I went out to the CMP Talladega range for the first time this past weekend and it was really amazing. One of my childhood friends came up to visit from Florida and we decided to do a little shooting. We packed up an absurd number of rifles the night before - something like 20+, the majority of which I'd never even shot before.
Driving out past the race track was pretty cool and we made good time getting out there from Atlanta - just over 90 minutes. I've never been to such a clean and new range - most places I have gone are basically some kind of combination of dirt and trash. The clubhouse is super nice, the golf carts to carry all the stuff around are nice, everything is nice. My only regret was not realizing that chamber flags were required - I would have brought some from home, but oh well.
We got to shoot a couple of Enfields, a couple of the Mausers, Yugo SKS, couple of ARs, and a bunch of other random stuff. We never even got around to the pistol range.
The electronic targets at the range are freaking awesome. It's nice not needing a spotter and getting nearly instant feedback. It was also nice getting the chance to really stretch the legs on some of these rifles. The sights for my Brno 98/22 start at 400 meters and the VZ.24 start at 300 meters. The No. 4 Mk I also starts at 300m. It was pretty cool taking the rifles out to 200 yards and it wasn't quite as daunting as I thought it would be.
Most of my shooting towards the latter part of the day ended up on my AR-47 and scoped AR-15. It was pretty nice having an optic, but 200 yards with iron sights is definitely pretty do-able.
I am definitely making it a point to get back out there some time towards the end of the spring. It's amazing having such a great range within a relatively easy drive. That being said, I now finally have the motivation to consolidate some of my rifles. I'm also thankful that my buddy stuck around to help me clean everything we shot - it turned a couple of hours of cleaning into a little over an hour flat.
Driving out past the race track was pretty cool and we made good time getting out there from Atlanta - just over 90 minutes. I've never been to such a clean and new range - most places I have gone are basically some kind of combination of dirt and trash. The clubhouse is super nice, the golf carts to carry all the stuff around are nice, everything is nice. My only regret was not realizing that chamber flags were required - I would have brought some from home, but oh well.
We got to shoot a couple of Enfields, a couple of the Mausers, Yugo SKS, couple of ARs, and a bunch of other random stuff. We never even got around to the pistol range.
The electronic targets at the range are freaking awesome. It's nice not needing a spotter and getting nearly instant feedback. It was also nice getting the chance to really stretch the legs on some of these rifles. The sights for my Brno 98/22 start at 400 meters and the VZ.24 start at 300 meters. The No. 4 Mk I also starts at 300m. It was pretty cool taking the rifles out to 200 yards and it wasn't quite as daunting as I thought it would be.
Most of my shooting towards the latter part of the day ended up on my AR-47 and scoped AR-15. It was pretty nice having an optic, but 200 yards with iron sights is definitely pretty do-able.
I am definitely making it a point to get back out there some time towards the end of the spring. It's amazing having such a great range within a relatively easy drive. That being said, I now finally have the motivation to consolidate some of my rifles. I'm also thankful that my buddy stuck around to help me clean everything we shot - it turned a couple of hours of cleaning into a little over an hour flat.
