Very sorry for your loss. Hang tough.

 

Sorry to hear that, bob. We are in the same boat, closest clubs are now 65 miles away. Makes it hard to shoot often.

 

For many decades, military gun clubs were always 1 commander away from closing.

I was a member of the Scott AFB Gun Club for the last 15 years of it's life. All of a sudden we got a new wing commander and it became immediately evident he wanted it gone.

His initial argument was that it was operating at a loss and was being subsidized by other MWR activities. We tried to push back asking if they were also closing the other subsidized MWR activities like the aeroclub and base theater and they just changed tactics.

All of a sudden we were flooded with facility inspections by CE. They condemned all 3 skeet fields because the step handrail to the high house was made out of wood and could result in a splinter. They also prohibited club members from fixing it even though the entire club was built by members and it was mostly club members who paid for the materials out of their own pockets.

Club has been closed about 10 years now and there is still a pat-trap in the trap house that was pretty new when the club was closed. However, the door to the house has been open the whole time and the target carousel is sitting on top of the house.

WAIT - Don't sell your skeet stuff so quickly. You were very lucky to have had years of a Skeet field within 8 miles, but that is not common. At my club a 40 - 50 mile drive is not uncommon. I drive 50 miles one way to work every day; so it's not a problem at all to drive 50 miles for recreation.

 

xxx

 

For many decades, military gun clubs were always 1 commander away from closing.

I was a member of the Scott AFB Gun Club for the last 15 years of it's life. All of a sudden we got a new wing commander and it became immediately evident he wanted it gone.

His initial argument was that it was operating at a loss and was being subsidized by other MWR activities. We tried to push back asking if they were also closing the other subsidized MWR activities like the aeroclub and base theater and they just changed tactics.

All of a sudden we were flooded with facility inspections by CE. They condemned all 3 skeet fields because the step handrail to the high house was made out of wood and could result in a splinter. They also prohibited club members from fixing it even though the entire club was built by members and it was mostly club members who paid for the materials out of their own pockets.

Club has been closed about 10 years now and there is still a pat-trap in the trap house that was pretty new when the club was closed. However, the door to the house has been open the whole time and the target carousel is sitting on top of the house.

WAIT - Don't sell your skeet stuff so quickly. You were very lucky to have had years of a Skeet field within 8 miles, but that is not common. At my club a 40 - 50 mile drive is not uncommon. I drive 50 miles one way to work every day; so it's not a problem at all to drive 50 miles for recreation.

Work? What's that? Seems like I should know what that word means. :lol:

9/11 started the decline. Security since then has closed the base off to our off-base civilian members who used to outnumber the military & on-base civilians/contractors by 4 or 5:1. Membership before 9/11 was between 500 & 600. We are now down to maybe 100. We used to carry all required reloading components for clay targets, sell factory ammo, and allow an occasional adult beverage after the shooting was completed for the day. Now, we sell nothing but clay targets and soft drinks. COVID put additional nails in the coffin lid.

As to Skeet, the Logan/SLC ranges are state run and their COVID restrictions & hours of operation are set to benefit employees with little or no consideration given to their customer base. Registered Skeet in Utah is all but dead and I no longer travel for registered targets. My bride has Dementia Alzheimers and doesn't shoot at all anymore. My Beretta Multitarget will break Skeet targets just fine, so both of our 682s will be sold along with all the sub-gauge stuff. I might just sell the Spolar sub-gauge sets and keep the 12 GA set-up. But things will be changing here very soon.

 

Learn to shoot sporting clays - many of the shots have similar angles to skeet. (Since that seems to be the closest club to you) And, shooting subgauge sporting is even more fun!

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Any chance of making a skeet range ? Dad made one, very primitive, took three guys to run it with the fourth shooting.

 

Learn to shoot sporting clays - many of the shots have similar angles to skeet. (Since that seems to be the closest club to you) And, shooting subgauge sporting is even more fun!

I have about 25 years experience at shooting recreational Trap, 35 years shooting recreational & registered Skeet, and 20 years shooting recreational SC. I'll be fine.

 

that stinks! but as mentioned, on a military base it's only one person away from being shutdown,

sent you PM about it,

Scott

 

Sorry to hear that. I drive 85 miles one way once a week to shoot (coastal NC). Long drive and at my age not sure how much longer I can do it. It seems more and more ranges are closing.

 

Don't sell your skeet guns, you can use them on SC.

 

Sucks! The unstaffed range at Whiteman AFB closed a couple of years ago because of abuse. When Richards-Gebaur closed the club moved to a conservation dept. range not too far away. I have no idea what happened to the nice club at Ft. Leonard Wood.

 

fort lw is still there.

 

fort lw is still there.

Wright Patterson AFB club is still hanging in there as well.

Seems like facilities that are located on base property that is outside the main fenced and secured areas of the base have faired better. The club at Scott was considering a move to property base outside the gate but didn't get moved in time.

 

nas oceana @ va beach is still going too. its way outside the secure area but base CO's come and go and toy with closing it every time. until that is, they see it makes more money than the base golf range.

 

Sorry that you are losing your local club. Some of the locals have been trying to shut my home club down. It is 5.6 miles from my house and the next closest one is 37 miles away.

I used to shoot at Fort Campbell when I lived in Nashville and when I was down near DC at the CIA Skeet fields at Langley. For years when I lived in Rockland County, New York I shot at least once a week at Lordship in CT and when I lived in Chicago I shot at Lincoln Park. Those last two have been closed now for years. Not sure about Langley or Ft. Campbell.

Bob

 

Have you thought about reaching out to your elected reps ie, congress/senator? If you start a large grass roots movement, that might give the base commander pause

 

Have you thought about reaching out to your elected reps ie, congress/senator? If you start a large grass roots movement, that might give the base commander pause

Thanks for the tip. The Club's Board President/Vice are looking into that already.

 

langely skeet and trap closed back in 98. the range is a deep water port now. i was on the last squad and we all shot the last bird.
i still have the langley bravo flag.

 

Have you thought about reaching out to your elected reps ie, congress/senator? If you start a large grass roots movement, that might give the base commander pause

We tried that at Scott and quickly learned they have no interest in opposing what a base or wing commander wants as long as it does not cost the area they represent federal revenue or jobs. They would much rather kiss their butt to help them get what they want.

 

BC's pretty much get their requests granted. I'm sorry to say, it doesn't look good for Hill. Hope I'm wrong.

 

BC's pretty much get their requests granted.

About 99.99% of the time.

The question is not will it be closed - it will. The real question is when will it be closed.

 

BC's pretty much get their requests granted.

About 99.99% of the time.

The question is not will it be closed - it will. The real question is when will it be closed.

Just a damn shame.

 

if itll give you any hope, nas oceana historically was closed twice. and when a new pro gun CO came in, he opened up again.

 

The real reason for the closure is the need to build new buildings for the F22/F35 workload coming to hill in the next 3 to 5 years. The 2 existing buildings can't handle the expected increase in workload and the base wants to keep the work all in one area, so the ground will be needed for the 3 new buildings that are planned. There are no plans to relocate the club due to the income loss over the last several years. Base security issues since 9/11 have eliminated our civilian membership and that was 350 to 400 members who made the Club profitable. The Services (MWR) upper management decided about 5 years ago to eliminate component and ammunition sales and to give up the Club's FFL. The FFL loss was generating about 15 to 20 gun sales a week at a pure profit of $15/sale. As I said, it's not a matter of if, but rather when. We just want them to leave it open until actual building construction starts in 2 to 3 years.