Silverstone Shooting Centre - now open

[ordnance]

Nice.

[majordisorder]

Looking forward to shooting here as it's only 15 minutes from the shop. When is the online booking going live?

[lasbrisas]

Fullbore suppressed only, that's going to be limiting for a lot of people, especially me as I only have milsurp stuff !

[Dorset_shooter]

Fullbore suppressed only, that's going to be limiting for a lot of people, especially me as I only have milsurp stuff !

Sounds like a small compromise for new clubs/ranges opening!

Looks like a nice setup, I hope you get the membership levels to make it work.

No doubt I'll make my way up at some point.

Good luck

[Dark Skies]

It's too bad about the suppressed full bore stipulation - I had hoped for somewhere relatively near to Oxford where I could make more use of my Lee Enfield, Mosin Nagant, and Saiga AK-alike.

Still, I'll be able to plink with my SGC.223 and sundry lever rifles.

Maybe I'll even get around to trying some of that fancy black powder in my Remington New Army that Dromia's always banging on about. :)

[Thorney]

Good bit of bigging up for the new Silverstone range in the NRA missive that landed in my email inbox a few minutes back.

Fair play to Andrew Mercer for doing that with what some might see as competition for Bisley.

Could do with a plastic membership category for the very occasional user, 50 squids annual, up the range fees a fair amount. But there's a lot of work to be paid for, so perhaps not much price flexibility.

We've worked closely with the NRA on the range and considering the distances neither of us feel we are directly competing and are more complimentary, does also go to show that the NRA is more than Bisley, they are trying to expand shooting for all not just those in the SE.

As for a daily fee type deal, the issue is one of quality, as a range we are responsible for every round shot here and each member undergoes a period of monitoring (usually via the cameras so its not a case of someone standing over you) to make sure they can actually hit the target. I know that sounds obtuse but its not, we've already had people come up with a 'oh, yeah, its all zeroed' rifle and its off the target by a metre. Thats ok, we can deal with that but if we have a lot of casual shooters, with no knowledge of what or how they shoot even a large fee wouldnt cover the risk that we undertake. Also £50 wouldnt cover the admin cost to set up a member, each one has an electronic file with data on rifles and rounds shot, an electronic membership card and photo id, I've just set up 10 more members and its taken me a whole day. We want the range to be used of course but not at an extended loss per shooter.

[Thorney]

Fullbore suppressed only, that's going to be limiting for a lot of people, especially me as I only have milsurp stuff !

Appreciate that, we will be able to have 'noisy days' but these will be kept back for shotgun comps really but its worth noting that to get planning permission for a range is not easy, especially for one not in the middle of no where.

We live in a crowded country and to say we had to fight to get planning permission would be an understatement - try 2 years and £60k of legal fees!

The compromise we make is making sure we are quiet, suppressors is the outcome of that, my answer to questions like this is would you like a new range where guns need to be 'relatively' quiet or no range at all as that is the stark choice we face.

Remember there is zero support for shooting on a local or central govt basis, we've had no grants, no funding, no support, zero - ask for any kind of sympathetic ear from anyone in that regard and you might as well be talking to a brick wall - this country does not like guns or target shooting. Which makes it a bit depressing to see some comments (not here I hasten to add) complaining at the costs to shoot, the range cost £500k to build and thats on the basis that I own the land so there is no rental or land costs associated, if you did that then double it. £20 an hour (shared with someone else or more) is cheaper than going bowling, or the cinema but at a place that allows you to shoot a lethal firearm on a custom built range at electronic targets, if you ask me we are too cheap!

[Thorney]

Looking forward to shooting here as it's only 15 minutes from the shop. When is the online booking going live?

We need you to come in for your first shoot with your FAC and we can record everything and set up the membership etc. After that you'll be given access to book.

[TattooedGun]

£20 an hour (shared with someone else or more) is cheaper than going bowling, or the cinema but at a place that allows you to shoot a lethal firearm on a custom built range at electronic targets, if you ask me we are too cheap!

Yeah but when you go bowling it doesn't cost you £0.5-£1 each time you roll the ball down the lanes...

[Thorney]

£20 an hour (shared with someone else or more) is cheaper than going bowling, or the cinema but at a place that allows you to shoot a lethal firearm on a custom built range at electronic targets, if you ask me we are too cheap!

Yeah but when you go bowling it doesn't cost you £0.5-£1 each time you roll the ball down the lanes...

Lol, I cant help that! :)