You won’t see any lower quality of shooting than at a PD range. The reason they want them private is so the masses can’t see how terrible they are with firearms.

I’m very curious if this is generational and will start to change. There’s so many practical shooters and tacti-cool younger shooters these days, that I hope as the old FUDD guard retires out, a next generation of ranges will pop up. I’d call myself “doubtful but hopeful”.

Had a fudd will drift by a pistol bay at my home range one day and make some clever remark along the lines of "Are you boys playing cops and robbers again?" Naturally it was the same individual who put one through the roof of the covered firing line with an ancient rusty crusty Remington rolling block 22 rifle. :)

I once asked at the Abilene gun club if I could train with night vision after hours. Instead of saying no they just threatened to trespass me.

From the standpoint of a range, "it was great until it wasn't" is a common theme. It only takes 1 idiot perforating something they shouldn't to end up with a litany of dumb rules. The problem is that their insurers frown on that kind of thing. You're not having any kind of range without some CYA from liability insurance. Put yourself in that situation...if you have your own private range, would you let just anyone shoot there? It sucks, but it's hardly surprising.

I always found it funny that during my CCW class they would tell us to practice "different" situations and shooting positions etc. My hand would go straight up and I would ask where do I do that? I live within an hour of 10 ranges and NONE of them allow holsters or positional shooting. Recently I had to take a holster/USPSA class and this one range has a separate range just for USPSA practice which does allow holster and movement etc... Now they leave me alone to practice and I started shooting matches. I've done two matches now and can't wait till my next one. Thanks for your content. I am in California.

Moving from NC to AZ, my world changed. $100 yearly range memberships where I can shoot all I want on the practical bays after getting a few match directors to sign off after watching you shoot some matches. Before I had access to the bays, I'd go to the desert and shoot. Problem with the desert is you're surrounded by miles of idiots mag dumping AR-10 pistols. Much more sketchy than the practical bays at a real gun club.

I live in the DFW area, and oh boy our situation is absolutely horrible. Every single range within a 2 hour drive, whether it's indoor or outdoor, is extremely fuddy. One in particular, Elm Fork, went viral on FirepowerUnited's instagram because of how stupid the rules are. On the 100yd rifle range, bench shooting only, No FMJ, no loading more than 10 rounds, no red dots, no SBRs or AR pistols. The nearest range that's any good is all the way in Waxahacie, which is halfway to Waco. And of course being Texas there is zero public land to go shoot on. This is probably the worst place to live if you want to shoot in the entire country outside of CA/NY.

There are 3 outdoor ranges within an hour of where I live and about a year ago I took some of my friends shooting for the first time at a fudd one. This particular one only has about 20 pistol and 15 rifle bays to shoot at so it is full of fudds on the weekend sighting in and stealing brass. One of my friends is a smaller lady who was having trouble shouldering a rifle so she would rest the magazine on the counter while firing. The RO came over and told her she could not rest the gun on the magazine because he saw someone do it before and the gun blew up. After I disagreed with him he claimed to be a gunsmith. Packed up and haven't been back since. He is likely to be spreading fudd lore to this very day.

I had an indoor range I liked for a few years that I was a member of. It was nice enough, but mainly they allowed rapid fire and drawing from the holster. A year or two ago they changed to no longer allow drawing. I think I went maybe once after that change before cancelling my membership.

I trained on the side of boys in blue and to my surprise they couldn't hit a target at 5 yards to pass certification. I watched rounds hit the ground in front of the target, Into the ceiling and everything got hit but the target their instructor was telling them to hit.

I'm lucky enough to have a friend with a back 40. He let me set up a pretty nice range there. Now it's used by our local PD for qualifications. thanks for the share!!

Holy shit I was just having this argument online about the indoor range FT3 in socal. I got scolded for “rapid firing” despite shooting accurately. Everyone online began using the “they have rules for a reason” argument. That’s the last time I go there lol.

One thing that is so frustrating about living under the anti-gun regime in Washington is the abundance of places to shoot. Despite living in the middle of Seattle, I have a range 40 minutes from my house where I can basically do whatever I want as long as the gun stays pointed in a safe direction and I get all of my rounds on paper, and I can drive another 30-45 minutes and have access to a pit or BLM land. We have great resources out here for people to get into shooting, and it’s sad that all of these new laws are going to dissuade new people from taking part.

You know what’s crazy? It’s either the Ohio Tactical Officer’s range, or the Norwalk, Ohio PD range, but behind the not very tall berm, is the interstate! I watched a video on KZfaq where while the people were shooting, you could literally see the tops of big rig trailers driving by probably within 50 yards past the berm.

I've had bad experiences with NRA ranges only. All the red shirt clowns are more harm than they are good. They give you the old "can't fire more than one round every two seconds" then you look over and they're showing someone else how to use it and holding the gun like shit. All in the name of safety. I avoid anything NRA now.

Northern indiana has been fairly consistent and good I’m a member of a conservation club and for my local gun store that has an indoor lanes I’m a member too like you I rarely go to shoot but it gets me other little goodies like discounts and free ffl transfers so I do still keep it for the winter months I wish they’d do more classes at reasonable times as that’s the only time to get full through carry training at the in door

It is very interesting to hear that you have more restrictions in US shooting ranges then we do have in Poland. For example such rules like "no rapid fire" ect does not exist in Polish ranges. In most cases(except some very small number of ranges) you can do almost whatever you like as long as you follow basic safety rules and you place your targets in correct manner. The other thing is that, in Poland you need to have firearm licence to shoot on your own, otherwise you need to shoot under instructors or RO supervision. So could be that we just don't have that many unexperienced shooters using ranges on their own, so no need for any harsh rules and regulations. Shooting anywhere else then licenced shooting range is prohibited, so in most cases a problem for IPSC shooters is to have any shooting range near by, as there aren't many ranges available - and probably more ranges are closed due to nois complains then new shooting ranges being opened...

In my area I have indoor ranges, but I have to pay for a training on holster draw, yet they host matches… But other club ranges require NRA membership, which I’m not exactly a fan of either. Family has property but it’s an hour drive. Which is not far at all, just with a young family, everyone wants to go to the farm. It is what it is, I guess.

Newfoundland Canada here. Particular st johns 30/40 mins away we have a range with two pistol bays one 50 M and one 25 M and one 50/100/200 M multi gun bays. We have FUDDS and FUDD board members but mostly we have reasonable Pepole running it. We can draw from holster shoot and move rapid fire whatever as long as you’re safe. We can’t shoot side been which sucks but not to bad. Get rid of the Trudeau liberals and will have a wicked spot. Only 100$ a year

Central Coast of California. Great range in San Luis Obispo but no training at the public range, but competitions are abundant. I'm lucky to have a friend who has 10 acres and a pistol depth shooting range (bay). I can go there as often as I choose and do anything I want. In CA that's extremely rare unless you know a land owner who helps out.

We ultimately built our own range facility because of issues with the premier l, local private club.

Hey Ben! Do you have a list of good ranges where one could actually train in Western WI?

Ben, I want to apologize for your experience at CTA. You were there working with Will, who is no longer with California Tactical Academy. We would love to host another class and make it a better experience, let us know! It is definitely different and we are trying to make training more affordable for everyone.

Build your own range, no FUD

Used to live in Pennsylvania and all FUDD ranges nearest one was over an hour away that wasn’t a FUDD range. Now in Wyoming….not many FuUDDS here not going back to Pennsylvania

Utah has the best range complex in the US, hands down. No fudd nonsense, and more ranges than you can shoot in a week. It's outside of Price. In the Salt Lake Valley, there's a DNR-run range called Lee Kay which is Fudd central. They've had this younger guy who claims to be a Vietnam vet that likes to get all up in your stuff, telling stories about being a tunnel rat and spec ops. Lee Kay is a good place to confirm zero on rifles, maybe chrono some loads in the 75yd bay. Most of the ROs are friendly and hands-off, but then they also have to deal with a lot of new shooters who don't have any training in firearms safety. Think young guy and his girlfriend with big breasts wearing a wife beater, hot brass ejecting right into her cleavage, muzzle awareness out the window flagging everyone with a hot 1911 and a light trigger. Have seen it multiple times. The hours there are limited, and the ROs are volunteers, so they want to get out of there right at closing.

I trained on two PD ranges for years and I was allowed to do whatever the police did as I was always training with them. Private ranges are far more restricted, but likely need to be due to liability issues and insurance costs.

The only difference I've noticed between Los Angeles and Central VA is that the indoor ranges in VA allow rapid fire. Otherwise, it's all indoor ranges with people that can't hit a bullseye at 7yds or Fudd country clubs with years-long wait lists. At least in CA, there were long-range outdoor ranges in the mountains or you could drive to BLM land.

Half the public ranges near me don’t allow reloads - even worse than not being able to draw. I don’t train a lot or anywhere as much I should, but I at least need to be able to chrono my ammo which is impossible to do at most places.

All the ranges near me are super fuddish smh the indoor range i frequent only to zero dots will not allow draw from holster or practicing reloads. The outdoor shooting complex ( ran by local PD) at first had steel silhouette's set up at different distances and a dueling tree that you could shoot at will so i could practice transitions at the least (no holster work or reloads either) now they have removed the dueling tree and set up all the silhouettes at the same distance only allowing you to shoot the target directly in front of you🤦🏻‍♂️ There is a rifle and pistol club that has pistol bays setup for uspsa style training that im trying to get a membership to currently but you have to jump through hoops in order to join (have to be NRA member, fill out application, have 2 sponsors to vouch for you, attend meeting with said sponsors where they must vouch for you in person, and pay the yearly fee) which is a bit drastic. They are also super fuddish as they wont allow steel targets unless they are built into a wooden structure that meets there standards🤣

My question as a business owner is Is there a demand in this how much are people willing to pay to go to a range to be left alone to train would you pay hourly cause nobody wants more memberships

My experience is that the old geeezers come up with the stupidest "rules"

Pro: I have a range in my woods Con: It’s in WI 😢

From CA and got stationed on Oahu. 100% the worst place to train at. In SoCal I had an indoor range that I paid 20 bucks to shoot at and used only for marksmanship . Got to shoot my own ammo( Speer Lawman) and targets there. Here on Oahu you have to shoot their over priced ammo . In Socal I also would rent a shooting bay at Mike Raagages? In Corona. Love that place. M-F its empty and you can set up your own targets and everything. If you wanted to shoot long range hell you have BLM land. Here in Oahu you have kokohead and its trash compared to most outdoor ranges. I bought all the guns that I wanted here tho( CA has that safety roster) . As much as I dispose Cali gun laws i gotta admit. I miss the shooting out there

My gun club increased their costs and turned all of their bays into maximum 10 yards and they bitch at people who so much as have a rifle in the bay with steel targets, regardless of whether not they're shooting the steel.

the Utah comment is 100% talking about Lee Kay Public shooting range, given that its pretty much the only major public shooting range idk why he would try to hide the range name.. The ranges reputation is extremely well know, especially considering many of the RO's even look like elmer fudd. Honestly everyone just goes out to blm land as thats just what you do.

I know of an IPSC/USPSA club who doesnt allow IWB apendix holsters for practice or matches. Thats about as fudd as it gets. Other then that the i door rsnges are a mix of fudd and tacticool. Most the private clubs are decent but expensive.

people with any power over a range mostly abuse it or make it go to there head from my experiance. /sweden.

Did I just hear you say you’re in Wi? I just replayed it. You said your in Wi. Man why have you never come down to Ripon shoot?? What’s your home range I’d love to have a chance to meet you. My son and I both watch your videos. Not only that I just got him a double alapha xi and the double alapha mag pouches and the flex belt from you store…. Hopefully you read this and hit me up. So I just looked and found your footage from 2006 idpa state. D Zimmerman was your s/o.

What is FUUD?

Dude you look like you whould be living on a boat in the Caribbean. Chnage your yt page to captain ron lol

Off topic, but WFT is going on with the membership fees? For the last 5 years I paid $25 because I didn't want the monthly magazine. This year it jumped to $55? More than 100% in one jump? Are they friggin serious??? I only shoot Steel Challenge now and I get ZERO for my $55. I have already made GM and I don't really care about having my scores submitted to USPSA anymore, I only care about where Practiscore says I finished. Fuck them, I ain't paying to make those thieves even richer.

For every "FUDD" range there are 30 guys who think they are the next Christian Sailer. I dont have a problem with verification of ones safety and skills when it comes to moving and shooting. A range with a firing line and "lanes" is not the place to train for USPSA. Find a range with action bays. There is a place for every shooter. Liability is just the world we live in these days, thanks to irresponsible people and lawyers.

Be smart. Get a good job. Buy your own land. Make your own range. Literally the only solution seems like.

Ranges were not Fudd unit you kids showed up with the Black Rifles and no manners. :)

Liability is the name of the game for ranges and fudds

I’ve trained with some police officers and not to knock them, they kinda sucked. Thanks to the defund the police movement.