I don't quite get the problem here. I belong to 2 other ranges, both of which charge more than the ORA, plus you have to perform work party duties AND provide an initiation fee. One of the ranges has a 3X policy, show up more than twice and you have to become a member. The club with the longest range is 200 yds and when the police want to use the facilities they close down the 100-200 yd ranges. This happens a LOT so the regular members loose out. With the ORA I've shot at Cedar Springs (London), Borden (North of Toronto), Kingston and Connaught (Ottawa) and get of far more shooting at any of those ranges than I can get done at the other clubs plus the added benefit of shooting 300-1000. The only problem with the ORA is they're only available from April-Oct. Personally I don't think requiring someone to become a member after they've tried the facilities to be that onerous an issue. As mentioned, I pay more and get less elsewhere.
New ORA Guest Policy - Be aware
- Thread starter Bolivar
- Start date
I will probably just shoot club level events. I, and many other shooters don't Have a lot of funds and I was looking forward to doing an event this year. And yes the events that many clubs offer won't have all the goodies that the ora does, but they will be more affordable. I'd love to try one of these, but I just can't do 175 for one event.
Yes I had several conversations with insurance agenst who work for the underwriters of both the NFA and CSSA policies. The reason I was told was the location of the shooting (DND property) not the nature of the shooting (gun club vs training/workplace)
I was involved in my clubs insurance renewal (as I am also a member of the Board of Directors) in 2012, and reviewed options to change insurance providers in 2014 and again in 1015. The NFA's insurance does not cover DND ranges. If you can PM me your contact I would like to talk to them, because of the several people I spoke with, no one mentioned an option to pay additional fee to be covered on DND ranges.
I have the same issue with a motocross track just out of Ottawa. 1 non member ride day a year. The membership is over 400$, seeing as the average track day costs are around 35-40$ at most tracks. I'd have to go to track a lot more often than I can to make it worth the money.
It's not that spending 200$ for a yearly membership is really that big of a deal, most guys will spend that on beer in a month during the summer.
The problem is spending 200$ to go shoot once or maybe twice.
I myself have a hard time committing to events or shoots way in advance. Life happens and I might not be able to make it.
The opposite can happen as well. All of a sudden I have a free weekend and would like to go to an event, but I'm not going to spend a few hundred $$ on a membership, JIC I get a chance to go shoot.
As a group we should be making events more accessible and easier on the wallet as much as possible. This is not the way to do it.
It's not that spending 200$ for a yearly membership is really that big of a deal, most guys will spend that on beer in a month during the summer.
The problem is spending 200$ to go shoot once or maybe twice.
I myself have a hard time committing to events or shoots way in advance. Life happens and I might not be able to make it.
The opposite can happen as well. All of a sudden I have a free weekend and would like to go to an event, but I'm not going to spend a few hundred $$ on a membership, JIC I get a chance to go shoot.
As a group we should be making events more accessible and easier on the wallet as much as possible. This is not the way to do it.
If you have the rifles required to shoot all the events, precision, TR/F Class, service, CQB, Vintage etc. And the time and ammo required to shoot all the ORA events at all the venues offered, you would have a pretty busy summer. Replacement value on my main target rifle is between $4000-$5000. I would rather burn out the barrel shooting it than having it sit in the gun safe. The cost of membership is only a small factor when it comes right down to it.
I will bet there are plenty of boats, motorcycles, classic cars, golf clubs, ATV's and other hobby equipment that sits collecting dust waiting for a couple days of use every year. Buy a case of beer a week and see how fast you burn through the cost of an ORA membership. Go play a round of golf with your buddies. With green's fees, cart rental, a couple of beers on the course and a couple beers afterwards with something eat, it doesn't take long to burn through $100-$150 for the day.
I will bet there are plenty of boats, motorcycles, classic cars, golf clubs, ATV's and other hobby equipment that sits collecting dust waiting for a couple days of use every year. Buy a case of beer a week and see how fast you burn through the cost of an ORA membership. Go play a round of golf with your buddies. With green's fees, cart rental, a couple of beers on the course and a couple beers afterwards with something eat, it doesn't take long to burn through $100-$150 for the day.
I can understand ORA cracking down on guests. I seen it where some people have been perpetual guests of others and never pay to become members. At the end of the day you have to decide if you are in or out. Can't have a bunch of people subsidized by the general membership and getting the same benefits for free.
^^^Doesn't get it...the point for me is that i don't join every club I shoot events at. I don't see the value in the ORA/DCRA membership just to shoot a few CQB matches each year. I enjoy CQB, but I have other options and that $150-$175 means 3-5 other events. If the DCRA doesn't want non-members to shoot their events, then that's their prerogative. I just think that's detrimental to the org...Lecturing me about all the other money I potentially waste that is better off going to the ORA is not going to convince me otherwise.
This would make sense except when I shoot at an ORA event I pay the same match fee that members do and then pay the insurance fee on top of that...where is the free ride? It's not the same as members who take the same guest every weekend to their local gun club...
My motorcycle and boat are sitting there ready to go whenever i want, not on specific days only.
I only have a few weekends available to shoot ORA matches,. I have enjoyed the few I have been able to attend the past couple years.
Its not a big deal to me but is disappointing that I cant go on "spur of the moment" when my schedule allows .
Not everyone is into the regimented competiton schedule and attend as they can to just have fun.
It is their decision at the end of the day and up to members and the executive to decide if it impacts attendance and revenue.
No, I think you are missing the point. People have other priorities beside shooting. Not everyone can or wants to travel 700km each way to shoot a weekend match. I am not saying that you need to spend 4K on a rifle to enjoy the sport. If you sit down and figure out the cost of equipment that you already have to shoot any game the cost of membership is reasonable. The cost of a rifle, scope and reloading equipment and the cost of components can have you shelling out $1500-$2000? If you are happy buying a day pass at a local range or buying a membership at your local range and shooting 200 yards from a bench for a few hours, that's great, get out a shot.
What the ORA offers is different than what you can get at your local range.
95% of the work done in organizations like the ORA are done by 5% of the members and most of that is done for free.
I don't want to argue but I guess I wasn't clear on what my point was...for the disciplines I am interested in, the ORA is not the only game in town. There are other options that are just as much fun and spending $150 to save $90 in insurance fees doesn't make sense to me. YMMV.
I sincerely hope for the long and continued success of the DCRA and the ORA, but as long as they continue to push the notion that any shooting outside of the auspices of the ORA is restricted to a bench with limited distances, then I fear the end is nigh...
Sherlock Gnomes
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- St.Catharines
I don't speak for the organisation but I don't believe they only want benched guns outside of their various disciplines. To myself and other members who are in CQB it would probably suit us better if our.local clubs allowed the same style of shooting we did in the course of fire at ORA events. This would allow for hopefully a better score during the events. The same would be said for a range that allowed unknown distance engagement for prs shooting. Heck if my.local club had movers and snap shooting it would be awesome. Unfortunately the CFO has control of these clubs and their permissions so unsure as to how much you could.introduce.
It absolutely did in 2012, I was on the BOD of the club then and the club was a DND range and we had NFA insurance. Unfortunately I am no longer in the area and not part of that club any longer so I do not have access to that info any longer. Also the extra fee I mentioned was not for DND range specifically, it was to have guest added to our policy to cover them while guests. We were required to have insurance for everyone using the ranges guest or not.
Sorry I can not help moree
Shawn
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x2 .
I know "... insurance ... " is the stated reason but on the other hand the ORA has somehow managed with the previous guest policy for many years.
Could this be in part because the DCRA benefits from ORA memberships but not from ORA guest fees? So actually a (DCRA) money grab?
Absolutely not true. The ORA's insurance is underwritten by the DCRA; this is a clarification from the insurance company that has caused a change in the way things must be done for the insurance to be valid.
