I applied for a membership to Bayou Rifles back in September of 2012. I was told they were not accepting new members until March 1, 2013. Is anyone here a member? I'd like to some tips/inside info on how to make sure I get in.

Nope, but I live just 15 minutes from there. You need to invite me as a guest so I can see what the facilities and general attitudes are there.

That can be arranged, but first I have to become a member. I heard the attitudes there are pretty good. What you would expect from a private gun club. I don't think they allow NFA, but I'm not 100% on that.

I'm a member of Greenwood, but Bayou is closer.

I read their rules, and basically anything that requires a stamp is verboten there, which is very disappointing, especially concerning suppressors.

Greenwood requires board approval for anything NFA (and only about a half dozen out of the 3000 members actually have that approval), which is stupid, but that's what you get when the same old guys have been running the show since the beginning. No issue on suppressors though.

One must also qualify prior to being allowed to shoot on the 1000 yard range. I've never understood how one can qualify without being able to practice, but hey, their rules.

What is the deal with NFA items not being allowed on a gun range? A PRIVATE gun range, at that. I would love to get into a private club like that, but not allowing anything NFA is a major turnoff to me.

At Greenwood I think it has everything to do with the fact that the board members are generally older guys that have the attitude that anything NFA is bad, not necessary, etc, etc, etc.

On FA items, our board requires (I think anyway) approval from 3 members who all have to witness you demonstrate that you have knowledge of how the weapon works and can easily control it during FA fire. Only problem is getting any 3 of them together is generally impossible, which leads to a very small number of people having approval to shoot FA on the firing line.

With the legalization of being able to use suppressors for large game hunting, I'm hoping that a lot of the old stigma associated with NFA starts to die away.

Insurance may play a factor, but I'm not really sure.

I can understand not wanting people shooting full auto. But I would think suppresors would be highly encouraged. Not a deal killer for me though. I want a place that is safe, has a 1000 yard range, I can access whenever I want, and only pay a small fee once a month instead of every time I go.

I fully understand the insurance/liability aspect of FA guns, but I don't understand how a suppressor or SBR makes a gun any more dangerous than any other gun.

I also understand the negative "stigma" NFA items can have among old dudes that think their **** don't stink and are purists and only shoot a .257 Roberts with a wooden stock, I'm just saying its annoying and stupid.

/rant off. Lol.

A suppressor arguably makes it safer.

I applied for memebership last summer as well and have never heard anything back from them....

They sent me an email a few days after filling out an application that said new membership was closed until March 1, 2013, but that my application was accepted and in line. I replied to that email this morning asking if there was anything else I needed to do at this time. I haven't heard anything back.

I did the same. Let me know if you hear anything.

Just received this response from my email this morning. I have no idea how many applications are in front of mine, or how many new members they'll be taking. I guess I'll keep shooting at American until furhter notice. Unless Schmellba wants to invite me out to his club.

quote:

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bluto,

There is nothing that you can do to improve you chances. We will begin looking at the applications next month and will invite applicants to an orientation in the order they applied.
Greg

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Bluto,

You are welcome to come down to shoot with me anytime. Not sure where you live, but Greenwood is just outside of Brazoria, so it's a bit of a hike from Houston.

But I'm always looking to meet new ags and enjoy a range session or two when the opportunity permits (which, sadly, is a lot less these days than it should be).

I'll hit you up one day. That is a bit of a hike though. My range time is considerably more limited than I'd like as well.

The good news is that Greenwood has a rifle range out to 600, and rumors are that we are looking at what will need to be altered to create a 1000 yard range.

I think I applied to Bayou awhile back, but can't remember since it's been that long.

I also applied to Pearland Shooting Club, since I live in Pearland, but apparently they've got like a 200 person wait list or something and who knows when they'll actually open up membership. Haven't looked into NFA rules there, though.

Schmellba, do you run an actual range down there in Brazoria or is it a range you set up on your property? I'm always looking for someplace to shoot and would rather hike down and hang with fellow Ags than trek out to ASC.

On a side note, I showed my wife the video of that 13-year old 3-gunning and I have to say she was quite a bit interested in it. She likes to shoot just about as much as I do and I bet I could get her hooked into it.

Civilized - Greenwood Gun Club is where I'm a member at. We have a rifle/pistol/BP/Cowboy action/archery range just outside of Brazoria and a shotgun range just outside of Angleton.

Depending on where you are at in Pearland, it would be about an hour drive to the shotgun range, and maybe 15 minutes more than that to the 521 range.

It's nothing fancy, but it's cheap ($75/year after initiation fees), relatively convenient for me and our rifle range goes from 50 out to 600. On the pistol side, you can shoot dynamic so long as some conditions are met by everybody shooting.

Overall, pretty decent setup for minimal yearly costs.

Greenwood is a great facility for the price if you live near there. Only down side I've seen is it does get miserably hot and humid during the summer.

I know several people that shoot there regularly and run the matches. One of the guys I know well that goes there all the time is a sales rep for Surefire. I'm pretty certain he has a waiver to shoot NFA items there.

We are on the Texas gulf coast - hot and humid is a part of life around here.

I keep thinking about shooting in some of the matches they have, just never get around to going beyond that. Having grown up here, I know most of the folks that run the place through other aspects of life. Some of them are great guys, some leave a lot to be desired - pretty much like any other organization I guess.

Overall it's a good range. I wish they would add vending machines on the rifle range though - that hot and humid will get you and I just about always forget to bring a drink of water with me.

Hey schmellba, I looked at it on the map and Greeenwood's only about 45 minutes from my place. I was planning on trying to head out to PSC Saturday morning with a friend's dad, who's a member, but it's looking like that's not going to come through. Any chance of coming out there Saturday morn to sight in my rifle?

I was also planning on hitting up the shotgun and pistol ranges also, and possibly breaking out my recurve.

Email me, if you wouldn't mind, at my TexAgs handle at gmail dot com so as not to divert the thread.

email sent Civilized

I was a member of BR when I lived in Houston - its a nice, pleasant, rifle club.

Its really geared around precision rifle shooters, but it is a great place to take new shooters.

If you can get into PSC, that would be a more valuable club.

I'd suggest starting to shoot matches at PSC, offer to help, etc.

What makes PSC > Bayou Rifle?

I got the orientation email. It sounds like you are in as long as you attend and pay your dues. I'll be there.

Orientation email for PSC or Bayou Rifles? Haven't seen any membership information for Bayou up on their site.

If it's for PSC, how long ago did you apply for membership?

I applied to Bayou in September 2012.

It looks like they are not accepting new applications at this point.

I looked at them back in November of last year, but they had already closed new membership for the year. Hopefully they'll open something up after this month according to their website.

If you don't mind me asking, what are the dues and benefits of membership? If you prefer not to post it here, please email me at username at gmail dot com. Just want to know what to expect should membership open up.

Got my email as well. I was supposed to be out of the country until the 8th but switched my flights last week to get back earlier. I am so glad I did. I would of kicked myself all year for missing the orientation on the 6th.

It is about $120 per year. Benefits are that you get unlimited use of the barker and juliff ranges. From what I can tell Barker is only open on Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Juliff is porbably about the same. Seems like it is pretty low frills but barker is probably 15 minutes from my house and juliff is relatively close to my parents so I can take my dad.

TxAg82, my daughter has a softball game at 9am that day but I am not missing this orientation.

Thanks for the info CrossBow. The Juliff range is about 10 minutes from my house and a little more convenient than PSC, and from the sounds of it I'll be more likely to get a membership email from BR than PSC anytime soon.

I'd eventually like to get into long range shooting and may try to volunteer out there if I can get a free weekend.

I was a member with Bayou last year, but did not renew this year. Not anything wrong with the place and the people were all great, just didn't have as much time to shoot anymore with my son playing 3 sports. I joined and only went twice last year.

Cost is $200/calendar year but it is pro-rated, so if you get in this year it will be a little less for the membership fees, but there is also an application fee. $50-75 if I remember correctly.

There are no hours. There is a gate with a lock and when you get your membership card, it has the combo to the lock on it. You can go out there anytime you want. Everyone was laid-back and helpful and both times I went out there (one was a Saturday morning and one was a Sunday afternoon), there was hardly anyone else out there. Facilities aren't anything special. They have pistol bays, a 25-, 50-, 100-, 300- and 1,000-yard ranges, IIRC. Although you have to qualify to get access to the 1,000 yard range.

I'm guessing they said March 1, because they give existing members the first couple months to get their renewal paperwork in. Then I guess they see how many slots they have available. Lock on the gate gets changed the first part of March every year. So you may hear something soon.

Edit to add: Sorry, I should clarify that I am talking about the range south of Houston in Rosharon. I never went to the range in Houston, but I hear it's quite a bit smaller. It also floods a lot. They told us in orientation that the Houston range was susceptible to flooding, but it seemed like every time we got a half-decent rain, they would send an email that the range would be closed for a few days due to flooding.

[This message has been edited by Burt Macklin, FBI (edited 3/19/2013 12:16a).]

I got the orientation email for April 6. Then came across some other good news when reading the rules and regulations. Short Barrel Rifles and Sound Suppressors are now ok to shoot at Bayou Rifles. Still no full auto, but I wasn't concerned about that. Score!

The membership card with gate code came in the mail today! Now I just need to know what the Julif range is going to look like tomorrow. There's something wrong with the website, so i don't know if they're having a competition there or not. And they've been doing some work on it and it's been closed. I may have to hold off on going out there just yet.