Queer friendly shooting ranges near the Twin Cities
January 7, 2018 9:25 PM Subscribe
Looking for either open public shooting ranges or safe and accepted shooting areas in the country near the Twin Cities in Minnesota that aren't terrible.
Looking to teach basic rifle and shotgun safety and use to new users in a place where trans people, women or poc won't feel uncomfortable. Official ranges that aren't hellholes preferred, but any safe area would be acceptable. Indoor pistol-only ranges are not useful, but anywhere a small group of people can shoot .22, 20 gauge and at most, .223, would be great.
Ideally there is a real range that isn't a bigot-fest, but anything down to a gravel pit someone knows about, or someone's field or farmyard is acceptable. Very basic starter marksmanship and handling, within 100 yards. Feel free to DM or email too.
Looking to teach basic rifle and shotgun safety and use to new users in a place where trans people, women or poc won't feel uncomfortable. Official ranges that aren't hellholes preferred, but any safe area would be acceptable. Indoor pistol-only ranges are not useful, but anywhere a small group of people can shoot .22, 20 gauge and at most, .223, would be great.
Ideally there is a real range that isn't a bigot-fest, but anything down to a gravel pit someone knows about, or someone's field or farmyard is acceptable. Very basic starter marksmanship and handling, within 100 yards. Feel free to DM or email too.
I would get in touch with your local Becoming an Outdoors Woman (BOW) group. They teach all-womens classes on the regular, have lots of queer members and have good relationships with ranges.
I have to say that I shoot a fair bit and have never run into any issue at a public range or even a private one that is outdoors as far as standing out in the crowd no matter who I'm there with. Most ranges have a weirder group of people that you could assemble if you paid for it, and they are pretty live and let live as long as you enjoy shooting. But you should reserve a section of the range for your class. I'd do this no matter what as it cuts down on people who aren't in your class, are hassling you to go live or cold, don't obey all the rules, are testing bizarre equipment or having impromptu competitions and setting up strange targets (like us!). Also a lot of people freak out at the noise the first time* and need some space to get away so it's nice to have a private range.
*nothing to do with being female, it seems to be a physiological reaction whereby some people cannot stand the sound of rifles. Kind of like how some people love roller-coasters or dogs are cool with fireworks and they put others straight into fight-or-flight mode. If you have your own range you can limit it to .22s, shotguns or handguns and let those people learn without scrambling their autonomic nervous systems.
posted by fshgrl at 10:43 PM on January 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
I have to say that I shoot a fair bit and have never run into any issue at a public range or even a private one that is outdoors as far as standing out in the crowd no matter who I'm there with. Most ranges have a weirder group of people that you could assemble if you paid for it, and they are pretty live and let live as long as you enjoy shooting. But you should reserve a section of the range for your class. I'd do this no matter what as it cuts down on people who aren't in your class, are hassling you to go live or cold, don't obey all the rules, are testing bizarre equipment or having impromptu competitions and setting up strange targets (like us!). Also a lot of people freak out at the noise the first time* and need some space to get away so it's nice to have a private range.
*nothing to do with being female, it seems to be a physiological reaction whereby some people cannot stand the sound of rifles. Kind of like how some people love roller-coasters or dogs are cool with fireworks and they put others straight into fight-or-flight mode. If you have your own range you can limit it to .22s, shotguns or handguns and let those people learn without scrambling their autonomic nervous systems.
posted by fshgrl at 10:43 PM on January 7, 2018 [1 favorite]
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I have no idea whether they're terrible or not, but maybe someone who shoots with PP can advise you on the environment.
Their range allows shotguns and rifles, and the only limit noted, besides prohibiting types of ammo (steel, exploding, etc.) that most ranges prohibit, they prohibit velocities in excess of 3300 ft/s, which is just over the a typical velocity of range ammo for .223 and 5.56.
Happy shooting!
posted by Sunburnt at 10:27 PM on January 7, 2018