Hot Wells upgraded benches

[Savage20]

I was there this morning. The new benches are nice! They are setup well for left- or right-handed shooters, have nice folding chairs and each lane has a rubber Sight Bloc instead of the metal stands they used to have. They still have plenty of sand bags, and as usual each lane has a spotting scope. The pic in the OP shows lanes with no cover, but those are just the first 5 or so. The rest are all under nice new cover with good insulation to keep the blast and resonance to a minimum. I believe those first 5 lanes are 25 yards only, and the rest are 25 and 100yds from the same lane. The plan is to make those 25s as the new 50s, once they finish the rest of the rifle lanes which are to be the new 25s. Hope that made sense. Anyway, there are about 20 rifle lanes right now and it looks like they're building at least another 20. I bet they'll be done before season opener.

I know lots of folks have complaints about Hot Wells, but I've never had a bad experience and I go there often. They charge $10 per gun, not per shooter. And there's no time limit. I've never been hounded by RSOs.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I know lots of folks have complaints about Hot Wells, but I've never had a bad experience and I go there often. They charge $10 per gun, not per shooter. And there's no time limit. I've never been hounded by RSOs.

How are they with Class III stuff? I don't really want to be showing my stamps to some wannabe-ATF agent RSO.

 

[Savage20]

I've never been asked for stamps. A guy sat down next to me with a suppressed SBR today and nobody bothered him either. They've always been laid back about everything in my experience.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I've never been asked for stamps. A guy sat down next to me with a suppressed SBR today and nobody bothered him either. They've always been laid back about everything in my experience.

Good deal. I am doing some load development for a couple of new rifles that I have and I hate shooting unsuppressed. It would be a lot easier for me to go up there for an hour or two and shoot my ladders for $20 than spend that much in gas getting to and from my regular range.

 

[Brains]

Last time I was there a guy launched his can out into the field on the rifle range, and other than a few well deserved chuckles, nobody said anything.

 

[Robert_K]

I've never been asked to see my stamps. However I tend to go first morning/after lunch mid week when it is a lot slower. And when I do bring my SBR or can out of the bag it sometimes is like the new freshman girl at a frat house. LOL Can't be left alone.

 

[Gramps]

Any issues with setting up a chrono out there? I've got several pistol and rifle loads I'd like to run.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Brains]

The one time I brought mine there, I had no problems using it - once I explained to the junior range officer what it was


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[robertc1024]

Sigh.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I wonder if they're going to put in the goofball overhangs again? I hope not, much nicer this way!

Yes, it looks like they are going to have the overhangs to prevent people from shooting over the berms. It sucks because it adds a ton of noise as the muzzle blasts are directed right back at the shooters.

I went and shot there yesterday. While it wasn't that bad, I do remember why I don't particularly like going to public ranges near metropolitan areas. A group of young'ens showed up with various rifles to shoot and were spread out on the benches. While I applaud the two young men whose firearms they were shooting for introducing their friends to the shooting sports, I have to say that when you bring a bunch of novices, don't just give them a gun and a loaded mag, tell them to "have at it" and walk away to shoot somewhere else. There were quite a few instances of loaded firearms being pointed in directions other than downrange, and more than once someone left a "live" (one in the chamber, loaded mag and safety off) firearm just laying on the bench while they went to see what their friends were doing. The Range Officers seemed a bit inexperienced as well.

As for the benches themselves, they are nice, but as someone said above, be sure to bring a towel, mat or something else to lay your gun on as they are bare concrete. All in all, it is not that bad if you want to run up to shoot a few ladder loads or confirm zeros, but I will stick to Madisonville for serious bench work.

 

[HongKong]

Man that's a badass looking set up... gonna have to go there sometimes even though I'm an hr out.

 

[revkev11]

wow, those are nice!

 

[TheEnglishman]

I was up there with my son this past weekend, the set up is so much better than before. Not gonna lie, it does get busy at weekends. But I like the get there at opening time when it's quiet and spend a couple of hours shooting and enjoying life

 

[drjames]

Ok, I have to chime in. I live 5 min. away and show up mostly on Thursday morning. (hate the weekend crowd).

2 months ago, I shot on the concrete with cover. LOUD LOUD LOUD. Thought that is the last time I come back.

Needed to sight in my gun. Though 15 min. and I would be gone.

They had put carpet on the concrete, muffles the sound somewhat. I was told that it is still a work in progress.

It would be nice if they.

1. put sound absorption on the roof
2. get better chairs/stools
3. upgrade the spotting scopes
4. better bags
5. coffee service
6. hot plate breakfast
7. cleaned my gun for free


Sometime you just have to ask and see what you get

 

[xdmikey]

That looks really nice.
i shoot at a club that has a cover. It can be annoying but it's nice when shooting in the rain or in the middle of the summer.
i can get there in ten minutes but I don't care for my stamps being scrutinized either.