BPCR in South Carolina

[Jim VanMiddlesworth]

Are there any BPCR matches in South Carolina? Off and on for several years I've been attending the matches at River Bend Gun Club near Dawsonville, Ga. and really like it but its 4-4.5 hours from where I live in central SC. I'd love to find something a little closer.

[desert deuce]

Looking back approximately 30 years one thing stands out.

If people have enough interest in shooting BPCR events and find the distance to events inconvenient it falls to them individually to create a venue and then those within commuting distance to support that event by attending the shoots, REGULARLY.

A start may be a .22 target or silhouette match, or both, then expanding to black powder, maybe even on reduced distances and targets.

It is work, and more so dedication. BUT, if you are waiting for someone else to do it then it probably won't happen or if it does will be a short flash in a small pan.

AND, you may grow exponentially to the extent your human resources are stretched to the max and the demand for expanded facilities will feed progress.

Never know until those individuals give it a go.

[From Along The Trail]

Last winter we were in South Carolina for the winter. We were there visiting our son.
He is not a shooter, so he had no idea where to go.
Our son lives west of Greenville SC, so we started to look in that area. It is hard to find a range in South Carolina that has a range longer than 200 yards.
We did find Clinton House Plantation shooting club. After reading about this place on the net, we decided to go visit the place. I would say they do not have much interest in shooting Black powder guns. You could venture there yourself and see if they have a range that would fit your needs. You may need to just be the oddball guy there.
I think there could be one in North Carolina. But I knew I was going back to Montana.

In most states you can shoot on Federal land. So I emailed the local National Forest office. They said in South Carolina, they have to follow the state rules? Shooting at a target, not on a regular range was, as far as I can tell,is illegal. In South Carolina.

I called the local National Forest Office? Got the same response. A few days later I visited the National Forest Office. Asked the same question, got the same answer from everyone there.

The local range that has available, was only 100 yards, and looking at the targets, you were looking into the sun. Not very fun experience.

We did find River Bend gun club on the Internet. So one Saturday we drove over and looked at the range. 2 1/2 hour drive one way. It looked interesting, so I emailed and made contact with the Black powder club manager. He was very helpful and suggested to come to a practice day at the range.
First thing was to say hello to everyone, and get my rifle and equipment out. I do have a unconventional 45-70. I have shot hundreds of rounds through this rifle.
So after getting approved to shoot, i was ready to try my rifle on there range. I never had a spotter help before. But there I had a spotter help. That was very helpful. I do shoot at a range up to 300 yards. But I need to shoot farther than that.

With the help of the spotter, I proved I was fairly on target at 200 meters. So I never shot farther than 300 yards, I asked if I could try at the rams. 540 yards I do believe. My rifle does not have conventional elevation sights on it. So I guessed at the elevation adjustment for 540 yards(500meters). Squeezed one round off. Hit a turkey, below where I was shooting, but inline with what I was shooting at. Adjust for more elevation. Just a guess so it was. Squeezed a round off. Hit the dirt under the target.

I learned a tremendous amount about my rifle and my ability to shoot out to 540 yards. I figured I took enough time from the other people there, so it was time to leave.

I was very impressed with the shooting range and the help I received there. But I wanted to get back to Montana.

Thanks to everyone there for your help, Vern

[desert deuce]

A little reality check incoming:

Does the experiences of Along The Trail from Montana illustrate that the people of North and South Carolina's Second Amendment Rights have incrementally been eroded by the elected officials of those states. MAY WE/SHOULD WE ask the same question of other states such as Florida?

Florida for instance: Having been born and raised in Florida and worked for both the Game Commission and the U.S. Forest Service there various Federal and State properties were open to hunting, however, the shooting ranges located on those properties were not open to the public. (That may have changed since I left Florida) Camp Blanding in Clay County comes to mind as an example as well as the vast expanse of the Ocala National Forest in Central Florida. A significant portion of many National Forests are principally suitable for recreational activities, virtually to the exclusion of other activity. The Ocala and Coronado National Forests certainly have those characteristics.

In Arizona for instance, Fort Huachuca by edicts of various base commanders, was either open or closed to public use of the ranges there and they did have rifle ranges to 1,000 yards, inconsistently, the fine pistol ranges were at one time accessible to the public. Publicly sponsored ranges planned and constructed by non-shooters in Cochise County, near Ft. Huachuca, faced East into the sun and are minimally suited for rifle or handgun competition until the sun passes it's Zenith.

As an aside, certain military installations are not suitable because those facilities do not meet minimum requirements to hold a "QUALITY" shooting event. The idea of ANY event may appeal to some shooters does not mean it appeals to most or some shooters that understand what the difference between a "QUALITY" shooting event and "ANY" event entails.

The National Park Service seems to be a hard core radical, anti-land management, anti-hunting, anti-shooting and anti-second amendment, super woke entity and even through a huge portion of public land is misplaced under their jurisdiction they, like several other Federal agencies, are allowed to chart their own course in general operations. I will leave it to the reader here to identify those other agencies. Laughably, they were recently crying for hunters to thin the bison herd at Grand Canyon National Park because the bison were adversely impacting the land but are perfectly OK to let the Yellowstone Wolf packs over run public lands outside of the Park and dine on cattle at other locations, ie U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But, they initially put such WOKE, WOKE, restrictions on the potential bison hunters at Grand Canyon that virtually no qualified hunters applied ? The term, you can't fix stupid should be extended to you can't fix WOKE because it is by definition stupid. Make no mistake, the wolf reintroduction program was specifically intended to diminish wildlife populations to the extent that sport hunting would be abolished.

In closing, it is up to the people in individual states to demand quality shooting facilities and diligently work toward those goals. Wishing and hoping won't make it happen. Same goes for WOKE govt policies.