Did your grade school, junior high/middle school and/or high school have a gun range?

No range in school until I started college. ROTC and the rifle team shared an indoor range. In 1957 junior high, the science teacher kept half a dozen .22 rifles in a cabinet in the classroom. With a note from your parents, you could check one out for the weekend or overnight. Couldn't take it home on the rural school bus. He also sold standard velocity .22 LR for $.50 a box.

My high school had one, but I was not aware of it. Maybe because I did not spend a lot of time in school.

Yes, and indoor rifle range for ROTC. I imagine that almost everyone that was not in ROTC didn’t know it was there though. It was under ground and you couldn’t hear any shots with the door closed.

My Grandmother had to come up to my jr highschool to pick up a rifle and shotgun I won in an FFA cheese and sausage sale.

jmorris said:

I imagine that almost everyone that was not in ROTC didn’t know it was there though.

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Yeppers...we had a tornado warning, and tried to chase everyone into the basement and range (the range was under the swimming pool). Most the teachers did not know they existed, let alone where they were. Fun times.

Shot with the family, Boy Scouts, and HS ROTC rifle team. Not a great shot, but generally good enough to be at least drop man....

Graduated from high school in 1970 in Kansas and yes, our school had a rifle range built in a basement area under the gymnasium. We had a rifle club, faculty supervision and the local cops gave us safety training. We had a collection of pretty high-grade .22 target rifles and I was even allowed to bring my .22 to school to shoot. We're talking about a big urban school and I'm not sure many people believe me these days when I tell them about it. And by the way, nobody ever sneaked in a gun and threatened or shot anybody else.

Had a pellet rifle range in the basement for ROTC to use. Late 90s early 2000s.

Pretty sure the high school near my house (which my older kids went to, suprise toddler will) STILL has a range. Converted years ago to air gunning due to lead issues (cost more than anything) but it's still there. Got to mess with the NJROTC clubs assortment of match .22s when they got divested years ago, nice stuff, they didn't get nearly enough money for the guns and gear.

My high school is just a few miles further on, same district and AFAIK never had a range. I saw some odd innards of it back when (cool stuff, wish I had photos!), no evidence of a range but no idea why; I guess you just had to go to the other school to get the extra features, even though: not allowed, strict region lines on the map.

Now if you like hating city attorneys, check this out: https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2016/feb/17/city-orders-shutdown-community-building-gun-range/
I shot there for years long ago, surprised really it lasted this long as it was sorta marginal on safety all in all. Behind the backstop was... an elevator! So, very low power limit, mostly a .22 range.

St. Johns Military Academy had a rifle team and range. Caliber .22.
We were also instructed in .30 caliber machine gun, bazooka, and 102mm recoilless rifle.
Didn't get to fire them or the M1 rifles we carried.

JROTC in high school had a pellet gun range, nothing else. Also this was in 2007-2011

Nope, but there were so many places you could shoot on high lines, pipe line right of ways, or just in the woods before the leasing craze hit you didn't need one.

The NYC Prep School I went to has one that was in use from 1854 to the early 60s until it became the wood shop.

Never had a range at any school. Plenty of clubs to shoot at though. Fortunate enough to be able to shoot in the woods or at peoples backyard ranges.

Yup, there was (and may still be) a 50 foot range under the Junior High Building, four lanes split into two by a wall, so 2 lanes X 2 lanes....22 rim fire only.
Was on the team with my younger sister,(who was a better shot),for a couple of years, there were only 6 or 7 of us.
The instructor was a science teacher. He (or the school) provided very nice rifles of which I can not recall their make. Single shot bolt actions.
We went to a state meet in 1973! I would have been 15 or 16 years of age then.
It was FUN!

My high school did not have a range or team. It was a small rural school with only 300 students, grades 7-12. A few neighboring schools had shooting clubs. This was in the mid 80's and most students had full gun racks in their trucks. Oh have times changed.....

This is an interesting thread.

None of the schools that I attended had ranges (graduated from high school in early 2000s). One high school that I considered attending had a shooting team, but I think it was defunct when I applied.

Edited to add: it looks like that school still has a rifle team. Not sure if it is .22s or air rifles.

One of the schools at which I taught had a number of students who shot clays competitively, but their club was not affiliated with the school.

The community college that I accidentally kind of started in Southern Oregon added a gunsmithing school, complete with indoor firing range.

Then someone pointed out that their charter forbade firearms on campus... .

Last I checked, the gunsmithing building served as an electronics and welding school... .

No. But my university had three of them. Probably more now.

Not rifle but archery range. My daughter shot for the Glendale College team, 1986-87, and practiced on her own at her old high school. I sat on a high ground spot behind her with my spotting scope to watch where her $16 arrows went when they passed thru the target and snaked under the grass/weeds.

She has shot when hunters in their camo gear would put up their foam deer on the target rack and back up about 10-15yds to shoot with their compound bows.

I've watched her put up her standard target, back up 35-40 yds, assemble her Hoyt recurve and start dropping arrows into the gold. The "deer" hunters never lasted past 2 sets of 3 arrows, before packing up.

Now, the area behind Deer Valley HS has homes where I hunted for lost arrows.

My public high school in Kansas City Missouri had a .22 range in the basement. The JROTC battalion had a brace of Remington 40Xs with which we all qualified, and we had a rifle team that competed city and state wide (early 1970s). The school is closed now.

There were a bunch of us that during our senior year would get together on Friday or Saturday nights to go shoot. Someone with a car would drive around to our various houses and pick us up with whatever guns were available (parent permitting). We would then drive across the Missouri/Kansas state line to go shoot at the Bullet Hole Range that was built by the Hodgdon Powder Company next door to their offices. We would shoot to our hearts content for a couple of hours, sometimes renting guns from the range. Then we would head to the A&W across the street to slake out thirsts (and brag). Then we would drive back across the state line, and be dropped back off at our homes. A good time was had by all, and there was never any trouble.

Times have changed.

No firearms range.
Had archery range built into earthen berm / backstop where targets were arranged.

No, but my project in shop was building a gunstock. I carried the gun to school on the school bus and kept it in my locker until my project was completed and I took it home on the same bus. Just thinking about doing that today would get you booted out of school and nasty comments in your record. Some kids that drove to school carried rifles and shotguns in their vehicles so they could go hunting on the way home. Try that now.

Solomonson said:

That really is awesome. Is the armory right in Manhattan?

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Just got back from visiting daughter in Ga and noticed the post.
Yes the armory was in NYC. On West 14th ST between 6th and 7th Aves.
I went to HS on East 15th near 2nd Ave.
Those who had guns (unfortunately not I), would take the bus across town to the armory.
And then subway home!
Imagine carrying on public transportation now!