Still have a case from the first Hicksville I ever attended....same one where we destroyed a mustang I believe.....wonder if they're intact!?
I want to do something that I had negotiated with the former venue. It involves heavy steel and strong handguns. I'll post more when I know more.
.454 would probably be the smallest you'd want to go
I spoke with the owner for TSSR the other day:
-TSSR has a class room, but he's already got it booked through November. He seemed like he genuinely wanted to help us with the room, but he could only find one available Sunday in the month. If we want to do a tailgate party (which I think would be kinda cool), he said he's willing to provide power. I asked him how many restrooms he has available for us and he said "two".
-The berms are currently being reinforced and made taller. This includes side berms splitting all the bays. They are 100% serious about their berms. The berms are big enough that he had a guy driving a bulldozer on top of them - if that tells you anything.
-He does have a skeet area, but it is currently shut down because there's big brush piles in the area that he can't burn due to the burn ban. He has paperwork that's already been submitted requesting permission to burn.
-No full auto at this time. He is dealing with some issues, and is expecting to have full auto back sometime in November.
-He's working on acquiring some land next door to his range. Once he gets this land, he will be putting in a 3,000 yard range. At that point, he will be open to the big boy guns.
-There ARE LTC classes that come through to qualify. He has 3 pistol bay areas, and they only use 1 of those bays - even then it's usually only for 30 min max since they're typically small classes.
-He is familiar with Texas Gun Talk and really wants our business. To help this along, he's willing to drop the entry fee for our range day. Normally it's $15, but he's willing to drop it to $10 for TGT members.
-He is willing to allow 30mm chalk rounds as long as they're kept on the berm.
-He is a class III dealer and has a few toys on hand as well. Certainly not any grenade launchers or full auto glocks, but still - he has toys.
-His clay thrower is variable. It throws them all over the place and you never know where until the clay has been launched.
Personally, I get a good vibe from this guy. He knows what his range needs to grow and be successful, and he has a game plan in action to do so. He was an explosives handler in the Army, so he's all about the cool stuff. There's just a few issues he's been working through to get him to that point. He's doing the best he can with what he's got. I think it would benefit us to start a good relationship with TSSR, and enjoy the benefits as he grows his range. If we were to hold our Oct meet there and we decided we like it enough for the April meet, we could reserve the classroom that day. I also think this range will be good for keeping everyone relatively together instead of spreading them all over. The main issues people were unhappy with - he's got handled. There's a few minor setbacks that I think will become available with time, but overall we will all be able to stay around each other and socialize, while being able to have a short walk to go shoot where we want.
These pictures were taken while they were busy remodeling the range. Please ignore the mess.
Main Office/Classroom/Restrooms
Front Desk
Restroom in training room
Main restroom
Training room
Main parking lot
Long Range
25 yd rifle
TacLane
I was trying to capture how high the berm towers over me, but it's not as impressive on a picture as it is in person.
Three pistol paper bays - each has it's own lanes
Pistol steel bay
Shotgun steel bay being built up
Skeet area
More work still to come...
Unfortunately, they do have signs up saying you can't bring your own clays. No, I don't know why not did I think to ask.
You can bring shade and tables, but the classroom will be for food. I'll bring shade as well.
Usually we do a .22 pistol and rifle competition on steel flapper targets.
As soon as my home club dries out, I'm going to do some testing to help me answer that question. It was originally my intention that a .500 S&W would likely be the standard round for successful competitors with the .44 magnum as a reasonable minimum that would allow someone to have fun but probably not win.
If that turns out to mean "laying on the dirt", then the whole deal is off. These targets are meant to be knocked over, so they'll need to be at least 2 feet in front of the berm. As soon as I get that clarified, I'll know whether this particular activity will proceed.
