Shooting Ranges: where do you go to shoot?
 

A couple of you mentioned where your ranges are in the thread by corey012778 titled: how does cayugad do it? This sparked my curiosity.

Do you have a range in your back yard?

If you have to drive to get to the range how far away is it?

Public or private range?

Do you have a permanent shooting bench or do you set up a portable bench each time you have a shooting session?

What is the maximum distance(yardage) your range allows you to shoot?

What type of shooting rest do you like to use?

For me, I have to drive about 1 hour to get to my hunting buddies private range(in his back yard). He built a permanent bench that accommodates right and left-handed shooters. 350 yard max. distance year-round. I use a standard "rabbit-ear" type sandbag set.

Thanks to all who reply. :)

I have range setup at my cousins house. Its a mile down the road from me. We have a permanent bench set up and we can shoot out to 500 yards.

I belong to the Manatee Gun Club in Myaka Fl. Trap, Skeet, Sporting Clays, Cowboy Action Shooting, Pistol to 75yds and Rifle from 75yds to 1000 yds. One of the best run and operated gun ranges and clubs I have been a part of.

I have about a 1 hour drive to get to a state park where there is a 10 to 100 yard maximum range. It costs $5.00 dollars per day or $20.00 per year for a permit to shoot there. The fine is $250.00 if the DNR catches you shooting there without a permit. All of the people I've met there seem to be good people but shooting a muzzleloader with breech loading rifle and pistol shooters is difficult and time consuming. As if target practice with a muzzleloader wasn't time consuming enough. I might get 2 or 3 shots off before someone calls for a cease fire when I'm cleaning the bore between shots. And anyone at anytime can call for a cease fire. I have only seen one other person with a muzzleloader there one time in the last 2 years. I was going to go today but it snowed here last night and I just don't want to deal with it.

I have an hour and a quarter/eighty mile drive to my hunting lease where we have a private range with two covered benches and a 300 yard max - really nice. The other option is an hour drive in another direction to a public range on a wildlife management area. It's a nice range, but is open only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, has a $6 daily fee, limited hours, and all of the hassles of cease fires controlled by a range officer, competition for limited benches, and a 100 yard max.

No matter what you have, it's better than being a "Range Assistant" in China.

My main private area is about 75 miles away and we have a dedicated area we can shoot out to 150 yards but usually its only 100. We also have a "simulated" hunting range too with steel plates setup along a few tree lines out to 225 yards. We shoot at those only on the off season from the tree house.

We have a state run range at a wildlife refuge that is cheap but its 100yard max and 1 hour limit if there is a waiting line. Supervision is very strict.

90 minutes north of me there is another range on a refuge but it is unsupervised and only 65 yards max. Not bad when its slow and my friend place is about 5 minutes away and we can shoot a bit further.

This year im joining the STL Benchrest Shooter Club about 45 minutes away. Its a little expensive ($250 to join and $200 a year) but its very nice and you can shoot silhouettes out to 600 yards from 20 of the 60 benches. They even have safety pits for target reset or removal at the longer ranges and a great club house. Plus it has a many covered benches and great hours. Ive been a guest there once and its outstanding. Lots of competitive IBS matches and training/practice classes also.

It depends.

If I am shooting smokeless powder and want to stay out of the sun, there is a large public range about 3 miles from me. Ben Avery is one of the largest outdoor ranges in the west:

http://www.azgfd.gov/outdoor_recreation/ben_avery.shtml

Since it takes longer to shoot, I usually shoot BP out in the desert. This way I am not interrupted with cease fires to check targets. At Ben Avery this can take a long time. Shooting in the desert also means I bring along a table, a chair and put on sun screen.

My typical desert set-up. The target is about 75 yards away:



I do not do this when the temps get above the upper 90s-heat stroke is no joke. Also when shooting in the desert I keep my pistol clearly visible at all times. The last thing I need is for someone to decide they want my truck more than me.

I shoot behind my house. Right now it's limited to about 100 yards. This summer I plan to build the backstop up higher to be able to shoot at longer ranges. The field is long enough I think I could probably shoot at 500 yards for sure. The backstop would have to be built up a lot for that.

the shooting range I goto right now is 45mins away, open 7 days, closed half a day on mondays for cleaning. has an pistol range that is 25yrs. the rifle range is the max of 150yrds up hill design. you can push it to 200yrds but you gotta clime an mountain to do it.

I lucked out. Last year I joined the local Izaak Walton Chapter, only about 10 minutes away. Rifle range is 100yds max, but it also has bow (hunting and target), trap and skeet, and even an indoor air gun range. Because it is close to housing developments, the range masters are very strict (a good thing). Best money I've spent, since I can now get to the range often as the wife lets me.

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!

..............................................

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.

started looking this is an pic of the range I go to.

I like it. I see the mountain you were talking about lol. Looks further than 200 yards but pictures and video can be deceiving! Thanks for sharing.

150yrds is the back mound, people are climbing the wooded area behind it, as far as half way up for 200 or more.

Back yard w/ permanent bench. Have a hill that is a natural backstop at around 200 yds, but really isn't needed.

That there is where i shoot my rifles. The elevation there is about 4700'. The target is set just left of center width wise, and at the end of the meadow where the hill and the trees start. The picture was taken from where i often shoot, about 200 yard away.

When i pulled in this morning and took the picture it was -5 degrees. There were 5 deer moving right to left across the trail at the left of the photo, which veers to the left.

There is a public range about 30 minutes from me that is pretty awful. Each bench has a 10+ yard concrete tube that you have to shoot through, which makes the muzzle blast extra loud and just sound terrible. There are only 5 stations (which makes the wait incredibly long on the weekends) and it is closed during the spring and summer. I used to belong to a private range 45 minutes away, but you really could only shoot during the week because it was so jam-packed on the weekends.

There is a farm about an hour away that I hunt, and I can shoot there, but I haven’t really had the chance to set anything up. The one problem is that it has a lot of rolling hills, and I don’t have a range finder. Does anyone have an idea on how to approximate one’s range in hilly terrain w/o a range finder?

I belong to the Cleburne County Shooting club which has shotgun range with trap and skeet, a pistol range for self defense and one for knock downs and one for target, and best of all a covered rifle range which has 8 bench rests and all the normal goodies plus steel gongs at long range out to about 250 yds. My club fee is $75 a year This is about 3 miles from me and I have two ranges on my hunting properties that I own and some times shoot with a friend who has a range set up on his uncles farm. These are all about a 10 to 12 minute drive from my house.

I shoot in my backyard. Max range is about 200 yards but the farthest I've shot is 80 yards. I have a bench in my pole barn which is great if the weather is bad and I still want to shoot.

I shoot at home as well. Usually from 50 to 100 yards. I could do further if I needed to.
Art

Looks like a nice place to shoot, Ron. Great scenery. Not too sure about that -5 degrees, though. Lol.

A co-worker of mine has a shooting bench set up in his pole barn also. Sure makes for a nice place to shoot during inclement Indiana weather.

Very interesting post.

I thought I had it tough with a 30 mile drive. Now I don't feel too bad about my circumstance. The 100 yrd range is run by the Missouri Conservation Department. Cost is reasonable at $3 an hour and the facilities are first class.

It can get real busy just before hunting season but the rest of the year it's a walk up and shoot deal. I don't mind the cease fires as they run a tight ship and it turns around pretty quick.

They usually are very nice but the one near me has a 1 hour limit if there is a waiting list. Which it almost always has unless you go in the middle of the week.

There's a 100yd public sight-in range about 20 minutes away from me. I go there sometimes; the benches are solid and permanent and make for good shooting. There's only 2 benches with a right and left handed side each, but there's hardly ever anyone there. Other than that there is plenty of ground within a few miles of me that I can just drive into, set up my target stand, and shoot. The sky's the limit, as far as range.

I have a nice range 15 min away from me.

It has a black powder/sight in range with targets at 25-50-75-100 yds. With covered concrete shooting tables.

Two pistol ranges.

Rifle range with covered concrete shooting tables with targets for 50 to 500 yds. I can shoot BP on it, but I try to shoot where the wind is blowing the smoke away from the other shooters.

Plus a clay bird range.


The best part is it's open 7 days a week during daylight hours, and it's free.

Most of my shooting is done at the private weapons range at Ft. Sill: It is a 100 meter range with several shooting benches. A friend has a range to 100 yards located about 13 miles from my home. i have a range to 200 yards with a good covered shooting bench: Too bad it's 75 miles from home in Garvin county.

Spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning at our hunting club rifle range. So I snapped a few fresh pictures while there. Had it all to myself this weekend.

Here's the view of the range from the deck of my little hooch.



Here's a closer picture of our two crudely covered benches.



And the view down range (300 yards) from one of the benches.



We have campaign sign target holders at every twenty-five yards out to 200 yards, and one at 300.



It's real easy to spend the whole day shooting there. If only it wasn't 80 mile from home!

That place looks great, Semi. Yeah, too bad it's so far from your house. That shooting bench looks very similiar to the one my friend built except he made an identical provision on the right side of the bench to accommodate us "southpaw" shooters. One of these days I'll get some pictures of the place and post them(as soon as I look up how to post pictures lol).

God, I would love to see some green on the ground and in the trees instead of all this white stuff here in Indy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek2: