Casa Grande Arizona Elzy Pearson range closed

[armoredman]

I should just blame myself for not checking the Casa Grande Parks/Rec website before leaving, but the place is NEVER closed...until today. I found the bar shut, nobody around, and signs of preparation for some upgrades. The last upgrades were the soft covers and new benches/pads on four of the five lines, leaving the original benches and tattered steel canopy over the 300 yard line. That was about 6 years ago, and I figured we wouldn't have any more until another gun friendlier Administration also shook loose some range "upgrade" money....which is how we got those nice improvements.
Lo and behold...







Now the important thing to note is the website says it is close from 8/24 through 8/30, reopen 8/31, a Monday. This that I photographed is no more than one early morning's work. I'd say handicap access as well as some improved parking for handicap marked vehicles, ( hope someone will show up to two Tactical Tommy's Escalade when he parks it in the handicap spot!), and maybe some more LONG overdue parking lot improvements. One can hope. Also one can hope that someday we might get that dagum road paved with one bridge...but not holding my breath. I do hope they replace that steel cover, and add in some more distance markers on the lines, ones that MAYBE someone won't flipping use as a target this time!

There ya have it - if you live in the area and were planning on shooting here in before the 31st, have to change plans, sorry. Good time to do some reloading instead.

BTW, for those who aren't in Arizona, this is our FREE unmonitored public range, with, (left to right), an 80 yard bay, a 300 yard bay with an open concrete pad for trap throwing, a 100 yard bay with no pad or benches, just cover, and around the corner where you can't see them are two 25 yard pistol bays, covers and benches. Bring your own stands, water, toilet paper, (porta potty only), etc, but I love it.

 

[Rodentman]

Reminds me of when I lived in AZ in the 70's and shot at the Ben Avery range north of Phoenix. I was surprised to learn it is still there, and even expanded. I figured it would have been paved over. There was a range also in east Tucson but I suspect that one is gone now. I miss those days, I truly do.

For any AZ old timers, I bought my first gun, a Smith 28 at Bond's Gun Shop, 24th and Indian School Rd in Phx. The strip mall is still there, but Bond is not. He got me started on reloading. He had a bench in the shop and would help, teach, and supply the dies if you bought your bullets powder and primers from him. That was 1972. I remember it fondly.

 

[mokin]

That is a nice looking facility. Just curious, how long has it been around? My family lived in Casa Grande when I got my hunter safety certification almost 40 years ago. That is where I really developed an interest in shooting. My Dad used to take me to a gravel pit somewhere not too far from town. It looks familiar, but honestly, much of the Sonora Desert area looks pretty much the same to me.

 

[armoredman]

The CG range has been here for a while, but I moved to this location only about 7 years ago, and it was already being upgraded. I'm told 20 years ago it was one long 100 yard bulldozed strip with nothing but the berm. It is off Trekell about 3 miles south of I-8. If you look at the second picture you will see structures beyond the 80 yard lane - that is the LEO range, which is used a lot by many different agencies. Nice to have cops next door almost all the time.
The range on the far east of Tucson might have been Tucson Rod and Gun Club, where my Dad taught me to shoot at age nine. Sadly, some Forest Service jerkwads got the lease yanked on the grounds that it was unsafe with one injury in 50 years. By way of comparison, the next door Seven Falls part of Sabino Canyon has had 27 people die in less time, and all the Forest Service did was put up a sign. TRGC closed, I believe, about 15-20 years ago. There are still a couple excellent ranges in Tucson, including another favorite, the hard to find Tucson Mountain Park range over by the Desert Museum and Old Tucson.

Rodentman, in 1972 I was...*ahem*, ineligible to purchase firearms or ammunition...alive yes, shooting, not yet.

 

[Nom de Forum]

Rodentman,

We may have rubbed elbows in passing during the 1970's. I remember Bond's. I lived a few miles east of it just off Indian School Road. I don't remember Ben Avery Range in the 1970's. I do remember Black Canyon Range that Ben Avery helped establish and in 1992 was renamed in his honor.

 

[Rodentman]

Aha! Yes, I am sure you are right about the range. I didn't remember the exact name in the 70's but Black Canyon rings a bell!

Remember the Shell station at the corner of 24th and Indian School Rd?

I sure wish I had kept the model 28 that I bought from Bonds. I think it cost $140 or something like that. Maybe less.

 

[Nom de Forum]

Remember the Shell station at the corner of 24th and Indian School Rd?

That is a curious question. I don't really remember the Shell station but I drove past for a few years, 6 days a week in the summer, to go to work at Madison Park Pool that is just north of 16th Street and Indian School Rd.

 

[armoredman]

And reopened. Not bad looking work; we'll see how long it stands up.







Methinks someone in Parks and Rec forgot something kind of important. See, on the website it says they were also building an ADA accessible bathroom. Problem is, the nearest water/sewer is about 1/2 mile down the road. I don't think THAT'S in the budget yet...would be nice. So we're stuck with the one porta potty that The Dusty Bunch convinced the city to put in.
Now lets please everyone pray the kids don't come in here and ruin this. Also, absolutely no other improvements were done, and the steel cover over the 300 yard line is just as "ventilated" as it was before.