Promote a Theme and Pull in Customers

BONUS: Pull-out Poster
Vol. 13 No. 4 Fall 2010
NSSF’s Magazine for Shooting Facilities
Promote a Theme
and Pull in Customers
Breathe Easy: Update
on Vent Systems
The Survey Says:
You SHOULD Survey
2
The Range Report
Fall 2010
www.nssf.org • www.wheretoshoot.org • www.rangeinfo.org
Vol. 13 No. 4 Fall 2010
Features
8
12
18
20
18
Breathe Easy
A helpful update on ventilation systems for
indoor ranges
By Carolee Anita Boyles
8
Promote a Theme
Special events can enhance the bottom line.
By Mike Zlotnicki
Be Part of the College Scene
Join NSSF in helping students enjoy organized
shooting.
By Bill Brassard and Glenn Sapir
20
Survey Your Customers
Communication tells you how to provide better
service.
By C. Douglas Nielsen
Bonus
14-15
Special Pull-out Poster
Wear Eye & Ear Protection
A message worthy of posting
4
Letter from the Editor
5
Sighting In
The number$ game
By Glenn Sapir
Scoping out news for the shooting range
community
By Glenn Sapir
6
24
26
Q&A
What has been your most successful promotion or
program to attract youth to your range?
By Glenn Duncan, Hall Rogers and Charles Swanberg
The Undercover Shooter
Sighting in a slug gun in Connecticut
Home on the Range
First Shots, 2nd Round
By Cyndi Dalena
On the cover:
Themed events, like Deep River’s
Side By Side expo, bring customers
and exposure.
Photo by Mike Zlotnicki
The Range Report
Fall 2010
© 2010 National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Range
ReportSM, SHOT Show® and all other trade names, trademarks and service marks of
the National Shooting Sports Foundation appearing in this publication are the sole
property of the Foundation and may not be used without the Foundation’s prior
express written permission. All other company and product names are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners.
3
Letter
from theEditor
G l e n n
S a p i r
www.nssf.org
The Number$ Game
W
hether the game is skeet,
trap, sporting clays or a
three-gun match, or deer,
squirrels, turkey or ducks, or any other
game one recreationally shoots with a
firearm, each person pulling the trigger
makes a positive impact on our nation’s
economy.
In late April, National Shooting
Sports Foundation staff members
and key executives of voting member
companies of NSSF as well as officials
of NSSF met with the U.S. Senate
majority leader, minority leader and
other members of Congress to discuss
key issues facing the shooting and
hunting, firearms and ammunition
industry. By releasing results from a
newly commissioned report detailing
the significant economic impact the
firearms and ammunition industry has
on the nation’s and each of the state’s
economies, NSSF delivered a message
that drew attention. It’s a message of
which you are a part, of which you
should be aware and to which every
shooter that goes through your facility
contributes.
In 2009, jobs in the firearms and
ammunition industry rose to 183,424
(88,200 people who manufacture,
distribute and sell firearms, ammunition
and hunting equipment and 95,250
jobs supplying goods and services
to manufacturers, distributors and
retailers, as well as those that depend
on sales to workers in the firearms
and ammunition industry). The total
marks an increase from 166,200 in
2008. That work force’s collective wages
amounted to more than $8.2 billion, and
the combined economic impact on the
nation was nearly $28 billion.
What’s particularly noteworthy is
that a significant increase occurred while
the nation battled a sagging economy.
“During difficult economic
times and high unemployment rates
nationally, our industry actually grew
and created 16,800 new, well-paying
4
jobs,” Steve Sanetti, NSSF’s president
and chief executive officer, told the
gathering on Capitol Hill. “Our industry
is proud to be one of the bright spots in
this economy.”
Let’s look at other numbers coming
out of that and another report that should
be of interest to you and your patrons.
The workforce cited above paid
taxes—property, income and sales—
somewhere in the neighborhood of $4
billion.
Another extremely significant
financial contribution the industry made
to the nation’s economy came in the
form of an excise tax manufacturers pay
on firearms and ammunition purchased.
That money, commonly called PittmanRobertson dollars, goes to state agencies
that provide public ranges and manage
the wildlife within their borders.
Larry Keane, NSSF’s senior vice
president and general counsel, told the
congressmen that in 2009 our industry
increased this contribution to wildlife
conservation [as well as shooting range
management and hunter education]
by more than 37.6 percent, which
translates into sportsmen contributing
more than $7.5 million dollars daily to
these efforts.
Another significant number came
out of yet another study commissioned
by NSSF, and that finding resulted in
the poster you can find as the centerfold
of this issue. The study was conducted
in March by Harris Interactive, one of
the most highly regarded companies
doing public opinion surveys. The
number was 44 million. That’s how
many people expressed some degree
of interest in going shooting and/or
hunting if invited by a friend or family
member. It’s time to remind your
customers and club members of this
fact. We can all play a part in adding to
the growing number that are getting in
the game.
R
R
The Range
RangeReport,
Report,published
published
four
four
times
times
perper
year by
by the
the National
NationalShooting
ShootingSports
SportsFoundation,
Foundation,
is dedicated
is dedicated
to serving
to serving
the needs
the and
needs
to helping
and to
helping
meet the meet
challenges
the challenges
of today’s shooting
of today’sfacilities.
shooting facilities.
The Range Report encourages letters,
The
comments,
Range suggestions,
Report encourages
questions
letters,
and tips.
comments,
Material to be
suggestions,
returned should
questions
be accompanied
and tips.
Material
by a stamped,
to be returned
self-addressed
shouldenvelope.
be accompanied
The
by
Range
a stamped,
Reportself-addressed
does not assume
envelope.
responsibility
The
Range
for the loss
Report
of unsolicited
does not assume
graphicresponsibility
or written
for
material.
the loss
Correspondence
of unsolicited graphic
should be
or sent
written
to: material. Correspondence
The Range Report
should be sent to: The
c/o NSSF
Range Report
c/o
11 Mile
NSSFHill Road
11
Newtown,
Mile HillCT
Road
06470-2359
Newtown,
Fax: 203-426-1245
CT 06470-2359
Fax:
E-mail:
203-426-1245
[email protected]
E-mail: [email protected]
We reserve the right to edit for clarity and space.
We
reserve Director
the right to edit forMark
clarityThomas
and space.
Managing
Glenn
Glenn Sapir
Sapir
Chris
Chris Dolnack
Dolnack
Deb
Deb Moran
Moran
Editor
Editor
Advertising
Advertising Director
Director
Art
Art Director
Director
Advisory Committee
Don Turner - president of NSSF’s Association of Shooting Ranges
Shooting park manager
Clark County Shooting Park
North Las Vegas, Nev. [email protected]
Robin Ball, owner
Sharp Shooting Indoor Range and Gun Shop
Spokane, Wash. [email protected]
Brian Danielson, sales manager
Meggitt Training Systems
Suwanee, Ga.
[email protected]
Glenn Duncan, owner
Duncan’s Outdoor Shop, Inc.
Bay City, Mich.
[email protected]
Jon Green, director of education and training Gun Owners Action League (GOAL)
Northborough, Mass.
[email protected]
Bill Kempffer, president
Deep River Sporting Clays, Inc.
Sanford, N.C. [email protected]
Holden Kriss, director
Indian River County Public Shooting Range
Sebastian, Fla.
[email protected] Barry Laws, CEO
Openrange Inc.
Crestwood, Ky. [email protected]
Phil Murray, national sales manager
White Flyer
Houston, Texas Tim Pitzer, president
Oregon State Shooting Association
Albany, Ore. [email protected]
[email protected]
The Range Report
Fall 2010
Sighting In
Scoping out news for the shooting range community
By Glenn Sapir, Editor
Federal Grant Reminder
Several states offer funding to shooting-range facilities with money from their
Pittman-Robertson allocation of federal
excise taxes on firearms and ammunition. Though it may be too late to take advantage of 2010 grants, ranges should contact
their state wildlife management agency
to learn of opportunities available in the
coming months.
In recent months, press releases from
at least three states promoting their range
grant programs have come to the attention of The Range Report.
The Washington (State) Department
of Fish and Wildlife announced the
availability of approximately $50,000
in competitive grants, with individual
awards ranging from $5,000 to $25,000. The grants were for construction,
maintenance or expansion of public
shooting-range facilities. Prospective
applicants were even offered a mandatory grant-writing workshop. For more
information about this grant program,
call 360-902-8111, e-mail huntered@dfw.
wa.gov.
In 2010 Nevada had up to $80,000
available for shooting-range construction or enhancement. Ranges open to
the public and that are able to provide a
minimum of 25 percent matching funds
were encouraged to contact John McKay
(775-668-1553, e-mail [email protected])
at the Nevada Department of Wildlife
for details. He may have details about
upcoming grants availability.
The Vermont Agency of Natural
Resources announced the launching of
its Shooting Range Grant Improvement
Program designed to encourage the
improvement of shooting ranges and to
enhance their safety and operation. For
further information, contact Chris Saunders, hunter education coordinator, at
802-241-3722.
Shooting Program Reaches
Milestone
program in 1978 for the
Central New Jersey
Council of the Boy
JU NIO
R Scouts of America. For the last six years,
he has been offering
the Junior USA ShootT EAM
ing Team patches as
2010
part of the program.
Fourteen-yearold Matt Jaszyn recently
served as a milestone
in Kauza’s program when he
became the 5,000th rifleman to
complete the course.
To incorporate Junior USA Shooting Patches, which are updated
annually, into a shooting program
at your facility, visit www.nssf.org/
JrUSA.
Recommended Reading
The Junior USA Shooting Team
patch program, administered by the
National Shooting Sports Foundation, awards an attractive patch to
youth who demonstrate a basic
aptitude with rifle and shotgun. The program requires the
supervision of an adult. The patches, provided
free to individuals and
organizations that have
embraced the program,
have proven to be popular offerings for ranges.
John Kauza, of Alexandria Township, N.J., began
a rifle and shotgun shooting
Arizona Bill Offers Tax Relief for Non-profit Ranges
SB 1005, which exempts trap and
skeet shooting clubs meeting certain
requirements from property taxation,
was signed by Gov. Brewer on April 26,
reports the Arizona Citizens Defense
League.
Arizona SB 1005 exempts trap
and skeet shooting clubs that teach,
train, sponsor, coach or host clinics,
shooting leagues and competitive
tournaments or other events, including hunter education and firearm
safety classes, from property taxes if
the buildings are used for education
practices and not used or held for
profitable purposes.
The Range Report
Fall 2010
A beneficiary of this bill is the
Tucson Trap and Skeet Club, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, which is
under consideration to host the 2012
Shotgun World Cup and to become
the winter training center for the U.S.
Olympic shotgun team. In order to
accomplish this, the club must make
significant improvements to the range
and purchase the adjoining property. Once these improvements are made
the club would face an increased tax
burden that would likely have tripled
the current property taxes it pays. SB
1005 exempts the club from having to
pay the higher tax burden.
The Future of
Hunting and the
Shooting Sports is a
261-page, researchbased book that
condenses the
findings of one of
the largest, most
comprehensive
studies ever
conducted on
factors related
to shooting and
hunting participation, motivations of
shooters and hunters and satisfaction with
recruitment and retention programs.
NSSF members can order this book at
a special price of $20, with free shipping.
A bulk order of 25 or more by members
brings the price down to $15 per copy A
free PDF download is also available at
http://taskforce2020.org/download.cfm.
Nonmember price is $225.
Contact Dianne Vrablic, 203-426-1320,
e-mail [email protected], with any order
questions. To become an NSSF member,
contact Bettyjane Swann, director of
member services, at 203-426-1320, e-mail
[email protected].
Correction
In the Spring 2010 edition of The Range
Report, the article, “Break-in!” covered KA
Display Solutions secured gun cases. Actually, the company now offering those cases
is Display Solutions of Topeka, telephone
RR
800-444-9685, www.dstopeka.com.
5
Q&A
Your questions answered
Glenn Duncan
Owner
Duncan’s Outdoor Shop
Bay City, Mich.
Hall Rogers
Manager
Rocky Creek Sporting Clays
Richburg, S.C.
Charles Swanberg
Treasurer
Fur, Fin and Feather Club
Millis, Mass.
Best Ways to Attract Youth
Q. What is your best promotion or
program to attract youth to your
facility?
A. Glenn Duncan, owner, Duncan’s
Outdoor Shop:
We have three effective programs.
One is the busing of students from local
schools to the range for an afternoon introduction to firearm safety and instruction.
Students view safety videos and receive
instruction on firearm safety and marksmanship under the direct supervision of
NRA-certified firearm instructors. Annually,
300 to 400 students, with parental consent,
go through this program. In fact, parents
must accompany their son or daughter and
stay during the first day of classes.
Second, we set up a separate corporation to build, maintain and run portable,
properly ventilated trailers with four
air-gun shooting lanes. These trailers are
completely self-sufficient, featuring air
rifles that meet state law, targets, pellets,
televisions, generators, etc. These trailers
are used for in-store promotions and local
community activities to introduce shooters to the shooting sports. These trailers
operate under the supervision of certified
instructors, and up to 500 juniors per year
In Q & A, The Range Report invites
NSSF’s Association of Shooting Ranges
advisory committee members past and
present, and others with special expertise,
to provide their answers to questions
of interest to our readers. If you have
a question you’d like to see addressed,
submit it to [email protected].
If you would like to comment on the
answers given in this edition’s Q&A, or if
you have related follow-up questions for
this team of experts, please share your
thoughts at the same e-mail address.
6
are exposed to the shooting sports through
this program.
Last, Duncan’s supports junior
competitive shooting activities on Thursday nights. Juniors receive instruction in
safety, the proper handling of firearms and
marksmanship. Shooters start out with air
rifles and progress through the NRA’s qualification program. Finally, they may make
the traveling teams. Many of the shooters
have gone on to make national teams and
obtain college scholarships. Approximately
20 to 30 participants are in this program
throughout the year.
As an added benefit, we employ some
of these young people part time in the
shop where they can learn the business
while in high school and/or college, and
we, of course, follow all federal and state
laws regarding their employment.
The bottom line is that these programs
are good for the young people, good for
our future and it’s good for business.
A. Hall Rogers, manager, Rocky Creek
Sporting Clays:
Rocky Creek Sporting Clays tries to
strengthen families through their participation in an enjoyable recreational activity
by concentrating on the basics of providing a safe, fun, affordable venue where
families feel welcome. Last year the Superintendant of Education in South Carolina
announced an endeavor to introduce sporting clays as a team sport into the public
schools of South Carolina. We have spoken
to many coaches, schools and parents in
supporting that effort. The instructors,
staff and other volunteers donate their
time here to work with our youth on teamwork, self-discipline self-confidence and
problem solving, while also working on
firearm safety, sportsmanship, character
building, leadership abilities, citizenship
responsibilities and appreciation of our
natural resources. Our greatest assets,
perhaps, are our volunteers and community
that support our youth and facility.
A. Charles Swanberg, Fur, Fin and
Feather Club:
Four years ago, shortly after introducing my 12-year-old son, Tyler, to trap
shooting, he said, “Dad, I like shooting,
but there are only old people at the club.”
I knew something radical needed to be
done to keep him in the sport.
First, I asked a few of his friends to
come along. I was pleased to find parents
very receptive to shooting, and my son
resumed going to the club. Thinking that
a good thing could be made better, I hit
upon the idea of starting a youth trap
team at the Fin, Fur and Feather Club.
I solicited the help of a member of
our board of directors who expressed interest in my idea. Together, we persuaded
the board to underwrite 50 percent of the
team’s ammunition and target expenses.
Next, we began to recruit shooters and
coaches by means of advertising on our
club website and on neighboring club’s
bulletin boards. Additionally, we made presentations
to local Boy Scout troops and contacted
more of Tyler’s classmates.
Soon, we had a team of seven dedicated, novice trapshooters and three
coaches, all three of whom took the NRA
Coaching Class to improve their instructional skills.
We solved the problem of finding
other youth clubs with which to compete
when we came across the Scholastic Clay
Target Program website. This national
program of youth clay target shooters
was just what the doctor ordered. The
SCTP provided a full-blown “league” of
youth teams in Massachusetts. By joining
the SCTP, our club found worthy opponents, removing a major organizational
headache.
Today, through our own hard work,
collaboration with SCTP and effective
“word-of-mouth” advertising, our program
boasts 31 youth shooters and 11 NRARR
certified coaches.
The Range Report
Fall 2010
The Range Report
Fall 2010
7
Breathe Easy
A helpful update on ventilation systems for indoor ranges
By Carolee Anita Boyles
Photos courtesy of Carey’s Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc.
A
good range ventilation system
is essential to your operation.
Without it, you can’t pass the
necessary inspections to open your
doors, and it certainly won’t protect
you or your customers from emissions
if it isn’t installed correctly
Unlike a regular air-conditioning
system, a range ventilation system
isn’t something you can just call
your local HVAC company to install.
Only a handful of HVAC companies
nationwide know how to properly
design and install a ventilation system
on a shooting range. Fortunately,
however, they’re available to either
install a system anywhere in the
United States, or work with your own
HVAC company to get one installed
for you.
Not many changes
Ventilation systems for ranges
have changed little for the past 40
years, and they aren’t likely to change
in the near future. This is good news
for ranges for a couple of reasons.
First, that means that systems are
designed well and still function
properly to filter air. Second, range
operators whose systems meet current
standards won’t be faced with expensive retrofitting in the near term.
William Provencher is president
of Carey’s Range Ventilation in Tinley
Park, Ill. He does installations for all
the ranges built by Advanced Interac8
tive Systems and regularly presents
the section on range ventilation at the
National Rifle Association’s Range
Development Conference.
“NIOSH—the National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health—came out with the standard
in 1975 that still is the standard today,”
Provencher said. “It’s the basis of
the Air Force’s Engineering Technical Letter, the Navy’s Unified Force
Criteria and the U.S. General Services
Administration criteria for indoor
ranges. It’s still the basis of design for
all ranges, and it always works when
applied properly.”
The specific standard is that the
velocity of air at the firing line must
flow at an average of 75 feet per
minute and no less than 50 feet per
minute at any point.
Besides the NIOSH standards,
Provencher said, there are two other
sets of standards of concern to ranges.
One is from the Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA),
and the other is from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Provencher says that, in essence,
the standard from OSHA regulates the
air quality in the range. The EPA standard regulates what a system can emit
to the outside.
“If you were to shoot the most
offensive ammunition you could find
into the worst bullet trap you could hit,
24 hours a day and seven days a week,
you couldn’t produce enough pounds
of lead thrown outside to violate the
federal EPA emissions standard,”
Provencher said. “However, on your exhaust duct,
it is possible to get surface contamination that could exceed the surface
contamination level allowed by EPA,”
he continued. “Our opinion as a
contractor is that if you don’t conform
to the applicable standards, obviously
we would strongly counsel you to take
appropriate steps to address the issue.”
Provencher said he doesn’t see
anything coming that would change
any of those standards.
Three types
Provencher said there are two
reasons ranges need a different kind
of HVAC system than any “average”
business does.
“The first reason is to keep the
contaminants created during the firing
of an arm out of the respiratory zone,”
he said. “The second reason is to keep
a negative pressure to the rest of the
building, so that contaminants created
on the range don’t leach into the rest
of the building.”
Installing a range ventilation
system doesn’t require any special
licensing, Provencher said, but it does
require special experience.
“The average HVAC contractor
may see one shooting range in his
lifetime,” he said. “Installing one isn’t
The Range Report
Fall 2010
that hard, but without experience it’s
kind of an experiment. It would be
like me trying to design a system for
a high-rise. I have no experience at
it, and I would mess up something.
People who do those for a living are
experts at it, and people who install
ventilation systems for shooting ranges
are experts at what they do.”
In fact, he said, both he and other
suppliers work nationwide because
there are so few resources for shooting
range ventilation systems.
Provencher said there are three
types of ventilation systems, only two
of which are of serious interest to
private or public indoor ranges:
1. Purge or straight-through
system
“This type of system is 100
percent outside air and 100 percent
exhaust,” Provencher said. “This is
the least expensive kind of system to
install.”
A purge system can use a lot of
energy, depending on where in the
country you’re located.
“For instance, if you’re in an area
like San Diego that’s 79 degrees yearround, it’s an ideal system,” he said.
“And in drier climates where you can
use evaporative cooling, like Colorado
or New Mexico, it’s a very good, efficient system.”
If you’re in an area with extremes
of temperature or with high humidity,
however, it’s not as efficient a system,
said Provencher.
“In those areas, the operating costs
are more expensive,” he said.
One big plus is that it’s the safest
type of system to install.
“With outside air and 100 percent
exhaust, even if you goof up a filter
change, you won’t contaminate the
range,” Provencher said.
This type of system has a twostage filtration process.
“The first stage is a two-inch thick
pleated filter like you’d use in a standard commercial system, and it catches
30 percent of the contaminants,”
Provencher said. “The second stage
is a HEPA filter, which stands for
High Efficiency Particulate Air filter,
and which is 99.97 percent efficient.
That’s the type of filter you use on
The Range Report
Fall 2010
incoming air in the surgical suite in a
hospital. It keeps all the contaminants
from either going outside, or from
recirculating, depending on the kind of
system you have.”
2. Recirculation system
“A recirculation system brings
in a minimum of 25 percent outside
air to dilute contaminants and odors,”
Provencher said. “This system is good
because by recycling this much air
you’re saving 75 percent of the energy
needed for heating or cooling.”
However, both the installation of
and the maintenance on this type of
system is more expensive, and there
may be a nine- to 12-year investment
return on a recirculation system in
most areas.
“With this type of system you
must maintain it properly, or you
could bring contaminants right back
into the range area,” Provencher said.
In a recirculation system, the
filtration aspect is very similar to that
of a purge system, except that there’s a
middle stage.
“The middle filter is 60 percent to
80 percent efficient,” Provencher said.
“That’s just an extra stage for safety.”
3. Energy recovery system
This type of system can use 100
percent outside air, but it recovers the
energy from the heated and cooled air
from the range through some type of
exhausted air exchange.
“These systems are very expensive,” Provencher said. “Typically,
only the federal government can
afford to build them. On a commercial range, if you can’t see a two- to
Range Ventilation-System
Suppliers
C. Vargas and Associates, Ltd. Consulting Engineers
8808 Arlington Expressway
Jacksonville, FL 32211
904-722-2294
[email protected]
www.cvaltd.com
Carey’s Heating & Air Conditioning
7301 W. Duvan Drive
Tinley Park, IL 60477
708-532-2449
[email protected]
www.careyscentral.com
Shooting Ranges International
(a Div. of Advanced Interactive Systems)
3885 Rockbottom Street
North Las Vegas, NV 89030
702-362-3623
[email protected]
www.ais-sim.com
Super Trap, Inc.
Art Fransen, CEO
1601 Commerce Street
Corona, CA 92880
951-736-9440 Phone
[email protected]
www.supertrap.com
five-year payback, you don’t have any
interest in building it. But the federal
government uses a 25-year return on
investment to make its decisions. So,
it would consider anything that pays
back in less than 25 years because
it has the ability to do longer-term
investments. These are very safe
9
systems, and they save energy,
but they have a very high initial
cost.”
Getting the job done
If you’re building a range
and need a ventilation system,
you have two options for getting
it done. One is to have someone
from the resource list (see sidebar) build it for you. The other
is to have one of these companies act as a consultant to your
local HVAC contractor.
Mike Halverson is president
of Shooting Ranges International in North Las Vegas,
Nev., which is a subsidiary of
Advanced Interactive Systems.
He said he often works with
local HVAC contractors to get
ranges built anywhere in the
country.
“We design the system
and provide a full set of plans,” he
said. “Then the range owner can
take those plans to local contractors
10
and get competitive bids.
We’ll also sell them the
equipment directly to
help them keep their
costs down. When we
do that we offer a full
set of plans, we give
a quote for the major
equipment and then we
let the range owner find The chilled-water recirculation system seen from the top
a local contractor to do
of a range in Montgomery County, Pa., above, suggests
the ductwork and instal- the immensity of a ventilation system. At top, the diffuser
lation.”
plenum, one component of a range-ventilation system,
Shooting Range
gives an indication of the overall complexity.
International also offers
complete modular
range,” he said. “You should always
shooting ranges in both purge and
vacuum. And you should have the
recirculating configurations.
system running while you’re cleaning, so the contaminants you stir up
Take care of maintenance
go downrange and stay away from
With all of that said, there’s no
the respiratory zone. When changing
point in going to the trouble of installfilters you should be wearing a Tyvek
ing a good ventilation system if you
suit, a mask and gloves, so you don’t
don’t maintain it properly.
get contaminants from the dirty filters
“It’s not hard to maintain your
on your hands or clothes. These are
system,” said Eileen Reig, one of the
just common lead-handling procedures.”
owners of Reig’s Gun Shop in Orlando, The key to the whole thing, Reig
Fla. “Once you get your standard oper- said, is recycling.
ating procedures in place, it’s simple.
“Everything, including your mask
You wear a white suit like painters use and gloves, goes in bags and goes to
and you wear a respirator and gloves.
the recycler,” she said. “So, you aren’t
You don’t sweep; you vacuum. All
throwing anything away. Once you
your lead waste goes to a recycler.”
find a good recycler, you’ve got it
Provencher agreed.
made, because they’ll take everything;
RR
“You should never sweep inside a
that’s what makes it easy.”
The Range Report
Fall 2010
The Range Report
Fall 2010
11
Promote a Theme
Real-life Scenario
Special events can enhance the bottom line.
By Mike Zlotnicki
Photo by author
The 11th Annual Southern Side by Side Championship & Exhibition brought 77 exhibitors and nearly 2,000 people to Deep River.
I
t sounded like a war—or the opening day of dove season—in the red
clay hills north of Sanford, N.C.,
last April. The cacophony of shotgun
blasts rolled over the countryside as
Bill Kempffer, owner of Deep River
Sporting Clays in Sanford, N.C.,
ambled among a crowd of shooters—
predominantly out-of-towners—taking
a lunch break, shaking hands and
patting backs.
The happy gunners and the sound
of distant reports meant that the 11th
Annual Southern Side By Side Championship & Exhibition was in full
swing, and Kempffer’s bottom line
would get a boost from the themed
event, capitalizing on some hard work
and creative thinking.
Each year for the last 11,
owners of side-by-side shotguns
have converged at Deep River Sporting Clays for three days to compete
in many of the 30 shooting events
being held, visit with vendors of the
esteemed shotguns and ancillary products and services, enjoy food served
12
on the premises and sit back and take
in a blue grass concert, along with the
many other social highlights that naturally pop up when a group of shooters
with a common interest get together.
Kempffer is no stranger to range
management. His father owned trap
clubs in South Carolina and Missouri,
and after a stint as a Marine Corps
helicopter pilot in Vietnam and 16
years with Merrill Lynch as a stockbroker, Kempffer opened Deep River
in 1989. After consulting with industry colleagues such as Chris Batha of
Charles Boswell and Ken Duglan of
Atkins, Grant & Lang (who is still the
primary sponsor), Kempffer held his
first Southern Side By Side Championship in 2000. It was a less than rousing
success.
“We had about 65 shooters, and it
rained all three days,” said Kempffer.
“The shoot was a disaster, but the
exhibition was great. The rain killed
the shooting profit.”
A decade later, Kempffer has an
event that has grown to 77 exhibitors
(about $480 per table/booth), 400
shooters representing more than 1,400
event entries (about $50 per entry;
more for championship qualifiers) and
almost 2,000 total bodies (admission is
free) on site for the three-day show.
“I learned to treat the shoot and
the exhibition separately; they’re two
different components” he said. “The
exhibitors require covered space and
infrastructure. The exhibition has to
financially cover itself, and the shoot
needs to be priced to cover itself in the
event of marginal weather conditions.”
The learning curve takes some…
learning.
Putting on an event the magnitude of the Southern Side By Side is
not just a matter of ordering more
than 66,000 clay targets. Kempffer’s
to-do list is long and varied. There’s
marketing to exhibitors and advertising to participants before hand. He
must provide 26,000 square feet of
covered vendor space, order decorative awards for 30 different shooting
events and commemorative pins
The Range Report
Fall 2010
and hats, hire 26 extra field judges,
arrange catered food for 2,000 people,
provide toilet facilities and hire a
bluegrass band for the Saturday
evening’s entertainment. Site security
and trash removal must be lined up,
too. One frame tent can run $8,000.
Port-a-johns run $70 or so for the
weekend per unit. Security is negotiated with off-duty sheriff deputies.
Someone has to haul garbage.
Kempffer shares some of what he’s
learned from the Southern Side By
Side Championship & Exhibition.
Be true to yourself.
“Don’t be what you’re not, “said
Kempffer, who queried vendors and
shooters about hits and misses after
his first event. “Be proud of what you
are and showcase it. For instance, the
first year I had a sit-down banquet. For
our crowd, it doesn’t work.”
Now, local ladies provide a Carolina
pig pickin’ and other Southern church
social hall fare. The ladies sold about
2,000 meals this year and got to keep
the profit. It works out well for them
and Kempffer.
“There’s only so much I can do,”
he said. “They serve breakfast, lunch
and dinner. That’s one less thing I
have to worry about, and they are
making money. They feel like they
have a stake in the event and a stake
in the business.”
Another thing Kempffer learned
was more shooters were interested
Jim Carmichael, former shooting editor for Outdoor Life magazine, and Bill Kempffer,
owner of Deep River Sporting Clays, do a photo shoot for Garden & Guns magazine.
The annual Side by Side event garnered a lot of coverage — and free exposure.
in the social aspect of the event more
than the competitive side, so he
factored that into his plan. He built it,
slowly and deliberately, and the shooters have responded.
“Instead of squadding different
groups of shooters, I let the groups
shoot together in European rotation,”
he said. “I also lay out the course so
small-gauge and large-gauge shooters
can walk together. I try to meet the
desires of customers.”
In fact, planning for the following
year starts during the event.
“I use the current show to query
participants and exhibitors to improve
next year’s,” said
Kempffer.
A Southern pig pickin’ was part of the daily lunch
choices. Food was catered by locals, freeing Kempffer
of the catering aspect of the Side by Side.
The Range Report
Fall 2010
motioning to the parked vehicles.
“Three years ago I didn’t know these
people. Camaraderie is such an overused word, but this goes beyond that. I
could have gone to the Grand Canyon
[on vacation], but I wouldn’t have
Word from the range
One group of this
year’s customers was the
Candler family—father
Charles of St. Simons
Island, Ga., mother
Becky, daughters Lucy,
12 Rebecca, 22, and
Paxton, 25, and Paxton’s
fiancée, Jamie Keegan.
Charles had inherited an
L.C. Smith shotgun, and
his desire to learn more
about it led him to the
event.
“Look around,”
Charles Candler said,
13
14
The Range Report
Fall 2010
The Range Report
Fall 2010
15
Create Your Own Event
Need ideas? Think small, think fun
and think outside the box. You have
your regulars; keep them interested
and target beyond them.
Themed events can be based on
seasons, holidays, equipment – the
list is endless.
Bill Kempffer of Deep River
Sporting Clays has a group of locals
who meet to shoot black-powder
shotguns. Envision a black-powder
tournament with a prize for best
period costume.
Speaking of costumes, what
about a Halloween shoot? Independence Day? Memorial Day?
Contact the local Boy Scout
council and host a clinic for Shotgun
Shooting or Rifle Shooting merit
badges.
What about a modern sporting rifle event? Revolvers only? A Cowboy-Action weekend? Pump-action shotguns only?
Many shooters have old single-shot smoothbores. What about a single-shot trap/
skeet/sporting clays shoot with time for reloading?
For help in event planning, the National Shooting Sports Foundation offers a package called Countdown to Success that Kempffer uses. Go to http://www.nssf.org/PDF/
ASR_catalog2010.pdf to print an order form. It’s free to NSSF members and $25 for
nonmembers.
known a soul there.”
Candler estimates that he spent
$2,000 on the trip, with about $800 of
that on site.
Elizabeth Lanier of Sandy Hook,
Va., shares the enthusiasm for the
event. A shotgun instructor, she said,
“I love this event. I love to shoot and
can’t stand to compete, but I love to
come here.”
Lanier brought eight women age
47 to 63 with her in April and said
that she personally spent $250 on
shooting fees alone.
Another event
About 600 miles north of Sanford
in Millbrook, N.Y., is Orvis Sandanona, where Peggy Long, general
manager, and her husband, Brian
Long, senior manager of sporting
tradition, have nurtured the multifaceted Orvis Cup into an annual
destination. Instead of a niche event
like the Southern Side by Side, the
Longs have spent four years promot16
ing an outdoors-lifestyle product,
combining shooting competitions with
falconry, hunting dog and fly-fishing
demonstrations among others. The
Orvis Cup is a two-day event, and
though it is still a fiscal infant, the
Longs see long-term promise.
“The premise is not just with
shooting, but with showcasing the
sporting lifestyle and bringing traffic
to the vendors,” said Brian Long.
Peggy Long said a shooter’s
spouse can keep busy, too, alluding to
the peripheral activities.
Last September the Orvis Cup
had about 80 shooters in main event
competitions and about 1,000 bodies
through the gate. The Longs see the
down-the-road potential.
“We’re maybe break-even, but
we’re trying to expose [our event] to
new customers for long-term growth,”
said Brian Long. “We have two
shooting stations for novices or new
shooters.”
The Longs said that sponsorships,
shooting fees and vendor fees are
crucial to support the event.
Extra labor is an issue. The Longs
prefer to pay cash for extra workers,
while Kempffer taps range members
to work for cash or credit on memberships and shooting. “Sweat equity” is
always an option.
Intangibles
While attending the Southern
Side By Side, I noticed Jim Carmichael, retired Outdoor Life shooting
editor, on assignment for Garden
& Guns magazine. In addition, the
Charlotte Observer, Fayetteville
Observer and Sanford Herald newspapers covered the event, as well as
Clay Shooting USA, Parker Pages,
Shooting Sportsman and The Range
Report. It’s hard to buy that kind of
exposure, regardless of your marketing budget.
“Call and invite the press,” said
Kempffer. “The exposure is priceless.”
You need to host a quality event,
however, no matter the size.
Those seeds grow
Both the Longs and Kempffer
believe in long-term plans, three years
at a minimum.
“You have to go into this thing
with a longer vision,” said Peggy Long.
“You have to have a quality event. If
you’re going to lose your shirt, lose it
in style,” she laughed.
One key point both the Longs and
Kempffer made is that while immediate return on investment is nice,
a lot of your return is in the future.
Kempffer said of his 11 Side By Side
Championships, four were breakeven
and two lost money – and he said the
two losers were still worth doing for
the exposure. His three-day event
last April, however, earned immediate profits better than the two weeks
of the Christmas/New Years holiday
season, normally his strongest seasonal
retail and shooting stretch of the year.
In others words, start small, partner with a primary sponsor, think
quality, listen to your market—and
dare to dream. With those directives,
your shirt is probably safe, unless you
want to replace it with something
RR
nicer at a later date.
The Range Report
Fall 2010
The Range Report
Fall 2010
17
Be Part of the
College Scene
Join NSSF in helping students enjoy organized shooting
By Bill Brassard and Glenn Sapir, NSSF Communications
A new round of grant proposals will be considered for 2011, and shooting facilities
should work with local colleges to launch new or strengthen existing shooting programs.
O
n college campuses across the
country, men and women are
taking up target shooting in
increasing numbers. From Harvard to
Jacksonville University to the University of Colorado, the shooting sports
are “in” as students discover how they
can enjoy these safe, fun activities
with their friends.
To encourage this growth trend,
the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the
firearms and shooting sports industry, last year began providing grants
through its Collegiate Shooting Sports
Initiative (CSSI) to support the development of varsity teams for those
students interested in competition and
create clubs for students interested in
the recreational and social benefits of
target shooting.
“After just one round of grants,
NSSF has seen participation in
target shooting grow significantly at
colleges,” said Zach Snow, NSSF’s
senior shooting sports coordinator.
“We’re just getting started, so the sky’s
the limit.”
18
The second round of grants will
be decided upon soon. However, it is
not too soon to think about next year’s
awards.
“All it takes to form a team or
club is for a dedicated coach, faculty
member or student to step up and lead
the way” Snow added. “Once that
happens, participants follow.” That coach could be a representative of your shooting operation, and
your facility could become the home
range of the club or team you help to
create or strengthen. Other facilities
have already seen that occur during the
first year that grants have been offered
and put to use.
The Range Report (Summer
2010) has already documented the
success of one club in building college
programs and attracting shooters. Hank
Garvey, a member of the Minute Man
Sportsman’s Club, which is located 20
miles northwest of Boston, embraced
the CSSI concept by working with
students at local universities such as
Harvard and Northeastern to recruit
and develop active collegiate shooting
clubs. In one year, with the support of
a couple of students, he helped build
two official clubs at Harvard—one for
undergrads and one for Harvard Law
School students—and now more than
300 students have shown an interest
in joining and are on the clubs’ mailing
list. And that is only one of the universities that calls Minute Man “home.”
Here’s how NSSF’s Collegiate
Shooting Sports Initiative is making
target shooting a common activity on
other campuses:
• Jacksonville University began
a sporting clays, skeet and trap
club program thanks to the work
of master-level instructor David
Dobson, who will join the university’s faculty this fall to teach a
class on the theory of wingshooting and continue as the program’s
head coach. Dobson’s work at
Jacksonville inspired one of his
shooting students to launch a clays
shooting club at the University of
North Florida, a team Dobson also
coaches.
Said Dobson, “NSSF’s grant
Visit the
CSSI Website
Remember, all of
the details on the
Collegiate Shooting
Sports Initiative can
be viewed at the CSSI
website, www.nssf.
org/college.
The Range Report
Fall 2010
program has energized both
coaches and student participants
to promote collegiate target shooting. In NSSF, we now have a
resource to turn to for funding and
nonmonetary assistance, particularly in the early stages of creating
a program when support is most
needed. NSSF’s support will be
significant to our success moving
forward.”
• Trinity College and Schreiner
University promoted introductory
seminars where new shooters
learned how to safely handle
firearms and were introduced to
shooting games for rifle, shotgun
and handgun.
• The first New England Collegiate
Clay Target Championships,
supported by NSSF, featured
teams from Harvard, Harvard
Law, Yale, Brown, Tufts and the
University of Vermont.
• Last month’s ACUI College Clay
Target Championships were the
largest ever with 40 teams participating, some teams being new
or expanded programs thanks to
grants from NSSF.
• The University of Arkansas Fort Smith, assisted by a grant
from NSSF, finished as the
fourth-ranked air rifle team in the
country at the inaugural NRA
Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship at Purdue University.
“We hope these success stories
will give interested students or
prospective coaches the incentive to
start a varsity team or a club shooting
group at their college or university,”
said Snow. “We’re here to assist them
in getting the activity established.”
NSSF developed the Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative to
provide a “next step” for hundreds of
thousands of students already participating in youth programs such as the
Scholastic Clay Target Program, Boy
Scouts of America and 4-H.
“When these students go off to
college, many will want to continue
participating in the shooting sports
— just like athletes in other sports
want to,” said Snow. “We have a
great feeder system in place, but
opportunities to shoot at the college
The Range Report
Fall 2010
level have been limited. With the
Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative
grant program, we’re expanding opportunities for experienced shooters and
newcomers.”
Snow said NSSF developed the
Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative
for the following reasons:
1. Raise awareness of shooting sports
and firearm safety at the college level
2. Provide financial and nonfinancial
assistance in developing college
shooting clubs or teams
3. Serve as a resource for colleges
and students interested in learning
more about the shooting sports
4. Help grow the shooting sports at
the college level
Get details on how to apply for a
Collegiate Shooting Sports Initiative
grant from NSSF at www.nssf.org/
college. Though it is too late to submit
for 2010 grants, start thinking about
the next round—Round 3—of the
CSSI grant program. Lay the groundRR
work now.
19
©iStockphoto.com/William Britten
Survey Your
Customers
Communication tells you how to provide better service
M
iles Hall spends his days
managing the H&H Gun
Range, the Five Star facility he founded in Oklahoma City.
However, if you ask him, he’ll describe
his job as keeping shooters happy.
To do that, he says, you have to ask
a lot of questions, not only about any
changes you are planning but also
about the day-to-day service at your
facility.
“In order to grow you really
need to ask the people who are going
to be affected by your business,” said
Hall. “Who better to ask than the
20
By C. Douglas Nielsen
guests of your own establishment?”
Survey brings surprises
Hall began asking questions with
the help of graduate business students
from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1988. The students worked
with Hall to create and complete a
survey regarding specific things they
thought the customers might want to
see at H&H, but they were surprised
to learn the customers had no interest
in those things at all.
“We thought lockers would be
the next logical step, but out of 1,540
people only two thought lockers were
a good idea,” Hall said.
Instead Hall learned what his
customers wanted were more and
longer shooting lanes. Two years
later Hall moved his range to another
location that would accommodate his
customer’s expectations.
In the years since, Hall has continued to ask his customers questions.
Though he typically performs formal
surveys every two or three years, Hall
said, “The key is to find a pattern, a
process if you will, that asks the fewest
amount of questions to get the most
results.” He believes you have to ask
all of the time. In addition to written
survey cards, Hall takes advantage of
every opportunity to speak directly
with his customers. His list of questions includes, “Tell me what you
want? Tell me what we need to do?
How do we address this?” He wants
to know whether they are happy
with the way they have been treated,
if something could have been done
better or if something else is needed.
The Range Report
Fall 2010
Hall also is a strong advocate of focus
groups as the means of discussing
customer needs or wants in an open,
small-group forum. He recommends
having 10 to 15 prepared questions
and then letting them have a roundtable discussion.
Silence in not golden
“Ask questions only if you want
to succeed,” Hall said. “If you don’t
want to succeed, don’t ask any because
you will fail. You’re in the business to
serve the guest. How can you serve
the guest if you don’t know what they
want?”
Holden Kriss, manager of the
Indian River County Shooting Range
in Sebastian, Fla., agrees with Hall.
His focus is on venue improvements
and customer service, so Kriss asks,
“What would you like to see added?
What would you like to see improved?
Did you have a good experience here?”
The Indian River County facility
has only been in operation since 2001
but already boasts 58,000 registered
shooters who travel from as far away
as 100 miles to shoot.
“We average 100 new shooters a
day on the weekend and have never
used paid advertising. We depend on
word of mouth,” Kriss said.
A large part of that word of mouth
advertising Kriss attributes to his facility’s survey efforts. Customers can find
survey cards at collection sites located
throughout the facility, not only in
the office—but you won’t find them
there every day. Kriss recommends
pulling survey collection boxes at various intervals so customers don’t grow
complacent. Moreover, he has multiple survey cards and rotates them. “If
they (always) see the same comment
card, they tend to forget about it,” he
said.
Provide your contact information
In addition to asking questions,
Hall and Kriss strongly suggest that
you provide customers with your
contact information so they can talk
with you directly if they feel the need
to do so.
Joining Hall and Kriss in the
survey realm is Don Turner, manager
of the new Clark County Shooting
The Range Report
Fall 2010
Gather Internet
Intelligence
Since 1988, Miles Hall has used
traditional paper and interview
surveys to build his customer base
at the H&H Gun Range in Oklahoma
City. In recent years, however, Hall
has discovered that the Internet
offers yet another avenue for gathering intelligence – the online forum. ©iStockphoto.com/enot-poloskun
Hall created a forum page on his
facility website and compares it to the electronic bulletin boards of days gone by.
Monitoring this and other related forums within his market area provides Hall with
valuable information.
“People are not ashamed at all to tell you if you’ve got something going on
internally that you need to address or if there is an opportunity that you’re not
addressing,” Hall explained. “Monitoring those sites has been an eye opener. It’s like
being a fly on the wall in a room full of people, and you just get a chance to listen.
Hopefully you won’t get swatted too damn bad.”
The H&H Online Forum offers such subject areas as Introductions, where new
members can share a little about their shooting interests, Announcements, Handgun
and Archery Discussions and General Discussions. Thanks to the forum, Hall now
knows that newcomer Michael is “fairly new to guns. My parents have just recently
naturalized to the USA as citizens. My parents were/are not gun people… I somehow
became a fan of guns... I am a fairly new family man and want to protect my little
crew… My CCL should come in the mail any time, and I want something to carry
conveniently. Any suggestions?”
No doubt Hall & company had an answer to Michael’s questions and the ability to
help him find the carry firearm he was looking for. Park in Las Vegas, Nev.
He, too, utilizes customer
comment cards available at
collection sites scattered
throughout the park and
has done so since the facility opened to shooters in
December 2009.
Kristen Siquian,
park public information
specialist, said, “We’re
trying to find out what’s
working, and if something happens to not be
working, we definitely
want to know so we
can change it.”
What you don’t
want is for your
survey to be a
burden on your
customer, said
Rob Southwick of
the research firm
Southwick &
Associates, so he
21
recommends that you avoid inquisitive questions about things like their
income or their age. If you already
have their address in your database,
don’t ask again. What you want to do
is word your questions to elicit more
than a yes or no answer. You want to
know the degree. Also, provide your
customers with an opportunity to give
credit where they believe credit is
due.
If you are going to survey your
customers, you have to be willing to
do something with what you learn.
“First, you need to be willing to
listen to the answer, period. All criticism is constructive no matter what it
is. The second thing is you’ve got to
be willing to change your operation
to serve those needs. Then you have
got to be willing to let them know you
reacted. They will respond by letting
RR
other people know,” said Hall.
Why Survey Your Customers?
If you are thinking about surveying your customers, a good place to start is asking
why. Why survey your customers in the first place? “To know the demographics of your current customer base,” said Jim Curcuruto,
director of industry research for the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “That way
when you want to market – to increase the customer base that you have – you can
tailor your marketing toward a particular type of individual, and even those areas
those individuals live in.”
Surveying your customers not only lets you know who they are, but it also lets you
know who and where they are not.
Range managers “really need to get an understanding of who their customers are
compared to the rest of the community. That way you can see who you are missing
as a customer,” said Rob Southwick of the research firm Southwick & Associates. “By
arming yourself with this information you will be able to get more for your advertising and marketing dollar.”
Southwick is quick to point out that there are no stereotypical firearms enthusiasts. “What we’ve seen in research is that interest in firearms is in all different types of
communities – urban, rural, suburban, higher income and lower income – all sorts of
people. So if your business tends to be catering toward that 50-year-old white male
as 75 percent of your customers, then you are probably not doing a very good job of
making your business friendly to others.”
Ready. Aim. Click!
National Shooting
Sports Foundation®
Be Where Shooters Go.
As a range owner, you know shooters drive your business. Wheretoshoot.org has thousands of shooters who visit the
website each month. Reach those shooters by registering your range today…and best of all…it’s FREE! This is one way
NSSF fulfills its mission of promoting, protecting and preserving hunting and the shooting sports.
www.nssf.org
22
The Range Report
Fall 2010
The Range Report
Fall 2010
23
Sighting in a Slug Gun in Connecticut
A ‘novice’ seeks help at two ranges
P
ublic availability of shooting ranges in Connecticut is
limited. Yet, my search at the
“Find a Range” feature of the NSSF
website listed more than 50 facilities.
My assignment was simple: Feigning
novice status, find two Connecticut
ranges to offer assistance in sighting
in a scoped 12 gauge shotgun. It took
several calls, but I soon hit pay dirt
with affirmative responses from facilities located 50 minutes apart. Both
cautioned that I might need to wait
an hour or more for individual instruction if the range was busy, a likely
scenario for my planned Saturday
visits.
Range A
Rustic and supportive
Located in Wallingford, Conn.,
Blue Trail Range and Gun Shop has
been open since 1945 and advertises itself as the largest and safest
commercial shooting range in the
Northeast. Lush green hills serve as
a backdrop when you pull into the
large, red cinder parking lot. Both the
outdoor range and clubhouse/gun
shop/snack bar are within a few yards
and easily accessible. A shotgun field
is located across the street. Relaxingly rustic is a fair description of the
grounds and facilities.
Stepping into the gun shop, I was
immediately greeted by a friendly
and helpful staffer. When I mentioned
that I had called previously to request
aid sighting in my scope, he immediately offered to use a collimator (bore
sighter) to “get me on the paper.”
This cost $5 and took less than five
24
minutes despite my having grossly
misaligned the scope on purpose.
I then asked if I could get help
fine-tuning on the outdoor range but
was politely informed I would need to
do it myself as, being the only shop
staffer on duty this day, he couldn’t
leave the counter area. The one
outside range officer on duty, I was
further advised, could not provide
first-hand instruction as he needed to
attend diligently to his own job priorities.
The shop staffer did take time to
explain clearly and accurately how to
make the proper adjustments, offered
plenty of moral support and told me
to return for more advice if needed.
He provided a good start, overall, but
a true novice might have yearned for
more hands-on help at the range.
Range B
Simplicity is a plus
Covering eight acres, not quite
all of it available for shooting,
Wooster Mountain Shooting Range,
in Danbury, Conn., is operated by the
Danbury Shooting Association and
is neither large nor complex. Then
again, it is the simple organization,
park setting and smooth operation
that give this place an “outdoorsy”
quality despite its location less than a
mile south of the Danbury Fair Shopping Mall, a major shopping hub.
Nestled into the side of Wooster
Mountain State Park, substantial
berms serve as your shooting backdrop. Access is via a smooth dirt road
that leads to a dirt parking lot. You’ll
need to walk 50 yards or so to reach
the range and small supply shop,
which offers basic eye and hearing
protection, targets and ammo. At the
center of operations, you’ll spot a
table with a picnic umbrella. Sign up
here, pay the $15 daily use fee and
then head over to the red barn to
gather a target stand.
When I arrived on a Saturday
afternoon, most of the 48 wooden
table shooting stations were already
occupied, and a cease-fire period was
minutes from ending. I explained to
the officer of the day that I wanted to
sight in my shotgun but was unsure
how to go about it. He smiled and
noted the range was pretty busy, but
then instructed me to grab a target,
get my gun and follow him to an open
station. We were ready to shoot with
a target placed at approximately 30
yards before the cease fire ended.
Once firing was allowed to
commence, the range officer inspected
my shotgun and scope, assumed a
three-point position while seated at
the wooden bench rest and fired off
four slugs. He paused following each
shot and used binoculars to carefully
inspect the placement of each round
before adjusting the scope. He then
announced that I should learn how to
sight in myself by fine-tuning his rough
adjustments. He continued to stand
by and offered instruction as I fired
off four rounds before he eventually
moved on to other duties. He returned
several minutes later to check my
progress and offer moral support. After
firing 10 slugs, my Browning shotgun
and Bushnell scope appeared to be
in perfect alignment, and I left quite
RR
satisfied.
The Range Report
Fall 2010
BLUE TRAIL RANGE & GUN STORE
3116 N. Branford Rd.
Wallingford, CT 06492
www.bluetrailrange.com
203-269-3280
WOOSTER MOUNTAIN SHOOTING RANGE
74 Sugar Hollow Rd.
Danbury, CT 06810 www.pahquioque.com
203-794-9821
Scorecard
Editor’s note: The Undercover
Shooter is an experienced recreational
shooter but is not trained in technical
aspects of range design and operation.
Each category is rated on a scale of 1-5
with 5 being the highest score.
Blue Trail Range and Gun Store Customer Satisfaction Rating
Signage, Visibility
3
• No signs leading up to the facility from either
direction on North Branford Road. Large wooden
entrance sign is easy to spot.
• Website directions (www.bluetrailrange.com/
Directions.html) are simple and accurate
Exterior Appeal
3
• Pleasant, rural setting. Rustic is a plus in my
book, but clubhouse and shooting stations could
still use a coat of fresh paint. Large trees around
the clubhouse provide nice shade. Ample parking.
Interior Appeal
3
• Office and clubhouse were dimly lighted and,
although clean enough, could use a general sprucing up. Gun Shop is bright, easily accessible and
smartly organized. I might order a burger at the
snack bar, but would probably eat it outside.
Retail Product Availability
5
• Well-stocked gun shop sports a full line of protective equipment, shooting clothing, ammunition and
firearms ranging from pistols to shotguns
Staff Friendliness
5
• Exceptionally friendly and patient on all levels.
Range Safety
4
• No visible shortcomings. Range officer was focused
and in control at all times. Berms seemed more
than adequate behind all target areas. Range rules
list ear and eye protection as “highly recommended.” They should be mandatory. More staff on duty
would be a plus.
Programs/Membership
5
• Open to public seven days a week, 9 a.m - 5 p.m
• $29 per day, weekdays; $29 first hour, $10 each
additional hour on weekends
• $575 yearly membership
• Range includes 10-point, 50-foot indoor range;
15-point, 33-foot indoor air rifle range;19-point,
25-yard outdoor pistol range; 120-point, “50-ish”
and 100-yard outdoor rifle range; a field for shotgun use, where you throw your own clays. You can
rent a mechanical thrower for $35 per hour, or a
hand-held thrower for $2 per day.
• Offers a wide variety of competitive shooting
programs; junior rifle club for more than 40 local
school teams ranging from elementary to high
school; hunter safety classes, firearms safety, plus
NRA pistol class and rifle instructor’s courses;
women’s pistol, children’s birthdays, outdoors
sports fair, pig roast, more
Cleanliness
3.5
• Grounds are generally clean, as is the clubhouse,
gun shop and snack bar. Disappointed in the
preponderance of spent shotgun shells at the trap
field located across the street.
Comments, Impressions
• Public shooting on a daily basis scores big bonus
points. Plenty of shooting opportunities and
programs from which to choose. Beijing Olympian
Emily Caruso trained and competed here. Exceptionally friendly staff, but more would be merrier.
Overall, an enjoyable and productive visit.
Wooster Mountain Shooting Range Customer Satisfaction Rating
Signage, Visibility
3
• A small wooden sign at the Wooster Mountain
State Park entrance on Sugar Hollow Road
indicates the range is ahead. Although the dirt
entrance road is easy to spot, there are no other
signs indicating the presence of this facility.
• The facility is located just inside Wooster Mountain State Park and is not visible from Sugar
Hollow Road.
quite busy. Staff seemed to make a strong effort
to work with novice and young shooters.
Range Safety
3.5
• Small supply shed stocked with basic eye and ear
protective equipment, targets and ammo.
• Range officer was clearly in command at all
times and used polite yet stern language to keep
all shooters in check. Stepping anywhere near a
firearm during cease fire was not tolerated, and
at least two clearly stated verbal warnings were
issued.
• Due to close proximity of shooting stations, hot
brass is a concern. I was struck on the back and
arm several times by shells from a semi-automatic
rifle at the next station, making it difficult to stay
highly focused while sighting in. Regulars here consider this routine. Eye and hearing protection are
required but a brimmed cap and tight-fitting shirt
should also be considered to reduce the possibility
of a hot shell sliding between your clothes and skin
or under behind your protective glasses
Staff Friendliness
Programs/Membership
Exterior Appeal
4
• Mountainside parkland setting. Ample parking.
Wooden shooting stations are solid and in surprisingly good shape considering heavy use.
Interior Appeal
N/A
Retail Product Availability
2
4
• Friendly and willing to explain range rules, expectations and functionality in detail despite being
4
• Open to the public, $15 per day; first come, first
served. Children under age 14 pay $5; $125 yearly
membership
Open trap on Tuesday, 10 a.m. - sunset
Rifle and pistol on Wednesday, 1 - 7 p.m.
Rifle and pistol on Saturday & Sunday, noon - 6 p.m.
Range consists of four trap fields, 24 shooting
benches, 48 shooting stations at 25 to 100 yards
• Various events include trap shoots and other
target shooting competitions.
•
•
•
•
Cleanliness
4
• Grounds are very clean. Spent shells at all stations
but all else seems to end up in the several large
trash cans supplied.
Comments, Impressions
• Fun and friendly outdoors setting. Few amenities,
but operation is well organized and adequately
staffed. Staffers are willing to provide some individual instruction and shooting tips if requested,
as time allows. Consider a brimmed hat and tight
fitting shirt as necessary protective gear due to
close proximity of shooting stations. Arrive with
time to spare, for shooting stations can fill up
quickly.
All reports, comments, impressions, opinions or advice expressed in the Undercover Shooter column are solely those of independent, recreational
shooting range consumers and do not necessarily represent those of the National Shooting Sports Foundation or its affiliates. Neither the NSSF nor
its affiliates make any warranty or assume any liability with respect to the accuracy or reliability of any information provided by Undercover Shooter
contributors. Readers are encouraged to and should perform their own investigation of the information provided herein.
The Range Report
Fall 2010
25
Home on the Range
Views from NSSF staffers and guest contributors
First Shots, 2nd Round
A great new program picks up where First Shots leaves off
By Cyndi Dalena
N
SSF’s First Shots program has
been and continues to provide
many first-time shooters the
opportunity to learn more and get
started shooting at their local range.
With 40 percent of attendees returning to the range, ranges are seeing
increased participation and continued
opportunities to sell their services, in
the form of range rentals, equipment
sales and personal and class training.
We at NSSF thought about the
other 60 percent that
weren’t going back to the
range and asked ourselves,
“Why?”
For many people,
finding time and someone
to shoot with were top
reasons, along with not feeling experienced enough to continue on their own
Though many different types of shooting activities are available, the truth is
that most of them require knowledge
or skills more demanding than what
the First Shots experience provides.
Certainly, First Shots helped them get
started and introduced them to basic
safety and shooting fundamentals, but
they still may be unsure of what type
of firearm is best for them, or they may
not understand the rules/requirements
for specific activities such as action
handgun or clay-target games.
Enter First Shots, 2nd Round,
designed to add an additional layer of
knowledge onto the base of the First
Shots program. 2nd Round provides
ranges with another opportunity to
bring new shooting enthusiasts back
to the facility and get them shooting
tailored more to their individual interests. The core of 2nd Round is based on
the foundation of First Shots, providing
basic safety and shooting fundamentals
along with details about a specific topic.
Ranges can run First Shots, 2nd
Round for any activity they would
like to promote—any handgun activi26
ties from IDPA, USPSA and steel to
long-range rifle and clay-target games.
2nd Round seminars can also focus on
personal protection or simply be a “trya-gun” seminar allowing the attendee
to shoot various types of firearms.
First Shots partner ranges have
already seen early success with this new
effort. 2nd Round seminars have been
offered in personal protection, skeet and
try-a-gun, with classes being filled and
attendees purchasing range membership
2nd Round — Moving Forward
and joining league activities.
Smith & Wesson Shooting Sports
Center held its inaugural First Shots 2nd
Round for personal protection, specifically for women, in March. The center
sent special invitations to these ladies
and quickly filled the seminar. Instructors reviewed basic safety and shooting
fundamentals, introduced centerfire
handguns and discussed carry options
and basic draw technique. When
heading to the range, attendees were
provided with belts and holsters for
draw and dry-fire activity that consummated in live-fire exercises, providing
them both experience and skill drawing
from a holster and a new confidence
in enrolling in a defensive techniques
class to improve on this new skill.
“I have been shooting sporadically
for about two years, but was on the
fence about the type of gun I should
purchase,” said one attendee, “I’m tickled that the class helped determine a
semi-auto would be best, and I plan to
buy one in the next month.” Another was thrilled with the
chance to get to know other local ladies
interested in learning more about
personal protection with a firearm.
By Cyndi Dalena
Cyndi Dalena is NSSF’s
manager of the First Shots
Program. Before introducing
First Shots and dedicating
her services exclusively to
this introductory program,
she directed the Scholastic
Clay Target Program while it was still being administered by NSSF. Cyndi has been a regular at ranges for
years, earning dozens of honors as one of her state’s
most accomplished sporting clays shooters.
“Now I have a few new friends I
can get together with for shooting!” she
said.
The center recently held another
First Shots 2nd Round try-a-gun, where
participants practiced shooting fundamentals with various centerfire calibers
and firearms. This four-hour seminar
covered revolvers and pistols, as well as
practical use and application of various handguns
and calibers. For many
of the attendees, it was
the first step in making a
purchase decision based
on a solid foundation of
knowledge and consideration of how
they might use their firearms.
Seymour Fish and Game, a private
sportsman’s club in Connecticut, has
offered 2nd Round for skeet shooting.
This seminar provided an overview of
skeet as well as live-fire instruction.
More than 60 people attended, including families, and each had a chance to
shoot a round of skeet, learning the
rules, seeing the targets and getting
some great instruction as well.
“At the end of the day, we had
several new members signed up and
lots of skeet enthusiasts,” said Al
Anglace, club president. “The support
from NSSF in the form of ammunition
and targets helped us keep our costs
and attendees’ costs to a minimum.”
As part of the First Shots program,
ranges that offer 2nd Round seminars
also receive the same type of support
– planning assistance, customized
ads, cooperative funding for advertising, loaner firearms, ammunition and
targets. For more information or to
get started on planning First Shots 2nd
Round at your facility contact Cyndi
Dalena at [email protected] or
RR
203-426-1320.
The Range Report
Fall 2010
The Range Report
Fall 2010
27
28
The Range Report
Fall 2010