New in Alexandira/Looking for a Range

[38superfan]

I'm new to the NOVA area and looking for a place outdoors to teach my son (6 years old) to shoot. My list of guns has shrunk as we've had some tough times the last few years. My remaining gun is a Savage Model 74 lever .22 LR that I got for my 5th birthday and I think it's time to get the young lad into shooting (he's alreday severely addicted to fishing!). I'm a vet with 9 years in the Army so I understand range safety and markmanship (38 years of shooting experience). I'm not a hunter, but I just love shooting and I want to pass this on to my children.

I'd like to find a kid friendly range or farmers field that we could spend some time on basic markmanship and not be surrounded by a bunch of centerfire cannnons going off! I learned to shoot near Aligator Alley in So. FL so I want my son to have a similar experience---Outdoors and in a place that I can kneel next to him as he learns how to shoot.

I've looked at the website of the Izaak Walton League...Is this organization a good one? Are the ranges accessible and kid friendly?

This is an awesome forum!

Best,

Tom

[allingeneral]

Hi Tom. Welcome to NOVA and to VGOF!

[OakRidgeStars]

Welcome to VGOF, Tom

[UDT]

to VGOF.

[Hiwaytahell]

to the forum.

[chfaunce]

Welcome to the forum!

To respond to your question regarding Izaak Walton, I've heard good things about the league itself. However, as you may know, they only allow for a finite number of members to join each year - I presume this is to prevent overcrowding. I'd recommend reaching out to them sooner rather than later. I attempted to join the Alexandria chapter and was offered a place on the waiting list. Maybe other chapters have membership openings. I know there is also a requirement that each member put in a certain number of hours of maintenance / upkeep a year as part of membership - nothing wrong with that, but certainly something to be aware of.

[Oldtimer]

to the forum

[38superfan]

Thanks for the welcome and the tip on IWL (chfaunce)!

[graybeard321]

I am a member of the Izaak Walton League (alexandria branch) which is in stafford VA. I have been shooting there for 4 years and the shotgun and riffle sanges are great the Pistol range is workable but it needs some updating.
Indoors you have Sharpshooters in Lorton VA (between springfield and Lorton)
http://www.sharpshootersva.com/

Welcome to the Area and VGOF.

[chfaunce]

The Sharpshooters range is now much improved, and is actually quite nice IMO. I've never had to wait an extraordinarily long time to get a bay (maybe 15 or 20 minutes during peak times), and it's the closest range to my house. If you have to wait, there are plenty of toys to put on your birthday / Christmas list. There's the NRA range in Fairfax Co, but the thought of the drive out there is often enough to keep me local. Granted, the benefit to the NRA range is that they allow for a wider arrange of firearms. Sharpshooters is a shortarm range, though, I have seen people firing shotguns (at the discretion of the rangemaster) and I believe they allow .22 LR fired through .22 rifles (I've seen one or two 10/22's there, I think). So, you may still be able to mentor your son there - now, that said, they may have minimum age restrictions and you should probably call them first before getting your son all excited about shooting.

The max target distance is 25 yards. I've been there on several occasions, and the crowd is usually very well behaved as would be expected. People pretty much keep to themselves. It's a pretty wide range of users (young, old, yuppies, LE, military/defense workers, retired, black, white, you name it) and, yes, on occasion someone will bring their .44 mag hand cannon which usually shakes things up. Range rules are pretty simple, and they're not shy about calling people out for breaking them. Eyes, ears, keep 'em unloaded and pointed in a safe direction when not on the line, etc. It's climate controlled for the most part, but in the winter it can get a little chilly and in the dead of summer it can get a little warm. Unlike the days of old, it's now very well lit and the target retrieval systems are quite nice. For instance, whereas you used to have to more or less guess distance, the retrieval system now displays distance to the target at your bay.

Welcome, again!

[CowboyT]

+1 to the Sharpshooters range. Since you're in Alexandria, they're not far from you. I shoot my 10/22 and .38 Special all the time there.

Actually, the rule is "no rifle-only cartridges", meaning no .223 Rem, .308 Win, .30-30, etc. This is due to backstop limitations. However, one person was shooting his .357 Magnum lever-action carbine, which, it turns out, he bought at Sharpshooters. So, if you have a Ruger 77/44, Taurus Thunderbolt, AR-15 in 9mm Parabellum, etc., then it's no problem. Basically, if it's commonly chambered in a pistol or revolver, it's fair game.

BTW, .454 Casull is also welcome there, since it's a handgun cartridge. Someone was shooting some very powerful (even by Casull standards!) rounds in his Super Redhawk 454. He invited me to touch one off. WOW! My hand stung a little after that one, and I probably won't do that again for a long time. Is it fun on rare occasions? HECK, YEAH!

[t33j]

Minimum age is 8 at the NRA range according to a phone call I made about a month ago. You might be able to clear it beforehand though?? While I'm not a fan of either the NRA range or Sharpshooters, the NRA range is better suited to your needs. Of course, like you said a farmer's field would be ideal.

[38superfan]

Thanks for all of the great info! I'm encoraged by the amount of activiy on the boards.