Hit the firing range today

So me and couple buddys decided to hit the Sibbald Firing range today to see if our guns were still good to go and well im glade i went there. Turns out my scope was WAY off it was shooting about and foot and half to the bottom left. I couldnt believe it when i took that first shot as too how bad it got some how. But i got it back to dead on at 200yds again and i fine tuned my new .22 as well. It can now take the tick off a golphers butt at 70yds:lol :lol .

But i must say it was the first time goin to Sibbald range and im not the biggest fan. It was really windy and i have heard from people that it tends to be windy, there we lots of people there(which i found odd for this time of year), and i also dont like how the tables are stagered. There was a guy shootin beside my buddy, not sure what type of gun but it was shootin some big bullets and it had the muzzle break on it and because my buddys table is a bit further ahead then this other guy, the gases and such that are re-routed from the muzzle break came right back into his face.

But in the end it was a good day.

Why on earth would the benches be stagered, im assuming one foreward, one back???? Doesnt make any sense.

Doesn't make sense, but they are. I've had the same issue of a person beside me with a muzzle brake and the benches being offset at the public Sibbald range.

The joy of public ranges!

You said it Sheep. As a range site it has a lot of potential but there are a lot of people that abuse the privilege of using it.

Yah we usually go and site our guns in where we hunt and range out targets and we are good to go but we couldnt get a hold of the rancher and dont want to go out shootin on his land without the go ahead so we figured we would try sibbald and well i can honestly say im never gunna do that again.

Before you get to the end of the road there are some other ranges at least one of which you can pay a membership and join. I've popped in to check it out and it is a very nice range and set up they have.

Sibbald...well... is Sibbald. For a provincial facility, it's rather an embarassement. For a site dedicated to gun owners/outdoorsmen, the amount of litter and brass on site are unaceptable.

Sheep, as an aside, Sibbald is the place where I gained my first experiences with people using the items we were debating. You know what they say about first impressions.

Sibbald...well... is Sibbald. For a provincial facility, it's rather an embarassement. For a site dedicated to gun owners/outdoorsmen, the amount of litter and brass on site are unaceptable.

I couldnt agree moree, i couldnt believe what i was lookin at it is a major embarassment to this province

The public facility is operated by the Homestead Shooting centre, which consists of 3 private ranges. The public range was part of the lease agreement between the Province and APRA. It is maintained by volunteers but people who use it are free to clean up after themselves. I've been a member at the Rosebud Silhouette club for many years, it is worth the fee simply to avoid some of the mindless riff raff at the free range.

Nafegavas, could you give some further info on Rosebud? What are the fees? Are there caliber restrictions? Hours of operation? etc, etc.

I'd love to take my son out 'plinking' with the .22mag, but unless it's a weekday, Sibbald is out of the question.

Although the garbage is bad, some who frequent that range are worse!>: I have been there three different times now where I didn't even take my gun out of the case. Just drove home because it sounded like a full bore military assult going on. Kids from Calgary with their semis seeing how fast they could expend their clips. Not to sound like a snob, it's a public facility but those were not situations that I really wanted to involve myself in. There are certainly saftey concerns there IMHO.

Sibbald is an amazing place, I'm surprised someone hasn't got hurt out there. There is very little common sense present and some of the folks who use the range assume there must be a maid that comes in to clean up after them. Several years ago guys used to shoot old TVs, phone books etc...glad to see that has stopped (I hope).

On the safety side, it's breathtaking. I once saw a fella walk down range while it was in use (he got about 3 paces in front of his table before someone stopped him). Lotsa cases where guns with clips in are not pointed downrange, guys refuse a ceasefire despite several people waiting to change targets, guys handling firearms on the tables with people changing targets downrange.

I won't go there on weekends after about June.
Zeke

Tree Guy, www.albertarifle.com is the site for the A.P.R.A. and lists ranges and contacts.

Unreal. You just cant teach stupid can you. How do ya educate people about this stuff. The knowledge is everywhere, and some people just refuse to care. Amazing there arent more "accidents", if thats what you would prefer to call them.

keep a strain on er.

yah and what also got to me is when you call all clear you are supposed to unload your weapon and open the action, lots of guys just put their guns down, didnt open there actions, didnt take clips out, who knows it they even put the safteys on.Really an unsafe and very unmaintained disappointment.

You can't teach stupid, no matter how hard you try.
Range near misses are a big topic on some forums, and quite an eye opener to those of us who actually have a brain.
Some of these people could be worthy recipients of the "Darwin Award".

Certainly posting a simple sign stating 'Range Rules' (I think that there is sort of a small one there now, with bullet holes in it!) or even something listing the rules regarding proper range etiquette would be a bit of a help.

Hell the ranger station is just down the road, don't they do spot checks? Something....anything.....would help!

And as to teaching stupid. That's pure natural ability, no teaching necessary!

Well when i was there i sure didnt see any sign with etiquette or rules, unless its one of many pieces of metal out on the range with holes in it. :rolleyes

I've been to Sibbald many times. Its always pretty crowded, in fact sometimes its so crowded I end up having to find a piece of land somewhere else to sight in my rifle. The amount of discarded shell casing, boxes and cardboard strewn about there is really a shame. But I have to say that I've never had a near miss there and when I'm down range changing my target everyone at the benches seem to go into safety mode...unloading the rifle, keeping the bolt open and even stepping away from the rifle. Maybe I've just been lucky so far.

It's quite simple what is going on at Sibbald.
There is no one looking after the place, because no one wants/can't to be involved. If the place either scares you, or revolts you, step up and take a roll in maintaining the place. There must some sort of organizational hierarcy that runs the place, seek them out volunteer, and do your part.
The range in Drayton Valley looked worse than the local dump when I moved there some 15+ years ago. The executive were just coasting along. I got involved found a few other fellows who wanted better, took our turn at the helm, fixed the place up, and started a good trend towards maintaining the facility. Afterall if the place looks cared for, 99% of the people using it will leave it as they found it or even do their little part to keep it up.
But if all you do is gripe, and never lift a finger, your not any better than the ones leaving the place in a chit state. It takes only a couple of responsable individuals to step up start doing things right and voila, the herd just falls in behind and, the rest is history.

Lethal - what time were you out there on Saturday? I was out there around 9am with 2 friends and the one guys son. It was so busy out there 4 of us shared one crappy old bench. I took 3 shots with 30-06 and the table flexed under my bipod so much I just gave up and spent the morning loading the .22 clip for my friends son.

Everytime we change our targets we each bring back a handful of garbage. I dont mind seeing scraps of wood or even cardboard around the target area, what makes me mad were the 2 large pieces of laminated glass, the old glass lampshade and the empty individual propane cylinders that people had been shooting. I'd like to know who the morons are who shoot glass at the range. You cant even pick it up after and dispose of it when you're done.

As for being monitored, I was at the sibbald range one time and a cop from Cochrane was out there. Apparently someone heard automatic gun fire and called it in.

Yah i seen you MadMikee you were the one with the sunglasses and a brown jacket right?. I was the one with a black hat and sunglasses on, and a black and blue jacket. I was the 2nd table from the end,sitting beside the guy that had a funny set up that with his gun in it.

Dick284, thanks for that post, it makes good sense. I also try to haul some of the crap back with me every trip downrange, however, most of the time the 'swiss cheesed' battered old barrels are full to the top anyway.

It would be great to organize a clean-up day at Sibbald. Maybe the trick to do it would be to NOT post up any signs saying what was up, do it on a SATURDAY OR SUNDAY when it is the busiest, envolve the CO, and shame some of these weekend-warrior types to pitch in and help with the clean-up. Any thoughts? Volunteers? I'm in!

Tree

Tree... I like that idea. Should work. But you would have to wait till the range was full, then give out all the equipment and block in the vehicles. After your done hold a BBQ for all the "helpers"
:rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin

Jamie

Yah we will also need a dump truck cause with all the junk that is out there i dont think a regular pick-up truck would do it.

Well, I have a half ton and would be more than willing to use it for such a project. If someone has a trailer I'd be willing to haul it out there for a clean up. I'd be able to bring some extra hand tools and I think that I'd be able to get some new pallets to replace the splintered ones if need be.

Would it be possible to burn the old ones on site previous to the fire bans?

Jamie, you probably know best from trying to organize a poker night, that just someone says that they are going to do something....it doesn't always work out that way.:rolleyes

I will commit myself to any Sunday with the exception of May long. If one or two (or 50, whatever) want to show up, great! Probably safety in numbers anyway! I realllllly don't want to try and shut the range down and put the guys to work ALONE! I might be the one carted out of there in a garbage bag!

Great attitude Tree guy, get in touch with the APRA www.albertarifle.com I'm sure they'll close the range for you and send some help. We're doing regular maintenance at the Rosebud, May 19.

Thanks Naf, will do. However this is very preliminary. I was planning a trip out soon anyway. If there is little interest I'll just do it on a weekday and not rock the boat.

Once I get my s#$t together I will contact the people you suggested and give them the heads up.

I don't want them to close the range for this, as I know what it's like to drive all the way out there and have to turn around and go home once there!>:

Ideally, we could get 5-6 of so guys show up with tools (and lots of extra tools at that!) unannounced when it is at it's busiest and just start cleaning stuff up. Let 'em keep shooting! When everyone has to check their targets, we go downrange with them and haul some stuff out. The idea is to shame the most people as possible at one time. Eventually, they'll get the idea and help out just to get rid of us. Well....that's how it works in my head anyway! :rolleyes

Here's where I think the problem with the idea lies. I think Sibbald has become what it has, because if even this effort is made, a month later it would look the same way. Even if that site was perfect, being 25 minutes away from a city of a million creates an amount of traffic that ineviatably leads to undesirables using the site unsupervised (or at least spot checked for crying out loud)! I cannot believe that the province has allowed this to happen. Or...has no one said anything about it to any one? I know I haven't. Thoughts??

Tree

I dont use this range but have always wanted to see it and would be willing to come along for the clean-up. I have a 3/4 tonne hd pick-up with an 8ft box to haul garbage. I am also in for a pair of leather work gloves and camo hat for everyone from here going. Could also bring a few packs of deer smokies if we can have a camp fire out there? A Friday works best for me, no kids sports, but depending on the weekend might work too.
Tree if you pick a day let us know.
FAF

I was out there yesterday and it keeps looking a bit worse for wear everytime. I can certainly offer up a Sunday to pitch in and help clean up the place a bit. I can certainly haul a load out of there with my truck and maybe with a bit of prodding bring some rakes and shovels. Still I'd rather see the range closed for a day to do this rather than worry about being shot by some arse who hasn't got the common sense god gave a gopher (and I'm not giving much credit to gophers!)

One thing that did bother me though was the number of deer carcasses rotting along the side of the road. Saw at least 6 of them. I can almost understand someone poaching a deer. But leaving one to rot is a bit much....