Holmesburg Fish and Game...a good place to shoot ??

[Sparks]

Question to any Holmesburg member.

RE the recent shooting at DVSC, please explain how not allowing holstered carry makes the range safer?

[phillysteve]

Question to any Holmesburg member.

RE the recent shooting at DVSC, please explain how not allowing holstered carry makes the range safer?

I shoot at DVSC and The Gun Range; both were hit by the same people by robbing people leaving the gun ranges with their gear bags... I am _always_ paranoid about these type of things happening and have had multiple talks with my girlfriend about being aware of your surroundings when carrying rifles in cases. I make it my practice to never carry my bags with my holstered side.

It is a shame to see this happening and I think we all know how this is going to end.

[louie]

DVSC's property is not well lighted.

The parking lot is dark and shadowy, with tree limbs often obscuring the lighting. The place is located in a dark corner of an industrial complex, with little if any thru traffic at this time of night.

Whether or not either victim was carrying a weapon, likely wouldn't have prevented the ambush situation which occurred. The perp was 'at the ready' when the two elderly men exited the building. A shootout may have resulted in death, or further injury, to one or both.

I was a member of DVSC a while back, and mentioned the dark obscured outdoor lighting, on several occasions, to no avail. "Who's gonna rob a gun shop?," was the answer frequently given.

Bad juju.
MAYBE NOW, DVSC will trim the trees, add some effective lighting, and offer an armed escort to guests vehicles.
This mess, however, is gonna cost 'em.
I see liability premiums on the rise; same for membership rates.

[Bang]

I was a member of DVSC a while back, and mentioned the dark obscured outdoor lighting, on several occasions, to no avail. "Who's gonna rob a gun shop?," was the answer frequently given.

Sounds like who's gonna attack an open carry, doesn't it.

[LorDiego01]

I just joined Holmesburg Fish & Game club after going there this past Sunday for their open house and liking what I saw. It was a pretty good deal for an outside range in the area.

I will be going this Sunday for orientation, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the club and the members are.

[Im not Batman]

I just joined Holmesburg Fish & Game club after going there this past Sunday for their open house and liking what I saw. It was a pretty good deal for an outside range in the area.

I will be going this Sunday for orientation, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the club and the members are.

This is the one on State Rd ..right?

I always thought that it was the PPD range

I think it was the same place we went to for M-16 qualf while I was in the Air Guard.

Love to read your follow up on this. I was wondering about that spot

Might give it a look

[Sparks]

Let us know your feelings. They do have an assortment of ranges.

They also have some pretty tight rules. Pistol, load five only, no carrying, CC or OC. Rifle, i believe, is load one only.

Price is good and it is convienent.

[Don Quixote]

Let us know your feelings. They do have an assortment of ranges.

They also have some pretty tight rules. Pistol, load five only, no carrying, CC or OC. Rifle, i believe, is load one only.

Price is good and it is convienent.

Its the kind of place that you can easily outgrow if your interests are mire thna just bullseye practice, skeet, ir bench rifle

[Bang]

Dad gave me a Ruger Mark I target pistol for my 18th birthday in 1955. I joined Holmesburg and used to shoot it there. The rule way back then was five rounds.

[LorDiego01]

I went to the orientation at Holmesburg Fish and Game yesterday. I'm actually really looking forward to shooting at this club. This is by far, the most safety oriented club I've ever set foot in. They have zero-tolerance for unsafe shenanigans, which is something that I welcome after seeing some of the behavior allowed in other ranges.

The gist of it is simple, if you want to dress up like Rambo, and send lead downrange while using an assortment of mall-ninja poses and tacticool gadgets while you take selfies with your GoPro; then this may not be the range for you. If you want a more relaxed atmosphere, that is super safe and you want to make your shots count, then you should be good. It seems like a good place to take the family/kids, unlike other ranges that I've been to.

There is a 5-round limit on both rifles and pistols. I imagine that once you prove yourself to be a safe and proficient shooter, they may overlook the fact that you may load more than 5-rounds; but I personally wouldn't sweat it. There is no rapid-fire allowed in this range. All shooting lanes that I saw looked clean and well taken care of.

The orientation itself was kind of a drag. It took a little over 4-hours total, so if you go, make plans to spend a good chunk of your day there. It consisted of a full tour of the facilities, indoor range, outdoor rifle and pistol range, skeet/trap range, and tomahawk/throwing knife range. That was followed by a shooting proficiency test, which was rather difficult (10 shots within 8 inches at like... 50 yards!). I failed the test admirably with my 9mm G19, but the instructor was nice enough to give us all another go, and he lend me his .22 pistol with red-dot, which made it easy to ace the test. Note that the test is ONLY there to certify you to shoot in the indoor range. If you can't pass the test, you can still use all the outdoor ranges, provided you do so safely.

The third part of the orientation was the real drag, but I completely understand why they do it. It's basically an hour and ten minute long videotape of the club president sitting in an office and reading you the entire rules charter of the club. Line by line. I guess its the only way they can guarantee that every member will read the range-rules in its entirety.

The club offers a number of events (skeet, practical rifle, youth-22s, military rifle events, reactive target plinking, ect), which I'm really looking forward to participate in. In a rather surprising move, the club owns a variety of firearms that you can borrow for an event (from .22's to 30.06 and shotguns), provided that you bring your own ammo and you stick around after the event to clean any firearm you borrow. Another big plus about this range is that the club-house has a staffed kitchen, ready to serve you a warm meal and coffee at very reasonable prices. They also allow smoking inside the club-house. I consider this a plus since it will do wonders for my cigar-smoking hobby during winter, but I can see how people would dislike this rule.

Overall, I think the club looks great. Its located very close to my home, so no more 40+ minute rides each way to go shooting. It remains to be seen if they over-stuffed their membership (1,000+!) which was my initial concern. But speaking to a couple of members who were there, they have never had to wait for a shooting spot to open on any day they showed up.

A few gripes that I've had so far. Shooting schedules, matches, and all manner of VERY important range and club information is displayed on their website. The web-server where this website is hosted seems to be very finicky, and the website doesn't seem to have seen an update since 1997. Still, its usable. The club message board seems to be completely dead.

Another personal gripe, and I admit that I may be totally confused and have messed up my direction, but the indoor range backstop is literally right in front of the rifle range. I'm certain that the indoor-range backstop is legit, well maintained and 100% safe, but I can't help but feel weird shooting at a wall that has people standing about 20 feet behind it. Again, I may be confused as to the angles of the buildings.

Before this post turns into a novel, I'll finish this writeup by saying that the club looks good, its seems to be kept clean and in good condition. Its super safe and all the members I met so far seemed very nice and more than willing to help you get started. This range does not have a ridiculous sponsorship program nor they do require that you provide X amount of hours of slave labor per year, and the price is incredibly affordable. If you live in the area, you'd be hard pressed to find a better deal.

I look forward to shooting at this club and becoming a valuable member of this association.