Len_in_Phoenix
Member
Hello everyone
My son Nathan and I went to check out a new range here in Phoenix today. The Buckeye Hills Sportsman's Club is re-opening the range at the Buckeye Hills Recreation Area to the public. For the last several years it's been LEO only, but the club has been putting a lot of work into it and now have it open to the public one weekend a month. More open days are planned if they can get enough traffic through the range.
The range is a bit spartan compared to Ben Avery, but then again most everything is.
The main smallbore range (10 to 100 yards) only has room right now for about 10 shooting positions, but it can be expanded to double that with a little more work. What this range does offer that isn't available at Ben Avery is the ability to walk to the right side of the shooting line and have access to the 200, 300, 400, and 500 yard ranges as well as the 600 yard gong. At BA, the "normal" public range only goes to 200. In addition to the target stands at the long range berms, the 200, 300, and 400 berms have permanent steel targets available.
At 200 there is a 12" square plate and a 12"x16" plate. The 300 and 400 yard berms each have 3 steel silhouettes the size of a standard IPSC cardboard silhouette. The 600 yard gong is a 24" round plate 1" thick. I don't know why there aren't any plates at 500.....maybe they just ran out of steel and plan to put some up later. If you pick the right tables, all of the long range steel targets are available from one shooting position.
Nate and I arrived about 1pm, paid our fees ($3 each), got a quick safety lecture, and were shown to a table on the 10-100 yard range. We spent the next 5 hours very happily popping away at 10, 25, and 100 yards with the 6 handguns and 4 rifles we brought. As the crowd thinned out, we decided to move to the long range area and have some fun with the steel plates.
At this point we had the range to ourselves, so I put away the handguns while Nate set things up at the long range table. I've never considered a Ruger 10/22 to be much of a long range rifle, but Nate wanted to try it on the 200 yard plates. I said that was fine and started loading magazines while he was shooting, keeping an eye on him but not paying attention to what was happening downrange.
Pop
Pop
Pop............Ding.
Pop............Ding.
Pop............Ding.
"How high are you holding to hit that?" I asked. "Oh, the top of the berm." was the smiling reply. He ran through about 30 rounds and averaged about 75% hits after he got the 'kentucky elevation' dialed in. Then it was Dad's turn.
The 300 yard silhouette's were easy with my somewhat newly built (less than 300 rounds through it) Eagle Arms/Rock River AR-15 A2.....just hold dead center and let it fly. 400 was a bit more challenging, but after a ranging shot to get the wind right, the targets rang at every shot. Time for the big one....600 yards. Since all of my shooting with this rifle at more than 200 yards had happened in the last 5 minutes, I asked one of the range officers to spot for me while I tried for the 600 yard gong. M193 ball ammo drops between 9 and 10 FEET at 600 yards, so quite a bit of holdover was needed. After 6 or 7 shots to get the wind and elevation I was rewarded with a nice BONG from downrange. I only hit it twice more with my remaining 6 shots, but I sure scared the hell out of it.
When my magazine ran dry I let Mike the RO try it out. Same story for him....300 was easy, 400 was moderate, 600 required walking the shots onto the target. I don't remember if he rang the 600 yard gong 2 or 3 times, but he did get it more than once.
We stepped back to talk for a bit and Nathan asked if he could try it with the AR-15. I handed him a 30 round mag and said "Sure....just call your shots so we know where to watch." Mike and I winked at each other and settled in to see if the pup could keep up with the old dogs.
"300 yards. Left side," he said.
"You're not going to try the 200 yard plates?" I asked.
He grinned and said "I already got those with the .22."
Bang......DING.........and a big grin.
"300 yards, middle."
Bang......DING.........same grin.
"300 yards, right."
Bang......DING........another grin.
"400 yards, left side."
Bang.............Ding
"400 yards, middle."
Bang.............Ding.
"400 yards, right."
Bang.............Ding.
"Six hundred."
Bang..............
Bang..............
long pause, and then Bang...................................DING.
The little showoff rang the 600 yard gong 4 times out of 10 shots, with a gun that wasn't even his.
Now he wants to shoot against me for money on the long range steel.
Not bad for a 10 year old.
Len in Phoenix
My son Nathan and I went to check out a new range here in Phoenix today. The Buckeye Hills Sportsman's Club is re-opening the range at the Buckeye Hills Recreation Area to the public. For the last several years it's been LEO only, but the club has been putting a lot of work into it and now have it open to the public one weekend a month. More open days are planned if they can get enough traffic through the range.
The range is a bit spartan compared to Ben Avery, but then again most everything is.
The main smallbore range (10 to 100 yards) only has room right now for about 10 shooting positions, but it can be expanded to double that with a little more work. What this range does offer that isn't available at Ben Avery is the ability to walk to the right side of the shooting line and have access to the 200, 300, 400, and 500 yard ranges as well as the 600 yard gong. At BA, the "normal" public range only goes to 200. In addition to the target stands at the long range berms, the 200, 300, and 400 berms have permanent steel targets available. At 200 there is a 12" square plate and a 12"x16" plate. The 300 and 400 yard berms each have 3 steel silhouettes the size of a standard IPSC cardboard silhouette. The 600 yard gong is a 24" round plate 1" thick. I don't know why there aren't any plates at 500.....maybe they just ran out of steel and plan to put some up later. If you pick the right tables, all of the long range steel targets are available from one shooting position.
Nate and I arrived about 1pm, paid our fees ($3 each), got a quick safety lecture, and were shown to a table on the 10-100 yard range. We spent the next 5 hours very happily popping away at 10, 25, and 100 yards with the 6 handguns and 4 rifles we brought. As the crowd thinned out, we decided to move to the long range area and have some fun with the steel plates.
At this point we had the range to ourselves, so I put away the handguns while Nate set things up at the long range table. I've never considered a Ruger 10/22 to be much of a long range rifle, but Nate wanted to try it on the 200 yard plates. I said that was fine and started loading magazines while he was shooting, keeping an eye on him but not paying attention to what was happening downrange.
Pop
Pop
Pop............Ding.
Pop............Ding.
Pop............Ding.
"How high are you holding to hit that?" I asked. "Oh, the top of the berm." was the smiling reply. He ran through about 30 rounds and averaged about 75% hits after he got the 'kentucky elevation' dialed in. Then it was Dad's turn.
The 300 yard silhouette's were easy with my somewhat newly built (less than 300 rounds through it) Eagle Arms/Rock River AR-15 A2.....just hold dead center and let it fly. 400 was a bit more challenging, but after a ranging shot to get the wind right, the targets rang at every shot. Time for the big one....600 yards. Since all of my shooting with this rifle at more than 200 yards had happened in the last 5 minutes, I asked one of the range officers to spot for me while I tried for the 600 yard gong. M193 ball ammo drops between 9 and 10 FEET at 600 yards, so quite a bit of holdover was needed. After 6 or 7 shots to get the wind and elevation I was rewarded with a nice BONG from downrange. I only hit it twice more with my remaining 6 shots, but I sure scared the hell out of it.
When my magazine ran dry I let Mike the RO try it out. Same story for him....300 was easy, 400 was moderate, 600 required walking the shots onto the target. I don't remember if he rang the 600 yard gong 2 or 3 times, but he did get it more than once.
We stepped back to talk for a bit and Nathan asked if he could try it with the AR-15. I handed him a 30 round mag and said "Sure....just call your shots so we know where to watch." Mike and I winked at each other and settled in to see if the pup could keep up with the old dogs.
"300 yards. Left side," he said.
"You're not going to try the 200 yard plates?" I asked.
He grinned and said "I already got those with the .22."
Bang......DING.........and a big grin.
"300 yards, middle."
Bang......DING.........same grin.
"300 yards, right."
Bang......DING........another grin.
"400 yards, left side."
Bang.............Ding
"400 yards, middle."
Bang.............Ding.
"400 yards, right."
Bang.............Ding.
"Six hundred."
Bang..............
Bang..............
long pause, and then Bang...................................DING.
The little showoff rang the 600 yard gong 4 times out of 10 shots, with a gun that wasn't even his.
Now he wants to shoot against me for money on the long range steel. Not bad for a 10 year old.
Len in Phoenix
