Club Membership Fee - What's yours ?

[Spurley]

Thurnscoe rifle and pistol club £50 a year outdoor. 50 and 100 mtr range i shoot smallbore ,black powder pistol ,and air rifle great value imo and more importantly very friendly joined my 15yr old son he now has fac and loves it.Paul

[Powderfinger]

I pay £80 per annum plus £2 for each visit to the range. It seems very fair value to me compared to the cost of other hobbies or going out for a meal. It costs a lot of money to run a shooting club and even more money to prepare for the future. Many clubs have ot be ready for the day when they may lose their range for one reason or another so it is welll to be saving for such an eventuality. In addition, our club wants to establish funds to expand and get involved in long-term projects.

[markjohns2006]

£95 per year, no attendance fee £5 fee for full bore shoots and 50p tea or coffee

Great value, 6 lanes to shoot on and a range of targets and positions

[Iain D]

a member of 3 clubs Airgun, Smallbore and Clays. On there own they are not to bad but when you add them all together it's a fair bit of money

Airgun HFT £80 per year
Smallbore £120 per year 12 lane 25yd indoor, 30 lane 50yd and 30 lane 100yd outdoor plus 4 lane 10m air pistol/rifle
Clays £75 per year plus cost of clays 4.75/25

I'm going to try and cut back a bit as I can't do justice to all the diciplines, but it seemed a good idea at the time

Iain D

[thibben]

Hard to do an honest comparison here.

Do HFT clibs have to register with the home office or NRA? If your club owns its range then the (silly) fees to Landmark + overtime pay to the range warden do not come into it. How many members against how many active members does your club have (makes a big difference). Need to do an 'apples for apples'

My club fees currently run £40/year membership + a £10 range fee on the local military range (100-600 yard targets every meet + McQueens) normally twice a month and a £3 range fee on a 100 yard range twice a month. No competiton or target fees. This level covers costs + prizes, no signinifcant profit (I know this as I'm the club Chairman).

Compared to Golf (a good walk spoilt by 18 diassapointments ) then powder burning rifle club fees do not see too bad?

Brgds Terry

[Rich]

Clubs solely for air rifles below 12fpe do not currently have to register with either NRA or NSRA nor do they need Home Office approval.

However we have found it to be very worthwhile to keep the Firearms department of the local constabulary informed, and we let the local PCSO know well in advance if we are putting on a larger than usual shoot.

[Rutty]

Clubs solely for air rifles below 12fpe do not currently have to register with either NRA or NSRA nor do they need Home Office approval.

In fact no club of any kind has to affiliated to any of the shooting governing bodies and it is not a requirement for gaining Home Office Approval.

Rutty

[thibben]

Rutty,

This might be the case but how do you obtain the range certificate cards or have a 'recognised' probationer training system without either the NRA's version (out of date thinking/techniques but usable) or by submitting your own to the NRA for acreditation - which I did.

You need both of these items to enable you to use MOD ranges. If you can show me how to avoid this without being affiliated to the NRA please do?

(I think you actually have to be 'NRA affiliated' to book ranges from Landmark - but could be wrong on this?)

As a plus their arranged liability insurance is pretty good (very good in protecting club officials from prosecution in this rather crappy world we live in).

Even if the NRA are demonstably rubbish at most things other than TR you should support your national body in some way, so 'association' saves your club members having to do this individually but their 'numbers' are at least recorded (- but thinking about this, it probably will not make any difference).

Brgds Terry

[BigAl]

Rutty,

This might be the case but how do you obtain the range certificate cards or have a 'recognised' probationer training system without either the NRA's version (out of date thinking/techniques but usable) or by submitting your own to the NRA for acreditation - which I did.

You need both of these items to enable you to use MOD ranges. If you can show me how to avoid this without being affiliated to the NRA please do?

(I think you actually have to be 'NRA affiliated' to book ranges from Landmark - but could be wrong on this?)

As a plus their arranged liability insurance is pretty good (very good in protecting club officials from prosecution in this rather crappy world we live in).

Even if the NRA are demonstably rubbish at most things other than TR you should support your national body in some way, so 'association' saves your club members having to do this individually but their 'numbers' are at least recorded (- but thinking about this, it probably will not make any difference).

Brgds Terry

There are several different things at play here Terry. A rifle or pistol club that uses section 1 firearms dosn't have to be either: Home Office Approved, or Affiliated to any organisation (NRA, NSRA ect).
If your club though wants to benefit from the advantages offered by the Firearms act, i.e that you want to share guns ect.
If you wish to shoot fullbore on MOD ranges then you will also need to be affiliated to the NRA. Only NRA affiliated clubs can make range bookings with Landmark. I'm not sure what the situation would be with smallbore millitary ranges used by civillians, buut would think NSRA affiliation would be needed. Safe Shooter Certificates don't apply to .22lr single shot, but are needed for the likes of LSR or GRSB. If your club never shoots on MOD ranges then you do not need the SSC.
The club that I shoot at is lucky enough to own the freehold of a ranges. We are HO Approved as we want the advantages that this brings. As we shoot a range of disiplines we are affiliated to the NRA, NSRA, and MLAGB. The NRA insurance for committee members is incredibly useful as it includes negligence cover.

Alan

[Rutty]

Terry,

I merely state the facts as they relate to Home Office Approval. Nowhere in the leaflet on "The approval of rifle and muzzle loading pistol clubs" is any requirement to be affiliated to a governing body stipulated. This is the Home Office interpretation of the law, specifically Section 15 of the Firearms Act 1988 and as subsequently amended.

The other issues you raise are relevant mainly to the use of MoD ranges and thus the subject of regulations imposed by the range operator.

Insurance is an important element and usually a major selling point as far as affiliation goes. However it is available independently, although usually at greater cost, should you wish to go down that route.

As far as supporting my "national body" is concerned, I have done so for the last 40 years.

Rutty

[thibben]

Rutty,

Concur with your comments, but my original post was trying to point out that unless you take the costs of NRA affiliation and Home Office registration into account you cannot readily compare your particular club fees to anothers.

Alan,

Re. not registering a club with ther Home Office.

I do not beleive a member would be able to quote a club as a 'good reason' for applying for a FAC unless it is a registered club -unless I've missed something. If this was the case then anyone could say they were a 'club' and obtain FAC's on the strength of it?

Agreed, HO registry is not necessary if your members have FAC's independant of club membership.

Liability insurance is a requirement of using MOD ranges and to ensure all our members are covered we use the NRA route.

Regardless of what you use on a MOD range you have to have a SSC and probationary members (post July 1st last year) must complete an approved probationary members course - you Club Secretary has signed papers saying he will ensure it happens and he will record progress etc. along with a lot of other items. Again if you never want to shoot on a MOD range this does not apply.

As much as I hate the current state of affiars we enforce the SSR on all our members even if they only shoot on the non -MOD range we use for the simple reason if there is a serious accident then how do 'we' (club officials that is) defend that fact that we run training for and 'check' on some new members but not bother with the others.

Brgds Terry

[BigAl]

I know that it would be very difficult to get an FAC to shoot at a non HO Club. Infact you would effectively have to already have an FAC inorder to join. Now if I and a group of friends wanted to form a club specifically for LBR/LBP shooting what would we do? The HO would not be able to approve the club as there is no such thing as a LBR or LPB club. If we had a suitable range to shoot the guns then the police would have to issue a certificate. I would certainly have good reason, well as good a reason as anyone at any other club.

Alan

[littlefraggle]

Ours is £40 per annum with £3 green fee.

The best VALUE club is the BBS NRPC which is only £25 a year. And range fee depends on how many people turn up to share the cost, average is about £10 for a full day.

Despite the popularity of this board we never really get more than the same 4-6 people coming each month desipte the negligable cost to use Bisley ranges... very sad I think.

[thibben]

Alan

You are a bit 'schnooked' with the LRP/LBR's falling outside the norm. Having a range approved for such to use plus being a member of a national related body is (it looks) your only option?

Littlefraggle

I'd like to come up shoot some time but some folks have a 4-6 hour journey each way (season dependant) which takes the edge off of things .

Terry

[Westcountry Tony]

£60 per year, 24/7 access to 3 ranges out to 50m

owned by the club so far easier and better for the members

no fancy pants clubhouse etc, but hey we out there to shoot guns! not shoot the breeze