sycamore valley gun club

[typhoon]

is any one a member? is it worth looking in to? now that atterbury is only fri-sunday i can only make it once in awhile. also like the fact that SVGC has a 200yrd range. . also does any one know how much it cost??

 

[techres]

PM Hawkhavn, he is a member there and can give you all the info. Nice range.

 

[hawkhavn]

Total membership costs the first year are $300, $250 after that. A payment schedule can be set up if you so desire. 25 yard pistol bay, 100/200 yard rifle lines and a trap house. Dawn to dusk shooting every day but Sunday, after 1 on Sundays.

Hawkhavn

 

[typhoon]

sycamore

wow. thanks.. can you take a guest??? or does that person have to be a member also? thanks

 

[hawkhavn]

Yes, members can bring guests to the range.

This Saturday (10/10) at 10 am, is the monthly meeting at the Freedom Community center. If you're interested, swing by the meeting, meet some of the members and you can most likely get a tour of the range as well.

I will try and be there if you want to look me up.

Hawkhavn

 

[hawkhavn]

Note: This meeting was last Saturday (10/10) not next weekend, didn't want someone to make a long drive and be disappointed. Next meeting is 11/14 at 10 am.

Hawkhavn

 

[NRA member]

I am a former member of the Sycamore Valley Gun Club. I did not like it. The range is located near the river, and if the river is up at all you are NOT permitted to shoot.
even if the water is not covering the range. Range Rules are loosely enforced. i.e. the gate is often left standing wide open for anyone to come onto the range and steal your weapons or gear while you are down range checking targets. There are only 2 positions to shoot at 200 yards and they are usually always in use.
You have to pay membership dues and then later you have to pay dues to belong to the foundation. That is a total crock.
At one time they had this chicken Sh++ rule that banned human silhouette targets. Often club meetings erupt into bitter arguments and most people are wearing guns. Not a good thing.
I was a member for one year and that was one year too many. Most people that belong to this club are from Bloomington. Soooo! if you are not from the Bloomington area
you are treated like an outcast.

 

[tenring]

I belonged to the old range that was on IU property for years until it was unfortunately closed down and knew of the search for new ground which took a long time. Ground was found, and purchased albeit in bottom land. Land prices aren't cheap, and it takes a lot of money to pay off the purchase price and even more to start improvements. The rise in gas prices, the distance to the range determined my decision not to stay with the club as a member but have shot in a match before. Range rules were strictly enforced, and as for meetings and bitter arguments I have no clue but can only guess that undisciplined folk just could not handle following the rules. As far as silhouette targets, it sounds like someone got butt hurt because they couldn't play out their Rambo dreams on the range. Wearing guns to a meeting? Does that not fall under the 2nd Amendment? Why is that not a good thing? If it were such a terrible act, then one could only wonder why it was not brought up in one of the meetings, and a vote was taken to discourage it. As far as most of the members are from Bloomington, I can't recall anyone ever being treated as an outcast because of where they resided, but welcomed because they were interested in shooting and hunting and liked the rules of the club. Last conversation with a current member was that when funds were available, the existing dike along the river had been grand fathered in through a myriad of paperwork, was to be rebuilt to alleviate the flooding. The idea was to eventually have a 600 yard range which would be wonderful addition to Indiana as over 90% of the ranges in the United States have only a 100 yard distance. Why the anger toward a fine shooting range that is always a work in progress, leaves some unanswered questions as to the validity of those statements.

 

[The Bubba Effect]

I am a former member of the Sycamore Valley Gun Club. I did not like it. The range is located near the river, and if the river is up at all you are NOT permitted to shoot.
even if the water is not covering the range. Range Rules are loosely enforced. i.e. the gate is often left standing wide open for anyone to come onto the range and steal your weapons or gear while you are down range checking targets. There are only 2 positions to shoot at 200 yards and they are usually always in use.
You have to pay membership dues and then later you have to pay dues to belong to the foundation. That is a total crock.
At one time they had this chicken Sh++ rule that banned human silhouette targets. Often club meetings erupt into bitter arguments and most people are wearing guns. Not a good thing.
I was a member for one year and that was one year too many. Most people that belong to this club are from Bloomington. Soooo! if you are not from the Bloomington area
you are treated like an outcast.

I have been a member for a couple of years. I have been to a handful of meetings and I have shot often on the range. My experience has been very different from the quoted poster. He is correct in saying that they used to ban silhouette targets (which they do now allow) and that you have to belong to (and pay dues to) both the gun club and the foundation.

In my experience, the ranges are closed when the river is up and water is in front of the berm. If water is in front of the 200 yard berm, but not the 100, you can still shoot on the 100 yard berm. If water is in front of the 200 and 100 berms, but not the pistol berm, you can still shoot on the pistol bay.

I have been to a handful of meetings and have never seen anything but friendly people and polite and civil discussion. As nice as everyone has been when I have been there, I am skeptical about the statement that "often club meetings erupt into bitter arguments".

I wish the club allowed drawing from the holster and movement so that I could better practice defensive pistol skills, but it is a nice range and usually I have the place to myself when I shoot, at most I have seen six other shooters there, but that is rare and still not crowded at all.

All in all, I really like sycammore valley and I suggest that anyone thinking about joining check it out for yourself and see if the guy I quoted seems as far off base to you as he does to me.

 

[AJMD429]

I belonged to the old range that was on IU property for years until it was unfortunately closed down and knew of the search for new ground which took a long time. Ground was found, and purchased albeit in bottom land. Land prices aren't cheap, and it takes a lot of money to pay off the purchase price and even more to start improvements. The rise in gas prices, the distance to the range determined my decision not to stay with the club as a member but have shot in a match before. Range rules were strictly enforced, and as for meetings and bitter arguments I have no clue but can only guess that undisciplined folk just could not handle following the rules. As far as silhouette targets, it sounds like someone got butt hurt because they couldn't play out their Rambo dreams on the range. Wearing guns to a meeting? Does that not fall under the 2nd Amendment? Why is that not a good thing? If it were such a terrible act, then one could only wonder why it was not brought up in one of the meetings, and a vote was taken to discourage it. As far as most of the members are from Bloomington, I can't recall anyone ever being treated as an outcast because of where they resided, but welcomed because they were interested in shooting and hunting and liked the rules of the club. Last conversation with a current member was that when funds were available, the existing dike along the river had been grand fathered in through a myriad of paperwork, was to be rebuilt to alleviate the flooding. The idea was to eventually have a 600 yard range which would be wonderful addition to Indiana as over 90% of the ranges in the United States have only a 100 yard distance. Why the anger toward a fine shooting range that is always a work in progress, leaves some unanswered questions as to the validity of those statements.

Does anyone remember the location or address of the old Bloomington range? I remember competing in handgun silhouette there in the 1980’s, but someone else drove on those trips and I don’t remember where it was.
It seems like maybe it was near where the new hospital is now…?
I was telling my wife about the range and she couldn’t imagine where one could have been with s safe backstop.

 

[hawkhavn]

Does anyone remember the location or address of the old Bloomington range? I remember competing in handgun silhouette there in the 1980’s, but someone else drove on those trips and I don’t remember where it was.
It seems like maybe it was near where the new hospital is now…?
I was telling my wife about the range and she couldn’t imagine where one could have been with s safe backstop.

It was in a valley (Sycamore Valley ) at the north end of Range Road (Now renamed East Discovery Road) off of East 10th Street. You turned north on Range Road off 10th and went past the IU Surplus store and apt complex. There was a locked gate just past the Service Building before you dropped down into the valley. The range areas are still visible on Google maps.

 

[joe138]

Plus there was an indoor range on the west end of the IU Union building that was associated somehow with the Sycamor Valley club.

 

[Mr. Habib]

I remember the indoor range well. Used to shoot bullseye matches at lunch on Tuesdays. we would go back to work at IU and clean pistols at our desks. then Miles Brand, may he roast on a spit of his own carving in hell, closed the indoor range and Sycamore Valley too. It was really weird hearing people bowling above you during a match.

 

[joe138]

I shot there on Tues/Thur in the mid 80's when I worked in Bloomington.

 

[Mr. Habib]

Did you shoot in the lunch time matches? I started at IU in '85, so I would have been there then.

 

[joe138]

I graduated in 86. I shot in the evenings, more as training, with a guy named Mcnaught or something like that.

 

[Hawkeye7br]

I too shot handgun silhouette there in the 80's, not sure when it closed. We had a rotation... sycamore valley, MARCO, Riley Conservation Club, Vincennes gun club...
Doc Schick, accuracy gunsmith Ralph Bond, and a heck of a lot of great shooters that served as mentors for us newbies. I miss those guys. I learned that if you could shoot with the best at Bloomington Indiana, you could shoot with the best anywhere in the country.

 

[Mr. Habib]

I graduated in 86. I shot in the evenings, more as training, with a guy named Mcnaught or something like that.

Yeah, his first name was Mike. Good guy, knew his stuff. I think he said he was in the Marines, possibly on the pistol team.

 

[joe138]

Yeah, his first name was Mike. Good guy, knew his stuff. I think he said he was in the Marines, possibly on the pistol team.

Yeah, that's him.

 

[TJ Kackowski]

Yeah, his first name was Mike. Good guy, knew his stuff. I think he said he was in the Marines, possibly on the pistol team.

Yeah, that's him.

Are you trying to remember Mike Grannon?