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Texas, Where to live and be close to F-Class Matches?

Papa Charlie

Papa Charlie

I am approaching retirement in the next 3 years. I grew up on the Oregon Coast and had always dreamed of moving back there in retirement. But with the West Coast being a blue nightmare and the high cost of housing that has now been dashed.
We have been looking at Texas and I wanted to reach out to those shooters that live in Texas and get your comments and recommendations on places to look at.
We would like to have a small single level ranch style place 1600+ square feet or so would be nice. It is just the wife and I, no kids, grown or otherwise, but hope to have family visit on occasion. Some acreage would be nice and shop. Safety is a concern to me and a big concern to my wife. We have had enough of the drugs and crime where we live now. We need to be close to medical facilities as we are getting older, but I don't want to be in a city. It would be nice if it weren't too far away.
I don't want to have to give up my F-TR shooting so would like some recommendations. A range close by that has matches would be desirable.
So where would you recommend and where would you recommend that we avoid?
If you don't feel like posting in public forum, I would totally understand, please feel free to PM me.
Thank you in advance for any help you may provide.
 
I live in New Braunfels. There is the Deitz range that shoots monthly Group shoots, and next door they shoot F-Class. I just moved back here from DFW area, and find the Temps to be about 15 degrees warmer in the winter. I do miss my DFW shooting friends very much.
 
Houston would be the best bet. They have monthly long range and mid range matches, and the Texas State Rifle Association matches are held in Houston as well.
 
Central Texas exept for the liberal hippies , that puts you in the middle... Just do a search for what you're looking for... Texas is huge... You can drive all day and still be in here.... Do not move into a big city unless that's what you want... Buy a piece of land in the country... You will be driving for hours to get from anywhere to anywhere in Texas , including stuck in traffic in big cities... Austin traffic you can plan on growing older while you wait on nothing , well pretty much any big city with everyone moving here...
 
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Carthage Tx has a very nice 600 yard range and just across the state line near Shreveport LA is a range where they also shoot 1000 yards. If you like heat and humidity.

Mildand Tx, where my brother just escaped from, has a couple ranges, one near Stanton Tx where monthly 600 and 1000 yd matches are held. If you like hot and blowing sand plus crazy oilfield traffic.

Edmond Oklahoma has the Oklahoma City Gun Club just to the East of town where monthly 600 yd matches are held. Just an hour to the East is Red Castle Gun Club that also has monthly matches at one of the most challenging ranges I've ever shot on.

And yes there's Houston. All I'm going to say about that.
 
Papa Charlie said:
I am approaching retirement in the next 3 years. I grew up on the Oregon Coast and had always dreamed of moving back there in retirement. But with the West Coast being a blue nightmare and the high cost of housing that has now been dashed.
We have been looking at Texas and I wanted to reach out to those shooters that live in Texas and get your comments and recommendations on places to look at.
We would like to have a small single level ranch style place 1600+ square feet or so would be nice. It is just the wife and I, no kids, grown or otherwise, but hope to have family visit on occasion. Some acreage would be nice and shop. Safety is a concern to me and a big concern to my wife. We have had enough of the drugs and crime where we live now. We need to be close to medical facilities as we are getting older, but I don't want to be in a city. It would be nice if it weren't too far away.
I don't want to have to give up my F-TR shooting so would like some recommendations. A range close by that has matches would be desirable.
So where would you recommend and where would you recommend that we avoid?
If you don't feel like posting in public forum, I would totally understand, please feel free to PM me.
Thank you in advance for any help you may provide.
Click to expand...


PapaCharlie,
We live in the Poetry community area. We are 15 miles from Rockwall which has great medical facilities and nearby Rowlett has a large hospital also. We may be overloaded with medical facilities. I am 12 miles from my shooting club, Terrell Pistol and Rifle club. Very reasonable and very nice facilities. We have lived here for 20 years. Only problem that we have is running over deer or hogs. I have at least 8-12 deer outside our bedroom area daily.
I'm not a FClass shooter, but believe several are in the area. Dallas is very close to us and I believe they're a few places to shoot FClass.
 
Bayou Rifles in Houston has monthly mid-range and long-range F-class matches. That particular range is on the south side of the city, near the town of Pearland (which consequently has one of the best barbecue restaurants in the area). They have another range on the West side of town that is mostly for smallbore silhouette, and pistol bullseye matches. I've lived in Houston most of my life, and I think it's a great city. It's very big and composed of many distinct neighborhoods / areas, so it might be worthwhile to spend some time visiting and looking around.
 
Oh and Pearland shooting club is excellent, they have lots of matches, but no F-class I think.

Regarding your other concerns, Houston has good and bad areas, just like anywhere else. You can check real estate values and crime maps, but generally if a place looks pretty safe to you, it probably is. Houston is also home to some of the nation's top medical facilities. Congratulations on your retirement! ;)
 
I live near the Austin, TX area and I'd say one of the towns on the outskirts of Houston would be best if F-Class shooting is high on the priority list. That said, I wouldn't choose to live near/around Houston otherwise (personal preference unrelated to shooting). Bayou is definitely the most prominent range in Texas that does F-Class. One downside though is it seemingly takes a while (years) to get a membership, but you can at least shoot comps without one. They shoot 300/600/1000 yard matches with electronic scoring.

New Braunfels is another location in the Central Texas area that has matches; 500 yard MR matches.

It takes me ~3 hours to drive from my house to Bayou, or ~1-1.5hrs to drive to New Braunfels.

Lots of good smiths in the Texas area too.
 
Pat..Canyon Lake is a nice place..we have our monthly 500yd match at Ctsa first Saturday of the month the haul ass that evening to Bayou and shoot 1000 on Sunday and back home by 6 then Midland at the end of the month.
 
What a grand idea--moving to Texas!!--many excellent choices, would be hard to go wrong. Except Austin--I would not recommend Austin. Good luck to you and may you prosper in a great state!!
 
TEXAS, I would move there but for objections from the other half. There is no income tax a big plus. The state is so big that you can live in dry/arid to hot humid climates. Land/home taxes including school vary widely across the state. Find a location you might like and contact the county courthouse to peruse local taxes. My suggestion is to research and go for it.

perry42
 
Thanks all. Wife has Aunt in DFW area. Planning trip in Spring to check area out. Looking at land/ houses on area either West, South or East of area seems nice. Appears as though more trees just to the East.
Any matches or ranges in that area?
 
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