What we have to do in CA to train

[feederic]

It's no surprise to people here that the shooting culture in CA is ever present, if only the state recognized that and supported responsible gun owners.

With that being said, there is nothing more frustrating than owning excellent training material from Seeklander, Burkett, Kirsch, Enos and others...with no easily accessible place to shoot your own targets, shoot from a holster, and enjoy the sunshine.

Here is what I have to do in order to shoot my own targets.

1) Drive an hour to BLM land.

2) Since vehicular activity is prohibited (unless your are government, of course) park on the side of the road about 1/2 mile away from your destination.

3) Grab your collapsible wagon, fill it up with steel plates, target stands, targets, ammo, plenty of water, snacks and other miscellaneous items.

4) Pick your wagon up over the fence "protecting" the BLM land.

5) Grunt all the other stuff over the fence into the wagon.

6) Drag your wagon through 1/2 mile of muddy clay.

7) Plow a path through the knee high grass with your wagon.

8) Slowly lower your 80lb wagon down into the 6' ditch.

9) Manhandle that sucker up the other side.

10) Continue forging your path through the knee high grass.

11) After you reach your destination, rehydrate, eat a little, setup, catch your breath, let your shirt dry off.

12) Finally enjoy shootin!

Now I know in other areas things are easier, but in my area it is not. Here are some pictures of the adventure.

Forging my path!

Finally, flat ground.

Make shift sight tool. My POI was 6" high at 15 yards.

Victory

At the end of the day, the hassle was well worth it.

[Chris Keen]

WOW! Congrats!

[speedrrracer]

I feel your pain, feederic! I'm in Carlsbad, and there's no way to practice shooting while moving, shooting multiple targets, etc. You have to haul way out to the desert.

It's no wonder that all these top shooters are from the middle of nowhere -- they can just roll out their back doors and shoot in their backyards!

[gose]

I feel your pain, feederic! I'm in Carlsbad, and there's no way to practice shooting while moving, shooting multiple targets, etc. You have to haul way out to the desert.

It's no wonder that all these top shooters are from the middle of nowhere -- they can just roll out their back doors and shoot in their backyards!

They dont have any practice time available at Pala?

[feederic]

I feel your pain, feederic! I'm in Carlsbad, and there's no way to practice shooting while moving, shooting multiple targets, etc. You have to haul way out to the desert.

It's no wonder that all these top shooters are from the middle of nowhere -- they can just roll out their back doors and shoot in their backyards!

Exactly! It makes me wonder how I can really compete against people that only need to step outside their door. Dry fire will only take somebody so far, eventually we need to shoot.

They dont have any practice time available at Pala?

Not really. Its a rifle range at almost all times except match day. Practice is available after a match, and to a select few on Friday mornings I believe.

[Religious Shooter]

San Diego isn't that far from Norco or West End (Fontana). They are probably close to the one hour of driving you have to do to go to BLM land. And you can just drive your stuff to the bay.

[BlueOvalBruin]

I also live in san diego (oceanside) and the options for practice are very limited. There aren't any close outdoor ranges that a person could reasonably go to before or after work to get some quality practice in with wide transitions/steel/movement. The local Grabbing a lane at the indoor range isn't the same. Most of us san diego folks have to get by with dry firing and matches. There are plenty of matches within 75 miles fortunately but dynamic live-fire practice in-between would be very nice.

[mackey]

while not quite as extreme in the SF bay area, there arent as many convenient places to practice that i would like. the closest range is no more than a 5min drive. the closest practical pistol range is at least 30min barring traffic.

the one BLM spot i did go to @ cow mountain/ukiah seemed to be geared towards rifle than pistol. it wasnt feasible to go downrange to set up targets let alone tape them