Area Gun Clubs Begin Shoots
By Jan Cox
With the arrival of spring, Gun Club members from Westwood, Susanville, Quincy, Portola, and Sierraville may be found cleaning their guns, reloading their shells, clearing their ranges of winter debris, and generally getting prepared for another fun summer of shooting. There are several different kinds of shooting available, which may include trap, rifle, pistol, skeet, or sporting clays, depending on the specific club.
John Cox at Local Gun Club
The Al Hoop Range outside of Westwood is located ½ mile west of the junction of Highways 147 and 36 down a dirt road about a mile. Although the range was established during the days of the Red River Lumber Company, the Westwood Rifle and Pistol Club officially began in 1964. Each year they begin in late May and end in October. Here, trap, rifle, or sporting clay meets are held on either Wednesday evenings, Saturdays or Sundays. You will find Marty Diehl running the rifle shoots, John Cox, trap, and George Orloff, sporting clays. There is an opening for someone to organize pistol shoots.
At trap meets, organized shooting is done for fun and practice. Shooters sign up for various distances and shoot with a squad of five. Sporting clay shooters may sign up for rounds of 60 or 100 targets. Rifle shoots consist of central fire at silhouettes—chickens at 100 yards, turkeys at 150 and rams at 200. Anyone is welcome during regular shoots. During the season the club also holds two annual trap Meat Shoots where participants win gift certificates from Biggs Butchery. There are ten shots per round and the highest scorers at specific distances win the prizes. Then, in the fall, after all that practice, a team shoot takes place with competition between all the gun clubs in the area. Last summer, the Sierraville team of five went home with the traveling trophy. This year this competition will be held at the Westwood range.
Reloadin Shells Photo By Jan Cox
The Al Hoop Range is open to anyone who wants to shoot. The public can shoot rifle or pistols at targets anytime but must bring their own targets and remove them when done. The range is also used for pistol practice by law enforcement, hunter education courses, concealed carry permit classes, youth shoots, Boy Scout and church group shoots. A newsletter goes out each May with the schedule and includes the dates for the spring clean-up at the end of that month. This schedule is also posted at the range and in local sporting good stores or is available by calling John Cox at 256-2119 or George Orloff at 596-4116.
The Sierra Valley Sportsmen Club is located two miles south of Sierraville on highway 89 on Forest Service land. This club has a trap range, a pistol range and a 500 yard rifle range. It is usually open on Sundays from ten o’clock on. If the gate is locked at other times, shooters can sign out a key at either the gas station or Forest Service office. Pistol and rifle shooters bring their own targets: there is no charge to shoot. This range is open from May 15 through November 15. For further information, contact Bill Fowler at (775)971-9845.
Quincy Sport Shooting Association is also found on Forest Service land. They run regular series for trap and pistol and also have a 100 yard rifle range. Because they are lower in elevation, they run year around for trap and during daylight savings time for pistols. There are shoots every other Sunday beginning at 10 AM and on the opposite Friday nights beginning at 1 PM. They can be contacted at P.O. Box 3391, Quincy or by calling Larry Lawson at 283-1772.
Sierra Sportsmen Club in Susanville has a skeet range available plus several trap stations, a pistol range, rifle range, and also offer Black Powder Cowboy Action. ECD Classes are offered at the local gun store in town. When you become a member, you are given the combination to the range gate found on BLM land in Rice Canyon, near the prison. Weather permitting, shoots are held from March 1st to November 1st. For more information call Lowell Harwood at 257-3764,
Lastly, The Sierra Valley Gun Club of Portola is located 3.2 miles south of highway 70 off A23. Their youth program begins in the spring and culminates with youth, fifth grade through high school, shooting at a state or national event. Small bore and varmint silhouette rifle shoots take place on Saturdays, while those interested in trap meet on Tuesday evening’s beginning at 4 PM. This year the club will have three trap shoots for those registered with the Pacific International Trap Shooting Association. The first of these will be on May 30. For more information contact Ron McGarr at 832-5959.
