Local public range closed

[JBowen]

There is a free public Forest Service shooting range about 30 some miles from my home. I loaded up 2 44 mag carbines and a
Super Black Hawk revolver to go and try out a load someone on here liked ( 22 grain IMR 4227 under a 240 grain XTP).
I drove up and the gates were locked with a sign that said "Closed until further notice because of vandalism". I could see that
several sections of the treated post rail fence up by the shooting benches were down and broken.
I never could see what people got out of vandalizing things. Who knows if they will ever open it back up.
We can't ever have anything nice because of people like this. I hope they catch the b%$#&)!#!

JBowen

[Bridger]

Not quite on topic but I remember when Obama was President we had a govt shutdown around 2013 or 2014. For some moronic reason they closed the un-staffed public range in the National Forest there. I, like a number of other people ignored it and continued to use it anyway. We picked up after ourselves and nobody ever said a word.

[GunnyMack]

Maybe talk to the local Forest service office, get the local shooters to volunteer their time to clean up & repair AND watch over the place to help out the ' overworked federal employees'
After all the national forests belong to US the taxpayers!

[Walt]

Yep, that's right. The Forest Service and BLM are merely custodians of federal lands, not owners.

[Bill in Oregon]

I am sorry to say it, but I would be fully behind an effort by the USFS to post trail cameras and spy on range users if it meant catching the scum that do these things. It's a serious problem on national forest and BLM land. In Oregon, I loved just a few miles from the Siskiyou National Forest boundary, and would often drive up to shoot, but on the way I would pass pull-offs where people had dumped and shot up old couches, dishwashers and televisions. More "Americans" who don't begin to deserve to be Americans.

[.45colt]

I am very Lucky to have a state park three miles away with an Archery Range with 10 big targets , elevated gravel paths to the targets so you never walk in the mud. 10-50 yards. This summer people started leaving trash, some A-hole was shooting an air rifle and left his targets laying around. I picked up all the trash several times. All I can think of is they will close it. Most weekdays I have the place All to myself. This stuff makes Me nuts. .

[JBowen]

Maybe talk to the local Forest service office, get the local shooters to volunteer their time to clean up & repair AND watch over the place to help out the ' overworked federal employees'
After all the national forests belong to US the taxpayers!

Gunny, I followed your advice and called them. Turns out they were gathering up volunteers and I put my name on the list. So we may still have a range.

JBowen.

[JBowen]

I am very Lucky to have a state park three miles away with an Archery Range with 10 big targets , elevated gravel paths to the targets so you never walk in the mud. 10-50 yards. This summer people started leaving trash, some A-hole was shooting an air rifle and left his targets laying around. I picked up all the trash several times. All I can think of is they will close it. Most weekdays I have the place All to myself. This stuff makes Me nuts. .

45colt, we have the trash problem as well. People leave everything from targets to tv sets out there.
I once cut my finger on the razor sharp thin metal picking up a shot up diesel filter of all things.

JBowen

[Pisgah]

When our local Forest Service range was free, it literally got shot to pieces -- even the shelter over the firing line-- about every 3 years. It was then closed for a couple of years, rebuilt completely, and reopened with the addition of a $5-a-day use fee, paid voluntarily in a drop-box. The vandalism has dropped just about to zero. Of course, Forest Service personnel come by occasionally and check who has paid and who hasn't, but it's 99% self-policed by the shooters.

[GunnyMack]

Good deal ! It never hurts to ask to help.
I'm lucky enough that I have private property I can shoot on, a buddies farm where we can get almost 300 yards and the hunt club im in we can get almost 400. I have to cut a few small trees to do it though.

[765x53]

Our gun club range is often vandalized, I suppose by paying members. Usually by idiots using centerfire rifles on the 25 yard steel plates.

[JBowen]

Our gun club range is often vandalized, I suppose by paying members. Usually by idiots using centerfire rifles on the 25 yard steel plates.

765, I used to belong to a gun club about 20 years ago, and yes there were plenty of idiots there too. One of the reasons I don't now.

JBowen