New range - Rio Salado Sportsman's Club in Mesa, AZ.

[AZOpie]

We will be having our first east valley event at the end of April. Spread the word....

AZO

[JustJeff]

Good news indeed.  Which portion of the range are they giving you?  The cage or the open space near the office?

[AZOpie]

They said the I have to stay in the cage, the rest of the instructors and shooters get to use the small bore range 

[JustJeff]

They said the I have to stay in the cage, the rest of the instructors and shooters get to use the small bore range 

When we were shooting there, I asked Gerald to approach them about doing an AS.  He told me they'd probably make AS use the public range (the cage), but he'd try.  As far as I know, HE's not even allowed to use anything but the cage at his level of membership.... or at least he wasn't in October.

[AZOpie]

It doesn't hurt that one of the board, Ed Roberts, came down help us run the shoot in Marana for the Civil Air Patrol last year. We gave a basic course to 125 cadets in 4.5 hours using two 25 point ranges. I had to go speak to their board last month about getting on the schedule. The Chief Instructor for the range guided me through the process and was instrumental in getting this event on the schedule. The board was very supportive of bringing Appleseed to the facility as well.

Ed has proposed referring their backlog of prospective junior team shooters over to us. Their program is very robust and they feel our program would be a great place for junior shooters to get a start. I believe the count was 7 or 8 of their shooters going to compete in the junior olympics this year, as I remember from the board meeting.

This will be a great venue for Appleseed. This first shoot is on the small bore range, but we may be able to get time on the other ranges in the future. They really want to give us a try and then we'll talk about other opportunities, so getting people out there is very important for this initial shoot.

AZO

[Charlie Don't Surf!]

John,
I was at Ben Avery last weekend. I was wearing my Appleseed T-Shirt. The range master came up to me and asked me a bunch of questions about Appleseed. She gave me a business card and was very interested in speaking about hosting an event. I will see you at the event in Mesa.

Michael G.

[AZRedhawk44]

They said the I have to stay in the cage, the rest of the instructors and shooters get to use the small bore range 

When we were shooting there, I asked Gerald to approach them about doing an AS.  He told me they'd probably make AS use the public range (the cage), but he'd try.  As far as I know, HE's not even allowed to use anything but the cage at his level of membership.... or at least he wasn't in October.

To use anything other than the "cage" you have to get the endorsement of one of the shooting discipline division coordinators... it doesn't have anything to do with money, or tenure as a member.  After attending several High Power matches, I talked to John Martin and he put the HP/SB endorsements on my membership so that I can use the High Power and Small Bore ranges for practice in those disciplines.  I haven't checked to see if I'm allowed to chaperone guests, whether they are members or non-members, who lack the proper endorsement for that range.

I'm working on getting endorsements for the pistol bays.  I don't want to ask until I'm C-class at the steel matches.

I haven't used the endorsements for the HP/SB ranges, yet.  I just go to the cage.  I can shoot to 300 there.  I'm not comfortable with being solo on a 500 yard HP range and driving down to the berms, then having someone possibly come and setup on range while I'm downrange.  Or leaving my rifle 500 yards away with no RSO or friend on the line.  Gives me the heebie-jeebies.  Granted, everyone on that range "should" have the HP endorsement and be smarter than the average bear and well above the "lowest common denominator" that you often get over at the public range "cage," but it still bothers me.  For now, I only practice on the HP range during HP matches.

Rio's a great club, Jeff.  Lots of disciplines to study.

[AZOpie]

John,
I was at Ben Avery last weekend. I was wearing my Appleseed T-Shirt. The range master came up to me and asked me a bunch of questions about Appleseed. She gave me a business card and was very interested in speaking about hosting an event. I will see you at the event in Mesa.

Michael G.

Thanks for the contact info Michael. I will be following up and will attempt to schedule at least one shoot at Ben Avery for this year if possible. Next year we will start a rotation in the valley that I think will be equitable to each of the ranges, and should result in a higher turnout and greater amount of new shooters on the line as well.

There are also two new northern ranges slated to open up in the next year or two, so we will be looking for more volunteers to staff our events.

John

[JustJeff]

Rio's a great club, Jeff.  Lots of disciplines to study.

I liked what I saw of it, going to and leaving the cage.  I liked the routine there, and we actually attempted to go back the next day (saturday    ) to shoot some more---but there was going to be at least a 3 hour wait and I was crunched for time (had to head back to NM).   I may end up back that way again in October if the Mayo requires me to do the tests every year.  If I do, I'm sure Gerry will take me back there on one of the short days of testing.