"Shooting for Safety," by Anthony Chavez
Whether you are a skilled marksman or someone curious about shooting sports, Arizona offers a wealth of opportunities to explore this popular pastime.
Shooting ranges provide shooters with many benefits, including controlled settings, training and education. At a range, shooters at any skill level can practice, sight-in firearms, receive instruction and discover communities of like-minded enthusiasts.
One of the best ways to hone your skills or receive instruction is to visit one of the five Arizona Game and Fish Commission-owned shooting ranges: 7-Mile Shooting Facility in Kingman; 3-Points Shooting Facility in Tucson; Sierra Vista Shooting Facility in Sierra Vista; Rio Salado Shooting Facility in Mesa; and the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in Phoenix.
To ensure you have a safe and pleasant experience, the Arizona Game and Fish Department is committed to funding range improvements at these facilities. If you haven’t visited your favorite range lately, you may notice some changes. Here’s an update on recent upgrades to five of Arizona’s shooting venues.
7-Mile Shooting Facility
New impact and safety berms on the public main 200-yard rifle range are complete. These improvements provide a safe environment for people who use this range. In addition to the upgrades on the main range, the action pistol ranges also are getting an overhaul. The impact area will be raised to 20 feet to keep any projectile from going over the berms.
Cowboy Action Pistol range development and construction is in the works. These ranges will offer a safe area for people to conduct action revolver shooting at steel knockdown targets. To get into the “Old West” spirit, shooters will stand at the façade of a saloon doorway.
A new skeet range was constructed at the trap portion of the facility. This benefits local clay target shooters because now there is a facility that offers both trap and skeet. The club is looking at developing a new sporting clays course to capitalize on growing interest in this sport, which combines the most enjoyable aspects of golf and clay target shooting. A new ADA-compliant restroom rounds out the improvements.
Future efforts will focus on clubhouse and range office renovations.
3 Points Shooting Facility
October marked the start of several new construction projects at 3-Points.
The first effort creates a lateral safety berm on the east side of the 500-meter range. This berm will provide additional safety for areas adjacent to the facility. The berm will be 12 feet high and more than two football fields long.
The remaining part of the facility’s design and engineering will be reviewed to establish a master plan. This master plan will be the road map the range will follow as new construction projects are identified.
Sierra Vista Shooting Facility
The public’s comfort and safety are at
the heart of construction projects at the Sierra Vista Shooting Facility. Upgrades include making the main range and parking area ADA-compliant.
Safety improvement projects in progress include the development of a master plan to raise lateral and impact berms, which will increase safety and provide multiple uses of the range as it is developed.
Rio Salado Shooting Facility
This facility underwent many changes to accommodate the growing number of users. The newest development is the creation of a sporting clays field on the east side of the property. Additional shooting bays for pistol disciplines have been constructed, and include a spectator area with bleachers and canopies. The club also added an ADA-compliant restroom and currently is constructing a new maintenance building.
Ben Avery Shooting Facility
Since the department received operational control of the Clay Target Center in 2006, many new and exciting projects have been completed.
The entire trap and skeet line was reconstructed. This included building — from the ground up — 18 new trap houses, 14 skeet fields and the entire infrastructure to accommodate these new facilities. Power and lighting were installed throughout the facility to provide night shooting opportunities. Walkways, shooting stations and a new storage facility to house equipment and supplies also were constructed.
The sporting clays course was revamped to create paths and new shooting stations. Canopies were erected on every trap and skeet field. New tables and gun racks have been placed throughout the facility.
Renovations are underway on a new business and visitors center, which will house restrooms and a common area for customers to sit and relax. An RV campground also is under construction and will offer 40 full-service and several primitive spaces for our traveling customers.
A new hunter education range is complete and instructors use it almost every weekend for field days. To increase safety, several berms have been raised or developed. A lateral safety berm currently is being constructed on the bench rest range.
The youth archery range received new target holders. A new spectator’s area, complete with canopies and bleachers, will allow people to watch events in comfort, or instructors to conduct classes.
The main fixed-distance archery range has been adjusted to address safety concerns and flight direction. The FITA range will receive new canopies in preparation for the Olympic trials that will be held at the Ben Avery Shooting Facility in May 2008.
To accomplish these projects, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission provides funds annually in the form of grants and budget allocations. Each proposed project is evaluated and judged on its own merit. The Commission is a leader in encouraging the development, maintenance and operation of shooting ranges to support shooting sports recreation and Hunter Education Programs and to offer safe places for the public to shoot.
This article was published in the November-December 2007
issue of Arizona Wildlife Views magazine. To subscribe or give a gift, order online or call (800) 777-0015.
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