Atterbury tomorrow

[g00n24]

I have been to Atterbury twice since it went to a fee based range. It had been years since I had been to the range before it went fee based. Once I went and it was a free-for-all. Lots of the gun store owners in Indy would comment at the madness that one could COUNT ON taking place down there. A few years later, went back. This time I think it was still free, but they had a trailer or something, and there was a range person on-duty. Likely made it safer, which is a good thing.

The first time I went after the conversion, it was ran by the former contract person. I left my Glock facing down with the breach facing towards the table. I don't know if I or the range officer touched it, but all they or I did was flip it 180 degrees. He requested I just do that and everything would be great. My rifle was unloaded with bolt pulled back. During this trip, I was trying to sight in a rifle that had never been fired before. I was way off, but couldn't tell. One of the range officers was nice enough to help me out. I later learned a few tricks of the trade. However, their officer back then really helped me, and I was grateful for his help and kindness.

Recently a few of us went about a month ago. I have been training a relative how to shoot and she is still somewhat new to shooting. She shoots a .357 snub nose and we shoot .38 specials during training. She had always been doing well, but today she was wearing contacts, one for far away, the other for up-close. She was actually shooting high, hitting the last baffle over and over, but I didn't see this as I was looking at the target, which was put as close as possible. Thankfully one of the range officers saw this and he was nice enough to give her some instructions. The problem was her contacts. When she took them out and put her glasses on, she was doing fine. He carried around a front sight picture hard and gave her a few minutes of instructions. She actually felt comfortable enough there, that she said she would feel comfortable going by herself. I just told her that technically the rules say they can charge for shooting posts and/or baffles, and that next time just make sure she is on target. They were nice enough to not charge us any extras for shooting a baffle that had see many more bullets than just her four or five shots.

As far as $6/hour, I hope that price stays. For three hours of shooting it would only be $18.00, and two hour movies were going for $11.00 per person at some theaters. If Beech Grove is close in price, then we might give them a shot, but I would much rather shoot at Atturbury than Pops. Pops is just too busy and they are the only game on the east side of town, and for the most part the NE and S side of Indy.

We may try Wilbur Wright, but I know their shortest range is a fixed distance. Was told that sometimes if there is only one shooter, a range officer there might allow the person to move the target closer.

Hey I was shooting a few stalls over from you guys that day.
To me Atterbury is well worth the bit of a drive I have to get there and the $6/hr to shoot. Great range and the RO (Im guessing Buzz) is always very helpful. He helped me get my rifle onto paper one day after sending a bunch of rounds down range and having no idea where they were going.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I've been to the Atterbury range twice in the last year and found the Range Officers to be business-like and safety-conscious - which is just the way I want them. As a new guy to the range, I depended upon them to tell me what I needed to do to comply with _their_ rules for safety, and in both instances they were pretty understanding and made corrections in a nice way if I didn't have things precisely the way they wanted. The last time I was there, there was only a single range officer for the entire range; if it had been me, I would have been nervous as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs to be trying to oversee maybe 30 separate firing stations, but the range officer on duty did it with appropriate attention to detail, even though a couple folks near me were having trouble understanding some of the safety rules and needed to be corrected more than a couple times.

Since Eagle Creek range (across 465 from my house) charges a flat $25 fee, I don't find $6 an hour to be exorbitant for the amount of shooting I can afford to do. Just wish it weren't an hour drive away.

 

[88E30M50]

I just was at Atterbury today checking new sights on my carry 1911 as well as breaking in a new PPK. I was suprised to see it as crowded as it was on a Tuesday afternoon, especially after it started an absolute downpour. The new rules do make for a more enjoyable time there and I think the number of people there is a good sign of how well it's working.

My only complaint about Atterbury is that they put it too far from the house. On the plus side, if it were closer, I'd be broke.