[Pull & Mark]

Well the buzz around the new shooting club here in West Palm Beach, Fl. is that the whole shooting club will be open sometime in October!!!

This includes all the rifle and pistol ranges. The 200 yard. and 300 yard range are not currently open. But are suppose to be sometime in October!!! These ranges are suppose to have a new computer image technology! This is the main reason they have not opened yet!!! You can see a lighted target downrange and shoot at it. Your hits are shown to you via a computer screen next to your shooting station. No need for a spotting scope, or to go downrange and change paper targets. So these ranges can stay hot the entire time. There-by no loss of shooting time.

Right now the only clay targets are found on the 15 station Sporting Clay Course. This course is set-up for intermediate shooters at this time. So can work well for everyone. However sometime in October the 5-stand field, All the Trap, Skeet fields, plus both the International Trap and Skeet fields should be open as well. I Have also heard that bidding is out to have the road paved the last 2 1/2 miles into the club as well. This section is currently a shell-rock road. There is a time limit involved in the road paving contract as well. So it appears that the road all the way to the new shooting club and inside the shooting club, should be Paved by sometime in October as well.

I wish I could believe all of this will happen in the next 2 months, but I have a sneaky feeling it will take a bit longer for everything to be finished!!! I just have no idea at this time what will be finished last?

The 5-stand looks like it just needs electronics to be finished. The skeet and trap fields appear to just need the electronics as well. I have seen the International Trap fields machines. They have been sitting all wrapped with plastic. Its seems the concrete roofs were poured to low on all 5 international fields. Since these International fields are placed on every other field. There can be No skeet or Trap shot on the field next to one of the International fields being worked on. So they have all remained closed. They had to cut out the old concrete roofs, and re-poured all new concrete roofs. So this work appears to be just finished now.

In closing this club is going to be as beautiful state of the Art Shooting Club. I do hope some of you out there, will come down here this winter and take advantage of this new club? It may take some time before any registered targets are thrown? But I'm sure it will happen fairly quickly. With any luck before the end of Winter?

If you have any questions you can call the club directly. Google the name above. Or you can try to PM me and I will ask them the next time I go out there. I'm their about once a week, so its not a problem. If I find out any more info I will try to post it, as I get more details. This club is located in the town of Palm Beach Gardens, if you want to look for a hotel room nearby. I expect hotels next to I-95 off Northlake Blvd. or PGA would be the closest choices? Have a nice Holiday Weekend, and don't forget to break em all Jeff

 

[Doubleuj17]

Looks like a really nice place.

 

[Maxey Brantley]

Hurricane proofed??
V/r
Maxey

 

[Pull & Mark]

Hurricane proofed??

Yep, All the fields meet all the new hurricane building codes for the tri-state area!!! Heavy timbers with lots of steel brackets & bolts, or clips & nails as needed. Everything is nailed or bolted right on down to a 10ft. X 10ft. concrete pad!!! So the storm would have to lift up the concrete pad to tip over the roof or walls!!! So its not going anywhere anytime soon. break em all. Jeff

 

[Maxey Brantley]

I was thinking more about the (under) ground level bunker machines and electrical wiring/relays. Other than a good time-phased plan to remove machines to higher ground in prep for weather events, management will have their hands full. Looking forward to attending events at this new facility!!
V/r
Maxey

 

[Pull & Mark]

Well, I thought there would have been more interest in the new shooting club in West Palm Beach. Since they have so many trap fields and international trap fields as well. It will be interesting to see how many shooters come out to shoot international Trap and international Skeet as well. Since these fields are few and far between in Florida. break em all jeff

 

[JPM]

I'm curious about their pricing of the various venues. JPM

 

[Ralph1100]

I've been there a few times and it's great. One big issue is the unpaved road. It can be very bad after a rain storm.
You stated that they are going to get it paved by October. Did you hear this from Brian, the general manager? If not, can you verify it with him next time you're out there? He's usually in the main building. Ask the cashier for Brian.

Hope it's true and thanks for posting.

 

[reyper]

Looking forward to shooting at this new facility soon. I think it has a damn good shot at being an outstanding place for all shooting disciplines to participate. Will hook up with Jeff soon and give the place a go. Good shooting, Rey

 

[Pull & Mark]

I'm curious about their pricing of the various venues.

Its been almost 2 years since I saw a price list from the new club. I have no idea if they will still follow it? But they have followed the price on sporting clay's. So I have to believe they they will still follow this list? But, no guarantee's here. Since they have no posted prices, since none of these fields are open yet.
Trap and skeet is $8 a round
International Trap and Skeet and 5-stand is $9 a round
Sporting Clays is $10 per 25, or $40 per hundred.

Now the above listed prices, are full price. You can get a 5% discount if you buy over $100 worth of targets. You can get a 10% discount if you buy over $200 worth of targets at one time. Then you can get 20% off if you buy $300 worth of targets at one time!!! They don't give you the cash back, or a discounted price per say!!! They add your discount in extra targets. So if you buy $300 worth of targets, they will place $360 on your card. Plus 4 targets per hundred for breakage. So $6.40 a round for skeet and trap are very good for South Florida. 5-stand and international games will be slightly higher. The cards are filled with money. So you insert your card and the machine will deduct the proper cost from it for the game you play. All the fields are automated. Their are no pullers for any clay target games. You pull your own targets. No, I don't know how this is going to happen yet!!! It will be interesting to see how you self-pull skeet and international trap and skeet targets for sure. I will try to up-date this info as the fields are opened.

You stated that they are going to get it paved by October. Did you hear this from Brian, the general manager?

Yes, I got the word from Brian about the roads, and all the rest of the clay targets info about the time line I mentioned above. Brian is a good guy. IMO he cares about the shooters at this club. Of course the club is funded by the Florida Fish and Game. So they write the checks. I expect like any government office they have a yearly budget they have to stick too. Which could be why its taking so long for all the venues to open at this new club? The International Bunker Trap fields with the concrete roofs built too low. Only delayed things even more!!!
The shell-rock section of the road is only like 1.9 miles long. They have been grading it fairly often. By the time the winter snowbirds get here. The heavy rains will be long gone!!! So even if the roads are not paved by the time you get here? They roads should not be too bad. The heavy rains can cause some water issues. But I have not seen anything too bad up to now. On a sad note: The clubhouse here does not have any 12 ga. shells to sell. So you have to bring your own shells at this time. They have a few 20 ga. shells, but they will not last the month. I have no idea when they will get more. They have not received any new shells since they have been open. They have only been selling the shells they had on hand when they opened. I expect they are trying to get shells, so time will tell. I hope I answered all your questions, if you have anymore? Just ask. break em all jeff

 

[LeeWireless]

Here's the link to the Palm Beach Shooting Sports Complex Palm Beach Shooting Sports Complex

 

[Steve12]

Here's the link to the Palm Beach Shooting Sports Complex Palm Beach Shooting Sports Complex

Thanks for the link! That is going to be one special place.
Steve

 

[Steve12]

Thanks for the link! That is going to be one special place.
Steve

I just live in the wrong part of the US.
Nevada has the largest facilities I have been to.
Steve

 

[Ralph1100]

That is good news about the road. Hope it happens soon. Agree with Jeff that the issue is funding. FWC is committed to this range and they will finish it eventually but the funding flows slowly.

As Jeff said, all the clay target fields will be fully automated and you will load targets on a card and place it in a card reader at the station. This already works for the sporting clays field where each shooter can use their own card on a station, but how this is going to work for trap and skeet where 5 or 6 people form a squad is hard to understand. My understanding is the trap and skeet fields will only have one card reader. Nobody at the range could explain this to me. I'm guessing that the card holder will take up a collection before each round and paying for 125 birds on his card, but it could be a mess with people shooting out of turn, calling for extra birds, etc.

If anyone has experience with this please comment. These are Long Range controllers.

My experience with clay target shooting has been Markham Park where the technology is 30-40 years old and nothing is automated.

 

[LeeWireless]

That is good news about the road. Hope it happens soon. Agree with Jeff that the issue is funding. FWC is committed to this range and they will finish it eventually but the funding flows slowly.

As Jeff said, all the clay target fields will be fully automated and you will load targets on a card and place it in a card reader at the station. This already works for the sporting clays field where each shooter can use their own card on a station, but how this is going to work for trap and skeet where 5 or 6 people form a squad is hard to understand. My understanding is the trap and skeet fields will only have one card reader. Nobody at the range could explain this to me. I'm guessing that the card holder will take up a collection before each round and paying for 125 birds on his card, but it could be a mess with people shooting out of turn, calling for extra birds, etc.

If anyone has experience with this please comment. These are Long Range controllers.

My experience with clay target shooting has been Markham Park where the technology is 30-40 years old and nothing is automated.

View attachment 1765774


View attachment 1765775


View attachment 1765776

This setup as you describe is in place at Sarasota. You insert your card into the reader and push the button and it loads 25 (plus any extras the range gives you for balks etc.) clays. The next person does the same and you are ready to go. Works great and I've had no issues with it. We are also then allowed to buy a set numbers of boxes of shells using a form the ATA trapper gives us at the beginning of each event. The guys handling Sarasota ATA events really have their act together. Hope this helps.

 

[Ralph1100]

Thanks LeeWireless. That does explain it. Here's some more photos, starting with the confusing targets card pricing. It's best to just give them $300 and don't lose your card.

from left to right - 5 stand building, main building where you check in, buy stuff, watch a safety video, then a couple of SC stations, and then to the right are the trap and skeet fields. This was taken a couple of months ago.

 

[Two Wheels]

Any new news on this complex, is trap open?

Thank you

 

[PTDriver]

Yes, any updates?

I will be in the WPB area in January for several weeks and would like to go there.

 

[Métis]

I haven’t been to South Florida in quite a few years, but this looks a great spot to shoot.

 

[Pull & Mark]

OK, here are the most recent findings at the new club. The good news is The 5-stand is now open!!! It appears they bought the wrong computer/card reader system. So you need to have a person/buddy pull for you. I had the range officer pull for me, when I was alone one day, which he was glad to do on a slow weekday. Then we talked about target presentations.

The bad news is no trap and skeet or international on both. The road final section of the road into the club is still not paved. Things take awhile to get done here. The roads are now suppose to be finished by May!!! The 200 and 300 yard rifle ranges are still closed as well. I have told the employee's in the office they really need to get the trap and skeet fields open ASAP!!! The international fields can wait and open as funding allows. I ran into one of the department heads while shooting their last week. He was unsure how he was going to automate both the trap and skeet fields. I gave him 2 options for the skeet fields. The trap fields should be easy to automate with 5 stands. The skeet fields are more complicated to set up. So we will see what happens in the next month or so. It appears the water in the low area's is still hanging in their. The drainage wash we have to drive through was just a couple of puddles 2 weeks ago. We had a cold front push through that brought 36 hours of light to moderate rains. We now have a small creek across the wash now. It should be gone in 2-4 weeks though. If your planning to come out just keep this in mind. Its easy to drive across without getting stuck, but your vehicle may need a car wash? The sporting clay course is still set-up with moderate difficultly. While the 5-stand is set up a easier. break em all jeff