french creek out door range??

**Shadowflag** · July 8th, 2014, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by libertyfor500

I don't think I'd make it past the vote,I suck at those kinds of things lol. Seriously though I'm looking into it. fees don't look bad.

Unless you come in and shoot up the place I'm pretty sure you'll make the vote.

**GTO454** · September 6th, 2014, 08:46 PM

You mentioned available gun ranges. From West Chester you have several options.West Chester trap Club on boot road. West Caln gun club. Atglen gun Club, Telhai (sp) gun club is in honey brook. Morgantown gun club, Kimberton gun club, Frontier Archery in North Pottstown area. Elverson Rod and Gun Club, Northern Chester County Sportsmen's Club.

There is also Delaware County Fish and Game to the South and Birdsboro north of French Creek in Berks County. Lower Providence over in Oaks which is Montgomery County. South Pottsville which is in Berks and is over near the Pottstown hospital.

Many are closed to new members but for one or two months a year like Elverson, West Caln, Atglen. Northern Chester County Sportsmen's club facility is nice but has serious missmanagement problems and should be avoided based on another thread. Members are running commercial businesses out of the club which interferes with members shooting at the short ranges on the weekends.

Elverson if you become a member has many rentals and are closed to members during those rentals. Birdsboro just closed there membership.

West Caln a member can only shoot if there is a range safety officer present. This forces many members to take a range safety officer course and become certified (RSO) to shoot when they wish.

Check out all or as many clubs as possible. Check out each clubs web site if they have one, call or better visit and meet some members. Speak with as many members as possible. You will get a flavor as to how nice the folks are and how restrictive they are. You may even find out how well the club is run which is a telling sign on if you want to join.

**HenrikGeorge124** · September 7th, 2014, 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by GTO454

You mentioned available gun ranges. From West Chester you have several options.West Chester trap Club on boot road. West Caln gun club. Atglen gun Club, Telhai (sp) gun club is in honey brook. Morgantown gun club, Kimberton gun club, Frontier Archery in North Pottstown area. Elverson Rod and Gun Club, Northern Chester County Sportsmen's Club.

There is also Delaware County Fish and Game to the South and Birdsboro north of French Creek in Berks County. Lower Providence over in Oaks which is Montgomery County. South Pottsville which is in Berks and is over near the Pottstown hospital.

Many are closed to new members but for one or two months a year like Elverson, West Caln, Atglen. Northern Chester County Sportsmen's club facility is nice but has serious missmanagement problems and should be avoided based on another thread. Members are running commercial businesses out of the club which interferes with members shooting at the short ranges on the weekends.

Elverson if you become a member has many rentals and are closed to members during those rentals. Birdsboro just closed there membership.

West Caln a member can only shoot if there is a range safety officer present. This forces many members to take a range safety officer course and become certified (RSO) to shoot when they wish.

Check out all or as many clubs as possible. Check out each clubs web site if they have one, call or better visit and meet some members. Speak with as many members as possible. You will get a flavor as to how nice the folks are and how restrictive they are. You may even find out how well the club is run which is a telling sign on if you want to join.

GTO454,
The thread you speak of regarding NCCSC is this one. http://forum.pafoa.org/chester-16/261375-nccsc.html. Not sure I agree it should be avoided but everyone does deserve to know what they are getting into.

**PeterParker357** · September 10th, 2014, 03:55 AM

NCCSC runs like a Swiss watch with great events and even better staff. The meeting on Monday had 24 new members join and they were all impressed.
The meeting started close to on time and had no interruptions or problems.
The President ran a great night and people were cracking up in the friendly relaxed atmosphere. There are 3 outdoor ranges with a 4th soon to open.
There is also a trap range to shoot club events or throw your own. There is also an electric trap machine being installed soon for your use. The trash posted on here about the club is just that trash. Ranges are always available and the instructors are a great group that will always help you out. Do your self a favor and look for yourself.

**LakeCity** · July 19th, 2015, 01:28 PM

I've been shooting at SGL 43 Rifle Range (just south of French Creek State Park) since 2006. It's a public range, so you find all levels of skill and maturity among the people there. I've never witnessed a safety breech where a weapon was discharged during a cease fire, but people do handle their weapons with people down range. The place needs a lot more supervision and resources. The three-round rule is basically ignored. It's not a designated pistol range, so the three-round limit also applies to hand guns. The No-shot-shell-rule is basically ignored too. The target supports are typically in poor repair (See attached images from 2015). The field is often littered with trash and the remains of improvised targets. The field is also littered with spent lead bullets that were apparently fired at beer cans, etc. placed on the ground. Probably a lot more lead is just below the surface. There is no easy way to clean up the lead that's scattered all over the field and not in the backstops. That's why improvised targets on the ground are bad business. Once that lead leeches into someone's well we won't have a rifle range there. There are ten 100 yd firing positions and two 50 yd firing positions. At my level of skill, 50 yards is too far for pistol practice. Since the targets and firing positions are not numbered, I occasionally find other people shooting at my target. One quirk that's common at that range is that the same command, "Clear", is used for both cease firing and commence firing. When I see someone setting up an improvised target, I generally bring to their attention that they can be fined for shooting at anything but a paper target attached to the permanent target supports. They usual reaction is amazement, since the practice is so common. People just don't read regulations.

A dispatcher at the Game Commission Southeast Regional Office in Reading told me that each of the regions is given the same budget by the Game Commission, even though the Southeast region has half of the state's population. He apologized, but they simply don't have the money and people to keep the range in shape, because SGL 43 Rifle Range gets 10 times the usage that a typical range gets in the remote counties of PA. For $30 a year, I'm satisfied, just barely. I wonder how much they'd have to charge to do the job right.