The Wandering Minstrel

The President of the Wickenburg Sportsmen’s Club found out after extensive research, that WSC owns 40 additional acres adjacent to it’s existing range. The 40 acres was acquired from the Bureau of Land Management by the Town of Wickenburg for the WSC for a shooting range way back in 1977. The Club is still mulling over how to use the land but a 1000 yard rifle range has often been mentioned.

A survey of all WSC property including the 40 acres took place this week. At the orientation last weekend, the range officer mentioned that the range would be closed on Wednesday January 12th after 11:30 AM for the survey. On the tour of the range, the RO jokingly said that the survey team had been offered Kevlar vests but elected instead for the option to close the range down.

Clickable image courtesy The Better Half - Trap and Skeet Range

It’s official - we attended the range safety orientation today, paid our dues and took a tour of the facilities at the Wickenburg Sportsmen’s Club. I’ll blog more about the club in the future. Meantime, The Better Half and I are watching NFL Wildcard Weekend. Stay tuned.

On Saturday, The Better Half and I will be attending the Range Safety Orientation at the Wickenburg Sportsmen’s Club. A combination of the business of building a new house and getting our old one ready for the market have delayed our application for membership.

The club is a recreational shooting organization with facilities for pistol, rifle, trap and skeet. There are regularly scheduled events and the club offers training for Arizona CCW, range safety officer and many other activities. The club is affiliated with the NRA which is good since we’re both life members.

I’m looking forward to when The Better Half and I get to meet the people in the club. We anticipate being very active after we get the new house furnishings in place.

The Better Half and I watched all episodes of History Channel’s Top Shot series so when I read my digital copy of NRA’s American Rifleman yesterday, I was primarily interested in the article about Iain Harrison, winner of the reality show’s contest. The story of Mr. Harrison’s background was very interesting and a good read.

The article starts out with the guns Iain surrendered to (formerly) Great Britain when the unconscionable Firearms Act went into effect when the government confiscated guns from law abiding citizens. That’s the sad part, but it’s over quickly and the rest of the story is upbeat and interesting.

Shot Across the Pond

Iain Harrison’s fascinating journey from Queen’s soldier to The History Channel’s “America’s Top Shot” champion is steeped in hard work, sacrifice and respect for the Second Amendment. Read the full story about how this British ex-pat was chosen out of an estimated 5,500 applications to participate in, and ultimately become America’s Top Shot

Mr. Harrison apparently left the United Kingdom for reasons similar to our motives in leaving California: Second Amendment freedoms.

These days this would cost about $70 just for the ammo. That being said, I’d jump at the chance to do the same thing . . .

P.S. Want drum mag!

This is at the high priced end of the small caliber rifles that we may consider adding to our arsenal. It’s a Para TTR™ 5.56 gas operated tactical rifle with a MSRP of around $2400. Para refers to the mechanism as a Delayed Impingement Gas System™.

Para’s introduction begins with two questions:

Are you tired of waiting for the recoil spring system next to your ear to quit twanging before you pull the trigger again? Did your target disappear before you could get back on it due to the muzzle flip of a conventional butt recoiling AR-15?

I really would like to have a rifle in this class but then I get to thinking about the eleven dollar price tag every time I load a magazine.

We are looking forward to shooting at the Wickenburg Sportsmen’s Club. We are going to return to the new home in December at which time we will attend the range safety class and pay our 2011 dues. We will have some of the arsenal with us and will shoot a box or two of ammo if we can.

I took a lot of video footage at the old range, but way too much to post on the web. I was digging through the archives this afternoon and found this video of The Better Half chopping a silhouette target in half with her 20 gauge Remington 870 shotgun. Seeing how much fun we used to have made me even more anxious to get some instruction on shooting airborne clay targets at the trap and skeet ranges. Neither of us have ever done that sort of shooting. It should be even more fun than shooting paper indoors.

We were out for a drive along scenic state route 74 today. We needed some R&R after all the fixture shopping we did yesterday in Surprise, AZ.

We headed out to visit Lake Pleasant. When we got to the self-serve pay point, I discovered that I didn’t have the exact change to cover the six dollar fee for day use.

We decided to drive to I-17 where there is a convenience store. We needed some cold water anyhow, so I got a bottle and my exact change. On the way back from the convenience store, we passed the Ben Avery Shooting Range. The Better Half got the (clickable) image of the sign at the entrance.

We will be joining the Wickenburg Sportsmen’s Club which is a good range but at some point, we will drive down here to shoot, based on the recommendation of our friend and fellow gun blogger, Glenn B.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department has this information about the Ben Avery Shooting Range:

Our world-class shooting range is a city of Phoenix Point of Pride. It has received a Five Star rating from the National Association of Shooting Ranges. This means that it is the best of the best at providing a quality recreation experience and is the first government facility to receive this designation.

With extensive facilities, and shooting sport classes for all skill levels, the Ben Avery Shooting Facility offers a fun and safe environment for all of your shooting needs.

Men, women and children ages 5 and older and of different experience levels are welcome. Trained safety officers are on the firing line at all times to oversee safety and to offer informal coaching when needed.