TargetTalk

I'm headed to Atterbury for conventional and metric prone after a 5 year break from any major competitions.
Does anyone have any insight into the venue? I'm hooked up for lodging on base and have seen some pictures of the firing line, but otherwise, I'm going in pretty blind.
Any vendors?
Any tips on range conditions (ie wind, lighting)?
Even little things like how far I have to drag my gear from the parking lot would help.

Thanks in advance,
Dan

Dan,

-Parking is behind the range structure so you will not have to walk very far.
-No vendors in the past
-The firing points are nice, flat concrete with an overhead roof / last year the firing line was pulled back by one yard protecting shooters from rain /runoff coming off the roof line which is sloped from back to front (51 yards and meter/ 101 yards)
- plenty of room behind the firing line for equipment
- the range faces south but I do not recall lighting being much of an issue
- there are no wind blocks on the range much like camp perry/ the wind is predominately from the south and west as I recall. (in from 1-2 oclock)

Mark

groverdog1 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 19, 2022 10:45 am Dan,

-Parking is behind the range structure so you will not have to walk very far.
-No vendors in the past
-The firing points are nice, flat concrete with an overhead roof / last year the firing line was pulled back by one yard protecting shooters from rain /runoff coming off the roof line which is sloped from back to front (51 yards and meter/ 101 yards)
- plenty of room behind the firing line for equipment
- the range faces south but I do not recall lighting being much of an issue
- there are no wind blocks on the range much like camp perry/ the wind is predominately from the south and west as I recall. (in from 1-2 oclock)

Mark

Thanks

Dan,
The range cover is large enough so everyone can remain under it. The parking area is a higher elevation than the range, and last year the walk down from the car to the range level was treacherous for more that a few. Consider wet grass in the morning and sloping hillside. Maybe they've added something to help keep your footing. I hope so. But basically you will be dragging your gear across a gravel lot and down a grassy hill side. Maybe a 50 yard haul at the worst but you can park closer and unload, then park the car.
Bring something to cover and keep your gear dry. Tables are provided behind every firing point to set your gear on. Range staff does a good job keeping an eye on incoming weather but that doesn't mean you might not get wet. Even soaked.
There were no vendors on site as we are accustomed to. Nothing near the range that would even accommodate that. No running water either at the range. Portables.
Staying on base was good experience. Mess hall food was good, inexpensive and available to the competitors. The all ranks club is a good place for bar food and drinks. There are some other food vendors on the base, and in particular the bratwurst vendor had some good eats. Again, nothing near the actual range area. So, during the actual firing portion of the match, bring food and drink with you.
I hope this helps. Have a safe journey in and see you there.

Mike

Mike Carter wrote: ↑Thu Jul 28, 2022 12:31 pm Dan,
The range cover is large enough so everyone can remain under it. The parking area is a higher elevation than the range, and last year the walk down from the car to the range level was treacherous for more that a few. Consider wet grass in the morning and sloping hillside. Maybe they've added something to help keep your footing. I hope so. But basically you will be dragging your gear across a gravel lot and down a grassy hill side. Maybe a 50 yard haul at the worst but you can park closer and unload, then park the car.
Bring something to cover and keep your gear dry. Tables are provided behind every firing point to set your gear on. Range staff does a good job keeping an eye on incoming weather but that doesn't mean you might not get wet. Even soaked.
There were no vendors on site as we are accustomed to. Nothing near the range that would even accommodate that. No running water either at the range. Portables.
Staying on base was good experience. Mess hall food was good, inexpensive and available to the competitors. The all ranks club is a good place for bar food and drinks. There are some other food vendors on the base, and in particular the bratwurst vendor had some good eats. Again, nothing near the actual range area. So, during the actual firing portion of the match, bring food and drink with you.
I hope this helps. Have a safe journey in and see you there.

Mike

Thanks. Sorry, I just noticed this.

Here's my observations from this year to help anyone out next year. This year, there were around 80 conventional prone & F class shooters, with the Brits making up about 30 of that number. The 3P

The range is about a 10 minute drive from the gate and/or lodging. Technically, we were on 2 adjacent ranges for conventional prone (we were only on Range 20 for metric).
Stat office is also a good drive from the range. Challenge periods for prone started in the afternoon after all shooting was done. They were doing a pretty good job of updating scores online as they went along.
No venders at all
No food vendors on the range, either. Bring your lunch unless they come up with something in the future.
With only one relay, there was no need for tents behind the line. The overhead cover is big enough that you can set your stuff up on a table behind the firing line and stay dry. Parking is close and is grass covered. There is a downslope from the lot to the line.
No rain gutters on the overhead cover. During downpours, the runoff was coming down in front you us pretty well and splashing the shooters. On Day 2 of iron sights, we got hit with a downpour with the wind blowing in at us, pretty much soaking anyone that was still on the line. They called a cease fire with about 6 min left and ultimately made the decision to re-shoot that stage. The firing line is about a yard behind the edge of the pavement. The NRA discussed possibly putting in gutters in the future. I heard a rumor that we were firing about a yard long, but I don't know if that is true or not.
As this is an active National Guard training base, we had military units firing on the adjacent ranges (machine guns up to .50cal as well as 40mm grenade launchers and mortars with training rounds). They were far enough away that the noise wasn't much of a problem for shooting, but made some conversations and range announcements difficult. During practice day, we had a few extended cease fires for a Navy KC-130 doing touch and goes and flying over the impact area.
The awards ceremonies were held in a large warehouse style building filled with all of the trophies that were trucked in from NRA HQ.
There are planters set up between the line and the 50 yard targets that you have to step over. Because of that and apparently some sinkage where the 100yd targets are, the target frames are pretty high. Most of the frames don't have a hole cut out for the 100yd sighter, making any sighters outside the 9 ring a little difficult to see.
The wind was often coming from in front of us, with variation from about 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock. The double flags were kind of difficult to read and a lot of people found the mirage more helpful.