Blogpost: Shooting Ranges in Warsaw

I’ve always been interested in firearms and I was lucky enough to be able to shoot a variety of weapons when I visited the US for my younger brother’s wedding.  I don’t know if this will interest any readers but I’ve been looking at shooting ranges in Poland ever since and have saved up a little bit of money to go and visit one. Here's some info on the ones in Warsaw and if any readers have experience of shooting and would like to recommend a particular club, please do feel free to comment. 

Lucky Me

But first - a quick run down of the guns I was lucky enough to try out in America. A beretta .22 neos 11 shot automatic pistol with laser, tactical light, and holographic sights. A Smith & Wesson .22 8 shot "kit gun" revolver with hiViz sights, Smith & Wesson .22 magnum 7 shot 2" barrel revolver with hiViz sights, an Anschutz .model 1640 .22 target rifle with 3x9, 40mm scope (shot a golf ball from a bout 40 yards with my first shot using this!) . A Savage .22 tube fed 20 shot bolt action rifle, a Smith and Wesson Woodsman .22 pistol from 1970's. A High Standard .22 derringer 2 shot over and under, a Remington  1100 auto shotgun with a 12 gauge 3" chamber, an older springfield 12 gauge shotgun with 18.25" inch barrel. A Belgian made Browning .300 magnum rifle with scope, a .357 Ruger with a  4 inch barrel and a .177 8 shot CO2 pellet gun.

Oh and not forgetting the crossbow and Glock (19 I think) as well. It was a good afternoon!

Quick Guide: Warsaw Shooting Clubs

• ·      Parabellum http://www.strzelectwo.info/ (About 50KM from Warsaw but reachable on train)

The weekend cost for one hour’s use of “extra weapons” (rifles, shotguns, sub machine guns etc.) is 100zl. They’ve got a wide range of pistols, H5Ks (long and short stock), M-4s, AKs and even a Tommy and Sterling sub machine gun!  

(On the Tommy, .45 ACP cartridges are 1.70 each so a 50 round drum magazine  firing 4 magazines would be around 340zl.  Ouch!)

The cost of 4 mags of AK47 would be around 150zl so that’s definitely a cheaper option.

Verdict – bit of a mission for anyone visiting Warsaw for a short break, but for a local or someone with enough time on their hands, worth a go. Very good website.

• ·         CWKS Legia-Shooting Section  www.strzelectwo-legia.pl

Not sure that housing a shooting range in the same building used by football fans is necessarily a good idea, but if it gets down an If style shoot out at least there’d be an armoury close to hand. 

The (Polish language only) website indicates the full cost for an hour and a half’s shooting of a small-calibre weapon is 180zl. It’s not clear what  the full range of weapons they have there is though.

Verdict – good central Warsaw location  but website’s only in Polish and there's not much information for a one-off visitor. 

• ·         Związkowy Klub Strzelecki www.zks.org.pl (Metro Marymont)

Also completely in Polish and  not much information on the website for non-club members. However this is also handily located near to Marymont metro station (short distance to the city centre).

•  Klub Strzelnica AVGO http://www.strzelnica-wp.pl/   Merliniego 4

Very well laid out website (only in Polish) with a clear armoury and pricing structure. The cost of hiring everything and use of an AK47 with 4 mags would be approximately 250 zinzillas.

Initial Verdict:

Parabellum definitely win for a clearly laid out, English language website. 

This week I will email the other clubs asking for definite prices to hire an instructor etc. to shoot an AK-4l with 4 mags and maybe a pistol too and update this guide. Next step after that is to part with my weakly-earned cash and check one out.

Company Benefits

Many older Polish men will have experience in shooting due to conscription under Communism which then continued into the 90s. Several of my students work for companies which also organise shooting competitions for their staff. 

Actually, that takes me on to another point which is the wide number of additional organised events and outings I've found are still being held at companies in Warsaw – something that efficiency savings and business culture changes has sadly killed off at a lot of large UK corporates.