Posted: 4/24/2005 8:26:52 PM EDT
| I am finishing up my first semester here at the UA, and I am bringing down my weapons this summer. Are there any good ranges and shops around here? |
If you do go shoot in the desert, make sure you are on public land, 1/4 mile away from a paved road, occupied dwelling or wildlife water source. Don't shoot at any animal unless you have a hunting license. If you do have a hunting license don't shoot at cactus (especially Sahuaro's), Cactus Wrens, hawks, eagles, burros, cows or out of season game animals unless they pose a threat. Coyote and rabbit are legal to shoot year round. Do not go target shooting with centerfire rifles in area's that have open big game hunts for deer, elk, ram or antelope. Make sure you are shooting in to a safe backdrop like a mountain side or a river bed. Take plenty of water and if you are going shooting in the summer bring something you can set up to put your guns in the shade because they heat up real fast when it is 100+ degrees out. Oh and clean up your mess. |
Three points is at Three points Link There is also a range at the Pima county fairgrounds. its only open a few days a week (i think). There is a range on valencia as well. There are also some indoor pistol ranges. I'm not sure about any of the shops except Murphy's which is on countryclub just north of Ft lowell, on the west side of the road. (I think, some one can correct me if im wrong about the cross street) |
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Not to hijack the thread, but can someone reccomend a good gunsmith? The rear sight on my M1 carbine seems to have worked its way loose, I'm thinking about checking out Murphy's, any comments or suggestions? EDIT: or maybe I should just glue it in place, seeing as I have no reason for it to move at a future date. |
Murphy's WASN'T taking on any new gunsmithing, because they were so far behind, at least that's what was going on about 2 weeks ago..... I'm still looking for a good Smith in Tucson also. |
Are you talking about the entire rear sight assembly, or just the aperature? If its the assembly, thats a cake walk man - put a steel punch in there and peen it down a bit. |
Yeah I'm talking the whole assembly, I'll probably end up doing that if the adhesive I used doesnt hold. Its some odd Loctite brand stuff (not the threadlocker). |
Try GG&G. In March they said their back-log is less than a month 
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Tucson Rifle Club (aka Three Points) has a web page. Nice range, a little far for some to drive. They have many ranges and forms of shooting supported. Silloutes for knock down are always fun. Pima County range is out near the fairgrounds and is excellent for sighting in. They support out to 200 yards and is 6 bucks a session. By the way, they are offering FREE CCW classes. Marksman indoor range is nice and safe to shoot at, its on 29th street. Murpy's is an excellent shop, and good gun smithing. I heard he has stopped taking gunsmithing jobs at this time. GG&G says they have a 6 month wait. Good work, but sometimes I don't really think they support the local guys anymore. Govt. contracts are raking in the bucks for them right now. West of the Pecos and Diamondback are good gun stores, they support our sport. Be aware that shooting in Rennington has some drawbacks, they have a little govt. nazi patrolling around for shooters that don't have a hunting liscense. How legal this is I'm not sure, but its happening. You can buy a general hunting liscense for 26 bucks and then tell anyone that you are sighting in. Have fun, there are alot of great shooters out here in AZ southwest. |
| If you are in Tucson and need a smith come to Sierra Vista. Bernie Morrison at Trailboss, Toby at Shooters Den in Huachuca City, Dick Burke at Burke Enterprises at the Sportsmans Center at Ft. Huachuca, and Mike Chasse at Thunder Mountain Custom Rifles are terrific gunsmiths. All of them are former military weapons folks and built great tactical weapons. |
Can you elaborate on this? I've not heard anything about this. And is it the USFS doing it or the Sheriff? |
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I can't elaborate on the redington issue, but I will say and I believe its been said here before that there is a proposal going on RIGHT NOW to ban shooting on ALL federal land within a 30 mile radius of the I10/I19 junction. It is called the Tucson Basin shooting ban or some crap. The USFS and BLM have turned it over to some environmental conflict resolution center based downtown. I went to the meeting at the Doubletree last June or so, then heard nothing. Now I hear there is a meeting June 11 on Tanque Verde. This is serious shit to me because I do all my shooting on the Ironwood Monument. I've talked to the Mon. manager twice about this, and he says he thinks shooting is a legitimate use of BLM land. I think he would cave in to the hippie birdwatchers tho. Something interesting is 3/4 of the Mon. is outside the designated radius, but the ban would effect the whole Mon.-even 60 miles out. People leaving garbage, vandalizing just about anything and just being plain dangerous(not using backstops, shooting across trails,etc.) is the reason they're using and unfortunately its often legit. I tell all the shooters I run into out there about this, and carry out shot up garbage just about every trip but I can't keep up. Rant off |
+1 Knock down targets out to 500Meters at 3 points. Most fun you can have with your clothes on.  I have been shooting at Desert Trails for years. The staff is hard to take, they are dicks. However, they come down hard on safety violators and that is the bad experience that most shooters refer to. You do not touch your rifle when people are down range. That is hard for some folks to under-fucking-stand. +1 Murphys, Rich's, Diamondback, West of the Pecos. I highly recommend 1880's Cowboy Mercantile, and Thunderstick Trading. These guys get a lot of my business, and are great to deal with. |