Lower Providence Rod & Gun Club?

[PaperKiller]

I've been a member at LPRGC(Lower Providence Rod and Gun Club) for two years now. I'll admit that it seemed like I had to jump through hoops to join, and it was expensive. Find a sponsor, attend two meetings, a 4 hour work party, then qualify on each range and caliber you want to use, before I could shoot a single bullet for fun. Took me 3 months to complete it all. But it was worth it. Let me tell you why.

The club is clean and well-maintained. We have any option you want. Pistol indoor/outdoor. Shotgun, trap, archery, rifle up to 100 yards. But most of all, the club is safe.

I've read a bunch of people calling the members snobbish or overbearing. I never got the snobbish feeling from anyone, however, we are definitely overbearing when it comes to safety. And that's a good thing. You want to come and shoot and go home to your family. You don't want to end up in an ambulance, hospital or morgue. So yes, we are stead fast about the safety stuff. I wouldn't want to shoot at a facility that doesn't take safety seriously.

If you don't like it, there is a nice free public outdoor range in French Creek. There you can have fun shooting with the wanna-be gangsters holding their 9mm sideways and shooting full mags at 100 yards with no targets in place. Super safe.

[ralphs007]

I've been a member at LPRGC(Lower Providence Rod and Gun Club) for two years now. I'll admit that it seemed like I had to jump through hoops to join, and it was expensive.

Two of my least favorite things in life,jumping through hoops and things that are expensive! I'm retired,so I don't jump through hoops anymore. And since I'm retired,being expensive is the main deal breaker for me.I already have a hobby that's too expensive (golf) so I don't have room for another money pit.
It's a shame too,because I live five minutes away, and I'd love to join.

[NJSailRacer]

Senior citizens receive a substantial dues discount at LPRGC.

[Don Quixote]

not to discount what anyone has said so far, and I am sure there may be more than meets the eye, but so far my experience has been grea. I am a newmember, did my work party in May, and have qualfied for imdoor range and the rifle range.

So far everyone has been very welcoming, so I am a little surprised after readingall this thread. I am glad I did not read it prior to becoming a member or I would never have joined. I was a member at another club in Philly and let it lapse due to the total lack of friendliness at the other club.

To date at LPRGC, I have been offered to shoot a bow that looked like it cost more than I make in a week by someone I had never met before, got free shooting tips from several instructors at the Thurs night Pistol clinic, had people invte me to the archery shoot, and have been treated like a welcomed member.

Hope I don't jinx it by saying it out loud, but I am happy I joined.

Since writing this opost, I have chosen not to renew my membership about 2 years ago. I satrted shooting steel match and did. ot have time to mump through all the hoops just to shoot quickly. I now drive twice as far to shoot at Pricetown but I can set up steel, draw, shoot from a holster, etc. Almost as if we are all adults.

[ralphs007]

Senior citizens receive a substantial dues discount at LPRGC.

Thanks,I'll look into it,but I still don't have a good feeling about this place.I read one post, where a member spent close to 1000.00 to take all the necessary courses,and he finally shot his pistol three months later! I'm 60 years old,so I don't know if I have three month left,Lol.
I found this site(PAFOA) while I was trying to find some information about the LPRGC. This here site, had the most information available to me,about this gun club.
If I did join,I wouldn't tell them I'm a retired Carpenter.They'd probably try and get me to build them a new club house for my work duty,Lol!

[Remington788]

The senior citizen discount is for long time (15 year) members that reach 65 years old.

At the moment, new membership is closed, as the club is undergoing a major expansion and the clubhouse is a construction site. They will start taking new members again once it completed in the late spring. We will then have a renovated and expanded clubhouse, a new, second indoor pistol range and a new independent building for archery.

[Pkspawn]

Thanks,I'll look into it,but I still don't have a good feeling about this place.I read one post, where a member spent close to 1000.00 to take all the necessary courses,and he finally shot his pistol three months later! I'm 60 years old,so I don't know if I have three month left,Lol.

Should only take about a month to become a full member and be able to shoot on your own. You need two meetings, an orientation and a work party. Those can all be completed after you join at the first meeting, so the next months meetings you get your membership card. You can't shoot on the ranges until you qualify. You can qualify with pistol when you do the orientation.

Just shooting behind the bench at paper requires no other qualifications. If you wished to action shoot, draw from the holster, shoot on the move, shoot steel, shoot multi-position rifle. That is when the total cost of membership increases close to 1000 after taking all the classes.

So really depends on your reasons to join the club and what you want to do. PM me if you have any specific questions..

[Remington788]

I think it took me three meeting cycles (2 months, January 4 to March 4) to complete the membership process, cause life intervened and I had something else to do and so it took me longer. In the meantime I went over with friends and shot as their guests.

[joseywales]

....This here site, had the most information available to me,about this gun club.
If I did join,I wouldn't tell them I'm a retired Carpenter.They'd probably try and get me to build them a new club house for my work duty,Lol!

You mean to build YOU a new club house. As a member, you are an owner of the club, so everything you do for the club you are doing for yourself. I think that's the biggest disconnect for folks looking at LPRGC. Someone has to do the work, so either the club (you) pay for it, or the club (you) do it.

As far as jumping through hoops, some people, gun owners, even members, are dead from the neck up. One mishap could be enough to help the antis close a suburban gun club. Honestly, in today's climate, it's a miracle to have a club that offers so much, smack dab in the middle of suburbia. There might be better clubs out there, but as pointed out, they are a further drive.

Let me ask you this, maybe some member paid $1,000 to complete all of the classes, though I doubt it, BUT is that member a better, safer shooter because of it? I've been handling guns since I was 10 and still learn about gun safety, technique, etc. Clubs like LPRGC are designed for people who want to take advantage of everything the club has to offer. Like marriage, or any institution, you'll get out of it what you put into it. For casual plinkers, it's probably not the best choice. The state gamelands are full of casual plinkers...good luck with that.

[davidwiz]

So let me get this straight - I've been shooting USPSA for over 20 years, have a "B" classification, was a USPSA Range Officer for almost 15 years and officiated numerous USPSA Nationals, am a NRA Certified Pistol Instructor, but, for me to be able to draw from a holster at LPRGC I have to take over $500 worth of classes and then take a number of "qualification" tests? What am I missing? If Rob Leatham, arguably the greatest action shooter in history, shows up and wants to be a member and draw from a holster, you're going to make him jump through your BS hoops before letting him draw from a holster?