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.

[Daekar]

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.

This is kind of what I was thinking... it's not like the other guns are more offensive because I'm shooting something small.

Besides, who goes all the way to the range with JUST rimfires, unless that's all they have? We alternated between quiet little 22s, pistols, medium-power carbines like the SKS, and the hilarious muzzle blast (and accompanying fireball) of a m91/44 Mosin Nagant. Sure, I've been pelted with brass cases, but I'm sure not gonna tell the other person that they need to move or can't use the range at certain times now because that's inconvenient for me... and they gave me the same courtesy. Some guns chuck brass into the next county, but that's just part of the game - you could say it's part of the appeal, the different functionality and diversity. It would have been appallingly boring to go the range and see all the same kind of gun all the time, a range isn't complete without an ancient single-shot 22LR, a big revolver, a tactical magdump machine, a surplus rifle equally useful for clubbing and shooting, and a scoped 300 Ultra-Whizz-Mag on the same line.

Of course, that's just my opinion. YMMV. :-)

[uscra112]

Hot brass down my neck from three benches away ain't fun. The guy who isn't controlling it ought to be horsewhipped.

Of course, that's just my opinion. YMMV.

Another pet peeve is AR and 9mm shooters who don't police their brass before they leave. I didn't mind too much for a while, it was free once-fired brass. But after I hit a thousand pieces of 5.56 it just got to be a chore.

[/rant]

[15meter]

Boy, am I spoiled, I belong to two gun clubs, the busy club has a ten bench combined rifle range, 25, 50 and 100 yards. Most times during the week there are only a couple of shooters, weekends maybe 7 out of 10 benches are in use. And that's usually just the last week or two before deer season.

On the less busy range, if we have 15 shooters a week, that's a busy week. And that range goes out to 300 yards.


Plus both clubs have separate pistol ranges.

Spoiled. Rotten.

[Bigslug]

Speaking for myself, when the "rule-mongers" walk in and insist on making changes beyond basic safety is when I usually walk out. I have enough Democrats in my state legislature - I don't want them on my rifle range.

I am all for making room for the kids and new shooters to learn without bombs going off next to them. But if things are to the point the time of day I have for my game is totally unavailable, or if I'm trying to avoid afternoon heat or morning cold, or if I have to turn around and go home to accommodate snowflakes. . .simply put, I don't think I'd want to join your range.

My range has it's matches for various disciplines on the weekends, closing the range typically from morning to early afternoon. Result - I don't shoot on the weekends unless it's an emergency pre-deer-season prep kind of thing. I have my every-other-flex-Friday off work and that's about it. I think I'd vapor lock if they launched what your club is proposing.

[uscra112]

See post #11.

[tazman]

Speaking for myself, when the "rule-mongers" walk in and insist on making changes beyond basic safety is when I usually walk out. I have enough Democrats in my state legislature - I don't want them on my rifle range.

I am all for making room for the kids and new shooters to learn without bombs going off next to them. But if things are to the point the time of day I have for my game is totally unavailable, or if I'm trying to avoid afternoon heat or morning cold, or if I have to turn around and go home to accommodate snowflakes. . .simply put, I don't think I'd want to join your range.

My range has it's matches for various disciplines on the weekends, closing the range typically from morning to early afternoon. Result - I don't shoot on the weekends unless it's an emergency pre-deer-season prep kind of thing. I have my every-other-flex-Friday off work and that's about it. I think I'd vapor lock if they launched what your club is proposing.

If you had read the update I posted(post number 14) this is temporary to find out if there is enough interest to build a dedicated rimfire range. This will not be permanent.
There are over 1400 members at the range I am talking about. They don't run it for the benefit of just a few people.

Probably just as well you don't live in the area. There are many different time slots that are carved out of the week and dedicated for practice sessions for some discipline or another. I have to watch the schedule and pick my times when the range is open for general use. Part of the deal when you are part of a large club with varied interests.

[303Guy]

My range has a dedicated air rifle section and a 25m sighting in range. That's where the 22 guys shoot. Once someone came to sight in his wiz mag with muzzle break. The range officer asked others if it was OK for this guy to shoot (well, he was actually just warning us of what was to come. The guy went to the end bay. I was a few bays left from him. When he fired that thing I left my position and stood back and waited for him to finish! He actually offered to stop to which I said, no, no. I'm happy to wait. Man that muzzle blast was impressive. I was thinking he would be better off with a fat suppressor. I have a fat and short over-barrel single baffle suppressor on my 303 Brit that takes most of the recoil out. I never got to chat with him though.

So that's my 22 range. Plenty of full bores being fired. Occasionally a full bore will go of just as I am releasing my shot. It doesn't do accuracy any good! :mrgreen: Our sighting in range does have barriers between the benches.

I do want to shoot on the main range with my 22's but that's 100m (110yds) which is a little far for me at this stage. Once I have my chosen rifle tuned in sufficiently (which ever one will shoot well enough), I shall be going over to 100m.

[sniper]

I was at my local range a couple of weeks ago. Right off, I have a hereditary condition that makes me overly sensitive to loud noises, or loud, sharp and sudden noises. Trust me, that is a terrible condition for one who loves shooting to have! I wear good hearing protection even when I am on the range premesis. One discharge without my ears on, and I might as well quit.
I was shooting , and this young fellow who obviously had very little knowledge about rifles and scopes, couldn't get his rifle...a 7mm Rem. Magnum...sighted in at 100 yards, so they told him to come to the .22/handgun range. He shot maybe 4 times, which disturbed my concentration, so I quit shooting, and just observed.

At 50 yards, his pattern was inside the 18 X 18 inch target he was using...just barely. I watched, and each time he shot, he would "adjust" his scope. It looked like he was killing snakes! His whole body would be moving as he attempted to adjust his scope turrets! :groner:

I guess none of the range oficials knew enough to suggest he should start at 25 yards, get it centered then go back to the big bore range; or...had tried to help and were rebuffed. He finally got frustrated and quit.

I found out later he ws third in line for the guy who sights in rifles, and he got impatient and left. I hope he got it sighted in somewhere, because as it was, a deer would have been the safest critter in the county, if he had shot at it. Kind of sad...many guns being bought by people who have little knowledge about them, or about the basics of marksmanship.:shock:

[uscra112]

There are many different time slots that are carved out of the week and dedicated for practice sessions for some discipline or another. I have to watch the schedule and pick my times when the range is open for general use. Part of the deal when you are part of a large club with varied interests.

^^^THIS^^^ The club I still belong to is also 1500 or so members, publishes a schedule months in advance. Don't expect to use the pistol range if such-and-such LE agency has reserved it for training. Or a weekend when a GSSF or IDPA match is scheduled.
Or the rifle range when a Vintage Military Shoot is on, (but do come watch - we allow full-auto, and it draws some interesting pieces! I've seen a WW1 German Vickers, chambered 8mm.)

[15meter]

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.

Just curious how it would cost $200,000 to build a 22LR range. With already owning the land, the dirt work and construction of a ten bench range at $200,000 sounds a bit pricey.

I would think that the dirt work would be the most expensive portion, a quick innerweb search shows a Cat D9 @ $510 per hour as a very high rate. 100 hours would be $51000. I would think 100 hours of dirt work would build a considerable back stop.

I had a very nice storage building built this time last year, 12'x36'x10' full concrete floor, oversized overhead doors on each end, side entry door(built for my iceboats, I've got one with a 30' mast) I suspect it would make a great shooting shed for at least 6 benches. It cost me ~$18,000. Double that to 72 feet wouldn't double the cost, 10 benches @ 7 feet for 22 shooting I suspect would work.

Eyebrow and target holders on the back stop plus concrete walkways @ 50 yards can't be any more than the $35,000 complete building.

Are you that close to Chicago that the governmental gratuities are that high?

Just curious.

I used to belong to a club that had those kinds of construction costs but the president had a nephew in the construction business and he was the only one allowed to bid on projects.

Operative word is "used". I decided I didn't need to subsidize his family.

[tazman]

I know nothing about construction costs so I will defer to your expertise on that matter.
What I will say is, this club never builds anything half way. It is either really good or they don't do it.
I would expect the range to have an overhead cover similar to what the benchrest shooting area does and also a concrete floor. The benchrest cover is only open on the downrange side. Three full walls with windows, doors, and a roof. A good level concrete floor and benches bolted to the floor made out of very heavy wood. They are VERY solid. I could dance on top of one and never make it wiggle.
I don't know if there will be much in the way of tree removal and grading necessary since I don't know where they are thinking of building it.
The range is just outside the southern edge of the quad cities(Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, And rock Island). I have no idea how that would affect costs.

[uscra112]

Just for comparison, the retirement BOL I bought has a "chicken shed" that's 24 x 60. I had the dirt floor graded out and 6" concrete floor poured for $6500. Granted I'm in rural Ohio, where labor is cheap, but still....

[Bigslug]

A proper smallbore range would be a fairly rare thing: STURDY, non-wiggly target frames at the ISU and NRA distances; more or less permanent wind streamers; dare I say it, electronic scoring.

The "Play" extreme would also be welcome - fixed kinetic targets that you wouldn't have to worry about centerfires destroying. Of course, realistically, that would survive about ZERO seconds on most ranges...

[tazman]

I doubt there would be any wind streamers unless you brought your own and certainly no electronic scoring. The steel targets are a good possibility as they have a league for rimfire silhouette monthly or more often during the summer I believe. Some hanging steel gongs of appropriate size and maybe a "know your limits" type of thing would be a good possibility. I may mention that to the board if it gets that far.
As you said, the trick would be to keep the centerfire shooters from shooting the targets up.
They had to kick some people off the pistol range for firing rifles on it. The pistol range is clearly marked with large signs that say "handgun only. No shotguns or rifles allowed."

[Pressman]

Our range is small, there is a dedicated 22 range separate from the general range. And there was a problem with young guys and AR's hogging the 22 range. That seems to be handled now. Our issue is a single 25/50 yard bench on the general side. It's too busy all the time. 3 covered 100/200 and longer benches see some use, 2 uncovered benches see little use even though they have a better view of the targets and are constructed better.

Many of us have discussed adding another 25/50 yard bench but can't solve the terrain issues involved. We have 300+ members and open shooting only, first come first served and no range master.

Ken

[uscra112]

Be interested to learn how the problem of AR types hogging the.22 range was handled.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Not too hard to hae it be "22 rimfire only" designated?

[uscra112]

Not too hard to hae it be "22 rimfire only" designated?

Except, without an RSO present, the sign gets ignored. Our club's outdoor pistol range has on occasion "hosted" AR types. They seem to like to be close to what they're blasting. (Probably because they can't shoot worth a darn.) I've even been present when some geniuses started shooting Tannerite on the pistol range. (I was over on the rifle range, so I only heard it; didn't see it.)

This was before the club installed locked gates on both ranges. Only members are provided with the magnetic keys. The lock system records the time of entry and the member's number. This is what it took to cut down the damage that was being done. And reduced the chances of lawsuits, according to the club president.

[tazman]

Our club also has locked gates at the main entrance and locks on the indoor range and equipment buildings. The indoor range is required to sign in with time but many ignore this. The outdoor ranges don't currently require anyone to sign in. This makes it a little difficult to find out who is doing what out there.
Due to some problems, all the ranges, including the outdoors ranges, have security video cameras that record activities.
We have had someone stealing from cars and breaking into buildings as well as some people mishandling firearms on the ranges and either getting hurt or damaging property.
The club recently rebuilt the wall between the shooting lanes and the spectator area in the indoor range due to someone firing a bullet through the wall. The bullet went through his hand first, then through the wall. It embedded in one of the door frames.
It won't happen again as the wall and windows are bullet proof. Steel plates on the walls and dual pane bullet proof glass in the windows.

[uscra112]

You must be close to a big city! We have our problems, but not like that!

[15meter]

Spoiled.

The smaller club with the 300 yard range has a locked gate to get on the property. All members get a key to the gate. Once you have had a year as "probationary" member you turn into a "full" member, then you get a key to the club, storage buildings and trap houses.

All labor is volunteer, that's part of the reason for the key to the storage building. Got a couple hours to spare, cut the grass to get your work hours in. 20 hours are required of all members but lifetime members(after a year you can pay for some if not all of the work hours, we've got a couple of members that travel A LOT for work. I was one of those for years, when you wake up in the middle of the night and have to dig out your airline ticket to figure out what state your in, last thing you want to do when you get home is cut the club's grass.)

Now that I'm an old gray beard lifetime member who doesn't have to do ANY works hours, I bet this years total will be between 50 and 100 hours.

Or use your key to open the trap house and shoot some trap.

Or open up the club house and have a beer/pop/snack and just relax.

100% on the honor system and it has worked that way for the 30 years I've been a member and a lot further back than that.

Very minor shooting of stuff they aren't supposed to on the rifle range and the vast majority clean up after themselves.

Worst we've had in the last six months is a moron who runs a military shoot, the last one of the year that he runs, he brings out pumpkins and puts tannerite inside. He places the pumpkins about 8 feet in front of the back stop and blows pumpkin guts all over the back stop. He thinks it funny, is told don't do it again and does it again the next year. "Oh, I forgot".

No real damage, just looks awful and makes it miserable to hang targets for a couple of days.

I won't care about the pumpkin and tannerite, I like reactive targets as much as the next guy(maybe more) just move it 20 feet from the backstop.

Guess if that's the worse I have to deal with out there I can live with it.

Like I said, spoiled.

[tazman]

You must be close to a big city! We have our problems, but not like that!

Right on the edge of the Quad cities. Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, Rock Island.
Not even a mile out of town.

[Wild Bill 7]

I’m late to this discussion but our range has finally finished the five new bays for shooting. We have one 15, two 25, one 50, and one 300 yard ranges. Six hundred members and scheduled times for club matches. One thing about our range is it’s mostly empty during the week days. Since it’s hot down here afternoon time is best for shooting because most people think it’s too hot to shoot. I personally love it because you can practice and be alone at the same time. We have matches throughout the month and plenty of open bays to boot.

[BadgerShooter]

I shoot 3-Position 50 meter rimfire, 100 yard and 200 yard rimfire mini palma, high power, instruct rifle, pistol and shotgun self defense, shoot 3-gun (including those horrible black guns - fast and accurate by the way), super gee wiz magnums with brakes, flintlocks, Martini Henrys and everything in between. The idea that what I'M shooting is the only legitimate thing and everyone else is a horrible person and the root of all evil - (especially those black guns) is massively damaging to our sport. If we do not hang together, we will all hang separately. Realize that everyone at the range wants to be there as much as you do. Its something we all have in common - build on it!

[Minerat]

We just got word our range closes on December 31, 2022 after 40 years. The county is making us clean the surface so the can build a public range in it's place. They wanted the club to run it and accept all liability and pay insurance. Did not happen we ain't that dumb as there was no up side. The Forest service and neighboring county are behind it because the don't like open shooting on public land so our county offered our range as a site for a new one. Unfortunately they own the land we are on so we are out. Club is looking to buy a place but there are few suitable sites in a mountainous county for a range as the government found out. Oh well!

[15meter]

We just got word our range closes on December 31, 2022 after 40 years. The county is making us clean the surface so the can build a public range in it's place. They wanted the club to run it and accept all liability and pay insurance. Did not happen we ain't that dumb as there was no up side. The Forest service and neighboring county are behind it because the don't like open shooting on public land so our county offered our range as a site for a new one. Unfortunately they own the land we are on so we are out. Club is looking to buy a place but there are few suitable sites in a mountainous county for a range as the government found out. Oh well!

I would think it's easier there than southeast Michigan, almost dead flat here. From one end of the county elevation change is less than 50 feet, probably closer to 30 feet. Any range here entails serious dirt work for backstop and sound control.

And with Detroit to the north and Toledo to the south the big city is encroaching fast.

Saddest part of the expansion is driving down a road that had been a productive farm that has been chopped into 5 and 10 acre mini-estates.

Complete with "No large solar farms" "Save the farms for agriculture" signs.

And these buffoons don't see the hypocrisy in those signs in their front yard.

It was an interesting "discussion" with my little sister when I refused to chop up the last 70 acres of the family farm in 2020 into "rural estates". My mother passed away in 2020 and as executor it was my call on disposal of the real estate. She figured I had ripped her off because I sold it as farm ground.

The two farmers I sold the ground to intend to continue to farm it for the foreseeable future. My dad would be pleased that it will continue to be farmed.

And there's a reasonable chance that I'll never speak to baby sister again and that pleases me.

[BLAHUT]

I am fornicate the gun club I belong to has a dedicated .22 only, pistol or rifle, 100-meter range, the pins were pulled at 100 meters because of target arability, so now 50 yds, 50 meters, 100 yds. the 50 meter is electronic targets. this is an Olympic stile outdoor range, from a shoot house. gets a very lot of use, many 100 yd matches. a 300-meter shoot house, high power range has electronic targets for international matches and general use this is also a 200 yd range with the same electronic targets. 200 yd small bore matches are held on this range at least once a year or more. there is access to 400 yds from this 300 meter house on two points. bench rest is set up for, out to 200yds with access on two benches to 400 yds. there is a silaret range out to 200yds, there was talk about a 600 yd range? a 100 yd pistol range with 4 other bays for pistol, large trap and skeet ranges, archery with a walking curse. there was talk about putting in and Olympic stile ski and shoot range? biathlon course?
have held many national matches out there. many national Reckords have been set out at this range.
there was talk about setting up a 10-meter indoor air gun range?

[BLAHUT]

We just got word our range closes on December 31, 2022 after 40 years. The county is making us clean the surface so the can build a public range in it's place. They wanted the club to run it and accept all liability and pay insurance. Did not happen we ain't that dumb as there was no up side. The Forest service and neighboring county are behind it because the don't like open shooting on public land so our county offered our range as a site for a new one. Unfortunately they own the land we are on so we are out. Club is looking to buy a place but there are few suitable sites in a mountainous county for a range as the government found out. Oh well!

make it a public range and everything on it will be all shot to hell. seen that happen here.

[elmacgyver0]

Right on the edge of the Quad cities. Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, Rock Island.
Not even a mile out of town.

Milan Rifle Range?

[tazman]

Milan Rifle Range?

Yes. They just held the state rifle matches there a week or two ago.
They are currently doing some dirt work with heavy equipment, apparently, for another range. I don't know what they intend it for yet. No big announcement that I gave seen.

[BadgerShooter]

I am fornicate the gun club I belong to has a dedicated .22 only, pistol or rifle, 100-meter range, the pins were pulled at 100 meters because of target arability, so now 50 yds, 50 meters, 100 yds. the 50 meter is electronic targets. this is an Olympic stile outdoor range, from a shoot house. gets a very lot of use, many 100 yd matches. a 300-meter shoot house, high power range has electronic targets for international matches and general use this is also a 200 yd range with the same electronic targets. 200 yd small bore matches are held on this range at least once a year or more. there is access to 400 yds from this 300 meter house on two points. bench rest is set up for, out to 200yds with access on two benches to 400 yds. there is a silaret range out to 200yds, there was talk about a 600 yd range? a 100 yd pistol range with 4 other bays for pistol, large trap and skeet ranges, archery with a walking curse. there was talk about putting in and Olympic stile ski and shoot range? biathlon course?
have held many national matches out there. many national Reckords have been set out at this range.
there was talk about setting up a 10-meter indoor air gun range?

I had the opportunity to shoot the NRA Regional 50 Meter 3-Position Smallbore matches there. I always wanted to shoot the 300 meter Isu events there but havent made it yet. Super nice range!

[Minerat]

make it a public range and everything on it will be all shot to hell. seen that happen here.

Even better they are stripping to original ground and building a new range so the public can do that to all new expensive equipment.

[15meter]

make it a public range and everything on it will be all shot to hell. seen that happen here.

The state of Michigan has multiple large public ranges around the state. Vandalism is almost non-existent. They are only open when there is a range officer(s) on duty. The one closest to me usually has 2-3 DNR officers on duty. It is a clean well designed layout with pistol, 25, 50 and 100 yard ranges. Plus an archery range and a throw your own clay pigeons area.

Covered SOLID benches, concrete walk ways, clean bathrooms. Open 6 days a week year round plus they go to 7 days a week the month before deer season.

Rigidly controlled on safety, no rapid fire, don't think 50BMG is allowed but the DNR dudes will check out anything cool that shows up to shoot.

There are plans to build a new range ~10 miles due west of where I live. Can't wait for it, being a brass vulture, every time I go to Sharonville, I scrounge through the brass buckets looking for stuff I can use. Surprising the amount of 45-70, 32 Special, 35 Remington and a bunch of other less common once fired that end up in the scrap buckets. Can you say 30 Remington? 38-55?

And I already belong to 3 private clubs, Sharonville is less than 10 miles from the sporting clays club. The prospective new range will be less than 10 miles from the club I shoot rifle at and 20 miles from the skeet club. Personally don't NEED another range but more the better.

Unless our governor finds out about and and redirects the funds to a cannabis retail subsidy fund. Keep'em stoned, they won't complain about anything.

[shooterg]

Lot depends on how much dirt is being moved . Calculate yardage plus equipment/operator cost. We dropped over $60K just adding 2 Multi-Purpose bays 20 yards wide and 30 deep(mostly for Action and steel shooting with handguns). And that did not include the permitting. They are set up for 180 degree shoots(tall berms on 3 sides).

Our 50 yard range allows handguns and rimfires . You can shoot those on the 300 yard Rifle range but at a MINIMUM distance of 50 yards . We do have precision .22 events where shooting is at random distances/positions from 25 to 300 and we allow the .22 shooters to shoot in our 300 yard matches(in their own class) .