Hi All - I have an interview in Waterloo and am seeking input on the general location, shooting sports and fishing hot spots. Also, any restrictions on suppressors or SBRs aside from the typical Federal red tape? Thx in advance for your comments.

first off, NFA is a no go in IA so you'll have to either leave the stuff in FL or sell it.  My wife lived in waterloo for a few years and it seemed like a nice place to be. I'm not much for bigger towns but it was fairly easy to get around in and there is plenty of stuff to do. There are a few ranges within a short distance of town and I know that one of them has IDPA type matches. Can't help you with the fishing info.

Everyone tells me that Waterloo has turned into a haven for criminal activity.  When I lived in the area nearly 20 years ago, there were bad spots of town, but it appears that now there are a few decent spots in town instead of the inverse.

I go over there quite a bit, don't think I'd want to live in Waterloo, but right next door in Cedar Falls wouldn't be so bad. There are a lot of smaller towns around there too that would make for a good place to live with a short drive to work.  There are starting to be a lot or 3-gun, IDPA and USPSA, zombie shoots etc going on in Iowa recently.  Most of them would be a 1-2 hr drive from Waterloo, however there is a range there that has an IDPA shoot and a USPSA shoot every month bi-weekly during the spring-fall months.

Waterloo is nice in certain neighborhoods, cedar falls schools are better if you have kids. I just moved to CF from Waterloo after living there for 9 years.

Lots of places to fish and kayak, at least three ranges within 20 minutes, and there is a pistol club (but I think it is invite only)

Where are you interviewing at?

CF is your best bet. Quite a few "shots fired" calls in Waterloo this past summer. There is an Isaac Walton league in Waverly which is a short ways north from CF. They have their own range.

It is not invite only.

I used to live in Waterloo and I'm happy I don't now. CF is nicer, but I'm glad I don't live there either.

Ya I'm north of wcf and I hate going there but they have menards so

I'm originally from Waterloo and Cedar Falls. I moved away 12 years ago but our family is still there so we go to visit and do various things there. There is definitely a lot to do there. Lots of parks, trails, a couple lakes and a water trail that includes the Cedar River as well. I haven't been for a while, but the public range at Black Hawk park is pretty nice for being free.

Now for the downsides; it has gotten worse since I moved. For now Cedar Falls is probably *safer* but crime is starting to spill over into CF. Waterloo was never really named for it's "safeness" though. It used to be called "Little Chicago" due to heavy mob influence, hwy 20 was a major link between W'loo and Chicago. Both W'loo and CF governments are Nazi regimes. City ordinances and their code enforcers are anal. Early on I heard that they went so far as to go onto people's property to look for violations, but I haven't heard if it still goes on or not.

I currently live about an hour north in a really small town and I love it. As others have said, there are some nice smaller towns nearby with easy drives.

I hope your interview goes well.


*there are no truly safe neighborhoods, crime can happen anywhere

I grew up in a wonderful little farm town 20 minutes outside of Waterloo.  Waterloo is a shit hole in my opinion.  If I was going to work in Waterloo I would live in Dike, Reinbeck, or Hudson.

Some of Waterloo is alright.  The nice thing is there are nice communities in the area to live that aren't far from Waterloo.

Black Hawk Park is the nicest public shooting range I have ever been to.  No ROs, free to public.

Lol. Fuck blackhawk (unless you go at 2pm on a Wednesday in January). Washburn is much nicer, mainly due to the lack of idiots.   IMO ymmv etc etc

You're taking your life into your own hands if you shoot at black hawk.

I haven't been to Black Hawk in years, I did have one unsafe even where I had to tell someone to mind their muzzle control (fortunately their gun was jammed at the time). I assume it's gotten worse? It seemed to have more to offer than Washburn.

Disclaimer, I've not been to either in a bit more than a year.  Also, I spent probably 90% of my time shooting rifles there.  BHPC is a great place to shoot pistols, IMHO, much better than either Washburn or Blackhawk.

It arguably does have more, but not much more, IMO.  Washburn put in a new pistol range, giving them 1 pistol, 1 kind of mixed use (I think at 25 yards) and 1 rifle range.  They also "added" a 50 yard berm.  However, the 50 yard berm came at the expense of the 100 yard berm.  (Instead of all the benches in front of the 100 yard berm, now I think 4 or so are in front of the 50, and only 2 or 3 in front of the 100.)  Which makes things problematic if you want to shoot at 100.

Blackhawk has more total bays, IIRC, and you can shoot out to 200.

That said, I still much prefer Washburn.  I used to shoot out there pretty much weekly, and very seldom had to wait for a bench, or drive down the road and wait for unsafe assholes to leave.  At Blackhawk, I had to wait much more, and the ratio of unsafe idiots to safe shooters was way higher than at Washburn, making Washburn an easy choice.

Haha, and in an interesting side note, I will likely go shooting in the 'loo tomorrow.  I might even risk Blackhawk, since its starting to get chilly, and I'll be in and out before noon.  Maybe not though - I might get skeered.

sounds like body armor should be part of one's range gear...