longhorn_92 wrote:Absolutely beautiful! It sure does sound like a great day....
Would have been fun to be there!!!
It
was a fun day. It was actually the most fun my son and I have had shooting rifles in a long time. We enjoy shooting pistols, but our passion is shooting rifles. Until now, I've found shooting rifles in the DFW area to be a frustrating experience. I expected to find more ranges when I moved here, particularly ranges with longer distances.
Back in California, I had a 700 yard rifle range not 20 minutes from my house in Pasadena. It had poured concrete rifle benches with folding chairs (not cheap splintery wood bench seats) - in the shade. The benches were dead level, and there was never a wait for a shooting lane. There were paper target stands at 100, 200, and 300 yards, and steel silhouette targets out to 700 yards.
Here is a map of the range layout. Not shown on the map are a sporting clays course, an airgun range, and a "scenario" paintball course.
Here are some pictures of the range facilities, including the rifle firing line.
Here are their fees. It has always seemed strange to me that here in Texas, with the abundance of available land (California has very little available land which is one reason why housing is so darned expensive there), and with a much more pro-gun culture than in California, that there would not be a facility in the DFW area as nice and as comprehensive as the Angeles Shooting Range that was 20 minutes from my Pasadena home.
And as importantly, why isn't there such a facility which can be accessed at such an affordable rate by the general public? Here, I have to drive 90 miles to TacPro and pay a ton of money, or about 90 miles in another direction to Tiger Valley and pay another ton of money if I want to shoot at longer ranges. I have to drive to the far side of the metroplex to find a 200 yard range that is open to the public. Alternatively, I can drive to the Grand Prairie gun club for a 200 yard range, which is closer, but have to pay what is a fairly steep buy-in price (approximately the price of a fairly nice new hunting rifle) to become a member - not counting dues. Granted, it's a nice range, but it further illustrates the truth that target shooting rifles in Texas is a rich man's sport. In California, for all of its restrictive gun laws, rifle shooting is much more accessible to the general public. Don't get me wrong... I love living here, but that particular aspect of it has been most frustrating for me.
The Elm Fork range is vastly improved over what it used to be before it got flooded out and changed ownership. My only real complaint is that it is still restricted on only 100 yards. But other than that, I will definitely go there again.
“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.”
― G. Michael Hopf, "Those Who Remain"
#TINVOWOOT
