Posted: 12/28/2008 7:55:45 AM EDT
|
Any of you South DFW guys belong to the range in Ferris? I am thinking about checking it out since it seems to be AR friendly.
Thanks! |
|
I think I know the place, off Malloy Bridge Road? There's like an old doublewide and some berms?
I went a year or so ago for a "trial". Basically you had to be a member and volunteer to work. Lots of mud. They had some 15 yard ranges for pistol/tactical stuff, then behind it was a 225 yard range and they were trying to extend it to 300. I was there with my dad checking the sights on our rifles on the 225 range. There were a couple of guys on the 15 yard range shooting an AR and an AK. They must have blown a 1000 rounds in the time we shot 20 total. They shot so much, mud was being blown over the berm and would land on us when we went to check our targets. They couldn't believe we were shooting 225 yards at targets and hitting them with our hunting rifles. I was glad I brought my mud boots. Hopefully they've put some gravel in there. Wouldn't be a bad place, but it needed a ton of work back then. |
| I used to be a member at TDSA, the big boy rules and 24/7 access was nice. The owner was a very nice guy, but the problem was he had a tendency to start new range projects before in progress projects were complete. Mud was a huge problem after any rain and a couple times in the spring/summer the chiggers were so bad we had to leave to keep from getting eaten alive. It's been a few years now since I've been out there so I don't know what has been done since then, if all the projects he had planned get completed it was going to be a nice range. |
|
http://www.tdsa.net/ Len Baxley.
I am a member, about to reup for the second year. I help out with the IPSC club that shoots on the 4th Saturday of each month. I drive down there from Richardson since I think it is worth the freedom. It is a great open range if you're a responsible shooter and don't need your hand held. I have introduced several new folks to shooting, or shooters introducted to competition shooting, and the open format makes it real easy to keep it fun for newbies and set up practice courses for competitions. Most folks there are nice, haven't met any bad ones, but you rarely find more than a few out there unless there is a class or match going on. 24/7 access is great. Except when a match is on, I've never had a time where there wasn't a bay available for me to use alone. Sometimes there will be other people on the rifle range since it is just one area. If you haven't been out there in a few years, the infrastructure has really improved (and other parts gotten annoying). Drainage has improved but it is a flood plain so it will be muddy for a week after a big rain. Better than before though, and the front bays have decent amounts of gravel on them. The back bay has a house setup that can be changed around, and some furniture inside. There's a couple old cars on two of the bays. There's two plate racks on one bay, they work but are in semi-bad shape so not as much fun as it could be. I usually take my own hanging plate but broke it with my Garand, whoops. I haven't gone out longer than 100 yards on the rifle range, there is a 200ish berm, and intentions for a 300ish berm. I would like to work on that if I ever have a work day out there. Len has some tire business going on, taking truck tires from all the distribution centers around there, and making them into bales. I'm not sure if he's selling them, or is paid to get rid of the old tires, or what. But now several of the bays have tire walls around the back, and the whole parking area is enclosed in a tire wall. The parking lot is covered in tire strips, so it's no longer muddy. I would like him to do all the bays in that, but you would probably lose more brass. I have heard this operation has stabilized Len cash flow a little, but I haven't talked to him since I joined last year, so the above is just gossip. The annoying part is that the bale-making operation is pretty noisy when it is running, and takes up a large part of the parking lot. Regarding the guys shooting a thousand rounds, go check when they are done for brass. Several times I have been out there and found a nice pile of 1000ish new 5.56 brass, all in one pile. Somebody doing some testing or something. It's definitely rough and not for everyone. But it probably needs to be that way to stay so open. More amenities = more money = more members = more rules. I was out at Dallas Gun Club a few weeks ago, beautiful place and any shooting is good but 1 shot per 2 seconds is a bit of a drag... |
|
Yeah, that sounds like the place. If I remember correctly the second rifle berm is 225 yards. I had just gotten a new Leupold rangefinder at Christmas, so it was entertaining. I don't remember seeing a tire bailer out there, so this might have been before he started all that. I vaguely remember some shot up cars.
The thing about the mud though...  it's that black, gumbo, farming mud. The kind where you can sink halfway up your shin and loose your boot. I wore my mud boots that day too. But then you've got 2lbs of mud stuck to each foot. Sorry, I grew up one town over from Ferris, I still have nightmares about my childhood and that mud.
I didn't have an AR back then, so I didn't hunt for any brass. I was still plinking away with my M1 Carbine. 
|