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Silverstone Shooting Centre


skull hooker

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Hope im not repeating a thread here. I have searched and cant find anything

 

I have been following the progress of the above centre for a few months, which recently opened. its close to me and was looking forward to having controlled conditions for load development close by.

They recently announced their opening times, three days during the week and one weekend day a month.

They are 100m stands with a camera at one end on the target so you don't have to move your butt to see how your doing.

From what I can gather they are licensed up to .308cal.

They seem to be relying on the fact that they have cameras to justify their pricing structure as follows

 

Full membership £650/annum plus £50 joining fee (what exactly IS that for)

Daily walk in rate fee £175/day

 

What a total and utter disappointment. An opportunity wasted. Its not often that new shooting ranges open, but to be opened by a set of dyed in the wool robbers is criminal. They've probably bolloxed any chance of anyone else opening a reasonably priced range in the area as any other applications would be refused based on the mere presence of this money printing organisation. Their appears to be a lot of bad feeling about it on their facebook page as they have popped a lot of dream bubbles for local shooters.

 

Nice to see the ugly face of monopoly isn't dead

 

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They have a more up to date price structure, but they are open about it. They want to be a club rather than pay and shoot facility (which is a shame but, their ground, their rules).

 

Don't really see the point of the NV cameras when they close at 18:00

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£650 is not extortionate, I know people who pay thousands for a peg they rarely use.

 

There are a few clubs near me, from bare bones, cheap clubs where you provide everything, through reasonably priced clubs with decent facilities and on to expensive clubs, priced to attract a certain type of membership.

 

One more club in the UK is better than one fewer.

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I agree with Marc and others, joining is optional... There will always be facilities that dont meet somones pocket, whether its hitels restaurants or rifle ranges.

 

I hope this is a success for the operators, as it may incentivise others to overcome the huge hurdles necessary to open NEW (how many of these do we have) ranges. The new ranges may even use a different pricing model.

 

I honestly dont understand how oeople can get angry at someone else offering a service that they dont need to take up.

 

 

Ewen

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Skull hooker, whilst your description of the 'Gold' membership cost is accurate it is not the whole picture is it? There does appear to be alternative membership available for anyone not wanting unlimited access to the range all the time:

http://www.silverstoneshootingcentre.co.uk/membership.html

 

I have no knowledge of the shooting ground, other than it is a new facility. I would however imagine the cost implications of building/providing such a facility has been substantial and shooters need to recognise that and realise that both those and ongoing costs need to be recouped.

 

There really does seem to be a core in some parts of the shooting community that seem to think shooting and provision for shooting should be cheap and those that provide such facility and provision should do so cheaply and without profit. Can someone explain that mentality for me?

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Nobody is forcing you to join

 

When you join a forum, you don't expect everyone to agree with you, I accept that, its part of the debate process.

Please offer me the respect due as a human being by accepting the fact that I had worked that one out for myself.

Stating the obvious and insulting my intelligence doesn't add to the discussion process.

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When you join a forum, you don't expect everyone to agree with you, I accept that, its part of the debate process.

Please offer me the respect due as a human being by accepting the fact that I had worked that one out for myself.

Stating the obvious and insulting my intelligence doesn't add to the discussion process.

Thats the most polite FU I have seen for a while :-)

 

I have not looked in to the pricing model in detail but it does appear steep. That said I wish Silverstone every success. Having followed the pics of their earth moving for a while the developer has made a huge investment.

 

Oundle is not far from you if you need facilities and is cleared up to .338.

 

Tony

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John Thorne has spent 5 years and £500k getting this place up and running.

There are no other ranges in the UK with these facilities, and frankly they don't come cheap.

 

It's entirely up to the individual to decide if it's for them, in the same way as I can join a crappy gym down the road for £30/month, or Virgin Active 3 minutes away for £107/month....but their facilities are far far better

 

We shot at Bisley today. A lane there for the day is currently £102 and an extra £75 I think for a marker, which would equate to 6 1/2 days shooting per year for the same cost as a years membership at Silverstone

 

There's a thread on here about AIs new folding buttstock which will cost £685 and people think that is reasonable and acceptable

Again, that is more than an annual membership at Thorneys place, and you'll use the range more than the buttstock!

 

The 3 days per week, one weekend per month and sound moderators only is down to the planning approval with regards to noise reduction.

So if you can't make it on a weekday and don't have a silencer....then it isn't the place for you

 

The £50 joining fee is to create your microchipped membership card that gets you into and out of the facility.

 

£650 per year is £50+ per month with no extra fees

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SH,

 

I'm struggling to see the point of your post??

 

If you were comparing two similar facilities to illustrate one was far more expensive than the other for the same service it would be useful, but to pick one facility and rubbish it is incredible (in the literal meaning of the word).

 

I see a few posts that say 'X' costs too much, or 'Y' is charging too much - but if folks, as MJR indicates, really understood detail such as ROCI and the importance for any company or business to generate net free cash then they would have half a chance to give some structured comment or recommendation (or criticism)

 

As others have pointed out, if you do not like something do not go/pay - whatever? Same principle as a car, watch, house (gun) - if it is not for you, for whatever reason, don't buy it.

 

Brgds Terry

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I think its important to highlight what sort of shooter I am before we go any further on this. I am a UK Varminter. I have never shot in a competition, and I have never owned a rifle for anything other than vermin destruction, deerstalking or game shooting. I am generally out twice a week stalking, foxing or rabbiting all through the year

 

I used to live near Bisley, in Chertsey, and I could book a half day on the short Siberian for £30 through BASC with as many of my mates held a BASC membership. These mornings we would use for zeroing and load development. Bisley is probably 80-90 miles away now at a guess. I have called Bisley this morning and checked whether this facility does still exist, and it does, at the very reasonable price of £39 for a weekday and £52 for a weekend. I don't actually know what a 'marker' is, but I would presume its someone who looks at the target on your behalf. I have a nice spotting scope to do that for me. I don't need cameras, which Mr Thorne appears to be using to justify high prices.

 

My permissions are normally held on livestock or mixed farms where, although farmers welcome the thought of you coming round in the evening /night, disposing of vermin, they baulk at the thought of you ladder testing shedloads of development ammo in daylight, as it upsets the livestock, even with a mod, so this leaves me with a dilemma. I only need to do it every two months or so. I love my reloading but cant carry out practical testing without a range, and when I heard that there was a rifle range being built close by, I hoped it was for me, priced roughly as Bisley was through the BASC. There I could have a couple of hours developing on a bench, not the bonnet of my truck, in a controlled environment, not in the middle of a windy field

 

Well no luck there then. It would appear that the owners vision for the rifle range is not for people like me to be members, although I'm not quite sure who he IS aiming it at. By coincidence he has built the perfect range for people like me, 100m, up to .308 and for rifles with moderators. He cant cater for the long distance boys obviously. Is he hoping to attract club shooters who only shoot to 100m with moderated rifles?

 

I am not the only one who feels like this, that his current pricing excludes us. The FB page is littered with disappointed shooters, probably very much like me, who wanted the range for practical uses, but apparently at odds with the owners vision of what the club should be. I have seen that they have recently capitulated on the price of the walk in day rate. They have bowed to pressure over this and reduced it to £100 from £175, but this is still a lot to pay when you don't need a whole day. If he makes the decision to reduce this to bookable half days, he will bring the club in line with Bisley as I know it, and I would give them my custom.

 

It is nice to see another range coming on line, I cant deny that. I know it costs a lot of money, but the initial pricing structure was a bitter disappointment for people like me

 

It's entirely up to the individual to decide if it's for them, in the same way as I can join a crappy gym down the road for £30/month, or Virgin Active 3 minutes away for £107/month....but their facilities are far far better

 

Remember mate. free-weights are free-weights wherever you go, you don't need to pay double for them.

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MJR has very helpfully included a link ( in post *10) to this new shooting facility.

The range of fees are clearly described,and the full set of options widens access costs considerably.

 

Eg Bronze level is £200 annual,and hire of a lane at £10 weekdays,£20 weekends, per hour;this can be shared by at least two members,so halving the costs,with both shooting (and it implies more could share the lane,but only two can shoot at any one time).

 

I have no detailed idea how this compares-but it does not seem as out of reach as was implied by the Gold membership,and is geared to " pay as you use ". (The annual membership may well be justifiable- costs/profits etc are beyond what most of us can have much idea on-though comparisons with other facitliies help-since Bisley was mentioned (favourably by the OP).

 

Once again, fuller,accurate information,allows a more balanced assessment as to whether it suits,and a fairer assessment -without rancour,politics or whatever bee gets in your bonnet. It adds choice (whether it prevents another facility is moot),in a smallish market,probably not overprovided at the 'good facilities' level ( like a target marker,maybe....better yet by far,camera feed back).

One must be realistic-something is out of kilter if you need several hoursa month 'load developing' (if it's not good enough,you should not be verminating yet),and if you-perfectly reasonably- just enjoy shooting,then there will be some costs-proportionate to the facilities (and location,I'd imagine)....

 

Heck,I like playing tennis,but would not expect to play Wimbledon Centre Court for £5 a hour,local civic court,yes. Swish club with (cucumber) sandwiches,club house,showers,and indoor courts,well,a bit more! Golf just more of the same...the days of the £5 per round club have long gone...and playing is even more exensive than the beers........ :-)

 

gbal

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I am a range and training facility owner, be it in a different setting with a different market segment. Bottom line is that if the range gets bums on seats it will make a profit and survive - good for both owner and shooters. The price point will depend on may things like investment, time, wages and taxes. As a business if the owner can get twice the amount of clients for 100 quid than 175 quid it is just good business to do so if the variable cost are more than covered. Debating someone elses business model seems inappropriate to me however one example is my domestic clients (club) are by my invite only - they do not form a significant part of my business plan and I would suspect the Silverstone range will also need to make similar decisions like attracting police use (guaranteed income) over private shooter use. In other words I would not be happy as a plod force paying a higher rate than private shooters.

 

Think about it from the range owners view - what would you prefer- regular income and memberships or shooters turning up infrequently. I know which I prefer.

 

People should also wake up to other cost - marketing is a fairly large one for us. Eg the British Shooting Show, for two and half days cost 1200 quid, add in food, accommodation and transportation and you are well over 2 grand for a 3mx3m empty box but rather than whinge about it, the cost are factored into the pricing. Ps BSS cost are nowt compared to the IWA (fortunately I dont need to advertise there).

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John Thorne has spent 5 years and £500k getting this place up and running.

There are no other ranges in the UK with these facilities, and frankly they don't come cheap.

 

It's entirely up to the individual to decide if it's for them, in the same way as I can join a crappy gym down the road for £30/month, or Virgin Active 3 minutes away for £107/month....but their facilities are far far better

 

We shot at Bisley today. A lane there for the day is currently £102 and an extra £75 I think for a marker, which would equate to 6 1/2 days shooting per year for the same cost as a years membership at Silverstone

 

There's a thread on here about AIs new folding buttstock which will cost £685 and people think that is reasonable and acceptable

Again, that is more than an annual membership at Thorneys place, and you'll use the range more than the buttstock!

 

The 3 days per week, one weekend per month and sound moderators only is down to the planning approval with regards to noise reduction.

So if you can't make it on a weekday and don't have a silencer....then it isn't the place for you

 

The £50 joining fee is to create your microchipped membership card that gets you into and out of the facility.

 

£650 per year is £50+ per month with no extra fees

 

I know John through car's he is a member on one of the car forums I frequent, I know the pain he has been through to set this up planners etc as he has kept is in the loop from the very beginning of the project. He is aiming to be be the best range , all the tech comes at a cost.

 

Keith

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People should also wake up to other cost - marketing is a fairly large one for us. Eg the British Shooting Show, for two and half days cost 1200 quid, add in food, accommodation and transportation and you are well over 2 grand

Exactly, and that £2000 if you are on a 10% net margin requires £20k of sales to cover it.

 

T

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I think the main reason people are complaining is the way the cost is being structured, £650 (Gold) unlimited access, however due to limited opening times which were due to planning most people will not be able to use the range during the week as they are working, which might cause all 200 members to try and book a space on the weekend slot

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We have a similar style range opened up in Barnsley, albeit a 25 metre one. Set up by a chap who used to own a range in my home village.

 

I haven't been, as its not my thing, but it is a very modern range with full facilities, bar, shop etc.

 

I know he has thrown fortunes at it. I believe its doing well, catering to a section of the community that like that style of shooting.

 

Range fees aren't cheap in a modern, purpose built facility.

 

It is not a crime to make a profit either.

 

Who works for nothing ?

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I appreciate it might not be for all but as an example my local golf club carges £3500 per year membership all to kmock a ball around the lawn.....and no I dont play....not old enough

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