25 Yard Bay Repair Work

The repair work in the 25 yard bay commenced this week. New sheet metal is being put up and the pea gravel is being refilled in the baffles. Construction work will only occur during weekdays. You are still free to use ALL bays during Saturday and Sunday, but the 25 yard bay is unavailable for shooting while workers are present.

We’ll review the 25 yard bay after completion and schedule permitting, will move on to the next bay repair work.

A reminder: The welded rebar target stands in the 25 yard bay are ONLY for use in the 25 yard bay! Just because there is repair work ongoing does not mean you can use the rebar target stands in the 100 yard bay! If you wrongly thought this was the case, please contact me so we can schedule your attendance *again* for one of the 40 Safety Briefings I conduct every year. At the end of said Safety Briefing, I shine a green laser on those target stands and instruct everyone NOT to use them anywhere other than the 25 yard bay.

August Club Schedule

Greetings fellow members!

August is almost here, and it’s an extremely busy month for me. First off, tomorrow’s meeting, the normal monthly First Tuesday night meeting is cancelled. I have injured my foot and need a few more days to heal before I can move around adequately. 

But have no fear, it’s August, so there will be plenty of other options for you to renew membership or for friends to join for the first time.

Both the 1st and 3rd Sunday sessions at 1pm will be available for both new members as well as renewing members to come and attend.

But for EXISTING PAID members, you may attend any of the planned Saturday morning sessions for a ‘Fast Renewal’. You come in, fill out the pink form as usual, and make payment, then are free to leave. Your card will be updated for the upcoming year once I finish processing all forms. This is ONLY for current active paid members. If you were a member before but have not renewed, you must attend one of the Sunday sessions.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, here is the August Schedule:

Sunday, August 6th @ 1pm: Regular join/renewal session for all
Sunday, August 20th @ 1pm: Regular join/renewal session for all

Saturday, August 5th @ 10am: Special Fast session only for existing PAID members

Saturday, August 12th @ 10am: Special Fast session only for existing PAID members

Saturday, August 19th @ 10am: Special Fast session only for existing PAID members

Saturday, August 26th @ 10am: Special Fast session only for existing PAID members

Be aware that several months ago the Club voted to increase the annual dues to $160 prorated quarterly. So for existing paid members, bring $160 for membership if you already have your NRA covered, and $160+$40=$200 if you need your regular membership with us as well as purchasing an NRA membership through us.

For past members who are NOT currently active and paid up, they can renew at either Sunday session as normal for $40 for the remaining Quarter 4 of our Fiscal Calendar, plus an additional $160 for the upcoming Fiscal Year, totalling $200, plus $40 NRA if needed. We don’t usually have too many that renew this late in the fiscal year, but there are always a few.

Updates

Two main updates this month:

The Club voted unanimously to accept the Board members seated for another year.

The Club also voted to increase the annual dues to $160.

September monthly meeting on Tuesday night is CANCELLED

Ladies & gentlemen,

The monthly Tuesday night meeting for September is CANCELLED. No meeting and no membership session like there would be afterwards.

The 3rd Sunday 1pm session is still available for those who need to join or renew their membership.

See you on the 3rd Sunday or next month! Be safe and take care.

Gate lock mechanical malfunction

On Sunday the gate lock malfunctioned. I left the hospital to diagnose the issue with the gate and determined it was a mechanical failure. The hollow roll pin in the top portion of the lock hasp had worn fully through from repeated back and forth travel. The last time this happened was approximately three years ago. I dipped into the spare parts bag and located my last new lock hasp to replace it. The manufacturer had long since converted over to solid roll pins for more endurance. I’m not really sure what they were thinking in the beginning when they used a hollow roll pin. At any rate, the lock actuation has been replaced with a new part and lubricated.

While in there I also replaced the fail safe trigger, which is the wedge of metal that runs along the hasp to engage with it and when energized is in the lock position, when de-energized, is in the open position. It probably could have gone on for some time, but might as well replace the replaceable parts at the same time and order some new ones to have on hand for when these fail in the future. Here are some pics of the actual parts in question.

Periodically the mechanical parts need to be cleaned and lubricated, just like any metal on metal. On the whole though, this particular failure does not happen frequently.

Beware hole in road near front gate entry

I was at the range earlier today meeting with the roofer to confirm repair estimate on the outdoor buildings. On the way in, I discovered a hole in front of the gate bearing closer to the west side about 4 inches in size. It goes straight through the asphalt and through the concrete pipe underneath it which is installed for drainage to pass through on either side when the ditch fills with water.

Please beware of this when entering the property and avoid driving directly over it so as to avoid damaging it further and potentially caving it in. I have notified the City of Pharr and they are dispatching personnel to diagnose it. I am awaiting their determination but considering the time of day, probably will not find out until tomorrow what they plan to do. It remains to be seen if they will attempt to patch it first, or if they think it will require relaying a whole new pipe. At any rate, please be careful when entering the property until this issue is repaired.

Cowboy December Match rescheduled to 3rd Sunday

Dear Club Members,

The Cowboy Action Match will be meeting on the 3rd Sunday in December 2021 instead of the 4th Sunday as usual. Why? The 4th Sunday is the day after Christmas, the 26th. So, to give the Cowboy Action shooters some time off with their families, they will be shooting the prior weekend instead.


Note, on the 3rd Sunday, we already have the usually scheduled Smallbore Match. They will continue to use the 100 yard bay for their match and the Cowboy Shooters will use the 25 yard bay. So, both matches will occur essentially concurrently in their respective bays.
For Cowboy shooters, this is a one time switch, and the January Cowboy Action match will be back on the usually scheduled 4th Sunday.


For regular members who do not shoot in either of these matches, be aware that both bays will be in use that Sunday morning, so the only available bay will be the 200 yard. You will either need to come back after one of those matches is complete, or partake of one of the matches themselves if you arrive during their time frame.


Merry Christmas to all, and let’s have a great month of safe shooting sports. Always remember to be safe and be aware of target placement so in case you miss, your bullet still goes into the backstop. Remember, we are all in it together to have a nice Club to go and shoot at.

Gate Work

Gate work is just about done. Today the main post was straightened. The gate was removed and squared up and rehung correctly on the post. Next up is replacing the spring actuated trigger hasp, which will be replaced tomorrow.

In addition to the spring trigger hasp being replaced, welding will be done in the 25 yard bay. It shouldn’t take too long, but while the welder is in there, the bay will be off limits to shooters. So keep in mind if you are heading out there.

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drainage cleared out in 100yd bay

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Wednesday the crew hit the scene and cleared out the mud that had backed up in the drainage pipe in the 100 yard bay to get the water flowing again. Pictures are from Friday evening and show almost all the water is gone except a bit behind the 50 yard marker leading up to the pipe. It’s pretty shallow, but the ducks still wanted to hang out in it.

The 200 yard bay is rutted deeply from vehicles going downrange and is still full of water in the ruts, making it really muddy. You can walk downrange along the edge and bypass the ruts, but please don’t drive down there making the ruts even worse, until they dry out so we can get the grass cut and the ground leveled back out and make the ruts disappear.

We’ll get the remainder of the grass cut in the 100 when it fully dries out. It will take a bit longer in the 200 to dry out, but when it does, we’ll get it cut in there too. Getting the lawn tractor in there through the vertical support beams and the ruts is just too difficult right now.