Several improvements have been made to French Shooting Range since fall 2016 to make the range safer and more user friendly.
Changes include increasing the range's shooting distance from 200 yards to 250 yards, leveling the rifle and pistol range, repainting the clay target buildings, renovating the skeet and trap ranges, adding an additional trap field and adding new 3-D archery targets, said Earl Higgs, outdoor recreation manager.
"We had the whole firing range leveled off by the 19th Engineer (Battalion)," said David Elder, lead recreation assistant. "So now you can shoot all the way out to 250 yards from the prone position with rifle and pistol and shotgun."
There are also now rangers on the archery range from 5 yards out to 60 yards, he added.
"What we're trying to do is provide a safe environment for families to improve their shooting skills and archery, skeet, trap, rifle and pistol shooting," Elder said.
"We also obtained our federal firearms license, so we're now able to sell and transfer rifles and pistols," Higgs said. "We don't stock those items, per say, but if someone wanted to special order one, they could come in and we could place an order for them."
French Shooting Range also offers a variety of classes, including beginner to advanced shooting classes for pistol, rifle and shotgun; concealed carry; introduction to trap shooting and skeet shooting; introduction to archery and ladies' introduction to shooting. New to the class offerings is the ladies' defensive handgun class.
"The classes we started offering, we've kind of fine tuned now," Elder said, adding that classes at French Shooting Range are less expensive than at other locations, and the range provides quality equipment.
Improvements to the range began late September to early October, Higgs said.
"We do a lot of talking with people, and the idea is we want to provide what the people here want," Elder said. "We want to provide what people really feel that they and their families, especially, need."
Higgs said he thought the upgrades will give people "a better shooting experience."
The range will be "a lot more accommodating than what it's been in the past," he said.
"We're always looking at how to improve stuff and future changes, but we were just very happy to get the things I mentioned completed," he said.
Individual memberships to French Shooting Range are $100 per year and allow free use of the rifle, pistol and shotgun range and discounts on trap and skeet ranges. Family memberships are available for $150 per year.
The range is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. through March. Starting April, the range will also be open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3 to 7 p.m.
French Shooting Range is open to the public.
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