The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

The Home Office requires clubs to maintain a record of members' visits and the s/n of the firearm(s) they used and hold the information for a period of six years.

My club uses a 'paper' system - an A4 sheet which holds about 20 names. Over any given weekend, there will be around five sheets filled - c. 250 per year, 1500 after six years.

No problem - the system works - until it comes to RETRIEVAL. In other words, when the police ask how many times a particular member has visited and shot, someone has to riffle through a lot of paper!

With 450+ members, a 'page per day' diary system, or loose-leaf file with a page per member wouldn't really be practical so we are looking at some sort of digital/computer based signing-in system maybe using a swipe card. (Our current membership ID card already has the ability to do this).

I know some gyms and health clubs use this kind of system but does anyone have experience of it in a shooting club? It would be easier and cheaper to buy existing software rather than develop our own.

I don't wish to start a lengthy discussion on how your club does it but if anyone has experience of a computer-based system it would be helpful to know more.

Thank you

We use an Excel spreadsheet. Names in left column and 'locked'. We then have dates across the top row for each day the range is open. At the end of each shoot day the paper record is read and a 'X' put in the date column against the name. I guess we could easily have a final RH column of 'sum all' for each members attendance.

I know you didn't ask for 'club's methods' but I wondered if this is a simple home brewed way rather than costing money for software.

Hope this helps

JohnG :cornwall:

With us, each shooter also has his own sign in sheet with their names, Fac no. and firearms details on it. That way it relieves the secretary from that particular dilemma.

Andy632 wrote:With us, each shooter also has his own sign in sheet with their names, Fac no. and firearms details on it. That way it relieves the secretary from that particular dilemma.

Our FEO advised us that anything that listed FAC details and gun details along with names and addresses should always be kept under lock and key.
For that reason, our range register is one sheet per member with guns losted and attendence dates but no contact details except initials and membership no.
I admit this wouldn't work for a large membership but we've only got about 40.
Steve

We don't record addresses, just name & Fac no & firearm details & kept locked up.

We use a pre printed credit card size card, u fill the card per visit with you, the gun or guns used and serial numbers, firing point etc, then u stick through a slot in our safe, the sec retreives the cards and puts attendance in an excel and stores the card in that members file, thus its then very easy to retreive info.

Did we speak on the phone? If so, sorry for the repeat.

We use a system called EZ, its not cheap (£200 a month) but its an all encompassing software package designed for gyms (we are the first in Europe to use it for a gun range but its more common in the USA) and covers everything from membership to invoicing. We record all FAC details and membership (with photo) is recorded onto a barcode id card which members have to show each visit.

After each visit each member completes a round count which records how many of each calibre fired and what lane they fired it on, thats then recorded onto the members record, when the cops ask we download a spreadsheet for each member which shows what days they attended, how many rounds of each calibre they fired and on what days, which can be compressed into a simple total per member over a given period.

Electronic copies of the membership details are kept hard copy in a safe and in the cloud via encrypted software, we even only use laptops at the range office (which are kept in the safe in the main building) so that there are no PC's to nick.

Its expensive for a small club but record keeping is going to get tougher and tougher so gun ranges/clubs need to be mindful I feel.

Sounds like a good system but you’re providing a lot more information than the police usually ask for there, the round count in particular would worry me.

“Sorry sir, you’ve only fired 47 rounds through your .303 Rifle this year, this does not constitute regular use”

safetyfirst wrote:Sounds like a good system but you’re providing a lot more information than the police usually ask for there, the round count in particular would worry me.

“Sorry sir, you’ve only fired 47 rounds through your .303 Rifle this year, this does not constitute regular use”

It works the other way too. It gives you evidence to support any increase in the amount you can hold.

Donald

MrD wrote:

safetyfirst wrote:Sounds like a good system but you’re providing a lot more information than the police usually ask for there, the round count in particular would worry me.

“Sorry sir, you’ve only fired 47 rounds through your .303 Rifle this year, this does not constitute regular use”

It works the other way too. It gives you evidence to support any increase in the amount you can hold.

Donald

Thats the idea.

Of course that just at our range, thats not to say the member isnt shooting elsewhere or in comps. We dont claim its an exlusive amount, simply what we count. Also helps of course for backstop management, we know per lane how many rounds into it.