Questions on Lexington - Targets?

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dennishoddy

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Well, there is all that I suppose, but when you figure that they aren't charging a fee other that the requirement to have a Hunting License to use the facility, what do you expect? Range maintenance takes money you know. I'm not going to be harsh about their rules and requirements, I just wish that there was a public outdoor range in the OKC area where we could set up spinning targets for .22LR's and shoot clays on the ground and such. In the meantime, I may still go give it a go at Lexington before I say no thanks. Thinking about moving to Ponca City so I can join that great range up there.

Or not.
Your spinning targets for rimfire are allowed at ponca as long as you position them 2-7' up on the side of the 20' berm. Like most ranges, there are areas in the berms sweet spots where bullets have carved out shelves to place those targets or plant some clays in the soft dirt generated by the bullet impacts at the same heights. There are cheap steel posts at 4-5' high that will hold clays in a fixture available or just build one from some wood. Take your wood home with you though. (pesky range rules again so we don't have to clean up someone's mess)
We allow full auto, up to .50 BMG.
Lots of things allowed that other ranges outlaw.
Oh yeah, All of the steel targets, poppers including Texas Stars that rotate and plate racks are provided and left on the range for daily use by members. Paper targets provided for a donation on the honor system.
 

PBramble

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Shotguns with a limited range of birdshot over the berms is not a fair comparison to a bullet that can travel several miles. You said you've witnessed bullets hitting the top of the berms, how many went over the top you didn't see?
I can assure you our range in Ponca has addressed this issue multiple times.
Our pistol bays are on the North shooting South with 20' tall berms on three sides. The rifle bays are on the South side with shooting to the North, sharing opposite sides of the berms. Shooters on both sides have reported hearing bullets leaving the range. When we look into it, there is typically someone that has taken one of the steel challenge plates and leaned it up against the berm instead of hanging it on a range provided target stand where it has a downward slope so the splatter goes down and not up, or have been shooting at golf balls on the flat ground on the pistol bays.
I personally heard rifle rounds going over the berm while shooting pistol one day. I went to the rifle bay and saw some guys had set steel targets on the ground 10' away from the berm which is against range rules. The rounds were hitting short of the plates skipping up to hit the top of the plates and consequently going over the top of the berm.
Range rules against doing that are for a reason. It's a safety reason for those that are not in the range but may be riding a tractor a mile away or walking a field.
The liability of a tragic accident like that would likely have that range shut down.
I'm not addressing you with the following comments, but just a general statement from someone that has had to deal with this issue for many years now to no one specific.
If you want to shoot junk, zombie stuff, golf balls, roller targets, etc, go buy some land and set up your own range. Don't do this on public or private ranges where it's not allowed. You run the chance of losing that range. One persons stupid act can cause hundreds to lose their shooting area. The rules are there for a reason.

I agree with everything you've said. We don't want to shoot junk, but the target backers are breaking down and aren't being replaced. The range has target stands very near the benches on the rifle range. The rifle range. There is a separate pistol range where no rifles or shotguns are allowed, so why are there pistol targets on the rifle range? I have no idea. You can see from the pic, the front target backers have no backstop to effectively control the rounds fired up close.
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I only use this range as it's close to a friends house when we go together. Any other time I'm at Okie shooters or Fouled Bore. If I need a shotgun fix, I live near Quail Ridge sporting clays.
 

dennishoddy

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I agree with everything you've said. We don't want to shoot junk, but the target backers are breaking down and aren't being replaced. The range has target stands very near the benches on the rifle range. The rifle range. There is a separate pistol range where no rifles or shotguns are allowed, so why are there pistol targets on the rifle range? I have no idea. You can see from the pic, the front target backers have no backstop to effectively control the rounds fired up close.
View attachment 172375

I only use this range as it's close to a friends house when we go together. Any other time I'm at Okie shooters or Fouled Bore. If I need a shotgun fix, I live near Quail Ridge sporting clays.

The problem with replacing the target stands and backers is dependant on the ODW because that is their range, but I can assure you that if a loose organization of supporters was organized the money for repair would come from ODW. The manual labor provided by volunteers.
Friends of the Lexington ODW range organization or something.
I'm just spitballing because I don't know if they would go along with that or not but I'm betting they would.
Your concerns about the pistol targets being so close on the longer ranges look to me without being there that the rounds shot through them would impact the berm, although I've never been there so my opinion doesn't count.
Could those pistol targets on the long range have been installed later by someone else?
Target backers are a major issue. We started using old conveyor belts that myself and another member got from our work place. Worked great on the rifle bays, but the 1/2" thick fiber reinforced rubber sometimes sent low power loads like .25 ACP backwards on the pistol bays. Rifle bays took thousands of rounds without finally getting shredded. Both of us retired so that product went away.
Standard 1/2" laminated plywood seems to be the best. The flake board plywood sends shards everywhere and are terrible for backers.
No matter what, every few months, they have to be replaced with new. Work party ensues.
In the gun range community, there are factions. Pistol folks and Rifle folks with some using both.
Use that diversity to form a pistol user group to work on those targets and a rifle group. Those that use both will show up for either.
It's kind of amazing to see the animosity between pistol and rifle shooters on ranges by a few.
When we had work days on the pistol bays I'd target those to ask for volunteer time. Same with the Rifle.
The ODW built it with funds from their budget that is provided by hunting and fishing license sales. I'd think the users would want to maintain it for their own personal use.

Edit: Lowes and other lumber dealers are always looking for "community projects".
The plywood and posts might be able available for a low or free cost to the volunteers.
 
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