Large Shooting Ranges/Shooting Areas in Colorado Springs, Denver Area

[Evergreen]

Hi, I am thinking maybe one day in the future I may move to the Colorado SPrings or Denver area. I was wondering if anyone knew of any shooting ranges not far from Colorado Springs or Denver that offer long range of shooting and other amenities. I would like to find a range that may offer up to 800yd rifle shooting, action and pistol range, etc. I live in the Pacific Northwest USA in the state of Oregon, so I am not so familiar with COlorado.

What are the gun laws like in general in Colorado? Is it hard to get a conceal carry permit? I hear Colorado Springs is way more conservative than Denver, so I probably rather live in that county. It be interesting to hear what people have to say about that area. IS there BLM land in the area that is easily accessible and where people are allowed to do target shooting?

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

well that is a few questions so let me try to tackle a few.
Yes colorado springs is alot better as far as being gun friendly.
CCW laws here in CO are a shall issue state and the local sheriff here in el paso county has no problem signing off on them along with class 4 weapons like machine guns and silencers.

As far as gun laws in the state: no waiting period but you have a so called instant background. it usually only takes from like 15 minutes on a slow day to a couple hours on a busy day.
Private sales are fine but we have a gun show loop hole law in place were you have to do a back ground check at the show for either a private or dealer sale.

gun shops in town: a few of them have closed over the last year for reasons like retirement or death. now you have a few choices from a large store to a few small shops plus a couple of the chain stores.

as far as ranges for shooting. all ranges which fit what you want are private with very few of them with openings and most with a few years wait to get in.

ben lomand has a long range informal range but is like a 45 min. drive east of here. they do have openings.
frontier has two different ranges east of town 15 minutes or south of town about 25 minutes away. the east range goes out to 300 yards as does the south range with long range plans for a 1k formal range.

a few other small ranges including a very nice indoor range. a few ranges in the area do action type of shooting.

now for long range shooting none here in the springs yet but within about 2 hours away you have a good choice. west in the mountians which is private but runs matches and does have openings with a highpower rifle range out to 600 yards is buffalo creek about 1 3/4 hours west is has a great range and is very private with low membership.

north east is colorado rifle club which goes out to 1k yards on a very nice highpower range and is like 1 1/2 hours away. it is private with openings.

south in raton new mexico at like about two hours is the NRA whittington center which has everything and then some. $15 per day for its use or if you join for a very small fee either for a year or lifetime its free shooting after that. they even have rooms there for the weekend trips.

now I did not list other ranges but withing like a hour or so you have many, many smaller private ranges that do all kinds of shooting sports plus if you like small bore we have the olympic training center that you can join and shoot small bore type of matches indoors.

the area was listed as #3 for real estate turn around in the forbes list a few weeks ago.

Lot of blm range and a few places to shoot also but the feds are trying to cut back on shooting in the forest. we have rampart range just west of town that was on blm but was closed earlier in the year but just this week the blm was talking about reopening it in the near future.

I hope this helps and if you need any more info there are quite a few of us here on the high road that can help.

jon

 

[cologuy]

Within less than an hour of Colorado Springs, you also have the Pueblo West Sportsman's Association and the Royal Gorge Gun Club. PWSA has a nicer facility and does a lot of action-type stuff, but the rifle range is limited to 500 yards (I think), and there's a long wait for membership. RGGC isn't crowded and has ranges up to 1,000 yards, and membership is easy and fast, but it's definitely not as fancy as some places. You can check out both on the internet - just Google the names. Good luck with your move!

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

pueblo west has a many year wait to get in and is private but I did not list them as they along with many, many others here in colorado run the same type of matches. justin here runs a few matches down there but is not a member as far as I remember. I used to belong but found to many things closer.

royal gorge gun club is a joke. if you live close its not a bad place to use as a site in range. I got tired of being a member and then afterward driving all the way over there for no match going on that was listed or a big turn out of 4 or 5 folks. you can be in the denver area as fast as going to canon city.

 

[Evergreen]

Thanks for the responses. I am not planning on going to Colorado for a little while, but it is something I forsee in the future. I am hoping if money is looking better in the next year or two, I would like to invest in buying a home in the Colorado Springs area. I have heard lots of nice things about Colorado.

Where I live now is a shooter's paradise, but its a bit isolated and I like to be a in place with more people and a bit more sunshine, which I hear Colorado has. Also, I really would love living in the high rocky mountains, as I never seen them in my life, but heard they are some of the most beautiful pieces of scenery in this country. I am a big fan of jagged rocky mountains. We have some here, but not to the degree of Colorado.

I was a little concern with gun laws, but they sound like they are very reasonable, just like they are in Oregon. However, it sounds like finding a good long range area to shoot is not so easy in Colorado Springs/Denver area. I don't like the idea of having to wait a year to join a club. Maybe, I ought to prepare in advance.. Perhaps if I can get the ability, I would try to buy land where I can setup my own shooting range, but that is probably wishful thinking.

It sounds like if you travel around a little in the Colorado Springs area you can find some places to shoot. I was hoping to be able to find a place that does up to 500yd shooting within 30 minutes of the city, but I am not sure if that is possible. Some of the ranges are also rather expensive, I guess I will have to look more into it.

ON another note, someone told me Denver's gun laws may be different than the rest of the state. If i live in Colorado SPrings and geta CCW, is there any problem CCing in Denver?

 

[ichiban]

Not any more. They tried to set up their own little fiefdom but it got superseded.
http://www.rmgo.org/alerts/2004-denverruling.htm

Or, more plainly:

Can I carry in downtown Denver? -- The state law that changed on May 19th, 2003 in section 18-12-201 states: "An action or rule that encumbers the permit process by placing burdens on the applicant beyond those sworn statements and specified documents detailed in this part 2 or that creates restrictions beyond those specified in this part 2 is in conflict with the intent of this part 2 and is prohibited." Further, in section 18-12-214 it is stated that: "A local government does not have authority to adopt or enforce an ordinance or resolution that would conflict with any provision of this part 2." Our contact with the Denver PD reveals that DPD recognizes this fact and has informed their officers to comply with the new state ruling.
http://www.coloradofirearmsafety.com/faq.html#denver

 

[rondog]

Colorado's great! I'm a member of the Ben Lomond Gun Club, I think you'd love the place. www.blgc.org

In Colorado Springs, stay far away from Dragonman's, he's bad news.

AFA living in the mountains, remember that the more you want to "get away from it all", the more "away from it all you are". Gas, groceries, smokes, etc. can be a problem when you're over an hour from anywhere and it's snowing like hell.

Denver has some kind of "assault rifle" law, I'm not familiar with it. And Denver and Boulder both have laws about open carry, but you can OC anywhere else in the state if you wish. You can legally carry a loaded handgun in your car without a permit, for self-defense. Long guns can be carried in vehicles with loaded magazines, but the chamber has to be empty.

 

[Larry Ashcraft]

There's a 1000 yard range close to Canon City that holds monthly matches. I can get the specifics, but it'll take a few days.

 

[Evergreen]

I be eager to hear more about it. I do appreciate the comments I read so far, had educated me a lot about the situation of shooting ranges and gun laws in the Colorado Springs area. I don't think I could have gone anywhere else at such short notice to acquire the information I have received in this one thread.

Much thanks to everyone. Of course, I will be doing more homework and trying to learn more about the area. I plan maybe next spring or summer to take a trip to the area and see what its like.