Not from Florida so I don’t know the whole story but that sucks to close 1000 yard range they are hard to come by down there what is the reasoning behind this decision
The reasoning is related to the location, shooters and operation of the range. This could be lengthy so i will keep it short and simple but a bit "rude".
The range is located with a large public park just a few hundred yards behind the backstop of all ranges with the 600, 1,000 and other back ranges being the closest. Most all of the shooting is toward that park so ALL projectiles must be captured by the backstops. That was NOT happening.
Shooters, be they public or police, ARE often idiotic buffoons that shoot at things like high wind flags, top of the banks, way under the targets to skip over backstops higher than 40ft., sides of steel targets, sides of wooden boxes, targets with no close backstop behind them. Stop. I have to stop as the scenarios of idiots using the range would cover a book of reasons so many shooters are idiots and dangerous. Today we struggle to teach those shooting at 300 yards to make shots at 600 yards that will impact on a 32ft. high berm. Time after time we deal with total incompetence from shooters.
The range employs may fine RSO's. Unfortunately humans cannot observe and figure out what to do when 338 and 50 cal shooters launch projectiles into the ground, onto steel parts downrange, up in the air or are totally out of control Even handgun shooters create problems with skipping bullets off things they decided to shoot at not condoned by the club. It is a near impossible task to see and deal with stupid, ignorant, incompetent shooters on a public range. Then in the past, the club offered targets that were not safe in their design and placement. Ever see a handgun steel lollypop rack when you shoot down the plates allowing the bullets to skip UP over the backstop?
The failures to keep the range safe were epidemic. Some rental groups paid big money to use the range for competition and resented club advice on safe target design and placement. It really got out of hand as money does talk.
This was the SHORT version. The frustration and literally screaming some of us did was not taken easily. Things are way better now and frankly, we welcome the change in attitude and safety. The 1,000 yard range was near impossible to control as it was positioned inside the main shooting line for public use. Now that line only goes to 300 yards maximum. Our 600 yard range is away from the main line and can more easily be monitored by our RSO's and is only usable by those that have showed some level of competence and passed a test at the 300 yard range.
Manatee is open and functioning is a safe manner for the location of the range. Not all of us can have a range with 2-3 miles of unoccupied open land behind the target placements or a high mountain. That's the stuff of dreams. The 1,000 yard backstop is there but blocked off. Doubt it could come back any time soon or ever because of logistics and the economies of having an isolated range we could dedicate just to that.
F169977F-DB6F-4540-9CEB-3B20A95EFFF6 by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr
