French Creek Park outdoor range

[Kemosabe]

Recently purchased a .22 pistol and am thinking of going to French Creek. I'm fairly new and wanted to know what kind of targets they have? Will I have to bring my own paper targets to shoot?

Also, I asked at a local gun shop about the range, and the owner suggested I bring a buddy to shoot with, or NOT leave behind anything I wouldn't want stolen while walking down-range, as they've heard stories about this happening, particularly early morning and late day hours. I'm able to get to the range on weekdays, late morning and early afternoon, but I'll be going solo.

Anyone have recent experiences or knowledge about the place they can share?

Thanks.

[Remington788]

Weekdays should be better than weekends. Still, keep a close eye on anyone else shooting. It can be like the wild west.

Make sure you have your hunting license or range permit.
Read the posted rules and follow them. Assume there is a game warden hiding waiting for you to break the rules.

Bring your own paper targets and stapler.

[bigandy1966]

I think its the state gamelands adjacent to French creek state park. +1 on Keeping an eye on your fellow shooters. You are in delco, look into Delaware county field and stream. I am a member there and To me its better than hiking out to the SGL and back. Safer too, for reasons I won't get into here.
You will use it more since you live closer so you will get your money's worth. But the dues are like $160 year, there are some membership background checks now or something like that. If you went 1x a week thats $3 per trip, and save gas on the trip out.
They have orientation tours on Sundays at noon, its on their website. http://www.dcfsa.org/
Down side is they do not allow rapid fire, 5 rounds in mags, wheel guns, and its more set up for target shooters than practicing self defense drawing and shooting scenarios.

[Gripsafety]

Remington788 pretty much said it all. You should be OK on a weekday, and you won't be leaving your stuff 100 yards away like you would shooting a rifle.

If there are other people there, ask whom the Range Officer is. One of the rules is that someone has to take on that role. If a game warden walks up and asks, and no one raises his hand, guess what? (I've not seen that actually happen.) I have seen game warden presence there, and they will ding you if you are not following the rules. There have been problems there, so it gets special attention.

Just for your information and future reference, a lane at Targetmaster is $15 for an hour, and they don't hold you to an hour on weekdays when there's no one waiting. TSS in Avondale is $20. These are the places I use, and there are others in the area. In these places, you control your target distance and don't have to deal with cease fires to look at and change targets. You don't have to limit the number of rounds in your gun. You may find that the shorter drive and lack of worries is worth $15 or $20.

Welcome to shooting and enjoy. Please support gun rights organizations and become active in supporting our legislative agenda. There are some great people from your area on this forum if you're in to being social. Keep an eye on your wife or GF around Aggies though.

[allenr]

Take look at Targetmaster in Chads Ford. It is an OK range. Per hour is $20 or $15 if you buy ammo before you go to the range. I shoot my 22 there and buy a box of 100 rounds to sheet on each trip.

[Kemosabe]

Thanks for the info on Delco F&S. I think I will give that a try. Do you know if I can bring my own ammo/targets or do I have to buy theirs at the shop?

[bigandy1966]

You can bring your own targets and ammo but they can't be human shaped, animals or anything like that "zombies" are out. The club is run by older target shooters and hunters. Its changing, but change takes time. You have to remember this club is in the middle of a heavily suburbanized area.
Read up on the web site, it has a lot to offer the shooting sports enthusiasts, from archery to air guns, cross bows to skeet. If you fish they do trout stocking and hold trout rodeos for the kids. They have hunter ed classes too.

[Walleye Hunter]

That French Creek range ain't what it used to be. 1) You need to either have a permit to shoot there or have a hunting license and the hunting license is cheaper. 2) IIRC they no longer have pistol targets up and the trap range is closed. It has fallen prey to the current batch of trash that has to screw everything up for everyone else.

[eatmydust]

I've been to the French Creek range each of the last 2 Wed. mornings. It is a decent experience early morning, mid-week. Last week there was just 3 groups, with a total of 9 people, sharing the 12 stations. Today we stayed longer and there ended up being a total of 6 guys shooting by the time we left at noon. It's a bit trashed up with steel case ammo, and some genius obviously dumped sevedal mags of 7.62x39 steel case within the last week but, the padded concrete shooting tables are under roof and there are 25, 50 & 100 yard lanes available. It has been very enjoyable so far.

[243winxb]

Update- The Pennsylvania Game Commission has closed all shooting ranges, including all rifle, handgun, shotgun, and archery ranges on state game lands, effective immediately, until further notice.