Interesting things happening at my local range.

[tazman]

Interesting things happening at my "local" range.
There is enough interest and participation going on in various 22lr disciplines that the board has decided to give 22lr shooters their own time slot at the bench rest range. For 6 hours on two different days, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, they are shutting down the range to allow 22 rimfire shooters to have a chance to shoot without the centerfire rifles shooting alongside them.
I think it may become a good thing. We already had a number of people vying for range time with the centerfire shooters. Now we will have a time slot of our own.
The way it is set up. If there are no 22lr shooters present, the big rifles can shoot. If a 22lr shooter is there, the centerfire rifles can't use the range, or at the very least, must ask permission from the 22lr shooters who are there.

We will see how it goes.
Does anyone have a club/range near them that is doing something similar?

[Winger Ed.]

.22s are allowed on the rifle & pistol ranges anytime, and there is no special allowances made for them.

However; we also have a 50 yard 'rimfire' range for .22s.
It's open anytime, but the concealed carry classes also use it for their qualifications, and bump anyone there at the time.

I figure if anyone was on the rimfire range with .22s, and a CC class came up,
they'd just go to one of the pistol ranges or the rifle range.

[tazman]

I should clarify, the club does not have a dedicated rimfire range. 22lr shooters use any range with the same rights and restrictions as any other shooter out there.
The club provides certain restricted hours on the various ranges for specific disciplines of centerfire shooting, both handgun and rifle. They even have restricted times for air rifle/pistol users. Seems fair to me to have certain hours available for 22lr shooters.

[buckwheatpaul]

Interesting things happening at my "local" range.
There is enough interest and participation going on in various 22lr disciplines that the board has decided to give 22lr shooters their own time slot at the bench rest range. For 6 hours on two different days, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, they are shutting down the range to allow 22 rimfire shooters to have a chance to shoot without the centerfire rifles shooting alongside them.
I think it may become a good thing. We already had a number of people vying for range time with the centerfire shooters. Now we will have a time slot of our own.
The way it is set up. If there are no 22lr shooters present, the big rifles can shoot. If a 22lr shooter is there, the centerfire rifles can't use the range, or at the very least, must ask permission from the 22lr shooters who are there.

We will see how it goes.
Does anyone have a club/range near them that is doing something similar?

tasman, I love the idea.....large caliber next to or on both sides of a .22 user can be daunting for them.....I think it is a great idea.....keep us posted and I will run it by our range board!

[dverna]

It is a mixed bag. The .22 shooters might be thrilled but the other shooters will not be.

When you say benchrest range, I assume it is a 100 yard range; and I have never seen many guys shooting at 100 yards with .22's. So to please a few they will constrain the many?

But whatever works for the local conditions is what makes sense. At the ranges I used to shoot at, it would be a silly proposal. The .22 shooters stayed on the 25 and 50 yard ranges even though they could shoot at 100 yards.

["Spoon"]

It is a mixed bag. The .22 shooters might be thrilled but the other shooters will not be.

When you say benchrest range, I assume it is a 100 yard range; and I have never seen many guys shooting at 100 yards with .22's. So to please a few they will constrain the many?

But whatever works for the local conditions is what makes sense. At the ranges I used to shoot at, it would be a silly proposal. The .22 shooters stayed on the 25 and 50 yard ranges even though they could shoot at 100 yards.

I sure enjoy shooting the 100 yard range with my .22.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tazman]

Our bench rest range has berms at 25, 50, 100, and 185 yards. These are arranged in a V pattern with 25, 50, 100 yard berms on both sides leading to the longest (185) in the center.
These are the only 25, 50, and 100 yard ranges available for rifle shooters. Everything else is either handgun only or not long enough to reach 50 yards.
The range is open to all shooters from 8AM till dark every day. I would hardly call two different 6 hour sessions during that time a serious imposition.

There are separate ranges(multiple) both indoor and outdoor for handguns some of which rifles and shotguns are not allowed on.
There are two other rifle ranges available. One is 200 yards only and another that is 600 yards only.

[rcslotcar]

I shoot heavy caliber rifles and rim fire also. I don't like it when a Dad and kid are put next to me when I'm shooting center fire rifles. I'll switch over to rim fire so that they can enjoy their time there together. I had great times when I was taught to shoot at the local range with my Father. A range that recognizes the needs of shooters is a good thing!

[Daekar]

I am a little confused. Why would this be necessary or desirable? Even rimfire shooters should be wearing hearing protection, right?

I lost count of how many different interesting guns I got to see at other lanes back when I went to a range to shoot my 22s.

[BigAlofPa.]

I don't mind shooting next to centerfire rifles. But when someone is shooting an Ar that shoots .308. And they have a bird cage on it. That is very annoying. Of course they are on the range when it's busy. And you can't get a bench that is away from them.

[uscra112]

I don't mind shooting next to centerfire rifles. But when someone is shooting an Ar that shoots .308. And they have a bird cage on it. That is very annoying. Of course they are on the range when it's busy. And you can't get a bench that is away from them.

I minded when they were there to do mag dumps, and couldn't stay on their own targets. Big magnums with muzzle brakes were another thing that would make me pack up and move to the farthest-away open bench, or just go home. I often found guys shooting guns like that to be even more arrogant than Harley riders. (All past tense 'cause I am too crippled now to shoot at the club range anymore. Fortunately I can and do shoot here on the farm, but only at 35 yards.)

[tazman]

I am a little confused. Why would this be necessary or desirable? Even rimfire shooters should be wearing hearing protection, right?

I lost count of how many different interesting guns I got to see at other lanes back when I went to a range to shoot my 22s.

I wear doubled up hearing protection when I shoot. Both earplugs and muffs. I use the highest db rated and most effective hearing protection I can find. Even this is not enough when someone with a 16 inch barreled rifle with a flash hider or muzzle brake on the front is anywhere near.
Most shooters I have encountered are polite enough to move over a bench or two if one is open. This is necessary because the shorter ranges are only accessible from the end benches, not the benches in the middle. No cross firing of targets is allowed.
We still get people who don't care about anyone else. They will blast you off the line with their muzzle blast and pelt you with their hot brass and think that is as it should be, not caring about the problems they cause.
These people are the reason the big magnum "sniper style" rifles got banned at the range. Those muzzle brakes they need and use will blow anything not nailed down right off the next bench. That and the damage they do to the berm.

The AR is currently the most popular style rifle purchased in the last few years. There are lots of them out there. Every time I have been to the range this summer(at least once a week since April), someone will show up with an AR style rifle. The vast majority are no problem and quite considerate. I help them out when I can by spotting bullet impacts and other things as needed. Enough of them like their mag dumps that it becomes an issue at times. There is a posted club rule for the bench rest range that there will be no mag dumps. It is a benchrest range after all. There are other ranges where that can be done. This rule gets ignored often enough.
There are special times where range usage is restricted so the AR rifle guys can have the range to themselves just as there are for other disciplines of shooting.
Up till now, this was just something we had to put up with. Fair for one should be fair for all. If one style gets a restricted time, so should the others, presuming there is enough interest and participation. If there is no participation, it will go away. The board will see to that.

[BigAlofPa.]

I hate when you can feel the percussion from them too. The last guy i was next to. Was a nice guy to chat with at least. His son was a nice young man too. I wonder if these guys know how it feels to be next to them.

[tazman]

Just got an update from the club. The new hours are temporary in order to determine the popularity of the 22lr shooting discipline at the club. If enough people use the range over the time the hours are in effect, they will consider building a dedicated 22lr range.
This is reasonable considering the expense building a dedicated range would entail.

[uscra112]

Let's hope the usage justifies building a dedicated .22 range.

[tazman]

Let's hope the usage justifies building a dedicated .22 range.

I suspect it would take quite a bit. The email said the expected cost to build the range would be around $200,000. It will be interesting to see how this works out. The club seems to have a lot of available money but they try to spend it wisely.
They currently have nearly 1400 members. At $150 a year, that adds up. The club also gets grants from the NRA for projects like this.

[upnorthwis]

Maybe I'm just in my own little world while shooting, but it has never mattered to me what the guy next to me is shooting. And I find it a little unusual that somehow the rifle I'm shooting makes the rifle next to me louder because it's a centerfire.

[ohiochuck]

Excellent idea with a dedicated time for rimfire shooters on the range. When I have been shooting my rimfire guns almost always there are multi AR rifles firing beside me. I usually stop and sometimes leave and try to find a quieter day to shot my rimfire gun(s). I also have ARs and other center fire guns but have this past year spent more time with the .22 LR guns as there was some reduction in ARs on the line- possibly ammo shortage?
I set up to fire at 25, 50, 75 & 100yds.
Tazman-I hope the rimfire shooters take advantage of this time or this special setup will disappear.
Jim

[Bmi48219]

I doubt many shooters are thrilled to be assigned a lane next to a .308 SBR or a Draco 7.62 x 39, I’m not. The consideration your club is showing is admirable. Every person on the firing line has a right to enjoy the sport.
Besides it could be a good reason to make more trips to the range.

[uscra112]

Once I retired, I got spoiled. Got settled in to my retirement BOL and joined the local rifle club, and I could choose any day of the week and any time of day. Quickly learned to choose mid-day on weekdays, which avoided all the guys who had to work. What it did NOT avoid was the police training sessions, but those were over on the pistol range, and the dates were published.