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Free Places to shoot near Spokane, Wa?


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The title pretty much sums it up. I can barely afford to shoot as it is, and range fees add up fast. Further most organized shooting ranges get very uptight and manage to make shooting boring. They have their place, but that isn't what I am looking for. My cousin is traveling across the state to hang out for a couple days soon, and I want a casual place to shoot. He has a bunch of new toys we want to try out.

 

2 shotguns, an AR 10, some 22s, an FN 5-7... I want to test some changes to my gear and bust up some clay. I would also like to do some slug accuracy testing . Later, I would like to get my long range skills down with a 30.06.

 

So far there seems to be a dearth of public range areas around Spokane. The Fishtrap BLM site is now closed to target shooting. I am sure there are others, but I don't know my way around and I haven't lived here long.

 

I am looking for either some accessible public land near Spokane, WA, or a friendly private land owner.

 

I am a responsible shooter and clean up after myself. I observe basic safety, and would like a place that isn't going to hassle me for practicing double taps, or even an occasional mag dump. I mostly shoot clays and .22 pistols.

 

Please help me out guys. We plan to make a weekend of shooting, so if we have to drive a bit, that is OK.

Edited by GunFun
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They have aparently made the entire county either as city (can't shoot) or Unincorporated county as designated no shooting areas (can't shoot.) http://www.spokanecounty.org/data/engineers/noshoot/NoShootingAreas11x17brochuremapMarch2011xx.pdf

 

Evil worthless scum have links for petition process to add any thing else, but not a single form to petition to designate an are as legal, not a single place listed as legal.

 

http://www.spokanecounty.org/engineer/content.aspx?c=1501

 

Every aspect of the process is a one way street.

 

How can they just take a constitutionally protected activity and declare that there is no legal place to do it in the county? This is complete BS.

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I don't know anything east of the mountains but if you're down for a commute I go to a place just outside of Elbe wa. It's a fine place for free shooting but definitely a big drive for you. Sorry about the trouble finding a spot man. They are few and far between nowadays.

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It's getting worse. Someday I hope to have my own "back 40" with a baby rally track, a private range and a bit of a machine shop. I've gotten a couple leads, but I would like each city to have it's little list of good places to shoot on the forum.

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You do have a back 40. I just can't get you there. There is a place in Tum Tum that I have been to once...and another off the right fork of Division at the Y....then a number of miles away that again I went to once with a local militia. BigSal is setting up another shoot with a guy who knows of another one in Post Falls. Sorry I can't be of more help but when you find them call me as I want to go shooting.

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  • 1 month later...

You do have a back 40. I just can't get you there. There is a place in Tum Tum that I have been to once...and another off the right fork of Division at the Y....then a number of miles away that again I went to once with a local militia. BigSal is setting up another shoot with a guy who knows of another one in Post Falls. Sorry I can't be of more help but when you find them call me as I want to go shooting.

 

I'm wrapping up the semester, so there isn't much time now. But in a few weeks for sure. The place up north of town by deer park seems pretty good for now. It is a lot nicer than the places we were paying to shoot.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

I've gone to a place that I think is called Boggs Pit lately. It is near Eloika lake, some were close to deer park. Low idiot ratio, about 5 different group "lanes" and the locals are good about things. Dang-- I just realized the cleanup BBQ a local told me about was last Sunday. I'd like to have a couple of alternate close locations, but this meets my needs.

 

As for shooting things other than just paper-- yeah it is more satisfing, and easier to see how well you are shooting as you shoot.

cinder blocks are fun for rifles. they show hits and can be broken down a chip at a time, or demolished with a couple of shots depending on how you shoot them. They are pretty soft and porous, so there isn't a lot of risk of ricochet either.

 

I like metal resetting targets the best.

 

Salt brought some tannerite down and that was fun, but not something I would do very often even if it was very cheap. I like to be able to see exactly where my shots went. That's hard to do when the target is atomised.

 

My uncle had a little plateau on his mountain set up as a pistol range. After some disuse, trees started invading. Alder grows amazingly fast. Anyway I used a couple such for targets for a while since they were too big to easily machete out of the way. The bark heals over old shots, so it works sort of like a self resetting target with a 2 week delay. I learned though that ammo choice makes a difference. I mostly used his S&W .357, .22 and 44 mag that he had in a matched set. I shot a couple of trees hundreds of times. The bullets would go right through and the wood would sort of stretch around the bullet and spring back. Then shortly after I got my taurus PT 92 AF (9mm) I noticed that the sights were off (or I was). So I decided to site in on an invading tree near by, aprox. 10" dia. I was shooting some Silver Bear JHP that I could get for about 5 cents a shot in those days. (sigh) Anyway, I put a hole in the bark and then aimed at that hole for about another 6 shots to dial the sites in. The wind changed direction and it seemed like my tree swayed differently than its neighbors so I took about 3 steps to my right and the tree landed right where I was standing. The moral? Cheap 9x19 JHP rounds cut a cone of wood out of a tree and full house .44 mag doesn't do a whole lot. So if Ents are attacking you get some JHP.

Edited by GunFun
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  • 1 year later...

I see that this is a somewhat older post that seems to be resolved. But heck, I started an account to throw my two cents in. Below is a link to Google Maps directions from Spokane but basically point "C" is the exact place of interest. If you zoom in on "B" the dirt road to the right leads to public land that has been used for shooting for years. It's been a few years since I've been out there, so thing may have changed, but I'd bet you can still shoot there. Look at it from the satellite view. The spot for shooting is the cleared area at point "C" ...I hope this helps!


Link to map:

https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Spokane,+WA&daddr=WA-291+W%2FCorkscrew+Hwy+to:47.867502,-117.642773&hl=en&ll=47.867912,-117.645614&spn=0.004383,0.010568&sll=47.868049,-117.645206&sspn=0.004383,0.010568&geocode=FRw31wIdgTgA-Snl57swXBieVDGx2YQL1sn83Q%3BFXlt2gIdOdb8-A%3B&oq=Spokan&t=h&mra=mi&mrsp=2&sz=17&z=17


Btw, The road can be quite treacherous with ruts and mud certain times of the year, so I'd recommend an all-wheel-drive vehicle or be prepared to walk in...Also it is nearly impossible to get in with a truck in deep winter because the berms from the snow plow on 291 pile up at the entrance.

For getting there while driving, this is approximately located at mile marker 18, and there will be a rusted wrecked truck on the left side of the road just before your right turn on the property that can be seen just to the west of point "B" on the map.

Edited by Pancom
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Thanks. I have one place I use: "boggs pit."  near Eloika lake.

 

Backups and places closer to town or other friends are always helpful. I'll check this out sometime, probably not when it's likely to be muddy though, so today's snow won't help. I don't exactly have a jeep.

 

BTW, way to spend your first post being helpful. Welcome. I'm always up for going shooting when my workload permits, look me up if you are still in the area.

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