Help a Toronto Lefty learn to shoot?

August 18, 2006 3:33 PM

[The good kind of] shooting guns in Toronto.

So. I'm a lefty-live-in-the-city-organic-latte-drinking-subway-riding-no-car-walk-to-work-quasi-neo-urban-hippie-yuppie-sorta-thingy. Sufficed to say, I have never fired a gun in my life.

I'd like to learn. Is there somewhere in Toronto where I can go, take some lessons, learn to shoot a target pistol, rifle, etc? Without actually having to buy a firearm? Extra points for not needing a car to get there!

I've googled around for Gun Clubs in Toronto, and checked directories, but they don't give a lot of information. The gun clubs that do give information tend to be way the hell and gone in places like Newmarket. (Not that it's way the hell and gone, I just can't get there easily.)

I've heard about the shooting club Union Station. But, I'm pretty sure there isn't a sign saying "Track 2 - Left. Guns - Right."

Help a lefty learn to shoot?

posted by generichuman to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

I live no where near Toronto, so maybe they do things a bit different up there, but rather than looking for a dedicated range, you may want to check and see if any of the local gun stores also have ranges. In my experience, most do.

Generally they are going to be indoor ranges that cater to pistols, and most places will offer rentals.

Hope someone more local to you can give you an exact answer.
posted by quin at 4:34 PM on August 18, 2006

Hmmm, I was curious about this once upon a time and did some research.

There's a club in Union Station. It's members only and you have to be invited by a member to become a member. Challenging.

There's a range in the basement of Hart House at the University of Toronto. If you're not a student, you have to become a member of Hart House ($160/year) and a member of the gun club ($15/year) and attend their safety classes (time). This is somewhat pricy and inconvenient if you only want to go a few times per year.

The next closest is the Scarborough Rifle Club. $120 annual fee.

It's certainly possible that there's a gun store somewhere with a pistol range in the basement but I don't know of any.
posted by jellicle at 6:49 PM on August 18, 2006

Please allow me to preface my post by saying that I don't know shit about shooting a gun in Toronto. But I did do some googling for you, and I do like to shoot guns.

Aurora Gun Club

I don't know a bunch about Ontario (perhaps these places are nowhere near you), but here are some lists of gun clubs and stuff in Ontario (you may have to scroll around a bit):

CSSA

Firearms Canada

I am aware that the Hart House is not free, but they sound like they are good folks.

I have posted advice in the past about how to start off shooting, perhaps those comments could also be helpful to you.
posted by popechunk at 7:58 PM on August 18, 2006