I'm a rifleman at heart, but I live in the land of handguns

S

Smaug

New member
Anyone else feel like this?

I live in the Chicago suburbs. It is many miles to get to a rifle range, and many MANY miles before I could just go out on some property to shoot a rifle.

Rifles are more accurate and more fun, but they are big.

I'm pleading with my wife to get me outta suburbia when she finishes her residency. I have a feeling it is going to be a no-go.

Oh well, handguns are fun too, it is just so disappointed to struggle to get all my shots in 5" at 25 yards, when I know how easy it is with a rifle.
 
Smaug,I feel for you,hope you can get out of Chicago soon!
Fortunately for my family and I,it is only a 10 minute drive to our 500 yard rifle range. I live in East Central Ohio.

I like handguns,but much prefer rifles,as you stated,rifles more accurate and lots more fun,especially blowing up 1 gallon milk jugs filled with colored water at 500 yards:D. I always clean up after we are finished shooting for the day.
 
One of the engineers I worked with in Chicago lived in Rockford and he took the train in every day. I left there about 15 years ago so I don't know what the train situation is anymore but that stretches your options. He got to live where he wanted and the train was cheaper than driving. He napped till he got to the terminal then got his coffee and walked to the plant and by then he was awake and ready to get to work. He shot at the Northern Illinois Rifle and Pistol Club in Pecatonica.
 
Stay Strong! I couldn't handle living in a big city like that, especially Chi-town.. and for a lot of reasons other than not being able to shoot rifles. You gotta get out somehow...
 
Go north on 94 and west on HWY 50 just over the Wisconsin border to the Bristol range. One of the finest around. Rifle range, pistol range, .22 range, black powder range. They have black powder civil war re-enactments. A trap, skeet and sporting clays range and an archery range. You'd love it. Not sure which 'burb you live in but a good share of the members are from Chicago and it's 'burbs. And membership is less then $100/year! (It costs $30 to shoot per day if you're not a member).

http://bristolranges.com/
 
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I'm a rifleman at heart, but I live in the land of handguns

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Anyone else feel like this?
Click to expand...

Yeap, when I retired my intention was to do nothing but shoot. In this part of the state there isn't much rifle shooting. To get to HP matches I'd have to drive 300 miles each way.

I found a place just north of here that has pistol matches every other week so I joined in. Fun but I'm a rifle shooter.

I've been putting on HP & CMP GSM Clinics to try to get more interest. Its slow going.
 
I moved away from Chicago suburbs in 1970 and never looked back. Posts like yours remind me of how wise that decision was.
Write me privately if you want to know about good job opportunties for your wife after she finishes her residency. Congrats to her, BTW.
 
Smaug,

Tell me about it, I'm in Wood Dale and it's an hour and a half to any rifle range from the house. Besides the weather stinks as far as getting out without a set of water wings or a snow shovel. (LOL)

Jim
 
Great replies fellas!

Baily Bud - I'll look into that. That isn't the private one, where one needs a referrer, is it? I don't know any shooters in Wisconsin.

Warbirdlover - I'm a member at Bristol. I like the club, but their loading rules are BOGUS. Single loading only in centerfire rifles, 5 round max in 22s and handguns. I'm not out there trying to be Mr. Tactical, but I sure don't get much enjoyment out of my lever action 44 single loading it. I'd like an automatic rifle, like a Mini-14 or AR. Again, I don't intend to do any rapid firing, but I do like using the rifle as it was intended. So I'm casting about for a different club. I hear there's one up in the Kettle Moraine area, which also has very nice roads. (another thing we don't have within 100 miles of Chicago)

Kraig - The Bristol club has high power matches. But I don't have a military high power rifle. If I use a scope, I'm out, and I like scopes. But if I DO use a scope, then I need a benchrest quality rifle and a bottomless bank account, which I also don't have. I guess I should get a Garand or something. I don't know if you remember it, but many years ago, you sent me a copy of the US Army markmanship guide for handgunning. Thanks! I still have that email in my Inbox, all these years later.

Rifleman - I may take you up on that. She has this perception now that certain states in the south are hillbilly and barren and spooky. (she's a city girl from Poland) She's overcoming these prejudices slowly though, I think due to our taking road trips through beautiful areas like this. She almost DIED when I bought a 22 at a pawn shop in Georgia and the clerk let us take it out back and try a few rounds. No FOID needed, just the side of a hill and a saw horse. I thought it was great, she thought it was scary, hehehe. I'd love to get about 500 miles from the nearest big city and have decent weather in the winter. We'll see. At the minimum, I made her promise if we stay in the Chicago area (where there are lots of prospective Polish patients) that we will buy property in rural Wisconsin. (where we won't escape the cold, but folks are nice and so is the landscape)

Old Grump - One endearing thing about Chicago is our public transportation. I live 26 miles away from work, but to drive there takes well over an hour. Just for fun, I biked it one day during rush hour, getting there in only a bit more time it would've taken me to drive! (1-3/4 hrs. vs. 1-1/2) Normally, I take Metra, and relax on the train. Biking or driving on the home side to the train station, and walking or taking a bus on the other end. This is convenient, but our famously corrupt state government and no places to shoot rifles cancels it out.

Jim243 - Tell me about it! 41° this morning when I left. Supposed to top 80° this weekend. When I do get out to Bristol, the 25+ mph winds make it hard to get a tight group.
 
Just use a .22 rifle and shoot at small targets, if that's allowable where you shoot handguns. I use bulk mailing stickers available from Staples on a blank page.

Practice, practice, practice. When you can hit 8 out of 10 offhand at 50 feet, you're an excellent shot and won't be wasting both time and money at the centerfire range.
 
With all due respect my 22 lr rifle is set to 100 yards not a stinking 75 feet. That is sling shot range.

Jim
 
I rarely shoot my .22LRs at 100 yards because the combination of wind deflection and ammo dispersion is frustrating to me. At 100 yards or more, I stick to my Bolt-action .223 Tikka, .243 Rem 700, or .270 Win (reloaded ammo primarily).

I never shoot any of my match .22 LRs at 100 yards, but will shoot at plinking targets with sporters between centerfire shots sometimes. I'm an accuracy buff and can't cope with 1 1/2 to 3" groups at 100 yards, but don't mind taking a few pot shots at cans or clay targets laying on the range. When sighted in for 50 yards and shooting at 200 meters, the .22 LR seems more like a mortar than a rifle.
 
Re. 22LR @ 100 yards

I agree to a point, Picher.

But the group sizes at 50 yards seem to suggest 100 yards is more appropriate.

Yes, wind is a factor, and subsonic ammo and a calm day may be required to do it well.

I feel 50 yards is selling a 22LR short.

They shoot 45/70s at 500 yards in some places, right? That is like a mortar too, but it doesn't stop them from doing it. ;)
 
I like shooting dots at 50 yards, an IR50/50 competitor and that may seem a bit snobbish, but I'm not going to waste $15/box ammo by shooting at 100 yards unless there were a competition at that range available here.

To each his/her own. That's what makes shooting such a great lifetime activity. I've certainly varied my shooting over the years, having humble beginnings, plinking in gravel pits, then rifle turkey shoots, skeet, NRA handgun, police combat, IHMSA Silhouette, and finally, rimfire benchrest.

That doesn't mean I don't dabble little in most everything from time to time, including plinking. Offhand rifle shooting is a favorite.
 
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