Weatherman predicted that it was going to be 65 today, so decided to start on Target Holder repairs beginning with 50 yard line.  Did not realize that the Wind was going to dominate all of my activities today…  Backstop caught me off-guard and slammed me to the ground just about when I thought I was finally done.

     Prior to working on the 50 yd. line, I had a brainstorm about the 2nd 200 yd. target holder constantly being blown over by the wind, so decided to add an “outrigger” to one leg… 2″ x 4″ x 12′ thru-bolted.  Wore out 2 drill batteries and both arms before it was finished!  Musta been braingas…

    Repaired one target holder on Pistol Range with extra blackboard from 50 yd. holder, still needs about another 12″ x 48″ to complete, which will come when we repair the 25 yd. line board.

     Range is a Mess!  Wind has strewn broken pieces of backstop, shot-up water bottles, soda cans, old targets, chunks of wood from inaccurate weapon handling (hehe) and other trash all over the place.  Would’ve been pointless to try cleaning up with wind the way it was…  really need a clean-up day.

     Took some pics of bullet-strikes on ground at Pistol Range and of damaged IDPA target stand, not the 1st to be sure:

     Yes, it is difficult to grasp the effects that are present on the ground, folks, but they are there.  Which means that we have a Safety Issue to be addressed.  We must stop shooting at targets close to the benches, especially when shooting at a downward angle.  The only thing that I saw saving us was the fact these impacts were hitting soft ground areas, as opposed to the left or East side of the Range, where it’s mostly hard sandstone.

    Now, I accept responsibility for setting up the Pistol Range for shooting at targets up close…  which I intend to correct ASAP.  But… everyone who uses the Pistol Range from now on has been warned and needs to use common sense when shooting there.  If you wish to use a target at 7 yards, place it at the Berm and pace back 7 yards (BTW, there’s a 7 yd. line marked with PVC pipe out there already).  Please, we can not afford to have one single round leave the Range…

'nuff for now, Jim

     Finally, the long-awaited, much-anticipated visit from the range team committee has happened.  The recommendations they left us with are still a matter up for debate, so we left all decisions (but one) until our next Meeting.  That one exception?  Placing “No Trespassing” signs around the Range property, spaced approximately 75 feet apart.
Most of the information we gleaned from the Team resulted in bringing up more questions that require All of the Membership to actively involve themselves in.  For instance:  the biggest and costliest item under consideration is changing the entire Range around so that we’re no longer shooting towards the South, but rather shooting from the South.
  Safety, always an important consideration at any range, took second place priority during the analysis.  The Team was unhappy with berm height, back-stop placement (especially on the Pistol Range), metal versus wood construction, even the lack of flags positioned to alert incoming Members that a Range was hot (in use).  I really took a beating on these points…

     Starting with the last thing we did, we drove down to the South end of the property onto E1050, parked on the North side of the road and walked into the property approximately 200-250 yards (best guess).  We came down to where the creek bed stopped us by its sheer drop-off and width:  I’d say about 75 yards across at the point where we were.  Still couldn’t see the backside of the 200 yard berm at that point, because, even though it’s Winter, the trees cut off our view.  There are a Lot of trees that would need to be cut down, just the make room for parking and buildings.
Perhaps comparing the pluses and minuses is the best decision-making way to go.  I don’t really care, I’ve already made my mind up:  I’m opposed to changing the Range direction of fire.  When first mentioned, I was for it, because I always thought it to be unsafe to shoot off a mountaintop towards cross traffic.  Later I became a fence-sitter, not choosing either side until one or the other school of thought provided convincing evidence that their method was best for the Club.  After physically viewing what would be involved in moving the Club around, I am definitely against changing things for a number of reasons.  Please, please keep in mind that this opinion expressed is mine and mine alone and does not reflect any ‘Official’ position by the Members of the Executive Committee nor anyone else.

     The most obvious advantage of shooting Northward is less chance of a civilian-related accident occurring, although we would have to come up with some sort of barricade to protect the family living in the trailer home next door.  Of course, hooking up water and electric would be easy and cheap (relatively).  Construction costs can be minimized in certain places, say if we can re-use the 200 yard berm as a 300 yard berm.  As far as clearing the trees, several ideas have already been forwarded to cut the costs down to next-to-nothing using volunteer chainsaw teams or civilian firewood users.  Basically, our biggest concern, Safety, would be alleviated to a great extent because we’d be shooting into the side of a mountain.

     Upgrading our existing Range facilities would also require a substantial sum of money, although for different purposes.  We would have to spend a lot of money to provide water and power to the Range as it stands, because of the 1/2 mile plus distance that both would have to be run to the top of the property.  The berms would all have to be increased in height, with soil retention plant life used to prevent erosion.  The Impact Area seemed to be another important concern of the Team.  The only Berm they were happy with was the 25 yard line Berm because the Impact Area behind the Target Board was practically on the ground at the base of the Berm.  That’s where they’d like to see ALL bullets hit ALL the Berms on the Range.
Additionally, they suggested we need to keep our Target Holders as tight to the Berms as possible to prevent ground riccochets behind the targets.  Of course, they found bullet impact markings behind the 200 yard Target Boards on the ground, because we had moved the Targets up some 20 yards to make the distance from the firing line exactly 200 yards for CMP Competition.  We’re going to have to change how we do the CMP… already had a few suggestions at Tuesday’s Meeting, so things may not be as costly there as we thought.
The inspection continued on to the Pistol Range, where the analysis showed the bullet-to-ground impacts behind the close targets set up at 15 yards, so that’s a definite no-no.  As stated before, targets need to be close to the Berm.

     Now, keep in mind, the Official Report has Not arrived yet, so there may be more in their analysis.  I just felt the need to inform the Members ASAP of the basics to give you some sort of advanced warning as to what is going on at the Range.  You’ll notice that I didn’t list any disadvantages yet to moving the Range around…  think about it.  No matter how well prepared and planned out, that change will take a very long time, shutting down all Range activities (no shooting, folks) because of the people downrange.  It may take the better part of a year!!  Don’t know about you, but I’ll go through withdrawals and start shooting somewhere else… hopefully not in public places!

As a small Club, we will have to come up with some creative money gathering schemes to provide for either of these improvements.  The range team committee had something interesting to mention that I thought was worth passing on:  Gun Clubs like ours tend to work in one of two modes;  well-publicized and known throughout the community or in stealth mode.  I think we tend to work in the latter, because I spent years living in Checotah never knowing that there was a Range 12 1/2 miles outside of town.  That may work to our disadvantage if we want to generate money through some sort of public venues.  So, I’m leaving this up to the Membership:  give us Feedback to proceed.  We really need Everyone’s involvement here, even if it’s just an opinion.  The improvements are going to happen, because we have to do them or stagnate and die as a Club…  something that I am unwilling to do.

JM