Tobyhanna SGL Range Reports

[fallenleader]

Oh if it ain't raining it ain't training.

thats almost signature worthy.
once pt is done with my shoulder, mondays should be free again. might find me up there.

[Rosco the Iroc]

That's an old DI mantra. Some of the best matches I've shot were in a driving rain.

So I did go up yesterday to test drive my project before I deliver it to the customer.

oops- WTF was I thinking if it's 39 at the house-yea 27 and of course the wind. So a bit underdressed. I hot cup of suck it up and I was fine.
Had the pistol range to myself, put of targets, turned around 4 cars pulled in.
So a guy and girl trudged over from rifle in matching camo bibs and jackets who couldn't get into that whole ask for a cease fire and wait to get the ok I'm clear, then the whole don't handle guns when I'm down range.
The NJ guys one of whom thought the 7 yard target was too close, he wanted to back it up to 10 yards so he backed up to that back of the concrete apron.
Till of course I saw this after getting something out of my truck. Where I loudly corrected him. To the thanks of the one gentleman who had a clue and was concentrating on helping one of the shooters he brought and didn't notice what the asshat was doing.
I got the reddot in fairly well but the guy gave me .38 reloads that were giving me issues that ended the day with a squib.

[fallenleader]

That's an old DI mantra. Some of the best matches I've shot were in a driving rain.

So I did go up yesterday to test drive my project before I deliver it to the customer.

oops- WTF was I thinking if it's 39 at the house-yea 27 and of course the wind. So a bit underdressed. I hot cup of suck it up and I was fine.
Had the pistol range to myself, put of targets, turned around 4 cars pulled in.
So a guy and girl trudged over from rifle in matching camo bibs and jackets who couldn't get into that whole ask for a cease fire and wait to get the ok I'm clear, then the whole don't handle guns when I'm down range.
The NJ guys one of whom thought the 7 yard target was too close, he wanted to back it up to 10 yards so he backed up to that back of the concrete apron.
Till of course I saw this after getting something out of my truck. Where I loudly corrected him. To the thanks of the one gentleman who had a clue and was concentrating on helping one of the shooters he brought and didn't notice what the asshat was doing.
I got the reddot in fairly well but the guy gave me .38 reloads that were giving me issues that ended the day with a squib.

ouch. im usually outta there by noon and in before it opens. by the time i'm set up and shooting, it's opening time.
what time of day was this?
range should be good for the next few as the ice should keep most away. watch your walk though.

[Sandcut]

I ran down the other day to try out the new Stevens 320 with some 2 3/4" slugs only to see signs stating "no shotguns". Having read the hunting digest, I recalled that you weren't allowed to shoot shot shells at this range, but I thought single projectile shells were OK. But, not to run afoul of the rules I bailed out. I still had the email address of a WCO from when I was trying to become a hunter ed instructor, so I shot him an email. He confirmed that shooting slugs from a shotgun was allowed. He suggested that the maintenance guys may have done that to prevent people from shooting shot shells and leaving the shells all over the place. It apparently wasn't effective because there was shotgun shells everywhere when I was there.

Went back yesterday and tried out the Stevens. Holy crap! I never realized the recoil coming off a slug. Those damn things felt like getting hit by a hammer. I actually dug out my PAST recoil pad out of my range bag and shot about five boxes of slugs to see how it shot. At fifty yards, those damn slugs drop about 14"-16".

The Stevens is a fun gun to shoot once you reduce the recoil.

[fallenleader]

I ran down the other day to try out the new Stevens 320 with some 2 3/4" slugs only to see signs stating "no shotguns". Having read the hunting digest, I recalled that you weren't allowed to shoot shot shells at this range, but I thought single projectile shells were OK. But, not to run afoul of the rules I bailed out. I still had the email address of a WCO from when I was trying to become a hunter ed instructor, so I shot him an email. He confirmed that shooting slugs from a shotgun was allowed. He suggested that the maintenance guys may have done that to prevent people from shooting shot shells and leaving the shells all over the place. It apparently wasn't effective because there was shotgun shells everywhere when I was there.

Went back yesterday and tried out the Stevens. Holy crap! I never realized the recoil coming off a slug. Those damn things felt like getting hit by a hammer. I actually dug out my PAST recoil pad out of my range bag and shot about five boxes of slugs to see how it shot. At fifty yards, those damn slugs drop about 14"-16".

The Stevens is a fun gun to shoot once you reduce the recoil.

That was precisely my line of thought after reading the "regulations"
It is a range originally designed for hunting practice. that led me to believe its A-OK regardless of barrel design or designation (shotgun/rifle/muzzleloader) as long as single projectile. It's still kind of odd it wasn't spelled out more clearly. Being that hunting regs are specific enough to mention the legality of using particle, IR or UV beams as weapons.

how long is your barrel? have you tried other brands? do they all drop that much?
i'll be heading down soon with my mossberg 24" and low recoil fiocchi slugs.
also, clean up a few shells there and check what they are, bet a lot are shot. I've seen people stand halfway or more downrange and fire at the targets so i'd check those first.
sounds like it still needs a lot more enforcement, thought thats what we were paying for?

Edit:
spent 4 hours there today, monday. 8:30 to 12:30. freezing rain, roadway is glass. saw a few people. a guy collecting brass safely, a guy who left pretty quickly from pistol (cold) a guy and his kid doing mag dumps with an ak and some guy with a muzzle loader :P who forgot hearing protection.
managed to sight in my wife's .22lr rifle scope and wasted a box of 7.62x54r softpoints only to find i was shooting way too high. tested my new ears and binoculars.
all in all was ok, lots of abandoned ammo stuck in snow, lots of abandoned targets from lazy people. broken glass downrange and every shotgun shell i picked up was shot not slug.
target things were pretty shot up and the garbage bag was completely full.
whoever gets there as soon as the snow melts will have a huge haul of brass. it melts into the snow/ice and is irretrievable.

[fallenleader]

Earlier in the week I was there around 8am and PGC fellas were out cleaning up large trash and replacing wood backstops. They done by 8:30 and I had a good time practicing my 50 yard rifle standing position.

Was there on Friday just before closing and the ice/snow was mostly gone. Quite a few people were coming by, a couple guys on the rifle side had maybe 8 targets set up on the 100 yard, and they were so cold they would take one or two shots and then sit in their car for 5 minutes. Sorry but if you're gonna be in the cold just be in the cold! Going back and forth just makes the cold feel colder. I zeroed in the open sights and practiced the 50 yard with my little 702 plinkster. When dusk hit and I was the last guy on the range I knew it was time to go.

It was a bit colder today, looked at the weather for Tobyhanna and it said 15 with windchill feeling like -1. I decided to head to SGL 205-Lowhill, since it was a scorching 25 with windchill of 11.

hmm... maybe i should bring a rake and head up this week, shame my monday is packed full. I complained to pgc about broken glass, full trash bag and stuff, asked them to clarify the "no shotgun" signs as well as muzzle loaders... as they're not rifles technically? and are not mentioned in regulations. they basically viewed my message and ignored me. that was just about a week ago.
yes, if your going in the cold. dress properly and just stick it out. use your barrel to warm your fingertips.

[Sandcut]

That was precisely my line of thought after reading the "regulations"
It is a range originally designed for hunting practice. that led me to believe its A-OK regardless of barrel design or designation (shotgun/rifle/muzzleloader) as long as single projectile. It's still kind of odd it wasn't spelled out more clearly. Being that hunting regs are specific enough to mention the legality of using particle, IR or UV beams as weapons.

how long is your barrel? have you tried other brands? do they all drop that much?
i'll be heading down soon with my mossberg 24" and low recoil fiocchi slugs.
also, clean up a few shells there and check what they are, bet a lot are shot. I've seen people stand halfway or more downrange and fire at the targets so i'd check those first.
sounds like it still needs a lot more enforcement, thought thats what we were paying for?

Edit:
spent 4 hours there today, monday. 8:30 to 12:30. freezing rain, roadway is glass. saw a few people. a guy collecting brass safely, a guy who left pretty quickly from pistol (cold) a guy and his kid doing mag dumps with an ak and some guy with a muzzle loader :P who forgot hearing protection.
managed to sight in my wife's .22lr rifle scope and wasted a box of 7.62x54r softpoints only to find i was shooting way too high. tested my new ears and binoculars.
all in all was ok, lots of abandoned ammo stuck in snow, lots of abandoned targets from lazy people. broken glass downrange and every shotgun shell i picked up was shot not slug.
target things were pretty shot up and the garbage bag was completely full.
whoever gets there as soon as the snow melts will have a huge haul of brass. it melts into the snow/ice and is irretrievable.

Stevens says the barrel is 18.5"

No, I didn't try any other brands of slugs. I have since picked up more and different.

I guarantee that most of the shells there would be shot shells because people are assholes and don't read the posted rules. But for those who do read the rules, those posted should be accurate. A simple "Slugs only in shotguns. No shot shells." would be accurate and convey the correct message.

[fallenleader]

So was there on Friday mid-day trying out the new screw in my old Savage. It was super windy and the .22 was flying everywhere, but I was mostly checking the bolt cycle and magazine operations since that is where the new screw is for.

As I was walking back from the backstops to the firing line, I saw something in the mud. It looks like a pistol round that is flat on one side, like a ricochet. I didn't know pistols could ricochet off wood or the black flaps. This did bother me and I showed the other guys who were at the rifle line. A pistol round ricochet flying over the berm and hitting you in the head could result in a bad day.

Has anyone else seen this? Usually the rifle line doesn't wait for the pistols to be clear to go check targets. You can't even see to communicate between the two sides.

I will try to post a pic of the bullet later, I tossed it in the range bag.

i would think all it's energy expended hitting part of the metal frame and it probably just fell with as much force as anything small would fall, no velocity.
there is also the possibility that someone was firing pistol at the 50yd or carbine. by the time the round got out there it might have lost enough to again, bounce off the metal posts or the wood frame?

you tend to find crazy things in the dirt out there.

[Chief Brody]

This past Summer someone said that he was hearing ricochets coming off the base of the what is referred to as the pistol side.... I found this hard to believe until I was on the rifle side and on occasion myself and a few others would here a ricochet coming from our left..

[Qtrborecrazy]

Someone might be shooting at stuff on the ground where bullets do not impact the berm like their suppose to.