quake

We do not have any public shooting ranges around here. The closeest one is several hours away. But I live in a rural-timber area so finding a place to shoot is not real difficult. The most difficult problem is keeping them available. People do not mind you shooting but they really hate the mess that a lot leave...

All of my gear is fold up portable and make shift so it all goes in the back of the pickup and travels with me.



One of the places I use to shoot a lot at was what I call the 'Rock Pit'. It is a 100 yard range, but it is a favorite for everyone including the clollege kids from both Universities. It is about an hours drive from Moscow/Pullman. I do not shoot here as much as I use to just because of the trash in the pit left by shooters. It is on National Forest land and with the budget crunch - the Forest Service will probably be closing it very soon.

The 'Rock Pit'



The second place I shoot at is what I call the 'Strychnine Gravel Pile'. This spot is on 'Potlatch Corp' and is used as a gravel storage area. Again a lot of people use this area but it is generally much cleaner than the 'Rock Pit'. Again about an hour away.

Here is a composite of a group of pictures.. the bottom right looks back at the shooting bench - 100 yards out.... This particular day I was shooting rocks off the top of stumps at various ranges...



Probably the easiest place for me to shooting is at 'The Farm'. It is only about 15 minutes away and the land is owned by a friend that I couached in high school football and baseball. I can shoot there most anytime I want to other than during harvest and when it gets really dry. At 'The Farm' I can really extend the range to almost 500 yards if I chose to do so. The only real problem at 'the farm' is the wind always blows there.



The one good thing is in the winter or when it is raining I can use the small outbuilding to set up in and shoot all I want with out getting real wet.... Gotta move the Suzuki though




Just gotta make do sometimes.... because there are the 'Haves' and the 'Have Nots' - most often I am in the 'Have Nots' class...

Im fortunate to be able to just walk out my Door and Shoot, I can shoot up to 200yds and have a Pemanant Bench set up. For further shots I have a Buddy who owns a Farm about 3 Miles away and we can shoot as far as anyone would need to, that includes Rifles, that's the benefit of living in the Country.
(BP)

range is in my back yard

I hate this. Where I shoot in the desert there is all kinds of garbage people have left behind: broken bottles, shot-up mattresses, brass and 12 gauge empties strewn about. I am no tree hugger but it saddens me to see how people mistreat the land.

It has nothing to do with being a tree hugger. I understand just what you mean. Anything I hate is people that litter or leave their trash lay for others to deal with. I am disgusted with people that leave their trash for others to pick up. And I am not shy about mentioning it. This goes for fisherman also. I mean come on people leave it in better shape then you found it. That was how I was raised.

When I was younger I always had to deal with public ranges. I vowed that when I retired I would have my own range, live in the woods, and be a lazy old man. Well I want you to know I have accomplished my goals in life.

Amen!

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I have my favorite wash, with a ready made back stop about 2 miles away on BLM land. we have miles and miles of BLM land to shoot on. i just take a fold out table,chairs, bags and targets and shoot away..Ray

I shoot in an old anthracite strip mine about 1/2 mile away. Actually have to areas. the first is limited to 100 yds and the other about 350 yds.

I have a private club range that's about two miles from me, but its only open to the public for 6 days a year. And I don't have the money to join.
There is also a privately sponsored public range in the next town (about 17 miles) west of me.
That is a decent range, limited to 200yrds., fully covered benches in a "house" concrete cylinders to shoot through.
Otherwise, I too have thousands of acres of National Forest to shoot in. With many small "gravel pits", the problem here is also the trash left behind by others.

Thanks for all the good replies everybody. And thanks to those who included pictures. Very interesting to me. I have always been curious as to how everyone else does it.

The ones that have the ability to shoot in their own back yards or at least close to their homes are very fortunate!!!

I used to shoot at a public range about 1 hour south of my home. The facility charges by-the-hour. I had the same problem that a few of you had mentioned- long and frequent cease-fires. When you are charged by-the-hour and shoot black powder it can get EXPENSIVE lol. It is a nice range, though.