I want to share some info about the new Panther Ridge Training Center range, which is about 15 miles outside of Bloomington. I received most of this info from its owner, Jerimiah, and the rest from his brother Matthew (who manages the Bloomington Home and Personal Security Store). I am posting this here because it was quite hard for me to find this info; I ended up having a nice phone conversation with Jerimiah to get my questions answered. Let me start by saying I am in no way whatsoever affiliated with the Center, in fact quite the opposite (as you will read below). Also, I write this with every effort to accurately relate what Jerimiah told me.
Its website is now up and running, at:PantherRidgeTrainingCenter
You can read all about what the Center has to offer on the website. What I want to address here is what they mean by "membership." I wanted to know if the Center was just for their classes (which, by the way, after hearing detailed descriptions of them sound great), or if one could become a member of the Center and therefore use the range to go and shoot on their own.
The short answer to this question is yes, a person can become a member and shoot at the Center on their, but ONLY IF they take the Center's Basic Pistol course.
The longer answer is that ANYONE, WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS, MUST take the two-day, 16 hour course that costs $250 to be eligible to become a member, then pay an additional annual fee of $95 for the ability to use the range ONLY on the open range days (which are about twice per week). Members can practice drills, etc. on open range days. The justifications for this requirement apparently are that their insurance requires some sort of training, and they want to make sure all their members are safe.
Given Jerimiah's description of the Basic Pistol course, I have no doubt that it is excellent, provides significantly more info than say a standard NRA handgun course, and is priced extremely competitively.
That is the info I learned on what a membership entails at the Center, and how one would go about becoming one.
Now, on to my personal thoughts on this. To say the least, I was very disappointed. There simply are not many options for range shooting near Bloomington, especially where one could practice drills. I would be more than willing to pay an annual dues fee, and even to take and pay a reasonable amount for an "introduction-to-the-range" course where they teach/check for basic gun safety skills. But I can't see paying $250 for a 16 hour course that covers, among other things, basic pistol skills taught in an NRA course. I've already taken such courses. I certainly am not an expert, I am aware that I have much more to learn, and I am aware that the course teaches much more than this. But my point is that I don't want to take this course just to become eligible to be a member. I also know that were I to become a member, I would want to take advantage of their excellent rifle ranges (including drilling with my AR-15). I can't understand though how taking the mandatory Pistol course would demonstrate or ensure to anyone that I was safe and competent with a rifle.
To be clear, I do not mean to be interpreted as writing a vendetta against the Center. I only mean to provide the info I learned, and share my own personal reaction to it. I also completely understand that the Center is a private company and they can do what they want. I will just (unfortunately) choose to not spend my money there.
To end, I share my personal thoughts because 1) I am curious to see what others think about this, and more importantly 2) the door was left open that with enough interest/feedback the Center may change this current policy requiring mandatory completion of the Basic Pistol course.
**If any of this info is inaccurate in any way, I will gladly edit my post accordingly. Again, I have no negative intentions in this post.
Its website is now up and running, at:PantherRidgeTrainingCenter
You can read all about what the Center has to offer on the website. What I want to address here is what they mean by "membership." I wanted to know if the Center was just for their classes (which, by the way, after hearing detailed descriptions of them sound great), or if one could become a member of the Center and therefore use the range to go and shoot on their own.
The short answer to this question is yes, a person can become a member and shoot at the Center on their, but ONLY IF they take the Center's Basic Pistol course.
The longer answer is that ANYONE, WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS, MUST take the two-day, 16 hour course that costs $250 to be eligible to become a member, then pay an additional annual fee of $95 for the ability to use the range ONLY on the open range days (which are about twice per week). Members can practice drills, etc. on open range days. The justifications for this requirement apparently are that their insurance requires some sort of training, and they want to make sure all their members are safe.
Given Jerimiah's description of the Basic Pistol course, I have no doubt that it is excellent, provides significantly more info than say a standard NRA handgun course, and is priced extremely competitively.
That is the info I learned on what a membership entails at the Center, and how one would go about becoming one.
Now, on to my personal thoughts on this. To say the least, I was very disappointed. There simply are not many options for range shooting near Bloomington, especially where one could practice drills. I would be more than willing to pay an annual dues fee, and even to take and pay a reasonable amount for an "introduction-to-the-range" course where they teach/check for basic gun safety skills. But I can't see paying $250 for a 16 hour course that covers, among other things, basic pistol skills taught in an NRA course. I've already taken such courses. I certainly am not an expert, I am aware that I have much more to learn, and I am aware that the course teaches much more than this. But my point is that I don't want to take this course just to become eligible to be a member. I also know that were I to become a member, I would want to take advantage of their excellent rifle ranges (including drilling with my AR-15). I can't understand though how taking the mandatory Pistol course would demonstrate or ensure to anyone that I was safe and competent with a rifle.
To be clear, I do not mean to be interpreted as writing a vendetta against the Center. I only mean to provide the info I learned, and share my own personal reaction to it. I also completely understand that the Center is a private company and they can do what they want. I will just (unfortunately) choose to not spend my money there.
To end, I share my personal thoughts because 1) I am curious to see what others think about this, and more importantly 2) the door was left open that with enough interest/feedback the Center may change this current policy requiring mandatory completion of the Basic Pistol course.
**If any of this info is inaccurate in any way, I will gladly edit my post accordingly. Again, I have no negative intentions in this post.
Actually it's a little hard to find enough unobstructed area to shoot any kind of long distances though (since it's illegal to shoot from the boat). Remember, hearing protection is important, even shooting outside... 
