. Its been two or three years ago.

[HuttoAg96]

ARC does allow practicing from a holster, all shots must be "sighted fire", no hip shooting or speed rocks. Be advised the Supervised Practice sessions are not just show up and shoot, you must contact the practice organizer and be added to the list.

I've been a member for over 13 years and I consider it the best shooting venue around Central Texas. Here is a quick summary on joining.

$100 a year dues, $100 initiation fee.
Must provide a DPS background check, no felons please. (CHL is accepted as a background check)
Mandatory safety orientation class with live fire safety eval.
Range access is controlled via electronic key card, members and guests only except for matches.
Gate and some ranges are monitored by video cameras.
Shooting allowed from sunrise to 30min after sunset 365 days a year excepting matches, maintenance and special events.

Full info at this link
http://austinrifleclub.org/index.php?op ... &Itemid=54

If you want a safe, enjoyable place to shoot, with 10 different bays all with covered firing lines, plenty of fresh air and indoor restrooms, ARC might be what you are looking for.

We host Benchrest rifle, Highpower rifle, Pistol Silhouette, Cowboy Rifle Silhouette, Blackpowder rifle, IDPA, USPSA(IPSC) and Bullseye pistol matches. Come out and shoot with us.

Gringop

Thanks for the information, Gringop. I'll definitely be joining up this summer.

[newTexan]

Can anybody elaborate a bit more on their "Range Safety Evaluation"? Is this a set of drills you have to perform or what? I still consider myself a new shooter and while nobody has ever said anything negative about my gun handling and safety skills, I'm not the most comfortable person when it comes to submitting myself for evaluation on anything shooting related. Maybe I'm too self-conscious.

I'm trying to decide between either a yearly membership at Reds or trying to join the ARC. Reds is more expensive, but ARC doesn't seem all that inviting. You have to attend a class they offer once a month, pass a "Range Safety Evaluation", submit either your CHL or a background check from DPS, pay them, and then about two weeks later, people (most of whom you probably didn't meet) vote on if they should let you in.... I've dealt with government agencies that require less paperwork.

[frazzled]

Hill Country was tolerable, though usually in poor maintenance. That depended on how nigh the newly-determined "end of the world" was, and he'd usually spruce things up a bit when the date got too close and a new further-off date was procured. I'm pretty sure the place shut down because the county took too much land (due to his refusal to pay taxes) for the range to be operable any longer. Lone Star in Lockhart ended up buying his rifle stations and steel canopy. He was a... colorful character (they don't call him "Crazy Richard" for nothing), to say the least.ove)

We used to call him captain Sterno and make bets on whether or not he would have a new open wound on him when he appeared seemingly out from under one of the trailers. Shooting at metal targets at the pistol range was fun and you could be totally left alone, but it was too crazy a situation and he had a bad tendency to yell out clients. Had he shouted at the Wife like that we would have had an issue. Last straw was when the "restroom" (port o potty) disappeared.

[OldCannon]

Can anybody elaborate a bit more on their "Range Safety Evaluation"? Is this a set of drills you have to perform or what? I still consider myself a new shooter and while nobody has ever said anything negative about my gun handling and safety skills, I'm not the most comfortable person when it comes to submitting myself for evaluation on anything shooting related. Maybe I'm too self-conscious.

I'm trying to decide between either a yearly membership at Reds or trying to join the ARC. Reds is more expensive, but ARC doesn't seem all that inviting. You have to attend a class they offer once a month, pass a "Range Safety Evaluation", submit either your CHL or a background check from DPS, pay them, and then about two weeks later, people (most of whom you probably didn't meet) vote on if they should let you in.... I've dealt with government agencies that require less paperwork.

I think you're over-stressing.

Range safety eval is just a once time thing where the range officer/trainer makes sure that anybody that's an ARC member understands the range rules. (Would YOU want somebody futzing with their rifle before you walk to your target on a cold range?).

Background check is $5 or a copy of your current CHL. At least you know there's some kind of baseline. :)

Yes, there is a "voting in" process. It's a club, not an open range. Yes, you probably don't know the folks (I sure didnt'), but it's not like there's some grizzled, tobacco-spitting codger sitting in the corner, pointing a cane at you saying, "I don't reckon I like the looks of that one!".

Keep in mind that the ARC is growing and will continue to grow by contributing members making the ARC something awesome. The action shooting bays are one example of the ARC membership dues at work. Our biggest focus, however, is on youth programs. There are some amazingly cool things that kids can do through the ARC, and it's always great to see shooting sports being passed down to another generation.

One final comment: The weekend matches, like the USPSA or IDPA shoots, do NOT require membership in the club. However, the supervised practices in the action bays do.

Here's the calendar for this month's events: http://austinrifleclub.com/index.php?op ... Itemid=124" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[NcongruNt]

Can anybody elaborate a bit more on their "Range Safety Evaluation"? Is this a set of drills you have to perform or what? I still consider myself a new shooter and while nobody has ever said anything negative about my gun handling and safety skills, I'm not the most comfortable person when it comes to submitting myself for evaluation on anything shooting related. Maybe I'm too self-conscious.

I'm trying to decide between either a yearly membership at Reds or trying to join the ARC. Reds is more expensive, but ARC doesn't seem all that inviting. You have to attend a class they offer once a month, pass a "Range Safety Evaluation", submit either your CHL or a background check from DPS, pay them, and then about two weeks later, people (most of whom you probably didn't meet) vote on if they should let you in.... I've dealt with government agencies that require less paperwork.

I think you're over-stressing.

Range safety eval is just a once time thing where the range officer/trainer makes sure that anybody that's an ARC member understands the range rules. (Would YOU want somebody futzing with their rifle before you walk to your target on a cold range?).

Background check is $5 or a copy of your current CHL. At least you know there's some kind of baseline. :)

Yes, there is a "voting in" process. It's a club, not an open range. Yes, you probably don't know the folks (I sure didnt'), but it's not like there's some grizzled, tobacco-spitting codger sitting in the corner, pointing a cane at you saying, "I don't reckon I like the looks of that one!".

Keep in mind that the ARC is growing and will continue to grow by contributing members making the ARC something awesome. The action shooting bays are one example of the ARC membership dues at work. Our biggest focus, however, is on youth programs. There are some amazingly cool things that kids can do through the ARC, and it's always great to see shooting sports being passed down to another generation.

One final comment: The weekend matches, like the USPSA or IDPA shoots, do NOT require membership in the club. However, the supervised practices in the action bays do.

Here's the calendar for this month's events: http://austinrifleclub.com/index.php?op ... Itemid=124" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yep, it's no big deal. I actually went through all of the stuff necessary to get a membership a few years ago, and then lost my job and couldn't afford to join. You show up, go over the rules and whatnot, and then head down to the plinking range with whatever you brought to shoot. They ask you to load up X number of rounds and then fire several rounds into the backstop until they tell you to cease fire. You then immediately clear your weapon and put it on the bench. That's it. The only point of the exercise is to make sure you already have safe gun-handling skills and that you can follow range commands and make your firearm clear in a safe and timely fashion. There's nothing stressful about it, and the whole process is pretty laid back.

Once you've done that, you just come back for a confirmation with other members, and you're in (from what I understand).