I am planning on putting together a group trip for a bunch of people I work with to go to the range. We've done this several times before but we usually went out to Sunset Hill in PA, but since they're fairly limited in what facilities they have available and it's $20/person including the annual fee (we only tend to go once a year), it doesn't make sense to go there anymore when 5 of us are Cherry Ridge members and they now allow 2 guests per member. We typically go and bring all of the firearms that we own and lay them out on the benches and have at it letting everyone shoot whatever they want (obviously we'd need enough chamber flags or keep guns cased and cycle through them). In this case we'd have to go through all the pistols, then move to rifles, then to shotgun (not necessarily in that order). My question is if anyone has ever brought a "large" group (I'm looking at up to around 8-10 guests plus the members) and if they frown upon that large of a group without a dedicated RO or anything. Most (if not all) of the guests are at least familiar with firearms (any that aren't typically get extra attention from us until we're sure that they're comfortable) and several of them own their own and would likely even bring them with them. We would go during the week (probably like a Wednesday) so the range would likely be empty to begin with. I just don't want to show up there and have the RO tell us we can't have that many people. Obviously the members would be responsible for the guests and would keep watch over them (one of the members is an NRA instructor).

 

I can explain things further if anything is unclear, but basically I don't want to be turned away at the range and don't want to upset/annoy the ROs. Thanks in advance.

I don't see why they would have an issue as long as you have enough members to guest-in the non-members. What's the difference from five individual members (who happen to be there at the same time) each guest-in two people and everyone decides to let others shoot their firearms (as long as all the range rules are followed)? Just to be safe, you should contact CR to let them know.

 

Let me know when you're thinking of doing this and if you need another member. I can offer a couple of firearms into the mix.

 

Maybe you can get a list of all the firearms, calculate the total cost of ammo and split it amongst the group. We then lay them out on different stations and rotate shooting until everyone has had a chance to shoot everything. Seems like fun and people can get a chance to try out something different.

We, here at NJGF used to do fairly large gatherings at CR every 2nd Sunday. Interest waned and no one picked up the ball this year.

 

Do any of you guys know Scott and Gene? If so, just approach them and tell them what you're doing and that you're from the Gun forum.

 

Just make sure that you "police" your non range members and advise the ROs that you will be vigilantly watching to make certain everyone is shooting safely.

I've been there with 10 people. Only 4 were non members. But no problems with anything. Ive met scott but don't know him really. Gene is a good guy. Along as he sees your not an idiot and being safe I have never seen give an attitude. I don't see gene there much anymore not sure why.

I do agree that there shouldn't be any difference between 5 people who show up together with 2 guests each and 5 separate people with 2 guests each, but given that we live in NJ I'm fairly jaded about applying logic to determine how things work. And that is exactly what we do: we go to Dick's usually beforehand, buy a ton of ammo and split the cost, then we lay all the guns out, usually sorted by caliber to keep things easy, and let everyone have at it and shoot whatever they want. We do always make sure everyone either is very familiar with handling firearms (4 of the guests own firearms and 2 I have personally seen handle them), and if someone isn't, we give them extra attention to help them learn and make sure they understand how to stay safe and how to operate a firearm until we are comfortable that they are comfortable. We obviously don't let them go unattended at that point, but don't need to watch them like a hawk. Which brings me to my next point, given that most of the people that we will bring are proficient with firearms and safety I would hope that we would be able to let them shoot without needing to stand watching guard over them the entire time not being able to then enjoy some shooting ourselves. What we would likely do, if necessary to appease the ROs, is we can have one member oversee each bench of shooters to make sure everything is going ok.

 

Unfortunately I do not know any of the ROs other than because I see certain ones regularly. I've only really ever had an issue with one being a little grumpy, but I know he was just enforcing the rules. I just hope that it wouldn't be amplified when there's 15 of us. Maybe when I have more details on a date I'll give a shout over there and inform them and see if they have any problems.