This is not a scientific study, but I did ask some of my friends recently who own firearms why they don’t hit the range more often. I thought their answers were pretty interesting, some I emphatically agreed with and others less so. Maybe their responses will resonate with you. Then again, maybe they won’t. But feel free to provide any insight on why you think more folks don’t shoot more often.
1. Cost
Probably the number one reason I heard was, “Shooting ain’t cheap” or a variation of that. While there are ways to keep costs down — buying ammo in bulk, reloading your own ammo, sharing ammo amongst friends, shooting on private property to avoid range fees — at the end of the day shooting can become an expensive activity. Spending $40 or $50 a few times a month can add up, so I certainly understand this compliant.
What’s the solution? Well, how about the government reduces it’s excises taxes on ammunition and firearms (11 percent for ammo and long guns, 10 percent for handguns). That would be a great start, wouldn’t it?
Two SilencerCo models that will work with subsonic 300 Blackout: the Osprey (top) and Octane (bottom)
2. Noise
Shooting firearms is freaking loud! And I don’t care what anyone says but wearing earplugs or earmuffs sucks! It just does, and I’ve never gotten used to it. Now, it doesn’t prevent me or the others I talked to form shooting, but if you have a headache or if you get headaches easily, shooting is often going to take a back seat to other, more quiet activities.
Thankfully, there is a solution. Silencers! Or “suppressors” for those that are anal about the nomenclature used when talking about devices that reduce the report of the gun. Suppressors need to go mainstream. They need to be removed from the NFA list and they need to be made widely available to the public. Period. End of story.
(Obviously, I feel real passionate about making suppressors widely available)
3. Travel
My city-dwelling friends where the ones who complained about travel. Yeah, there are gun ranges in and around most major metropolitan areas, but sometimes getting there is a process, an ordeal. Instead of just walking out the back door on a whim and heading into the yard where one’s private range is located, like many country folk can, city folk need to plan ahead.
As on friend explained, “Yeah, I like to shoot. But I can’t go after work because of rush hour traffic, it’d take way too long to get the range and back. So, that pretty much leaves the weekends. But on the weekends, my schedule’s filled with all the stuff I can’t typically get done on the weekdays. Unfortunately, getting to the range isn’t a priority much in the way food shopping is… Only on special occasions do I get to shoot.”
It’d be easy to say, “Just move out of the city,” but that isn’t really a tenable fix, especially if one works downtown or near the city center. Perhaps the best idea would be for those who enjoy shooting to make it a social activity, i.e. start a shooting club. Like a bowling league, a shooting club could meet once a week or once every couple weeks to ensure one is getting in some quality range time with friends. And Carpooling can be arranged to deal with the rigors of navigating the congested city streets.
Women shooting at a gun range! Don’t freak out, and try not to annoy them. (Photo Jacksonville.com)
4. Mall Ninjas
Some of the women I spoke with complained about the mall ninja/knucklehead factor. That is, when they were out at a public range they were approached by various “experts” who gave them unsolicited advice on the “right way” to shoot.
For these women, it soured the experience and they were reluctant to go back unaccompanied by a male friend or partner who could keep the well-intentioned but annoying dudes at bay.
This obstacle to shooting seems to be an easy fix. Memo to dudes, don’t approach chicks at the range unless you see them doing something unsafe. I know, for many of us there is nothing more attractive than a girl that can handle a firearm. But leave em be, let em enjoy their time there uninterrupted.
5. Scarcity
A few people said that scarcity of ammo kept them from shooting more frequently. While the market has gotten better than it has been in the recent past when ammunition was flying off of the shelves faster than retail stores could restock it, and manufacturers could supply it, some friends said they are still worried that another ammo shortage is right around the corner. They don’t want to deplete their stockpile more than they have to because if stuff does hit the fan, then they wan to make sure they have more than they need to survive, come what may.
Ideally, the solution would be to just buy more ammo. But with limited funds, limited time, limited resources it’s not always that easy.
i’m a woman and i haven’t had a problem with guys at the range trying to tell me how to shoot. maybe it’s because they can tell i know what i’m doing, or maybe i just haven’t crossed paths with buttheads. i HAVE been approached, but it’s always been respectfully (heh) and quite often the guy will offer me a chance to shoot one or more of his own firearms once he’s chatted with me for a few minutes. i almost always take them up on it – sure, why not?? plus it’s kind of an honor for someone to trust you, a relative stranger, with their firearm. that has happened at both the public range and at the members only gun club.
having said that, i can’t work on a car without some dude offering “advice”. for instance, once when i had just removed my exhaust manifold, one of my dad’s buddies came up to me and said, “that there’s an exhaust manifold”. i said, “yessir, i just removed it”, because my dad brought me up to have manners….
I live near a National Forest and private land where I can shoot for free. The only thing I worry about is how much noise I make with my Mosin-Nagant 7.62X54R and my AK47 7.62X39. Since there are always people in the forest out for a walk I try not to shoot on the weekends or holidays. If I could get a suppressor legally I would shoot more often. I do shoot a lot of subsonic 22LR and 9mm on private land. But again noise is always a concern. No one really likes to have the sound of shooting near their home.
Not that I want to be the annoying guy to tell these women what to do. Aside from the lack of eye protection if they stand any more flat footed and arch their backs anymore than they already were, as if they are afraid of their weapon, they would fall backwards from the recoil or an attacker coming at them. Unfortunately I see lots of women shooting like this.
/I belong to a gun club in Reading Ma. The town of reading is having a special meeting because one old lady is bitching about people hunting in a small area. She admits she has never had a problem but still got a group of people who do not like guns to sign her partition to have a special town meeting. The meeting will be held Monday Jan.5 and only town residents can speak.
club members can not speak even though we pay taxes to the town. What the hell has happen to this country since 9/11, This President has screwed this country up in more way than we can imagine.
I normally only read comments because most of the time others have said what I wanted to say so I don’t partake in the discussion but part of your statement here is completely ludicrous! How is Obama responsible for your town’s laws and regulations on how to conduct a town meeting? Logic would dictate that if you take issue with how your town’s assembly laws are administered, you should take it up with them instead of blaming Obama for something that he has no influence on whatsoever.
I am definitely with you on the suppressors! Our range has had NIMBY’s show up and plant houses ALL around us, and we have had to attempt to soundproof our shooting houses, to some good effect! If Tax&Spendifornia would pull its head back out and pass suppressor-ownership laws that weren’t repressive, we could effectively operate and bother nobody!
How the heck do the comment sections work? There’s lots of October comments mixed in with the January 3 comments.
Hey Dave,
GunsAmerica is doing a new years recap here.
Top 10’s and Best of kind of stuff.
lazy vacation production.
Just messin with ya G.A.
Probably because girls get away with many things in life to guys that go gaga over them.
If the upper brain was working, the infatuated range officer would see the chance to move in further on the girls by helping them to be more safe.
Some men huh?
The girls loose.
I’m curious. Why does this article have a photo of two women shooting handguns at a range with no eye protection. It would seem that they need some advice. You have to wear eye and ear protection to get a CCP and it should be mandatory at any shooting range. Just a thought.
Cost – Yes. Location is the key for range costs. Some ranges are reasonable for range time but kill you on ammo and nickel dime you on everything. Some require you to buy ammo from them, some don’t allow reloads (I don’t tell them and they can’t tell mine from factory ammo). City/indoor ranges are biggest offenders. The true cost of practice or competition is when you add up all the related costs and this is where careful choices and reloading you own if you can come in. A few states restrict online ammo ordering and tax ammo heavily so that is a consideration. The anti-gun environment including costs and the other inconveniences was some of the main reasons we left California after the grandkids started high school which is the only thing that could have gotten me there to start with.
Noise – Oh come on. Noise? Really? Ever experienced a factory, rock concert, dance club, military range, worked on a carrier deck or been in a real firefight? Admittedly the buy with the .454 Casull in the next stall or 300 Win Mag at the next bench is a pain. Again, indoor ranges are worst and you can try to schedule your visits when the range is not so busy. Depending on caliber and weapon I wear one light to two heavy noise suppressors. Sometimes you can ask to be at the end of the line or not next to anyone if there is a space open and safety personnel permit.
Travel – Traveling to a good outdoor range is easier to take than traveling to any indoor range, at least for me. Long travel is inconvenient but so is going to work, concerts, dinner and almost everything if time and gas matter.
Mall Ninjas – Gun store ranges are worst, urban and indoor ranges next and outdoor ranges best. Most ranges I prefer are fun, safe and both staff and shooters friendly and helpful for newcomers. The problem is more inexperienced folks who don’t think or don’t think they need help or training. What they don’t know is what they don’t know and that’s the problem.
Scarcity – There are never enough ranges and the days of open range shooing are gone for most. Rural shooters have the best opportunities for quieter, less crowded, affordable and accessible range time. Since ’79 I lived 25 years in coastal North Carolina, six years in San Diego and five years in the Las Vegas Valley giving me a view of rural, suburban and urban shooting environments and the best compromise between all these factors plus personal and weapon safety is the Clark County Shooting Park in Las Vegas. Affordable, huge, five star outdoor facility for shotgun, rifle, pistol and archery, their only drawback so far is the long range rifle areas aren’t finished yet. The worst factor is travel if you’re on the other side of the valley but most can get there on divided highways and avoid surface streets if not close by. Weather permitting you can shoot all day under high lighted cover with great range personnel, safely (run like a very friendly USMC range) with a pro shop and snack bar close by and tons of safe parking. And the view is fantastic, you can see the strip and all the way across the valley. We went there to watch the fireworks on the fourth. There were two outdoor ranges I used in NC. One fifteen minutes away for pistol, shotgun and rifle up to 200 yards and one about 30 minutes away for up to 1,200 yard work and it doesn’t get more friendly or helpful than the folks you find there.
Personally I’ll travel farther to an outdoor range than an indoor one, actually I rarely go to an indoor range. If I do it’s usually for a function test of a gun or ammo and I’m usually in and out in 30 mins. Maybe there are some I haven’t been to that are okay but most are too small, too expensive, too noisy and full of inexperienced nit wit city types. I never go to the tourist traps or the high dollar big advertisers as they are usually the most expensive and the most annoying. I go for skills practice, test a new load, test or sight in a firearm or for competition. I hate city ranges, I feel for folks in big cities who have no choice or who have never experienced a good outdoor range. At my age if I only had access to indoor ranges I’d probably buy a laser training outfit and use that exclusively as my weapon choices are settled as are my ammo choices including my reloading menu. I like to practice, I look forward to it, but, I have enough experience that I don’t have to put up with a lot of aggravation. For those who don’t, you have my sympathy. Everybody’s got to make a living and doing business in urban circumstances is costly, I understand only too well, but, the urban guys seem to go out of their way to stick it to us and treat everyone as if their stupid and inexperienced.
As always, I like your input BRASS.
Your experience might help me in the future.
I’m planning to use some land I own in Shasta, Arizona, Yosemite or Nevada to open a free outdoor range.
I’m hoping to let people get some cheap family fun time in, and hopefully make some money offering food and drink to start.
Maybe later opening a shop to sell shooting supplies, and offer instruction and/or Gunsmithing and cleaning.
I can see by your comments that beautiful surroundings might be the call for success.
I will consider this and some other observations you made in choosing a location, Thanks
PEER PRESSURE from friends and family , COST
I love to shoot and yes ammo has certainly gone up in price as well as at times hard to get. I find myself giving up other things or making other activities cheaper so that I can afford to shoot. I take my son out shooting at least once every couple of months. We store up boxes paper targets, paper plates, plastic coffee containers and outdated soda from the work pop machine, sometimes we find gravel pits and sometime we go to the local gun club. If we need to travel I search for ranges nearby our destination and try to make a boring trip to the in laws into a shooting outing also. This makes my son more motivated to attend family visits (me too). As a teenager a group of 5 or 6 would buy a box of clays and a brick of 22 and spend a whole afternoon shooting and yes even back in the 70’s we had to drive 30 or more miles to find a public and safe area. When I go to shoot I usually shoot 4 or 5 different firearms and go through 500 or more rounds in order to make it worth while the clean up both the area and the guns. Yes it is getting harder to find places to hunt and shoot. To many people chasing to few resources a recipe for chaos.
Ditto on the 22 Ammo Hogs! I want to SHOOT, not hoard. Give it a rest and share some with the rest of us! For a long time I couldn’t get primers to reload. Fortunately I live in FL now, so components are more available than some places. Cheaper to shoot .45 reloads than 22 right now!
I see the .22 hoarders at Walmart.
I’m in line with them 1 hr. before the doors open on a ammo delivery day.
I see people that have to have a bunker full of the stuff and wont stop buying it.
There’s not enough time in their life to shoot all they have.
I ask them how much they own and some are reluctant/embarrassed/paranoid to tell me.
I see them at the front of the line in the dark many hours before opening every time I go.
I have given up buying boxes so good guys behind me could have some before it sells out, and don’t consider myself a hoarder.
If you want .22, get in line early, because I’m afraid the hoarders will not stop.
I keep 3,000 rounds at home, and try to help others find it.
Good Karma is coming my way, lol.
I think my brother bought all the .22 ammo on this planet! What a stooge.
Cost of ammo has got to be the No1 reason.When I used to pay 8.95 for a box of 22lr, 500 to a box. I shot the whole box in one afternoon,some times two boxes if friends joined in.Availability was there to where you could get more than you wanted if you wanted.Now an afternoon of shooting cost 24 bucks if I can find it.Now to keep my shooting skills up I have to divide that same box into 45 minutes of shooting a week for the month or pay the heavy increase.
I am baffled by the “shortage” of .22LR! Can anyone explain to me why this, once common, type of ammunition is virtually non existant today? Even the .22 LR Shot cartridges cannot be found! I’m sure the rat population appreciates that! I would shoot more if I could again buy .22LR.
ACF
Let me help you with a little insight on 22 ammo. Ammo manufacturers make very little profit on 22 ammo. They run their ammo with last years run numbers or sell numbers and do a percentage increase for the next year. The public has gone crazy buying 22 ammo, this been the least expensive, making it be in short supply. The proof being the lines at the stores that have ammo the 22 ammo goes first. I personally know individuals that have over 25,000 rounds of 22 ammo and purchase more every chance they get. They are stock piling, not shooting, this ammo. Also 22 ammo is a rim fire so can not be reloaded. Hope this helps.
That’s why I switched to 9mm for target shooting and plinking. I live on 5 acres in a rural area and have a small range on my property. I take 15 minute a day to hone my marksmanship skills its my work out routine. I use 9mm because it seams to be available almost everywhere and wally world always has it for cheap. Cost more than 22 but doesn’t brank the bank and I can still practice. Bought a cheap reliable 9mm carbine so I can keep my rifle skills up too.
Main reason? Lack of gun powder! I look for it everyday and every few months I find some, usually just a pound or two. If I could buy an 8 pounder a few times a year, I would shoot a lot more often.
Jim,
Check with North Arkansas Guns. I just received an e-mail from them saying they have plenty of powder.
For me it’s cost of ammo, with travel as a secondary cause. The noise is part of the fun, the knuckleheads are just something I can laugh about with my friends (and someone who puts an ACOG on a Hi-Point carbine deserves to be laughed at), and I’m as busy as anyone but can still find the time.
Anyone that spends that much money on a quick sight has issues any way.
By the way Hi-point carbines are fun to fire.
For me besides the prices keep going up, I had just read that Mr. Obama is going after the lead makers in which the largest one in North America was fined by the EPA for 100 million dollars and will be shutting down by the end of the year so I believe another ammo shortage will be coming soon and that keeps me from doing what I truely enjoy doing.
THE COST OF AMMUNITION IS TOO EXPENSIVE FOR A PERSON ON A MONTHLY INCOME!
THE COST OF AMMUNITION IS HIGH ON A SSDI SALARY!
When ammo got too expensive, I went to airguns, no loud noises, no kickback, cheap ammo. That was a win win for me, picked up a new hobby too. Still waiting for the ammo shortage to end, where is the .22 ammo went..
Not a bad idea Joe. WTG
Oh and WalMart, get there 30 minutes before opening on ammo shipment day.
Call the day before so you know.
No eye protection ladies? Major safety issue! Most ranges near me are not safe enough either. Too many yahoos with multiple guns out at once not pointed down range. The range officers don’t enforce their own rules.
Hey S.H., how about a little spell check please.
Call me a “mall ninja,” but I would approach both of the girls in the photo of this article…. and tell them they need eye (and perhaps ear) protection!
Eye protection yes. If you look closer you will see they are wearing ear plugs. One thing though, I have seen a lot of brass fly and, a tank top if not a good thing to wear.
1. cost of gas to drive out to public land. (45 miles to the CA desert near me)
2. Cost of ammo (.44 .40 .308 12 GA sparingly—.22 5.45 7.62 all day long)
I only have the two reasons, but it’s still worth it and I shoot whenever I feel like it.
The only reason I would approach the women in your photo is to let them know that I am a range officer and that they are not being safe. They need to wear eye protection! Come on Guns America, please post pictures of shooters (female or male) practicing safe shooting habits!
look closer! They are wearing ear plugs.
Ummm Mike, he said “eye” protection, not ear.
No. 1 reason in SW FL are the lack of out door ranges and closed off state land. The few public ranges are always crowded it seems with long lines to shoot. One has to wonder where does all the tax and fee money go ? And sections of the public ranges are closed off even when crows are there, bad management ?
you are right, but little by little, open area outdoor ranges are coming on-line. check out the new 30 acre one being built out in Crystal River… When done? It will be great! And they are working to be able to take crowds, safely and properly… All very neat!
try some bowling pins, or steel plates to shoot. Really takes the boring out of paper plates, and bullseyes. Put a T shirt on a cut out and shoot like it’s an intruder. New is the cure to boring.
Cans of food and all kinds fruit are real fun too.
And that is exactly why our Low Density Poly 100% Recyclable Target-Bottles and Bowling Pins are the perfect replacement or alternative to paper and other semi-boring target products. and far more economical than anything else out there…
I think time should have been one of the five reasons! I am a Mum of two and rarely have time to get,over to the range, even though I have the membership, firearms and ammo! Noise never is a factor, but the annoying guys who feel like they have the right to come over and give you tips make me nuts! Imagine if we did that to them! 🙂
Ruth, they only offer advice because they care!
Don’t be misled into thinking that the mall-nija offer their advice only to members of the opposite sex. I see that all the time at ranges and it isn’t just a pick up tactic. Needy people abound; but there also is the social element to shooting that cannot be ignored. Genuinely friendly and polite people abound in the shooting sports, and part of their experience is getting to meet new and interesting folks. So, perhaps a curt but polite response could be adopted as an easy way to avoid a lengthy interaction: “I’m a little pressed for time and don’t want to be rude. Thank you, I’ll take it into consideration” or “Noted, Thanks!” and turn away.
Now getting “chatty” while wearing ear protection isn’t conducive to conversation and everyone (myself included) should also consider that others may be waiting for the lane and save it for the gun-counter or lobby, no?
I’m a firearms instructor and I often times see men, women and young people doing things that detract from their shooting fun and accuracy. I occasionally will ask them if I can offer instruction and would never push the situation if they didn’t feel comfortable with me doing so. That said, it has always improved the way they shoot and enhanced their shooting time. And when the groups get tighter and closer to the POT they always have more fun and satisfaction. But again, I would never push my instruction on anyone who doesn’t want it.
Just become a better shooter – when you can shoot better than them than you can offer them some help. They’ll leave you alone.
I think the number one reason should be a lack of opportunities for quality shooting experiences. Unless a shooter owns, or has access to a convenient piece of rural private property for shooting, range experiences these days are astoundingly lacking. The nearest range to my house is run by the Sheriff’s Department. It is large, clean and well-run. Shooting there, however, seems a lot like I would imagine it’s like on the qualifying range in military basic training. Far, far too many rules and restrictions. Multiple range officers hovering over each shooter. Bench rest shooting at paper targets is a very serious past time for many shooters, yet it is only one type of shooting. Sadly, it tends to be the only type of shooting most ranges lend themselves to doing.
Good call. We recently moved and had the opportunity to join a new range and it is awesome. We have already gone more in the brief time we have lived here than the years we were there. I understand the need for some rules but use some sense.
So true. The ranges where I live are either a) too crowed, b) private by membership and closed due to wait lists, c) stupid expensive to shoot at (entry fee and have to buy their ammo), or d) public land ranges overrun and overcrowded (even during the weekdays) with slack-jawed yokels, neolithic adults, and prepubescent ignoramuses who like to shoot TV’s, refrigerators, tires, glass bottles, computers, VCR’s, propane tanks, scrap metal, their junk cars (seen it before), light campfires, and point and shoot their firearms in all directions (over roads, way too close to other shooters, into the woods). The public land ranges are the best option here, but are awfully close to being shut down because of abuse. The DOA and FS try to be patient, but I feel it’s running thin. Cost is an issue, but finding a place to do it is the one that keeps me from shooting. Sad.
It is easier to join a golf club then to join a gun club
There are no new gun clubs being created because all the town regulations
I’m very lucky Nick, I have 33 acres in the country and have a range there and hunt the property too. I have friends come out to shoot. There are no range rules as on some ranges, just common sense. We walk down range first and check the area for other people and wandering dogs which we have found there. We let each other know what we are going to shoot and everyone knows what the other is going to do with their firearm. We clean up behind ourselves after shooting. Brass, trash and carry it home.
I couldn’t agree more. I grew up in a small town in Oregon on the coast. Use to go out in the woods and shoot all the time. Then moved to California after college and for almost 30 years didn’t fire a single shot. Too difficult to shoot, too few ranges, too many rules, not a gun friendly state. Moved to Northern Washington in 2010 and while a gun friendly state, you are pretty much restricted to ranges for doing your shooting. Most are reasonable and not too bad on the rules for hand guns, but very difficult to shoot rifles. Most, only allow a single round in the rifle at at time and are bench shooting only. Not a great way to practice for hunting where you have to be proficient at firing from standing, prone and kneeling.
To me restricted access is the number one factor, then rules, followed by cost.
I agree with the fun paper target guy. Shooting ranges suck. No 22 ammo. Cost of ammo, and driving to and from ranges. I kind of got out of it. For now. Until something gets better.
I agree with you. In the 60’s, when I was a kid in Miami, Fl, there were numerous rock quarries, rural fields, etc where adults could take their children to “plink”. There were also a couple of dad’s(WWII combat experienced vets) who supervised our neighborhood “gun club”. We were all elementary school age and met once a week for informal classes. Priority was on safety, proper care/cleaning of firearms, shooting positions, etc. Two Fridays every month we went shooting after school. I walked the 2 blocks with my rifle in a case and it was considered normal. (Now, a parent would be arrested and the media would be all over it.) Again, safety was prioritized but we also had fun. After shooting formal paper targets two of us were allowed to shoot a 30 carbine and we all got to shoot pressurized spray paint cans a safe distance down range with a scoped 22 magnum. As we eventually got older and bigger we started shooting 20 ga shotguns at hand thrown clay targets. These two neighborhood father’s started a few of us kids on a lifetime of safe and fun shooting. Now, a child has to be a certain age(usually 10) before allowed on a range and it is so formal due to safety reasons most kids do not enjoy it. I get frustrated watching shooting shows on TV where they recommend certain drills. Where do they think most of us live? Montana? In Dade county Florida it is against the law to shoot without written permission of the landowner and there are very few places rural enough to shoot any more. I have to drive over 3 hrs one way just to take my grand kids to go “plinking”.