Thinking of joining Hilltop...anyone a member there?

zacmorris

Hi Lads,

Thinking of joining Hilltop
Reg fee is a bit hefty tbh 600eu but with a 25% discount
for 450.
Annual subs are €220

Is anyone a member there?
Any advice / feedback on the place?

Cheers...

Bananaman

I'm a member - have been for a number of years.

Good variety of ranges and facilities so wide variety of shooting disciplines covered.
Good shop.
Great clubhouse and facilities.
Great social aspect to the place.

Good craic in general.

Lots of help from the other members on any questions you might have.

B'Man

bazza888

hey iv been up a good few times now,great facilities for clay and target shooting and really friendly people!unfortunately i cant afford join at the moment,but would in a heartbeat if i could!

E. Fudd

Previous discussion: http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055903782&highlight=hilltop

zacmorris

Cheers lads,

Going to pop up and have a look at the place.
Looks good but with the 670 needed to get going plus a gun-
going to be a costly month !!

Rosahane

zacmorris wrote: »

Cheers lads,

Going to pop up and have a look at the place.
Looks good but with the 670 needed to get going plus a gun-
going to be a costly month !!

I'm a member too, it's a great place only problem is you can often spend all day talking over tea and biccies instead of shooting;)

The €600 initial fee includes the first year membership so it's cheaper than you thought:D Afterwards, the yearly fee is all you pay - no range fees so the more often you attend the better the value:cool:

Great facilities, three different clay disciplines. Bench rest, gallery rifle, WA1500 and indoor pistol etc.

If money is tight you can use the club guns for a small fee until you get your own.

dCorbus

One other thing to bear in mind in relation to membership subs etc. is that this also should include your annual insurance (I presume Hilltop include the insurance in the fee also - but open to correction on that by Hilltop members). So, for your annual membership fee you get use of the range and insurance AFAIK.

I'm not a member in Hilltop, but have to reiterate that they run a good and tight ship up there.

I recently held my own private shooting event (ahhh fun fun fun;):D:D) at said range and to be honest the level of professionalism and attention to detail, along with the welcome myself and my guests recieved from the Hilltop team (particularly Keith - who is a fantastic trainer BTW) and from a few exceptionally helpful / facilitating club members (thanks again, lads - you know who ye are! ) was second-to-none. So a big thumbs-up from me!

So best of luck and enjoy your shooting, zacmorris!

:cool: dC

The Bishop Basher

Joined about 4 months ago and absolutley love the place.

Everyone, both the staff and members are sound. As someone new to the sport, they couldn't have been more friendly and helpful.

The shop is well stocked and they'll give plenty of good advice.

For me the big plus here was the opening hours. Because they're open 6 days a week and open late 2 evenings, you can shoot as much as you have time for.

All i can say is the joining fee was well worth the money.

Good luck and happy shooting

It wasn't me!

Rosahane wrote: »

I'm a member too, it's a great place only problem is you can often spend all day talking over tea and biccies instead of shooting;)

The €600 initial fee includes the first year membership so it's cheaper than you thought:D Afterwards, the yearly fee is all you pay - no range fees so the more often you attend the better the value:cool:

Great facilities, three different clay disciplines. Bench rest, running boar and gallery rifle, WA1500 and indoor pistol etc.

If money is tight you can use the club guns for a small fee until you get your own.

There's a running boar range?! Sweet! I need to see that!

dCorbus

running boar

I think you'll find that it's spelt Running Bore - And doesn't every range have one or two of them?!

(Sorry, couldn't resist!:D;))

Rovi

That would be the Rambling Bore.

zacmorris

Okay,

So went up today and had a look 'round- staff very friendly and helpful.
Didn't realise they sold guns too, I'm in the market for a gun so might be an option
for me.

Only issue is the hefty joining fee (€450) + annual subs (€220)- comes to €670 just to get going. Annual sub can be paid in December, but as mentioned already- really would have thought the €450 to get going would include my first year membership.
Then will work about about €25 per 50 bird shoot until I get a gun.

So, seems like a lot at the moment as I want to get a good starter gun too.
I have the money but not convinced of the value I suppose...

rrpc

Well your other options are Courtlough (Balbriggan I think) or maybe join the ICPSA: www.icpsa.ie

ronn

Ive been up recently with a member and i payed e24 and the member paid e14,,,
Just wondering would it not be cheaper just to go up and shoot and not pay a joining fee,
say if you went up twice a week @ e24 =e2496,
if you joined up it would cost @ e14 =1456 +220= e1676
and then spread your joing(e670) fee out over how many years youll be in the club,
dont want to dampen your sprits,

just a thought, im sure members of hilltop will tell you the benfits of becoming a member,

Bananaman

Ok - I'm not doing a hard sell here - you have to decide for yourself if the club offers you what you need and make your decision based on that.

But seeing as you asked for a members view .......

The Joining fee is down considerably from when I joined (even taking my annual sub off it would not have been that low) but as you can see there are a lot of facilities and it all had to be built and it all has to be maintained - hence the joining fees - annual subs would help but they are quite low. (When you look at the fees for other clubs this will be obvious to you)

Also back in my day the annual sub was lower but you paid a range fee when you attended - with the new legislation it was being lauded that there would be minimum attendance requirements so that was simply rolled into the annual sub - which is STILL quite low.

Hilltop has a, covered and floodlit, Benchrest Range, three different, covered and floodlit, clay layouts (Compact, ABT & Sporting) , an indoor pistol and gallery rifle range and many outdoor pistol and gallery rifle ranges aswell as indoor and outdoor archery ranges along with all the facilities offered in the clubhouse and training rooms.
You also have the facility to attend when it suits you.

Imagine if you were to join a golf club with a clubhouse, two courses, tennis courts and a bowling green, what you would have to pay. It's all relative.

As to what the club offers you - that all depends on what you want to take from it. As with all clubs it is a combination of the people in it so you also have to think in terms of what you offer the club.

I shoot a lot of disciplines, shotgun, rifle and pistol so Hilltop suits me down to the ground - I like the people in it as they are good craic and it has no arse lickers or whingers in it,

The social side of it quite good both at shoots and in the odd night on the tiles, club BBQs etc.

The sport side of it is also very good - just look at the trophy cabinets - which only hold a small sample of what has been won.

Like I said - if you are to use it all - the fees are nothing.

B'Man

rrpc

Sorry zac, forgot to mention East Coast Shooting Club in my last post: www.ecsc.ie based in Roundwood, Co. Wicklow.

They have a shotgun range as well as rifle and pistol ranges.

zacmorris

Thanks again for all the advice, etc.

I do see the value alright- was planning on getting a new Baikal IZ 27 o/u, case and ammo
so just got to look at my budget and make sure everything works.
Going to decide over the weekend anyway....


anyone any idea how much a competancy course will work out at?

sorry again for all the questions

rrpc

zacmorris wrote: »

Thanks again for all the advice, etc.

I do see the value alright- was planning on getting a new Baikal IZ 27 o/u, case and ammo
so just got to look at my budget and make sure everything works.
Going to decide over the weekend anyway....


anyone any idea how much a competancy course will work out at?

sorry again for all the questions

Your club (whichever one you join) should provide this for you as part of your membership. Ask about it before you join as there may be some delay in arranging one.

zacmorris

Great,

Thanks- was under the impression it cost me on top of everything!

Will be making my mind up pretty soon anyway.

Thanks

Bananaman

Not all clubs offer a course and not all clubs include it in the membership as it is not mandatory and charging you for it as part of your membership fee would be unfair if you did not need it.

B'Man

N.O.I.P.

zacmorris wrote: »

Only issue is the hefty joining fee (€450) + annual subs (€220)- comes to €670 just to get going. Annual sub can be paid in December, but as mentioned already- really would have thought the €450 to get going would include my first year membership.

Another Hilltop Member here. Give the lads a ring tomorrow to confirm but the €450 joining fee does include your first years membership. Its €450 the first year and €220 every year after that.

zacmorris

N.O.I.P. wrote: »

Another Hilltop Member here. Give the lads a ring tomorrow to confirm but the €450 joining fee does include your first years membership. Its €450 the first year and €220 every year after that.

Hi NOIP,

Thanks for the reply.

That's what someone else here said and what I figured the way it would be.
Keith up there did say that once you pay the €450 the €220 would be due by December- will give him a shout tomorrow anyway and see what the craic is- if that's the case, i'll join tomorrow

cheers...

rrpc

Bananaman wrote: »

Not all clubs offer a course and not all clubs include it in the membership as it is not mandatory and charging you for it as part of your membership fee would be unfair if you did not need it.

B'Man

Sorry, I don't follow this at all All clubs train their members to be competent with their firearm, it's just what they do. I doubt very much that you let a member walk in without ever having fired a shot before in their lives and let them loose on the range. The process by which they get to the point where they don't need to be supervised in everything they do is usually called training. By extension it's training in competency and whether you call it a "competency course" or not doesn't change that fact.

This 'competency course' nonsense needs to be evaluated in that light. If one of our new members; having been supervised and trained for some time, wanted to license a firearm, we'd give them a letter (and have done this for years) certifying that they were a club member and that we (as a club) recommended them for a licence on the basis of their training and attendance at the club.

Money doesn't come into it. Every member has gone through this and helps others in the same way so it's not as if there's going to be some 'extra charge' somewhere that has to be paid.

zacmorris

Well, just to update...

I joined tonight and am very happy with the place.
Was looked after very well and made feel very welcome.

Look forward to getting going!

Cheers for all the advice

darrenon

can you clarify if the 450 included everything or did you pay the 220 on top of it??

thanks