Wexford PGL Range - Spring 2009: Anyone Shoot There Yet?

**Paradigm** · April 23rd, 2009, 02:50 PM

I've convinced a liberal friend to go handgun shooting and the Wexford range seems to be the best place between Grove City and Pittsburgh.

I've combed through many of the old threads and I've seen the good: new ranges...new frames...nice game commission officers. I've also seen the bad: too muddy...too closed...too many "gangstas"...too many grumpy game commission officers.

Has anyone been there this spring? How was it? Are there days that are better than others? What's it like on Saturday morning?

Thanks!

** Of course, if someone has any private shooting land near northern Pittsburgh to offer for a couple hours on a Saturday, I'd be very interested in that, too!

**Kimba** · April 23rd, 2009, 02:56 PM

Haven't been there yet this year.

We have access to private land if you are interested and not afraid of a few potholes and a little mud. We are in Valencia & our back yard is Glade Lake. PM either P-11 or myself if you are interested.

**GuyMontag** · April 23rd, 2009, 03:00 PM

My fiancee and I went last weekend on Saturday around 1pm-ish.

The pistol combat range lines were packed while the 25 yard line was about half full. The two longest ranges had a few rifle shooters.

There was the best mixed bag of people; some I wanted to hang out with and some were jackasses. There were a lot of new shooters. In the past with the same amount of people, there were a few obvious new people. Saturday, it was at least 1/3 new.

They were all getting lessons from equally clueless friends and relatives. One lady decided to take her unloaded pistol off of the bench back to the rear support pillars and play with it covering the entire range. I walked down about 8 lanes to ask her ever-so-responsible instructor husband to keep the guns on the line. His response, "Well it ain't loaded." Way to go genius...

While it was packed when we got there, it got just a bit lighter when we left after about 2 hours of shooting.

Did I feel unsafe? Well, I was covered by some lady with her 'unloaded' pistol, had some moron trying to get his girlfriends killed to our right, some other girl to our left who hit the target 3 times (literally) out of at least 5 mags of 22 through a walther. Those Shoot-n-see targets don't lie. The troop immediately to our right that seemed like your typical gang-bangers ended up to be CYF employees and the most pleasant people to talk to.

I'd say to try going first thing in the morning or around dinner time.

note: the white backing that you typically staple targets to completely sucks and needs redone. I might suggest taking a huge piece of cardboard and some binder clips to clip to the white backing so you can have something stable to staple to. Otherwise you have a tough time getting them to stay if you try to put them anywhere near the middle.

**Paradigm** · April 24th, 2009, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by GuyMontag

My fiancee and I went last weekend on Saturday around 1pm-ish.

*snip*

Thanks for the report. I had read pretty much the same stuff in the posts from last year. I'll definitely consider the hours you recommended.

Originally Posted by Kimba

We have access to private land if you are interested and not afraid of a few potholes and a little mud. We are in Valencia & our back yard is Glade Lake. PM either P-11 or myself if you are interested.

That would be smokin' awesome! Thanks for the offer! I'm looking to go in the first week or two of June (just to give you a timeframe). If that looks like it would work out, we can discuss more via PM when we get closer.

As far as the mud - I'm a Jeeper. Mud is nothing.

**pyld** · May 14th, 2009, 01:59 AM

Just an update:

Went this afternoon. Not really a bad scene--pistol range had 6 or 7 people. Backstop frames still in pretty good shape, all things considered. Everyone on the line seemed to understand real range safety commands (you know--cease fire, commence firing, range is hot, etc rather than the standard use of "clear" for all of the above).

Here is where it got stupid: I'm midway thru a pair of mags, shoot them out, turn around, and a kid (maybe 8) is picking up and trying to depart with my brass that was just shot--literally still warm.

So I ask the kid if he's got a parent around. Kid bolts for Dad. Dad walks over and asks if there is a problem. I'm speechless.

"Your child is policing and taking my brass before I even have a chance to retrieve it."

Dad: Well, it must've been on the ground and you were not picking it up.

(keeping in mind, I might have 24 rounds downrange at this point)

I ask him to have the kid hand me the handful of brass he has. I retrieve one, and hand it to Dad: "It's still warm, and I'm at a range. Most people I'm aware of police their brass when finished shooting."

He hands over the rest, and walks off with kid in tow in a huff.

Am I wrong to be astounded at this? I don't scam other's brass (largely because I don't know how many times it's been shot), and if I did I'd be damn sure to ask. Heck, I don't even reload (I do, however, keep a buddy of mine who does reloaded stocked with decent brass and get reloads in return or sometimes just sell it), but this is just silly. Judging by the bag the guy had, he'd already vacuumed the trash drum and the rest of the pistol line......

I guess I'll have to take only wheelguns to the SGL

....

**joe15003** · May 14th, 2009, 08:17 AM

I was there this past Tuesday may 12. It wasn't too crowded. I have been there when noone is there, and when it has been packed. You just have to be careful of the people around you because some dont follow the rules. I have personally been there, when the range was not clear, and someone next to me fired. I wasn't happy and had a couple of words about safety with the middle aged gentlemen next to me.