Thread: Shooting ranges

Originally Posted by Beaker

Bloody rain......
Bit of a delay now due to HV cant get into site, but still looking great.

Bit of a question, what type of floor of range is the preferred? Grass, astroturf, etc....

Something that doesn't swallow your brass.

Hear you on that!

To allow prone shooting without doing extra work to keep the projectile containment. you could have larger/extra benches that people can climb ontop and shoot prone from. Keeping them up off the ground and within the normal shooting angles

Originally Posted by small_caliber

Lets see, if money is no option astroturf, the 300m range alone would cost around 110k...............I'm pretty sure there are other more important things to spend that money on, just lay some grass and keep it mowed, and plant the berms in grasses.
For the rifle ranges, if you are shooting from a concrete slab with benches on it you shouldn't lose your brass, as for the short ranges you could lose pistol brass in anything.



Flincher are you talking about additional portable benches for people to lie on and shoot prone off? Or making the benches a lot bigger to shoot prone off and also to use to shoot from the normal seated position?

If the former they would need to be well built so they didn't shake while being used and if the latter the benches would be huge (approx. 2.5m x 3.5m or more) to allow a left hand shooter and a right hand shooter to shoot from and have it so they and their firearm wouldn't fall off (huge safety issue), this size would certainly limit the number of benches you could install, and would require some thought in design so they could be used for shooting off while sitting.

Either or. But as you said if they are permanent benchs they will take up alot of space. Even having 1 or 2 down the end would be good. Or design a removable top/cover for the standard benchs.

Originally Posted by small_caliber

Lets see, if money is no option astroturf, the 300m range alone would cost around 110k...............I'm pretty sure there are other more important things to spend that money on, just lay some grass and keep it mowed, and plant the berms in grasses.
For the rifle ranges, if you are shooting from a concrete slab with benches on it you shouldn't lose your brass, as for the short ranges you could lose pistol brass in anything.



Flincher are you talking about additional portable benches for people to lie on and shoot prone off? Or making the benches a lot bigger to shoot prone off and also to use to shoot from the normal seated position?

If the former they would need to be well built so they didn't shake while being used and if the latter the benches would be huge (approx. 2.5m x 3.5m or more) to allow a left hand shooter and a right hand shooter to shoot from and have it so they and their firearm wouldn't fall off (huge safety issue), this size would certainly limit the number of benches you could install, and would require some thought in design so they could be used for shooting off while sitting.

For such a huge outlay in development costs is there going to be a charge to use the range and if there is what is it going to be?

For benches the top design shown at the top of page 6, in the below pdf file is the best design I've ever shot off.
http://benchrest.com/articles/benches.pdf

Sorry, should have been a bit more specific on the range floor question. Just meaning for the short/pistol ranges.
The longer and general site will be grassed/tussocks/natives etc.....

Benches, I think there will be a bit of a mix of fixed and moveable - to allow for the most usage of the range. Thanks for the doc link to the various shapes, types etc., a good concise summary doc.
Point taken about the bench to go prone on, but is already discounted as to much of a risk (ie IF someone was to shoot from the floor/ground, there would be no baffle protection - I know they'd be not following rules etc., but IF something did leave the range not a good thing for anyone, so hence full baffles from floor to standing height.)

Yes there will be a cost, in the form of a membership. And yes there will be a process to go through to allow you to use the range at any time etc.... Still working these out.

I think he's just meaning baffles to handle shooting anywhere from floor to standing.

Originally Posted by small_caliber

I might be reading the above wrong but does that mean there will be baffles from the floor of the range to a certain height?

If there is how will shooters be able to shoot prone or sitting? ie 3P shooting competition. Most hunters will want to be able to practice field shooting positions, ie prone off packs, sitting and sometimes standing.

Yeap, reading wrong. I was meaning that shooting heights from floor to standing postion, will have baffle protection. 1.8m from bottom edge of baffle to firing line pad floor, which is about .3-.6m above the range floor. So about 2-2.4m under baffles to range floor, so dont have to duck head if walking up range

Some progress after wet weather delays -

I wouldnt put astro turf on any part of a range that is going to have targets sitting on it. Especialy with ipsc being shot there. Keep it simple. Grass.

Close to the shooters I would consider concrete or asphalt so that the brass can be swept up provided it is not in the cone of fire.

Further out and keeping in mind that you don't want to track it back into the clubroom lime can be a really good choice as it packs down hard and costs sod-all

Big brother is watching -https://www.google.co.nz/maps/place/Aorangi+Rd,+Washdyke,+Timaru+7973/@-44.3466737,171.2663428,785m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x6d2ce98ca443d941:0x107a3 db1f41fc836

Now on Google Earth.

So had a very friendly over flight, and they just happened to have a camera -



No real change in dirt works for a while, due to some unfortunate circumstances......

Certification underway now for the 2 short ranges, and general site.

Hopefully shooting by Xmas....


It's a real credit to the people involved, and more so to the contractors, authorities and suppliers, that it's got this far in the time frames and cost.

Congratulations to the peopld involved in this great project, i had the oportunity to visit the site from outside and everything looks amazing, i hope one of these days i can go for a shooting in such great and safe enviroment
mac

Is the whatawhata range running?

Unfortunate circumstances sorted, and more dirt coming in. Also more money raised......

Still waiting on the paper work for the first 2, but sometime soon (ie no idea when it'll be through.....)

Was hoping to shoot it by Xmas 2015, but it might be a 2016 task. Still, it's only been about 12 months from having no land, let alone design or money to what it is now, so a big ups for all involved.