Club comparison

[Guest biking]

Enquiring minds want to know...update, our home here in (ugh) California is getting lots of action and should sell soon. Our choice for our tennessee relocation is based on gun clubs and size of town (prefer 10,000 to 25,000). That said our current interests are aimed (gun term) at Athens and Crossville both with guns clubs that offer disciplines I enjoy...clay target shooting and paper punching with rifles at various distances...to include league shoots and/or other competitive challenges with 'em. Not sure how to ask the question soooo what are your opinions of those two towns and their gun clubs?? How's about suggestions for other town and close by rifle clubs?? Thanks Frank

[wk05]

Anything around Knoxville/Oak Ridge would be worth looking in to.  You can be out in the country, and in 15-30 minutes, be in a city that'd have anything you want, but not a big city feel.  Plus, ORSA is close, and probably the best club in TN.  

[peejman]

Crossville and Athens are both pretty small towns.  I'd say Athens is a little bigger, but not by much.  Since Crossville is up on the plateau, it's a bit  cooler year round.  That means more snow/ice in the winter but not quite so hot in the summer.  I know zip about their gun clubs and will echo wk05's comment about ORSA. 

[Guest PapaB]

Take a look at the stats for Athens and Crossville from areavibes. That'll give you a starting point. BTW, both have higher than average violent crime rates. Also look at Bend of the River near Cookeville http://webpages.charter.net/cpardue/bend.htm to see if it fits your needs.

Edited April 11, 2014 by PapaB

[Guest biking]

Gosh PapaB what a terrific web site (cityvibes) you've mentioned to check the overall statistics of towns....thought I was aware of all the "comparable" web sites. Thanks. I've seen the Bend of the River facility but unless I am mistaken they do not have a multiple yardage rifle range. Appreciate other thoughts from TGO members as a town/gun club location to consider. Finally love the B-24 in your identification...truly the "GREATEST GENERATION".

[Guest biking]

OOPS....not cityvibes but "areavibes" is the impressive web site.

[Spiffy]

Cleveland has a gun club about 30 to 40 mins from Athens. They shoot IDPA, 3 gun and SASS and have trap/clay towers. Not sure how that would effect your club. Also  if your thinking IDPA  Oak Ridge is the 1st weekend and Cleveland is the 3rd.....with 3 gun on the 2nd for Cleveland and 4th for Oak Ridge.  If you wanna get a good turn out you need to keep in mind that about a 1/3 of the people shoot at both clubs.

 

As for Crossville, there are some guys here who live there who will have better info than I do for that area.

[Jonnin]

The big question I would ask is "what range do you have". 

- the chattanooga club has a 1k yard range but from what I hear (and its all third person or farther so grain of salt) it is almost never available and the "real" range distance is 500 or something (?) yards.

 

- the cleveland club (just 20 min from chattanooga, really) has 200 yards, its an awesome place but short range.

 

Cleveland is a "large town".  Chattanooga is a "small-medium city".   Chattanooga has the interesting state-line positioning allowing you to do thigns in GA (lower sales tax being a key feature).  For 1/2 an hour's drive you can really save on groceries for one notable example.

 

Knoxville has a LOT of shooting resources and is a "medium city".   Knox is probably one of the top areas for shooting as there are a bunch of nice facilities in and around it.   I do not care for the city, but I don't like chattanooga much either yet here I am :P    Would be nice if they would move all the jobs out to the boonies, eh?

Edited April 11, 2014 by Jonnin

[Good_Steward]

The big question I would ask is "what range do you have". 

- the chattanooga club has a 1k yard range but from what I hear (and its all third person or farther so grain of salt) it is almost never available and the "real" range distance is 500 or something (?) yards.

 

- the cleveland club (just 20 min from chattanooga, really) has 200 yards, its an awesome place but short range.

 

Cleveland is a "large town".  Chattanooga is a "small-medium city".   Chattanooga has the interesting state-line positioning allowing you to do thigns in GA (lower sales tax being a key feature).  For 1/2 an hour's drive you can really save on groceries for one notable example.

 

Knoxville has a LOT of shooting resources and is a "medium city".   Knox is probably one of the top areas for shooting as there are a bunch of nice facilities in and around it.   I do not care for the city, but I don't like chattanooga much either yet here I am :P    Would be nice if they would move all the jobs out to the boonies, eh?

 

Think you got the descriptions backwards. Cleveland is a small/medium (around 50k) and Chattanooga is a medium city (around 225k). 

 

http://www.chattanoogarifleclub.org/

 

http://www.chrpc.com

Edited April 11, 2014 by Good_Steward

[Good_Steward]

Think you got the descriptions backwards. Cleveland is a small/medium (around 50k) and Chattanooga is a medium city (around 225k). 

 

http://www.chattanoogarifleclub.org/

 

http://www.chrpc.com

 

 

I reread yours, Jonnin and understand now... :)

Edited April 11, 2014 by Good_Steward

[enfield]

The Athens gun club has 2 pistol ranges, skeet, archery and rifle.  Rifle ranges are 50,100, 150, 200 as I recall.  They don't have any organized matches at the present time but several people in the club are very interested in getting some matches going.

 

The violent crime rate here is nothing compared to Chattanooga or Knoxville.  The favorite pastime around here (among certain folks) is cooking meth.

[Tobashadow]

The Athens one is nice, I joined a couple years ago and went to a couple meetings and paid but never got to use my membership due to fighting a sudden alien outbreak (thyroid cancer) I figure I'm not welcome anymore for not showing up at anymore meetings that year or paying dues the next year. But it is a very nice place. Edited April 11, 2014 by Tobashadow

[enfield]

The Athens one is nice, I joined a couple years ago and went to a couple meetings and paid but never got to use my membership due to fighting a sudden alien outbreak (thyroid cancer) I figure I'm not welcome anymore for not showing up at anymore meetings that year or paying dues the next year. But it is a very nice place.

 

Call or email the club president and tell him your situation.  He's a nice guy.

[Tobashadow]

[quote name="enfield" post="1137416" timestamp="1397258977"]Call or email the club president and tell him your situation. He's a nice guy.[/quote] I might get around to it one day, I just figured they'd take me as someone trying to get free membership or someone wanting to use the range but not come to their mandatory meetings. I'm using my family farm to shoot now that I'm healthy enough, but with the latest drama of someone thinking they can boss me around on my own property out there that place in Athens has been in my thoughts again.

[Tobashadow]

I'll tell you how crazy it was, the second meeting I went to where they voted me in and I paid the $100, we left and went to Wal-Mart in Athens and I collapsed and ended up in Athens hospital and never got to go back even once that year.

[TripleDigitRide]

I'm a member of Gallatin Gun Club in Gallatin, TN. I think the population is closer to 30,000. I live about 45 minutes away, and it's still worth the drive for me. The dues are $50/year, but you're also required to be a NRA member.

[Guest PapaB]

Gosh PapaB what a terrific web site (cityvibes) you've mentioned to check the overall statistics of towns....thought I was aware of all the "comparable" web sites. Thanks. I've seen the Bend of the River facility but unless I am mistaken they do not have a multiple yardage rifle range. Appreciate other thoughts from TGO members as a town/gun club location to consider. Finally love the B-24 in your identification...truly the "GREATEST GENERATION".

 

I can't take credit for the website, I got it from another member here (but I can't remember who).