+- Red Dot Arms Forum (https://rdaforum.com)
+-- Forum: The Gun Counter (https://rdaforum.com/forum-3.html)
+--- Forum: Miscellaneous (https://rdaforum.com/forum-9.html)
+--- Thread: New indoor range in Waukegan (/thread-410.html)
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - Mike25 - 09-29-2014
Last time I was there a family was barbecuing. Not a bad idea if you're going to make a day out of it.
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - jfergus7 - 10-25-2014
Just checked out the website for this range. Site looks nice but the prices are crazy. Looks like they still aren't open though and they haven't posted an update since June. Wonder if they will ever open.
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - mikereddot - 10-25-2014
Yeah, I've been told they are open. Not all the lanes, and are waiting to announce their grand opening.
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - largefarva - 10-25-2014
What this area needs is a range close by. Going to Crystal Lake requires driving through construction zones and McHenry...not fun. There's supposed to be a range being opened in Zion but who knows when that's going to happen...but even if/when it does happen it will be just as far of a drive as the on in Crystal Lake. Bristol in Wisconsin just sucks from what I understand...so no there as well. Then there's the one in McHenry with is just a nasty non-ventillated place and I will never shoot there...that place needs to be closed down. Oh, and they're posted as well (can you believe a gun shop is actually posted??) so no way will they ever get my business.
Which brings me back to my original statement here....this area needs a range. (hint hint!)
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - Mike25 - 10-25-2014
I called them the other day, the guy I spoke with said they should be 100% open in a few weeks. It's about 7 miles from my house so I'm pretty pumped.
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - jfergus7 - 10-25-2014
Largefarva, what about the range at Bass Pro or Outdoorsman. Both are decent and not nearly as far as CL. Actually like the a Bass Pro range.
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - largefarva - 10-25-2014
Isn't the Bass Pro range only like 4 or 5 lanes? Being half an hour away or so...it doesn't sound like much fun waiting for one of those lanes to open up. I have no clue of how much they cost because there's no pricing info on the basspro website that I can find. Plus, the fact that they price gouge on guns and ammo make me not too fond of them as a business.
The Outdoorsman I have heard of and honestly I didn't know if they were still in business or not, or whether or not their range was still open. The few things I did hear about their range is that it's just as bad ventilation-wise as the place I mentioned in McHenry. Plus it's a good 45 minutes away.
In my first post I hinted at a range in this area which would be the Fox Lake/Lake Villa area. Which would be very nice in my opinon. Right now the options here are a good half hour drive or more away in any direction. Having something truely local would be great....just not for my bank account. lol
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - jfergus7 - 10-25-2014
Oh gotcha. Just for future reference you can call Bass Pro and make reservation so you won't have to wait and they charge by 1/2 hour at $8 so hourly is cheaper then almost everyone else.
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - Mike25 - 10-25-2014
Bass pro isn't bad, I was just there yesterday. Like jfergus7 said, call in advance. Weekends are typically pretty booked.
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - largefarva - 10-25-2014
I didn't know anything about Bass Pro's range because there's nothing on their website...but I may look into it because it's a few minutes shorter of a drive than out to On Target in Crystal Lake. But if the weekends are their busiest time then I might be SOL because that's really the only time I can find time to hit a range. The half hour price sure is nice though....it kills me to pay the typical $20 for an hour when all I really ever shoot for is usually less than half that. 100-200 rounds don't last too long when I'm shooting them. lol
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - Mike25 - 10-25-2014
Largefarva, I agree with your statement about the 1/2 hour. I paid for an hour yesterday and was pretty much done in about 35 minutes. Guess next time I'll bring 200 rounds vs 100 which means more business for RDA.
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - BelieveIn308 - 10-25-2014
Gee, that $300 for a YEARLY membership at McMiller sure sounds cheap in comparison. I've gone at least 30 times this year so far. And have made a day of it on occasion. I'll probably go at least another half dozen times before spring. And it's only $200 if you don't use the 300 yard rifle range.
Next year, I'll probably go more and take advantage of all the shotgun options. As it is outdoors, ventilation isn't an issue.
Can it ever hurt to bring extra ammo?
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - mikereddot - 10-26-2014
You can do 30 minutes at Bass Pro. If anybody has a spare 1/2 M, i'll gladly open one in Lake Villa.
I really need this forum to explode so folks can find my webiste and get the revenue back in Lake Villa.
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - AcilletaM - 10-26-2014
I have a spare 1/2 $5, does that help?
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - ssphoto - 11-09-2014
The new GTR appears to be open, as the last two weekends has cars parked in front. I have not gone inside yet. I got the feeling that they are sort of ritzy and exclusive due to the high prices they charge.
Outdoorsman is my primary place to go. Rates are fair, and usually has lanes open. Pretty informal. Friendly staff too. It's pretty rare that I have to wait.
Bass Pro, well, I prefer not to go there, as they are always booked for any "spur of the moment" decisions to go shooting, and when I do get a spot, the range is rarely ever full. Overbooked? No shows? The part I hate the most is having to secure everything twice just to walk to the range. I understand why, but still is inconvenient. They should find a way to bring folks in through another entrance.
I plan on doing McMiller's next Spring.
Just my two cents....
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - AcilletaM - 11-09-2014
I went to bass pro on Saturday and signed up for tomorrow and the schedule was wide open. The book said they were full at that time (4 or 5 pm) on Saturday but 4 lanes were empty.
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - Mike25 - 11-10-2014
Friend of mine is a member at GTR. He was there last weekend and said he was very impressed with the state of art equipment and friendly staff. I hope to check it out in 2 weeks. If I like as much as I think I do it could be trouble considering it's only about 8 miles from my house. On-Target has a nice facility but it's 25 miles away. Will be picking up some more RDA ammo very soon
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - Ringo3632 - 11-10-2014
Exact same here. I started going to the outdoorsman because my buddy works there. But it is nice and easy to go to.
I would like to check out the gtr range, but I'm not sure how consistent I would ever go. However if I lived as close as you do mike I would definitely plan on going there way more!
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - jfergus7 - 11-11-2014
I am going to try to get over later this week and check the place out!
RE: New indoor range in Waukegan - AcilletaM - 11-11-2014
My wife and I stopped by today. They are not open yet - they had a soft opening for members but that's it. Hope to be open in a week or two. They have 1 bay of 8 lanes done and the other 14 are under construction still. From my untrained eye I'm guessing they may be open next week but it won't be with all 22 lanes going and much of the building not finished. I do think it will look nice once it is done. The man we spoke with stated they were going to be a high-end option. I didn't get any info from him that made me believe a membership is worthwhile unless you are Active Duty, Retired Military, and First Responders (Patriotic Member $200) or a high volume shooter who goes multiple times a week (Platnum $1000). Lanes are big enough for 2 people, they will allow rifles but I don't remember the caliber limit and shotguns, and they will allow drawing from holsters. However, to draw from the holster you have to be a member and you have to go through an hour in their simulator with one of their instructors to be approved. He also said they had 60-65 members.
I just noticed something - the membership descriptions on the website are different than the brochure he gave us. The Patriotic membership on the website has less free hours, again making it less economical. We asked other pricing questions like gun rental and the guy told us they are still determining those. They will have food for sale there and a bar in the basement for members with daily food specials. There were 3 guys shooting while we were there, I don't know if they were members or owners or what but nobody else was watching them.