Thread: All weather shooting range

The gunsmith I used to use came from South Africa. He was saying in the early days they used to shoot in stadiums, they would just truck a heap of shipping containers in and build a range. Dont Know what was in them tho..

Waiouru has one in concrete culvert pipes. 30-50m long from memory. Being in a culvert pipe means you can have an extractor fan dragging the air towards the target area, removing fumes and lead residue from the shooting area.

In Germany many of the Army barracks have 25m ranges up in the attic of the three story barrack blocks (ex WWII barracks). We would just sign out the .22LR adaptor for our highly useless SA80's and run a range shoot above our bedrooms. Was pretty cool to be honest.

Find a cave maybe

Originally Posted by blip

I've heard of a range like that, also heard there's a police range under a pool complex in auck some where? Not sure how legit that info is

There was a rifle club in Birkenhead next to the pool, but the following from a council talkfest regarding future development

36. Some park user groups will not find their specific needs met within the masterplan. The affected groups are:

· Birkenhead Rifle Club: this group has not been present on the park for three years, and the new multi-use sport facility is unlikely to contain enough space to provide dedicated indoor shooting areas.

No surprises there, I suppose

looks like a case of use it or loose it

I used to shoot there 30 plus years ago, it was a great little facility. I used to clean out the bullet catchers for lead to feed my BP addiction.

The pipe only needs to be for the first 1 or 2 swctions then open out into a trench with a backstop behind
Fence off side access to the trench
Needs a fan blowing air downrange - it is called "plug flow" in terms of fluid dynamics

I worked on the Police Range at the Training College in Aotea and they had series of fans moving the air (and propellant gasses) downrange with extractors at the other end sucking it out
Range was designed for frangible rounds

Greetings @blip,
First my apologies for having hijacked your thread. I do like the idea of the range you mentioned in your OP and I think that something close to it exists in Christchurch and possibly other areas. The NZDA range a Tokoroa and to an extent Taupo comes fairly close to it as well. The idea of having all the elements of range, handloading and a workshop handy to each other and I had much of that at Taupo, where I am a member a couple of weeks ago. I also have a casual sighting in range at home which I use sparingly and not for load development. I guess the point I am making is that what may be a dream for individuals can be a reality for a group or club. All things are possible.
Regards Grandpamac.

Hey no worries @grandpamac, its always interesting to hear other peoples experiences and ideas. There's plenty of stories from the past that unless they are shared they get lost forever...plus it makes for interesting discussion.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings @blip,
First my apologies for having hijacked your thread. I do like the idea of the range you mentioned in your OP and I think that something close to it exists in Christchurch and possibly other areas. The NZDA range a Tokoroa and to an extent Taupo comes fairly close to it as well. The idea of having all the elements of range, handloading and a workshop handy to each other and I had much of that at Taupo, where I am a member a couple of weeks ago. I also have a casual sighting in range at home which I use sparingly and not for load development. I guess the point I am making is that what may be a dream for individuals can be a reality for a group or club. All things are possible.
Regards Grandpamac.

The Tokoroa Shooting Sports Centre is not an NZDA range. South Waikato NZDA use it but so do many other shooting clubs.
It is a great facility though. Takes away the whole is it properly zeroed at 200 question.

Originally Posted by Steve123

The Tokoroa Shooting Sports Centre is not an NZDA range. South Waikato NZDA use it but so do many other shooting clubs.
It is a great facility though. Takes away the whole is it properly zeroed at 200 question.

Thanks for that @Steve123,
I have been on the range for a NZDA shoot but was not aware of it's governance. Regardless it is a great facility and nothing in HB remotely compares. Your point about 200 metre zero is well made. Rifle ranges between 100 metres and 275 metres (300 yards) are scarce and none better than the one at the Tokoroa shooting complex.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Thanks for that @Steve123,
I have been on the range for a NZDA shoot but was not aware of it's governance. Regardless it is a great facility and nothing in HB remotely compares. Your point about 200 metre zero is well made. Rifle ranges between 100 metres and 275 metres (300 yards) are scarce and none better than the one at the Tokoroa shooting complex.
Regards Grandpamac.

The Nelson NZDA range is a 200yd range with 25 covered benches and a concrete block room back from the firing line that is often used for reloading.
This range was used for the 2001 and 2017 World Benchrest Champs, and I think the Nelson range is as good if not better than the Tok range.

Hutt Valley NZDA range also has a covered firing line with 8 benches and a shed that can be used for reloading, this range used to be used for the NZDA North Island Benchrest Champs until the shoot was moved to the Tok range, which also has 8 benches.

Shop here has a 50m one which I have seen but not used.

Originally Posted by blip

So with the shit weather again, it looks like the trip to the farm is on hold again so its got me thinking/dreaming (if only money was no object) of an all weather shooting range. Lets design one that stretches out to 100m min. Covered shooting area and covered target area would be a good start. Id also have a work shop area, with a red wall that firearms have to be pointed at at all times when working on them and bolts must be left in range bag outside room...ideas..

Bury a large diameter pipe, with a bunker

Originally Posted by Maca49

Bury a large diameter pipe, with a bunker

People look at you funny when you do that.
Unless your an American software billionaire in the SI high country