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Ron
05-31-2006, 08:47 AM
Is this the proper place to keep board members up to date with photos of a new pistol range being built?
My club has just started to construct a new range and I thought it might be of interest to the board.

Regards,
waksupi
05-31-2006, 08:48 PM
Is this the proper place to keep board members up to date with photos of a new pistol range being built?
My club has just started to construct a new range and I thought it might be of interest to the board.

Regards,

Ron, may I suggest the off topics board, or here, either one. We'd like to see the progress.
Ron
06-02-2006, 07:57 AM
Waksupi, seeing as how I started it here then I think that here it shall remain. Will have to reduce some photos and put some words together over the weekend. Thanks for your comments.

Regards
Ron
06-05-2006, 07:17 AM
Members of my Force started a pistol club way back in 1958, just after the Melbourne Olympics. For years we shot where we could and when I joined the force in 1967 they had use of part of an old military range in Melbourne on the shores of Port Phillip Bay.
Then the government of the day decided that they didn't want sporting shooters on the site and we all got kicked off. They then sold it off for housing development. Houses on what was nothing but black thick mud in the winter and dried out in the summer and absolutely teeming with tiger snakes. The snakes were so bad that we all carried snake shot rounds on our belts, hardly a weekend went by that we didn't shoot at least one snake which got too close for comfort.

After that it was into an old quarry and set up a range. This was a good location if not a bit primitive and we were quite happy there until, you guessed it, the government stepped in again and decided that n new freeway was to be built and we had to move because we might hit cars on the road. Mind you we were in a hole which was about 20 metres deep! So we moved again, this time to the indoor range at the police academy. The Force has been very understanding towards the club in allowing us to use the facilities, it also helps when some members of the club are attached to the academy as weapons instructors.

Way back in the early eighties members of the club realised that sooner or later we were going to have to purchase our own land to build a range. So members all lent to the club $800.00 minimum for it to be invested solely for the land buy. The one thing we didn't figure on was the price of land going through the roof and it is now so expensive that buy a block for a range is out of the question.

With the aid of one of the government members of parliament, we approached a government department which controls a lot of land on the south side of Melbourne and managed to obtain a ten year lease on a block 150 metres by 120 metres. As luck would have it this block is only ten minutes in the car from my home. We don't envisage any problems in renewing the lease as we have next door to us a shotgun club who also lease from them and they have been there for 30 years.

The surveys have been done and as the land is occasionally subject to light flooding we will have to raise the ground level by 900mm. The ground area and the stop buts require 60,000 cubic metres to complete the earth works then we can start building the club house.

Last Monday morning our earth contractor started delivering soil to the site. While this is going on, three of us were building a temporary electric fence to keep cattle out of the site. We managed to finnish the 400 metre s of fence and on the Tuesday hooked it up to the power.

I have attached, I hope, some photos of the site from virgin paddock to fenced site with trucks delivering soil. Given the opportunity, I will update the photos on a regular basis to show progress being made. I hope that this is of some interest to members of the board.

Regards,
Ron
06-12-2006, 12:51 AM
June 1st saw the president of our club, my son and myself erect 400 metres of temporary electric fence around our range site. The attached photos show, 1&2 earth being delivered, 3 eastern fence and 4 my son(seated) and club president having a break from labour.

Regards,
Bucks Owin
06-12-2006, 07:14 AM
Looking good Ron!

Here's my own personal range:

(175 yds out to that "white speck" in the distance )

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a356/BucksOwin/First001.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a356/BucksOwin/First002.jpg
keeper89
06-12-2006, 08:23 AM
Wow, Dennis! Looks like you are one helluva long way out in the boonies---but then I guess I suffer from what people have about New York---thinking it's all city!
Anyway, good lookout and I wish I had the same outside my back door--but in 3 minutes I can be there!:)
Bucks Owin
06-13-2006, 06:34 AM
Wow, Dennis! Looks like you are one helluva long way out in the boonies---but then I guess I suffer from what people have about New York---thinking it's all city!
Anyway, good lookout and I wish I had the same outside my back door--but in 3 minutes I can be there!:)


3 minutes? Heck you're closer than I am then. "The Range" is about a 45 minute hike through the woods or a 10 minute drive on a 4X4 road. When it looks like this, I don't get to shoot much! :D

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a356/BucksOwin/withd001.jpg
keeper89
06-13-2006, 08:43 AM
Nyuk nyuk! When it looks like that around here I hibernate in the cellar and pour lots and lots of boolits so I can go have more fun when it doesn't look like that outside!! Anyway, shoot em up!!!
Ron
06-14-2006, 08:15 AM
Hi Buck, that looks like a great little range, can't see our powers that be allowing anything like it in Melbourne. That white stuff is one of the reasons I left Scotland for Australia.
More photos of the range later.

Regards,
Bucks Owin
06-14-2006, 01:51 PM
Hi Buck, that looks like a great little range, can't see our powers that be allowing anything like it in Melbourne. That white stuff is one of the reasons I left Scotland for Australia.
More photos of the range later.

Regards,


Thanks Ron. Know what you mean about the white stuff, I lived up in central British Columbia for many years before coming back to north Kalifornia. At least here, the snow is such that it's a nice seasonal change instead of a 6 month ordeal of shoveling, spinning tires, heavy parkas & boots etc...

Best,

Dennis

BTW, the range is looking great, keep the photos coming! (Didn't mean to hijack the thread...) ;)
Ron
12-12-2006, 06:42 AM
Our pistol range is starting to take shape, we still have a lot of soil to be brought in but it is at least starting to show signs of being a range.

The attached photo's were taken yesterday. More photo's later as the range progresses.
trooperdan
12-12-2006, 09:35 AM
Ron, looks like a good start mate! Keep us informed of your progress.
Ron
05-28-2007, 03:53 AM
It's nearly 12 months since I started this thread. Progree has been slow because of a lack of soil. The Govmt is building a new toll road and all avalable fill is going into that.

The latest pics are attached. The new road going in and some general shots of the area. We are nearly at the stage of construction of shooting sheds/club room etc. We have a meeting on site with our engineer this coming Thursday so hope to start building shortly.
Ron
05-28-2007, 04:03 AM
A couple more photos of the berm being built up to its final height of 6 metres.
MT Gianni
05-28-2007, 09:19 AM
Nice story Ron. It is fun to watch the progress being made. Gianni.
Ron
09-26-2007, 07:46 AM
I thought that it was about time that I posted some up to date photos of our range construction. The attached photos were taken in June. Since then we have had so much rain that no work has been done with the exception of the permanent fence which was put in last week.
We hope that all of the earth works and drainage will be in by the end of October. Then the real work starts with hands on construction of target system, shooting sheds etc.
Will post more photos as the range progresses.

The boys are my grandsons. The pooch is my constant companion, at least until SWMBO comes home.