Anyone from the Denver area?

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Hmmmm...we used to have a decent rifle range outside of Lafayette (North of Denver) but it got gobbled up in development a few years back. I think the Boulder Rifle Club has one, but it has a LONG waiting list to join. Dunno about Denver proper and south. I usually just head up to National Forest land to plink with my rifle.
 
There is Golden Gun club (which is way way way out east somewhere)
There is Weld County fish and wildlife (which is NE of Fort Collins)
There are a couple closer in shotgun places, but nothing is really close in anymore. Oh, there's a indoor pistol place at 38th and Sheridan (I think, west side of Denver anyway)
but yes, most people go up in the hills.

Where are you moving to?
c'mon, we want details. :rolleyes:
 
Hey SpaceCowboy - I live in Lakewood when I'm not off at school. People can really just go into the National Forests (these are distinct form National Parks and National Monuments) and shoot legally. The closest such forest for you in Lakewood is up north of Boulder.

The indoor range at 38th and Sheridan is called K2, and it's quite good. They have 25 yard and 100 yards bays, and allow any calibers, up to and including .50BMG. I don't recall the prices, but they were reasonable.

The Aurora Gun Club out towards DIA has a waiting list to join, but non-members can shoot in the matches held there, which include 3-gun, IPSC, Cowboy Action, and a number of others.

If you want reaaaaaally long range practice, you can go a couple hours north to the Pawnee National Grassland and find a place to shoot. I'm told you can get 2 or 3 thousand yards there without much trouble.
 
Thanks for the reply Ian, I will check out that indoor range. About the national parks, there is a range somewhere in there where people shoot right? It isn't just a free for all? Again, sorry I'm from Illinois (very repressed).

BTW: AR's are legall right? I read that there is an asssult weapon ban in Denver itself, but not sure if I trust what I read. Can you clarify that for me?
 
K2 is more like Wadsworth & Jewell if I remember. The one at 38th & Harlan is the Silver Bullet, who doesn't accomodate rifles.

Best bet on clubs with waiting lists is probably Clear Creek. Most of the clubs (notable exception being Golden) host IPSC matches, so if you shoot IPSC for a while you'll make friends that can sponsor you for membership.

Cherry Creek State Park has a good rifle facility.

Otherwise, hop on 285 and head for Pike Nat'l Forest.
 
but people can really just go to the woods and shoot?
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Yep, so long as you are on National Forest Land and not private land or National Park. Some restrictions apply ;) such as not shooting across a road, within X yards of a campsite or structure, ensuring a proper backstop, picking up you brass. Best bet to get the rules is to contact the Ranger Station for the forest you are interested in shooting. Lakewood? Off the top of my head, that closer to Pike and it is Roosevelt (which is near me, North of Denver).

Pike: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/

Roosevelt: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/

Ahhh...here is the page for Pike

RECREATIONAL SHOOTING ON THE
PIKE & SAN ISABEL NATIONAL FORESTS,
CIMARRON & COMANCHE NATIONAL GRASSLANDS

If you are looking for a place to target shoot on the local national forests and grasslands, here are some helpful hints to make your experience safe and enjoyable.

In general, recreational shooting is not prohibited on most National Forest System lands. However, discharging a firearm is always prohibited within 150 yards of a residence, building, campsite, developed recreation site, a cave, across or on a road or a body of water, or in any manner or place whereby any person or property is exposed to injury or damage. (36 CFR 261.10(d).

Areas Closed To Target Shooting:

Areas closed to target shooting on the Pike National Forest include:
The area in Manitou Park along highway 67 from the Experimental Forest south to the forest boundary (Pikes Peak Ranger District),
The Rampart Range Road and Rampart Reservoir area north of Highway 24 from Waldo Canyon north to Woodland Park (Pikes Peak Ranger District),
The South Platte River in Elevenmile Canyon (South Park Ranger District),
The Jefferson Lake Recreation Area (South Park Ranger District)
The area west and southwest of Colorado Springs along the Old Stage Road and Gold Camp Road (Pikes Peak Ranger District),
All of Rampart Range area on South Platte Ranger District,
The area of the Monument Fire Center - east of summit of Mt. Herman to forest boundary, (Pikes Peak Ranger District),
The South Platte River from Deckers downstream to Chatfield State Park (South Platte Ranger District),
The North Fork of the South Platte River from Buffalo Creek downstream to Chatfield State Park (South Platte Ranger District),
The Sugar Creek road from Sprucewood to the South Platte River (South Platte Ranger District),
The AG Ranch in Shawnee, both sides of Highway 285 (South Platte Ranger District).

Be Good To The Environment:

While it's legal to target shoot in most areas of the forest, we do have concerns about safety, litter and the environment. Please consider using the recently developed non-toxic, biodegradable clay pigeons. They decompose on contact with water (i.e. rain and snow) and are produced by several manufactures. Also, consider using fiber wad shot shells - the plastic wad cups do not degrade. Please pick up any other litter including spent hulls and take them home with you. If you are using lead shot, do not shoot over water bodies, wetlands or other areas used by waterfowl since wildlife may consume the lead and be poisoned by it.

Many areas in close proximity to the Front Range have visible signs of abuse from shooting, such as trees that have been shot down. Leaving litter and damaging vegetation are violations of other federal regulations. Some of these close-in areas have much unsafe, indiscriminate shooting, as well as much intermingled private land and houses. You may want to steer clear of them as well as shooting in the vicinity of cattle on the grazing allotments. Be sure to close any gates that you open.

Consider Quality Out-Of-The-Way Sites:

For a better family experience you may find it necessary to plan ahead and travel farther to areas of the National Forest and National Grasslands where you can be more assured of a safe site and less likely to disturb others. The Comanche National Grassland is one such area (south of Rocky Ford and LaJunta) where visitors are few and your shooting experience can be a safe one. The openness of the grasslands allows shooters to see for a vast distance and use low hills as a backstop. Many of the homes and ranches on the grasslands are few and far between. Also consider similarly open areas on the west side of the South Park Ranger District such as south and north of Trout Creek Pass (US 285), portions of the Salida Ranger District or a trip into the San Luis Valley, for example.

There is also the alternative of using an indoor or outdoor commercial trap and skeet range. These are fairly numerous and available, especially if you don't have the time or inclination to drive to a remote location.

Above all, enjoy and be safe during your recreational shooting visit to your national forests and grasslands

Source:http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/recreation/hunting/

Same rules apply for paintball according to the Rangers I've talked to. :D

Oh, and the areas North and South of Trout Creek Pass noted above are LOVELY and only about 90 min drive from Denver through some lovely scenery. If you're REAL good, I'll give you directions to some prime camping spots for next summer.

AR's are legall right?
Click to expand...

Heck, what do you want wanna them pea-shooters for? Get yurself a REAL GUN! I recomend an FAL, but a lever action 30-30 will do in a pinch. :neener:

Yes, aside from Denver and to a lesser degree Boulder, AR's are fine.
 
Thanks for the replies all.
I am deffinitely excited about getting out there.

And as to my "Pea Shooter" -- I have thought about bringing the 30-30 or one of my M1's, but decided against it. I've never shot my AR and would like to get a chance to. Plus, I have a case of ammo and a ton of mags for it and would be a shame to let it go to waste.

Thanks all.
 
Go to cssa.org and they have a listing of most ranges public and private in the state. boulder is about a 10 year wait. another nice range a little over hour away is buffalo creekout of denver up out of bailey and also colorado rifle club to the east off of I-70 about 45 minutes out of the town of byers.
If you ever want to check out buffalo creek when you get into town let me know. Jon
 
SpaceCowboy -

Welcome to Colorado!

There's a bunch of places near Lakewood to shoot - my primary is K2 Firearms Training Center (got me a membership and everything). They've got a modern ventilation system on their ranges and it really does help take all (okay most of) the gunk away. Prices are pretty good, and they've got handgun rentals.

There's also The Shootist whick is near Dartmouth and Santa Fe on Galapagos street. It's in the basement of a house and they have a few handguns and long guns for sale upstairs. Was going there for a while until K2 openend up.

As for outdoor shooting - there's the Clear Creek outdoor club, as well as just running up into the hills for some good old blowing the crap out of stuff. Went up there last year and had a blast with the 12 guage and the handguns. If you want to pm me I can let you know some directions.

Again, welcome to CO. If you ever want to hit the range, just let me know!

hkOrion
 
For indoor ranges in/near Lakewood (where I live) it's pretty hard to beat K-2. http://www.k2ftc.com/index.html Nice, new and clean with nice folks. Range prices are good, but their gun prices.............well, I'd think they'd have to use a gun to get people to spend that kind of money.

For outdoors I head up into the mountains, just past Black Hawk.

Welcome to Colorado.
 
we used to go up to bennet(sp) to shoot parie dogs.CST had shooting range times when i was there,i was an RO,sgt. of arms and part of the student gov.there is one teacher(he runs it now) up there that finnaly got his membership to boulder gun club,if he still helps out and shoots the way he did,you won't suffer from shooting withdrawl.good luck with school.
 
Hey, this is an old post here but I thought I'd post anyways. I keep some Denver related shooting info on my web site (link below).

Hopefully some of the information will be of use to you here.
 
There are places all over the front range to go...

but avoid anyone who wants to take you shooting in left hand canyon above Boulder.

AR's are perfectly legal in Colorado, Denver's AW band was rescinded BUT they are trying to get it pssed again. Lakewood is its own city, different rules.
 
Since this is back up I just wanted to add that K2 has been having some serious problems lately - they fired all the knowledgable staff and replaced them with people who don't know squat about guns! The owner isn't replacing any stock that's selling, and they are truly working on running themselves out of business. I've stopped going there to shoot - need to find a new indoor range for the winter....
 
I think the K2 problem is that they are in seriuos financial trouble. I'm sure they fired the old people in order to hire people that they could pay less. They've also cut down business hours and increased range fees.

I think things would improve if they had more regular customers. They're just doing everything they can to stay afloat right now.

I got an e-mail saying as much from one of the instructors there.

I'm tempted to suggest that people go there. It really is the best indoor range in the valley, perhaps the best public range, period. It would be a shame to see them go under. We really don't have many alternative in the Denver Metro area and some of them are just BAD alternative.
 
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I like it... it's close by and not super expensive but it's small and not very well lit at times... I've had good and bad experiences there... sort of dep[ends on who is working and who is shootinbg.
 
Firing Line isn't bad. I've been there a few times but stopped going because my wife can't go there. I have two main complaints about Firing Line.

1. They allow smoking. Smoking irritates me but my wife can't go anywhere where there's smoking. She's much more sensitive to it.

2. The shooting line was really dark last time I was there. A lighting upgrade would be nice.
 
do you consider Firing Line to be one of the "bad" alternatives?
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Firing line is a good indoor pistol range, as long as you are not shooting on the public side. While I have plenty of good outdoor places in the summer, during winter or bad weather I frequent the Firing Line. Max distance is 50 ft., which is kinda short, but adequate for general practice.

Just be sure to buy a membership so you can use the member side (much better facilities). $110/year or $135/year for a family.

Firing Line is also very competitive pricewise on firearms, and has a very large selection (especially 1911's). Also, if you handload they carry a fair selection. But Sportman's Warehouse is right across the highway and it is a handloaders heaven.

If you decide to go to the Firing Line, you'll want to deal with Chad, Richard, Bob or Brad.

Also, I believe Aurora Gun Club is open to the public on weekends.
 
Firing Line is also very competitive pricewise on firearms...
Click to expand...

I'd rate them up there with Dave's as being known for high prices.

I agree that the members' side of the range is much better than the public side, which sucks rocks.

Try Tom and Joe's, Jensen's, Rob's, or The Gun Room for purchases.

I'm on the west side of town, and shoot at Silver Bullet (and the PD range), which is pretty good. Not state of the art by any means, but the people are pretty good, and the Gold Membership is nice ($30/month for unlimited range use). I try to drop by once or twice a week, even if just to plink with a .22 for half an hour.
 
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