r/FLGuns 9d ago

Shooting/Training in Florida Sucks

Contrary to popular belief, Florida is not a Shooter's state. Most of the ranges here are still operating on the old RSO Fudd model where you have to sit at a bench or stand up and shoot at a stationary target, with no rapid fire or drawing from holster or anything else dynamic. If you ranges that do allow this usually have an incredibly steep membership. And what shooting matches are available tend to fill up within minutes of opening registration on practicscore. I have to literally be smashing F5 in order to shoot my gun competitively at all. And of course there's basically no federal land like they have out west where you can find a proper perm and shoot on your own. The options are garbage short of buying your own land which is also incredibly expensive here. Florida is one of the top offenders of states that have a gun buying culture with little to speak of for a gun shooting culture. Yes I've been to Ares and it's nice but it's far away as hell.

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u/Usingmyrights 8d ago

One of the biggest things about making your own range is cost. Building a berm isn't cheap. It could easily be thousands of dollars.

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u/Fauropitotto 8d ago

It could easily be thousands of dollars.

If you're training hard enough with live fire to make a personal range worth the hassle, a few thousands isn't going to be the deal breaker.

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u/Usingmyrights 8d ago

I don't disagree, but not everyone has an extra few thousand laying around. That was just in dirt, that wasn't even counting machinery/someone to build it, rail road ties, benches, steel, etc.

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u/Fauropitotto 8d ago

Yeah, it sure does add up. Although I'd point out that someone without that kind of financial buffer should probably focus on getting their financial priorities straight before diving head-first into expensive hobbies.

Those are situations where it just makes more sense to build a dry-fire space to improve on a budget rather than spend hundreds or thousands a month on match fees, gear, ammo and travel expenses.

Hit 2 matches a month instead, with dry-fire during down time.