Favorite Ranges and Shooting Spots in the Valley

Glockster. · 03-16-2011, 21:02

Anybody have any good shooting spots or ranges they wanna share with AZ GL members? please?

snevel · 03-16-2011, 22:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glockster.

Anybody have any good shooting spots or ranges they wanna share with AZ GL members? please?

If you live in North Phoenix, Ben Avery:

http://www.azgfd.gov/outdoor_recreation/ben_avery.shtml

is hard to beat.

If you'd rather shoot in the desert, I'm partial to an area up Hwy. 17. Turn west off the freeway on Table Mesa Rd and head north on the frontage, then west again. There are plenty of places where people shoot against hills as backstops.

Simeon

***B. Somm*** · 03-17-2011, 16:10

If you don't mind indoor ranges, Shooter's World is working on opening up a new shop/range at 91 Ave & Cactus!

B.

xtreme99 · 03-17-2011, 19:28

New one just opened or is opening in QC soon, not sure if it is open yet. Indoors.

Being from Chandler, I suggest Sycamore Creek, out off of highway 87. Just make sure to pick up your trash before you leave!

Glockster. · 03-18-2011, 21:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by xtreme99

New one just opened or is opening in QC soon, not sure if it is open yet. Indoors.

Being from Chandler, I suggest Sycamore Creek, out off of highway 87. Just make sure to pick up your trash before you leave!

yeah i go to sycamore and florence.... where is the one coming to QC?

Ive been to cunninghams on power and williamsfield

xtreme99 · 03-22-2011, 17:53

That must be the one I saw the ad for... I havent been there yet, is it nice?

El_Ron1 · 03-24-2011, 12:09

xtreme99 · 03-24-2011, 17:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by El_Ron1

Cool picture bro.

Rutha73 · 04-01-2011, 23:06

I like Rio Salado, off Usery Pass http://riosaladosportsmans.com/ its cheap and targets out to 200 yds and a big steel plate at 300. $7 to shoot all day and $.25 for a target.

SGT HATRED · 04-01-2011, 23:15

Ugh I truly hate ranges... So many rules, expensive, too loud, too many morons who shouldn't own guns... There's a spot in the desert about 2 miles west of ben avery that is a big hole in the ground, about 3-5 acres that's where I shoot. Will I tell you how to get there? Absolutely not. It's common enough and 30% of the time I will run into someone at "my" spot but it's so much better being able to shoot in peace.

akapennypincher · 04-03-2011, 16:56

Wickenburg Sportsmen's Club, $30.00 a YEAR.

FromThereToHere · 04-14-2011, 21:10

Anyone know anyplace north or northeast of Fountain Hills, like off of 87?

g22od · 04-25-2011, 15:17

There's some nice BLM land west of the Lake Pleasant turnoffs and well west of Ben Avery. It can be crowded right off the road but if you have a 4x4 you can find a nice secluded spot all to yourself. It's really craggy and fractured so you can find terrific backstops and even some shade back in the trails. Just watch out for the quads.

Another place I like is Flatiron Mountain. You take the I-10 west way way out. 300th Ave or so you go north. Left on Indian School and take your first right. Just past the cattle guards you can see the dirt trails headed out toward Flatiron. Trails circle the whole mountain so you can find some seclusion if you want as the primo spots right off the road are usually crowded on weekends.

I'm looking for a spot east of the valley or south of valley too. I've looked NE of Mesa around the Usury Pass range and saw some great spots but it's all Fed Parkland and I didn't want to go to jail so I just ended up enjoying the scenery.

xtreme99 · 04-25-2011, 17:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by FromThereToHere

Anyone know anyplace north or northeast of Fountain Hills, like off of 87?

Dude take the 87 north till you hit the sign for Sugarloaf Mtn... it's MAYBE 10 miles up the 87...

FromThereToHere · 04-25-2011, 19:26

Thanks - I don't have a 4x4 but I do have an all-wheel-drive Subaru Outback (I'm from a snowy icy place), so I figure I can get pretty far off road, if carefully - once got a pretty big rock, prob 50 lb, stuck in my undercarriage down in Saquaro N.P., but managed to get it shifted & out with the help of my friends.

Also I'm lucky in that I have some weekdays free, just gotta collect up a friend or two that also has a free weekday, for company & possible rock-moving, ha ha!

Flatiron Mountain sounds good too - have never heard of it, gotta look it up.

And yeah, Usury Pass is a real pretty area - I've hiked there, shot the flowers (my OTHER kind of shooting - PHOTOGRAPHIC!), but I know I can't go using my gun there;
too many other people around for that. I used to live in a boonies area with a lot of deer hunters, would hear them shooting at night + found shells in the woods just behind my back yard too many times - that's a little TOO close for comfort!

FromThereToHere · 04-25-2011, 19:49

Thanks "Dude" - even though I'm a DUDETTE! (that's not DUD-ette).

PS - if you meant Cunningham's in QC, I was just there last week trying out some possibilities - real nice people. But I want to get outdoors before it gets too hot. I HAVE been to Ben Avery, very nice place, but just want something 'unstructured'.

Also, the ranges ARE loud - it's a bit unnerving to have the guy in the next stall using a full fledged Uzi or AK-47 - WAY TOO LOUD even with earmuffs, especially indoors! I gotta save what little hearing I have left. I almost dropped my little Walther the first time I heard the BOOM BOOM BOOM.

I'm just a .22 plinker - decided to branch out from photography & darts to shooting something just a little tiny bit stronger - yes, really!
This is more fun than golf.

I actually was planning on just playing air guns, but jeez, they're FINICKY, always jamming. A 'real' .22 was just right for me, even if my friends DO call it "the desk stapler". I'm doing this just for fun, not self-defense - although I still think a well placed few rounds in the right place would slow a guy down, unless he's wearing a cup maybe.

Maybe I'd get a Glock 19 sometime, but that's as heavy duty as I ever plan to go.

xtreme99 · 04-25-2011, 21:32

Sorry about that, didn't know you were a lady!

Sugarloaf doesn't really require a 4x4 to get to the shooting spots. I take my nissan maxima out there all the time. You'll be able to tell which spots are shoot spots just by the debris.

Btw, I'm a photographer too, and usery pass is a great area for that. Check my link at the bottom of my post!

FromThereToHere · 04-25-2011, 22:32

Yep, just looked at your pics.
In your Artistic folder: Chihuly at the DBG? I have a bunch of Chihuly shots too, love how the light changes thru/around them at different times of the day. In fact, take a good look at my avatar pic.
That's another of my favorite places to shoot.
Photos, not pistols.