First night at RA Centre (Ottawa)

[desben]

For those in Ottawa, there seem to be a lot of questions about the RA Centre, yet little to be found online. I thought I'd document my experience so people know what to expect.

I'm currently waiting for the RCMP to approve my (R)PAL: they received my application a month ago. Still, I joined the RA a couple of weeks ago. The first step is to take the range safety course, either for pistol or rifle.

I just did my pistol course last night. Showed up at 18h30 and left the range a little bit past 22h. Many range officers (5?) were present to assist the 7 students taking the class that evening. All of the RO were very nice and willing to assist and share their knowledge. A big thank you to them.

The class started in a boardroom with the theory of ACTS/PROVE, sights alignment, grip, trigger pull, etc. Then we move down to the range where an RO first demonstrated ACTS/PROVE on the guns we would use and after, another RO explained the range commands. The students then showed the ACTS on unloaded guns before we finally moved on to live fire portion. The students used some of the club guns in 22LR (Ruger Mark III and S&W revolvers) to each fire 50 bullets on 5 different targets at 10 yards.

A few things to know:

• The ROs want to see you shoot for at least 60 days before they will apply for a LTATT on your behalf.
• The club owns 48 different guns (or is that handguns, more counting rifles?) that members can borrow.
• People without their RPAL can still shoot handguns so long as they are supervised by another member that is licensed.
• The safety course is shot at 10 yards, but the regular firing line is at 20 (yards or meters?).
• Before being allowed to shoot centerfire, members must qualify.
• The club is quite popular. There are 13 shooting positions for pistols, but often more members present on a given night. Shooting is organized in 10-minute relays.

The pistol centerfire pistol qualification involves keeping 10 shots within a target at 20 yards (or meters?), first with 22LR then with centerfire. The targets seem to be a regular ISSF targets, which looked to be maybe 14"x14". If you fail, just try again!

So far, I have a very positive impression of the club. The members and ROs I met are all very nice guys. The club was very busy on the Monday night I visited, which would indicate that a lot of people like it. It's very well organized, structured and safety oriented; if you prefer to do your own thing at your own pace, maybe look for a different club.

Oh, and the RA Centre also has a pub on site where people go for a beer after the shooting.

A few links...
http://www.racentre.com/index.php/gun-club
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum...ndgun-purchase
http://redliners.ca/forums/showthrea...entre-gun-club

[desben]

Shooting one of the club's handgun at 10 meters during the training. It'll be interesting to see how I do at 20 meters next week...

[danoiwan]

Welcome to the RA center

[Tjhaze]

Ive always wanted to check that place out (the shooting range) i even work up the hill.

[Astute Observer]

Bit of thread resurrection here - but I couldn't find an answer on the RA centre's website... Can anybody tell me - are members able to fire centrefire rifles there? Like .223 or .308? Or is it strictly handgun and rimfire rifles only?

Also, what's the max distance on the range? 25m? 50m?

sorry for my ignorance, I've never been and wanted to get a bit more info to see if it's worth it for me before I make the trip down.

Cheers,

[silverfoxdj]

No center fire rifle, max is 20 yds

[Astute Observer]

Hey, thanks Silverfoxdj. Much appreciated!