Kicked out of a range?

[73Jim]

Has anyone ever been kicked out of a range for being there too long? Today, myself and five friends went to a range that five of us are members, one was a guest. We arrived early and were spread across four lanes with one other shooter in the range.

After a short period, maybe 10-15 minutes, one of the lanes target retrieval systems stopped working, my friend contacted the RSO and after a couple minutes the RSO asked my friend to change lanes. We resumed shooting and maybe 20 minutes later they closed the range so the staff could attempt to repair the lane, as they were getting busy. After 5 minutes they had the lane functioning again and asked us to consolidate to three lanes because they were getting full. No problem, we grouped into three lanes.

After another 15 minutes, or so, one of the employees approached us and said we would have to packing up because we have been there for an hour, slightly more, already. We explained that we were members and were told that made no difference. So we shrunk further to just two lanes. A little while later we were told we had to leave, we had been there an hour and a half.

Now, we had been to this range a handful of times and always had a positive experience but this time... During our 1.5 hours we had one lane malfunction, waited while the range was cold to realign the target, moved from four lanes to three to two and then told to leave. Thinking about asking for my dues back. So, back to my original question, has anyone been asked to leave for time reasons?

[Dee_Dub]

What range was this? I think i've been there. Thats a bummer hope it works out.

[73Jim]

I don't want to say yet, we are trying to contact the owner/manager to determine if this is fluke event or standard procedure. Hoping to get some assurances this won't happen again in the future...

[hks95134]

Bowling alleys work like that too -- if you are a stockholder and you get to play free they can ask you to leave to let paying customers play instead, when it gets busy. Makes perfect business sense.

It's usually written down in the charter somewhere, that you signed, upon buying into membership. Ask for a copy and read it carefully.

[sdfire]

I would be pissed. Asking you to consolidate lanes is acceptable if they are busy, but asking you to beat it after only 1 1/2 hours seems kind of lame(especially if you are a member)

[chris_u]

is there a posted time limit for members if not it's a breach of contract on there part.

[toby]

Get your money back in full + and FK that place!

[gigglemonkee]

there are a few ranges in san diego. I am a member at mine and have been in for 15 minutes or 4 hours shooting and never had them say anything except, "check out this gun we got in" or "need more targets?"

[xMAC1x]

That's asking a lot from the four of you. I never heard of such a thing. Sounds liberal to me.

[russ69]

Let me get this straight. You had 6 shooters using four lanes, then you were asked to use 3 lanes for 6 shooters. Sounds like a bunch of stags just hanging out and trying to have some fun and a little bromance time. Nothing wrong with that. I think your group just attracted too much attention and that made it a likely group to move along on a busy day. I know as an RO, large groups are usually a source of problems. I'm not saying you guys were a problem I'm just saying large groups are sometimes a source of problems. Lots of moving around, different people swapping guns, a lot of milling around and things like that. That will call attention to your group. If each of you were sitting at your bench and working on your shooting, nothing would have happened. An organized range isn't the best place to have a large group because it disrupts the normal flow of range operation. I know from experience that a large group is going to violate the gun handling rule, and now I have to watch extra close. It sucks but that's just human nature.
Next time break up into two man groups and sit yourself down and keep the milling around to a minimum. That will help you blend in with the other shooters. An organized range likes to see the shooters acting as a singular entity, any one that deviates from that is going to flag your actions.

[Sleighter]

Check their membership policy. If they're out of line, out them.

[bluonyx]

I've never been told to pack up because we've been there to long. That's why I have a membership, I've paid my dues, but I have been time limited on one occasion because the range was rented for a private party. No biggie, totally understandable.

[Darklyte27]

You guys 18-23 yr olds? swearing every other word? didnt shower? way you dress? can be a number of factors. ?...

[TeddyBallgame]

Bowling alleys work like that too -- if you are a stockholder and you get to play free they can ask you to leave to let paying customers play instead, when it gets busy. Makes perfect business sense.

It's usually written down in the charter somewhere, that you signed, upon buying into membership. Ask for a copy and read it carefully.

but what makes him any less of a paying member? he chose to support the range full-on and get a membership...now, unless that membership has those types of restrictions, he should be allowed whatever range time he likes...they've already collected his $$$ in advance, now to say the new walk-up $$$ is more important seems to defeat the whole membership purpose

sounds a bit like the range is trying to get the best of both worlds

I believe many of the ranges I've been to allow 2 hours for members at a minimum

[bigbearbear]

To answer your question: No, I have never been asked to leave the range because of time limit.

However, your situation might be different. Check one thing, does the range you're a member at have "Members Only" days during the week but is open to public during weekends?

If there are such Members Only days, it is highly likely that they'll also have a policy about members using the lanes during weekend when the public can rent and use the lanes. Under such circumstances, they'll have a policy that if the range is very full, members will have to yield the lanes to public.

Your range is probably not managed well in any case. If you look at very popular ranges like Sunnyvale Rod & Gun for example, they stopped accepting membership to avoid the similar situation you face where members crowded out the paying public, and they have members only days too. I think the range you're at is over subscribed, you might want to explore other options.