Some 22LR fun with family!

[Doc7]

(This story is from our weekend place in PA! Not New Jersey!)

We have a shooting range in our neighborhood so I took Mom, Dad, my Marlin 60 with brand new tech sights, my Taurus 990 Tracker 9 shot 22lr double action revolver with brand new Wolf springs and my brand new XT-22. Did I mention I got 280 rounds of Federal American Eagle by stopping in the right place at the right time. Ammo did NOT last long!

Here is a video of my day and some photos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82Y-MXO9KjY







Started off showing my mom how to use the handgun and shooting some Dallas Cowboy stars (we are eagles fans in these parts). Next we broke out the spinner targets (another Christmas gift from my nephews mom). First we sighted in the new tech sights and got mom used to using the rifle. All hell broke loose on the ammo supply once I got the 4x rimfire nikon scoped XT-22 into her hands. Between my father using my Marlin 60 and her using the XT-22 it sounded like the Germans were jumping out of the trenches and charging with bayonets fixed there were so many shots going off at the spinner targets.

Two hours later at dinner her and dad are talking about how ridiculously accurate they were able to shoot with the XT22 ("you must have an amazing scope!" The Nikon prostaff 4x32) I didn't do formal group testing as that takes me a couple hours with some anal retentive routines I follow and I just wanted to give them as much trigger time as possible - sighting in consisted of using dirt clods on the berm and then handing them the gun. Don't know what my group sizes are or even if this thing likes high vs subsonic velocity as I don't have multiple ammo boxes to test.

I had an absolutely amazing day and I can't wait to get out in the woods with the bolt action rifle once I have it truly sighted in with an ammo that I prove on paper is up for the task.

 

[glove]

Looks like everyone had a great time. Must be nice having a shooting range in your neighborhood

 

[perpster]

A beautiful story, and in NJ no less. OMG!

 

[Doc7]

I copied pasted the story I wrote elsewhere so I should be sure to mention that the edited paragraph mentioned originally that this is at our weekend home. Not my neighborhood in New Jersey!!! : ( I hang out in the Poconos of PA as much as possible.

 

[gspn]

A fun day for sure. Makes me want to go shooting.

 

[22-rimfire]

I see the snow is gone. It's a great family activity. I guess the next step is more guns and more ammo. I would much rather do informal shooting than go to a formal range where there are all these rules. There is no... you broke the rule, you loose your membership.

 

[Doc7]

It is a great range, also for practicing handgun defensive drills etc, firing from positions, etc. No "sandbags on the bench shooting only".

The problem is, I only get there 10-15 times a year, and try to clean it up when I am there but some other shooters leave the place an absolute mess. Shot up electronics, glass dishes that were shot, target stands blown to smithereens and paper/plastic products all over the place. I truly worry that the range may get shut down if clean up becomes a burden for the association. We always pick up more trash than we brought in when we leave.

If you watch the video you can see my target stand with the cardboard stapled onto the front (there are a couple of sighting targets and Cowboys logos targets stapled on) - I built that out of 2x4s and it hinges and fits into the backseat of my sedan, I bring it there rather than rely upon the target stands being in any kind of useful shape when I get there because I never know what I am going to find. I don't care leave it because I know it would be shot to pieces the next time I came.

Shooting hours are 10 AM to Sunset, only in non-rifle deer/bear season (the 100 yard range is a piece of property that extends into the state game land), and each homeowner is given a range key and a range card which must be presented to a member of the board upon request. I have only ever one time seen a member of the board of the homeowners association at the shooting range, and he was only there to collect brass off of the rocks and leave.

I really really love the range as it allows me to do all sorts of (safe) shooting that wouldn't be allowed at other places - I can't imagine going to a place that didn't let me shoot from field positions and/or practice IDPA type drills, and paying for it no less!

 

[Doc7]

Another funny thing that happened this day. Early on with the rifles, my mom said something about feeling something hit her. I made sure she had on her eye protection and thought maybe she caught a ricochet of something from the berm like a small rock chip. She sounded annoyed more than anything. She said the same thing again a few minutes later. At this point I realized every time I was firing the Marlin 60 she was catching brass with her cheek or her hair! We switched sides immediately after that. I can't believe she put up with it for as long as she did without being more insistent that she was getting whacked! Lesson learned for me.

 

[22-rimfire]

Since it is winter, you can't blame it on the bugs.

Maybe get with a few folks there and have a cleanup day and then grill some steaks and burgers and do some shooting.

 

[HoploDad]

That looks like fun, what a great idea to have a neighborhood range!

"The problem is, I only get there 10-15 times a year, and try to clean it up when I am there but some other shooters leave the place an absolute mess. Shot up electronics, glass dishes that were shot, target stands blown to smithereens and paper/plastic products all over the place. I truly worry that the range may get shut down if clean up becomes a burden for the association. We always pick up more trash than we brought in when we leave."

I have a friend who lets a variety of people shoot at his pistol range located at his unoccupied farm. A few years ago I decided to dress it up, as a thank you. I built target holders, bought shelving with protective plastic drawers, stocked it with a stapler, staples, different varieties of paper targets and fun stuff to shoot such as a bunch of empty plastic gallon milk jugs, with food coloring to add when filling them with nearby water. I even made stakes, marked them with distance, measured everything so you could know exactly how far away you were for different target shots.

Less than a year later, everything was trashed. It surprised the heck out of me that people would shoot up the target stands, leave a bunch of shot up crap lying around, etc. Getting a place to shoot outdoors, in the sunlight, for free is such a gift. It still puzzles me how some folks don't appreciate or care for something so rare! My friend is perhaps more gracious than I would be, to his credit.

 

[statelineblues]

It's not just places like your range - I had access to a police-only range several years ago (in NJ, BTW) and they would have several thousands of dollars damage every year from PD departments shooting up the target frames, overhead berm cover, outdoor storage lockers - there were even holes in the building where classes were held.

 

[JERRY]

fun family time indeed!

 

[floydster]

Where I live, Central Minn., the people were asking the county to fund a shooting range on a wildlife refuge, well, after several years it finally passed and the range was built at a cost of $100,000 it was very nice.
The range was not supervised being the cost would have been to high for the county.

Well, after three months the range was totally shot to hell--i mean everything was destroyed.
It only took 90 days for the people to do this.
Well, the range is now history ---it was a very nice place to go and shoot.
And that's how it is.

 

[deputy tom]

Wonderful. tom.

 

[dodge]

Some people have no respect for someone else's property. They get bored with shooting just paper and need to destroy something not thinking such behavior will shut the place down then nobody can get to do any shooting. We had a similar problem with our range but once we made it into a members only club a lot of that has stopped. Sure we still need to replace target fames from time to time but nothing like it was. Anybody with any experience with shooting can tell if someone did it on purpose or if it was done by sighting in a rifle and accidently hit the frame.