» A Place to Shoot
By Vince on November 20, 2011
In some lucky states there are shooting ranges all over the place, or at the very least, a place where one can go to get some sort of target practice in. Be it an indoor range or an outdoor range. It could be a patch of land out in the boondocks somewhere that has been used for that purpose for years.
It could be a home grown range of your own making on your own private property. In a perfect world this would be the best of all things!
Alas we do not all live in this perfect world. The rest of us have to rely on the above. And in many places the pickings are very slim.
Take for example my home town of Miami Florida. Technically speaking we only have one public range; Trail Glades Range off of the Tamiami Trail (SW 8th Street) and Krome Avenue. It is a hundred yard range maximum. Only 32 of the positions are at the maximum of this range. The other 35 positions are handgun only.
On the left side of this main range is the Practical Range sometimes also called the Combat range. It has only 10 positions. On the right side is the Trap & Skeet ranges.
That is it for all of Miami-Dade County for publically funded ranges. As for private ranges there are only two listed in the Yellow Pages that are actually in Miami. Broward County has far more than we do here in Miami.
In the old days we just went out to The Arches, a defunct subdivision out close to Trail Glades range. There was a canal on one side and swamp to the other. Put out your targets and shoot at your own pace. Granted not everyone was safe, but there were surprisingly few accidents…in fact only one that I am aware of. This was not actually an accident. It was premeditated murder. William Russell Matix and Michael Lee Platt murdered 25-year-old Emelio Briel while he was target shooting at a rock pit. That rock pit was The Arches.
This pair went on to commit many crimes and were eventually shot dead by the FBI in the infamous Miami Shoot Out of 1986. The firearms used by the pair in their crimes were stolen from Mr. Briel.
This demonstrates some of the hazards of shooting in a non-sanctioned environment. Whenever I was shooting there I always was aware of my surroundings and who was shooting near me and how safe (or not) they were. If I noticed anything unsafe I would normally go mention something to them. It almost always worked. If it didn’t and they continued their unsafe behavior, I simply moved location.
I also always made sure to keep a loaded firearm on me and another close to hand at all times…just in case.
I feel that because of Florida being a peninsula and mostly at just above sea level we get the short end of the stick as to firearms training. Other states with lots of land to use folks can have nice places to shoot and train. For example Gunsite in Arizona and Thunder Ranch in both Texas and Oregon.
The reason I’m bringing this up is that I was recently made aware of a new place opening up here in Florida. Ok, it’s not Miami but still, it is a large facility set up ONLY for training groups of people with firearms. It will NOT be open to the general public unless they are taking a class there.
This place is called Rocky Creek Ranch in Myakka City, FL http://www.floridashootingresort.com/
They have the best explanation, so from their own web page:
“This range consists of two shooting bays that support virtually every type and level of training course.
Two adjacent target lines separated by berming allow for simultaneous yet different instruction. Specialized shooting courses requiring large amounts of space for shooter movement and obstacle placement can be accommodated. 175 yards in width and 165 yards deep provides adequate room for any kind of training drill or scenario required. “
Having this type of space at your disposal can lead to some very cool training scenarios! Having two separate spaces leaves room for becoming very creative as well creating a safe shooting environment.
They also have the Slash Pine range, which is their long distance range. This is currently out to 500 yards, with a proposed increase to 1000 yards for 2012.
While not as large or specialized as the above mentioned sites or the huge U.S. Training Center (formerly Blackwater) it is still a HUGE step in the right direction for Florida. In fact one of the first instructors in the queue to hold a class there is Chris Costa, formerly of Magpul now out on his own after forming Costa Ludus. Ludus as in the gladiatorial schools of ancient Rome. I guess this make him a lanista!
I have been lucky enough to have been invited to visit and view this facility in mid- December and I very much look forward to it.
I will, of course, do a full write up of my visit along with any pictures I might take, and it will all be right here on this website.
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