So I will be moving to either stationed in either St. Petersburg or Miami.  If I have to go to Miami I was thinking of living North of there somewhere within the 30-40 min commute zone.  Same maybe with St. Petersburg.  I have a family and I am trying to do what is best for them with the little to no control that I have.  Any recommendations for neighborhoods or suburbs or livable safe areas around these two cities?
Thanks guys!

Age of children?  Pinellas has one of the WORST public schools in Florida.  So you would almost have to put them in private school or home scholl them.  I'd look into either Manatee, Hillsborough or Pasco counties.

Coast Guard?

I work in north St Pete and live in Manatee.  As long as you stay near the interstate (I'm pretty much where 275 and 75 meet), it is an easy commute (about 30 minutes).  South St Pete is only a 15 minute ride over the Skyway.

Manatee is much nicer than Pinellas in my opinion.  Newer neighborhoods, better schools, much less congestion.  Manatee has a lot of open spaces still.  Depends what you want though.

This ^ for St. Pete, good luck w/ the Miami area.................................

I would look at Palm Harbor if you want to live in Pinellas.  Schools in Pinellas are no worse than the surrounding counties... at least according to FDOE grades.  Hillsborough does grade out a little better.  Like any place there are good and bad schools and Palm Harbor is a good area.  I live right on the Clearwater/Palm Harbor border. I have 2 indoor gun ranges to choose from within 15 miles of my house.  One of them is only 4 or 5 miles away.  They are also building a huge range and shop in Tarpon Springs.

I'll see your 2 indoor ranges and raise you a 1,000 yard outdoor range.  Manatee for the win.

Where's the USCG station located at? That will be a factor for the commute in the St Pete area.  A significant portion of this area is truncated by US19 which can be a real bear as it's continually under construction.


I'm on the beach in St Pete beach and would never suggest it if you have young kids.  


Edit: I just looked and see 3 stations. One up in Clearwater, one in Bradenton and another over in St Petersburg.  If it's Clearwater then Palm harbor is nice. So is the Safety Harbor area.

For the St Pete station or Bradenton your options really open up. You can commute 275 over the Skyway for St Pete which opens up all of the locations in Manatee and Hillsborough counties. Sundance, zoned 5 acres,  is nice but getting pricey.

Myakka also has lots of opportunities, both older homes as well as developments. Nice out there and would work for Bradenton or St Pete.


As mentioned the schools in the area are brutal. Pay no attention to the FL rating of schools....all lies for Fed funding.   Fishhawk in Valrico has the best schools in the area but that would be a bit of a commute for you and those homes are pricey.

I'd take this area over Miami but that's me. To find the equivalent home in a decent area of Miami you can expect to pay about 30% higher and it would be good if you're a Spanish speaker. Not a hit on my Latino brothers,,,,it's just that speaking espanol in Miami really opens up the city.

Is that range open to the general public?   I would like to start shooting at longer distances.

Yes, Manatee range is open to the public. I'm not sure that the 1000 yd is still GTG. I had thought that there was an issue and they backed it up to 700. I know that there was an issue with a gong that they had at 700, a deflected round landing near a house or something, and they pulled the steel.

I personally don't like Manatee range. It's not a bad range or anything, it's just that I've been spoiled by better ranges and Manatee is a bit lock step for my tastes. It does let you reach out though.

Manatee range

Edit: looks like the 1000 yd KD is still open.

There are many neighborhoods in Pinellas County that are good to go.    I lived in Largo on Lake Seminole for a few years when I worked at the nuclear weapons facility and we liked it there.  Seminole, Clearwater and Safety Harbor are fine.

The further north you go the better but the commute during rush hour can be a pain.  Living across the Skyway bridge in Manatee is a good option and the commute wouldn't be too bad.  You could actually live south of Riverview on the Tampa side and commute across the bridge and it wouldn't be too much of a problem.  More wide open spaces there.

The further south you go on the peninsula the more the schools suck.  There are some halfway decent schools in the county but they are in the northern part.

Lots of good restaurants in Pinellas and of course the fishing and beaches and access to the Gulf is great.

Where would you be stationed in Miami OPF or Miami Beach?

If starting fresh, I'd probably stay out of St. Pete, (Really all of FL) but I'm not exactly impartial. every time I step out of the house I hate St. Pete a little more...



Both of those ranges are garbage. I live near Biff Burger and drive to Shooter's World by USF Tampa. Shoot Straight can die in a fire.

What do you consider the better ranges in Manatee?

I use GunCraft in Ruskin.  Most of my shooting is done 50 yds and in and Guncraft is much ore user friendly, especially if shooting steel and from barricades. Manatee is fine for long range rifle work, on paper.

Do you have to bring your own targets/stands?  Also, how is traffic there on Saturdays?

30-40 minutes north of Miami is not very far. If you are USCG you will be stationed in Miami Beach or Homestead AFB.

I have my own stands and steel. There are stands there and a plate rack, some poppers etc.  Note that there are a variety of different memberships; a yearly ($250), a limited yearly ($50+$7 range fee each session) and daily, $15 IIRC.

The yearly allows use of the north bay and the other memberships allow use of the center and south bays. North bay is wide and allows for shooting and moving. Center bay is narrower but still allows action shooting. South bay is static, like Manatee, for the bullseye crowd, zeroing, etc...

On mondays the bays are closed and the 100 and 200 yd range is open for rifle work.

Saturdays are hit or miss. In the summer there's less traffic because the snowbirds are up north and the weather humid.  Winter it can get busy though I rarely have trouble shooting.

Thanks for the information.  I may have to head up there to check it out.

Forgot KOPF