OGC Members: This is what you're going to get!!

[Seismic Sam]

In case you didn't make the April member meeting, here are the 3D renderings of the project that is now going forward, so everybody can see what they're getting for the project they voted on and approved. This may be wider than some of your screens, but i wanted to give you the best view I could within limits, so you can scroll left and right a bit. The colors are not actual for everything, but are deliberately chosen so you can see the different architectural elements clearly.

1st View of the 100 yard range from Western end looking NE:



2nd view of the 100 yard range from 5th baffle looking SW back towards benches:



3rd view of the 100 yard range from same location but elevated perspective:
Baffles 2 - 5 are sloped down at a 20 degree angle going from South to North (shooting direction) and so are angled in the SAME plane as the natural sunlight at 45 degrees North latitude. During the Summer months the baffles will provide some shade, but during the Winter months the sun angle will hit them nearly edge on and cause very little shadow.



4th view of the 100 yard range from the East looking West at 5th baffle. Note that CURRENT entire project is compressed into 100 feet and 5 baffles, which is just 1/3rd of the range length, while the original project was a full 300 feet of walls both side and TEN baffles!



5th view of the 100 yard range from the East looking West under the 5th baffle. As noted above, this is NOTHING like a cave with all the sunlight blocked off.



View of the 100 yard range from a shooting bench, which is the ONLY position permitted during OPEN Public hours. Do not confuse with shooting during matches shot by non-members, which will be unaffected. This is the "no blue sky" view. The bullet gets a choice of hitting the baffles OR the target area. All other choices, no matter how bad a mistake a public shooter makes, are permanently GONE!!



View of the 100 yard range from shooting prone. Elevation of maximum bullet strike is higher behind target, but it still will hit dirt no matter what!! In addition, almost all of the prone shooting will be matches of one sort or another, so if you even miss THE PAPER your shooting buddies are going to be rubbing your nose in coming in dead last in the match, and offering you the option to trade in your target for the broad side of a barn. Now THAT's punishment!!



View of the 100 yard range from the targets. Doesn't look at all like the exercise yard at the Supermax in Oak Park Heights, does it??



View of the Short Range looking from the parking lot to the NE. Goodbye swamp, goodbye standing in the mud like a farm hog, goodbye standing in the rain, goodbye to 4 shooting benches with 8 people wanting to shoot, and goodbye to bullets bouncing off that rocky backstop and going all over the place!!



View of the short range from one of the stalls, and the partitions are removable so the Bobcat can get in and repair the backstop as necessary. Note the black rubber soundproofing on the partition walls and also full coverage on the slab above. Also note no blue sky from the line!! Just like the 100, you get a choice of baffles or backstop. All other options went bye-bye!!



View of the Short Range from the backstop, and the slab below. No more picking your brass out of the hog pen!!

[froggpond1]

Hi Sam thanks for putting this up here, I just picked up the building permit today!!!

We are on the way to a safer club!
Petar

[river_boater]

That's not as horrible as I thought it was going to be. On the short range how do you get to your target? Climb under the bench? I'm not crazy about that solution (the walls between firing points) when I'm there with friends, I like to be able to talk to them or share a bench.

[BigDog58]

Can someone post a link to Your website (OGC) and what it costs to become a member?

Thanks

[Seismic Sam]

That's not as horrible as I thought it was going to be. On the short range how do you get to your target? Climb under the bench? I'm not crazy about that solution (the walls between firing points) when I'm there with friends, I like to be able to talk to them or share a bench.

Right now the plan is to have the benches on hinges that can fold up against the partition, but the partition scheme is an OGC project and NOT part of the permitted construction project. As such, it's subject to review later. I can understand sharing a bench with some friends and BS'ing while you're shooting, but that would cut down on the available positions drastically from 10 to perhaps 5, and there is simply too much demand for this range by club members to sacrifice shooting stations for the ability to interact with freinds if other people are waiting, which will pretty much be the situation on ANY nice weekend. Plus the popularity of this range is only going to increase when it's turned from a muddy hog pond into a covered range with a slab to stand on with some protection from the rain, so that has to be considered too.

In addition, there is the over-riding consideration of safety, and the fact of the matter is that you do not become an expert pistol shooter just by joining up, and you very well could be a complete novice who needs some instruction but hasn't gotten it. In particular, there is the very definite possibility of someone handling a gun pointed sideways and dropping the slide on it, and having an AD or ND which goes straight sideways into one of the shooters to the right or left. The only solution for this possible forseen risk with Severe Level 4 consequences is that it HAS to be addressed, which pretty much necessitates that the partitions be cabable of stopping pistol bullets, which the NRA states can be done with 3 layers of plywood interleaved with two layers of 10 gauge steel. You're more than welcome to come up with alternate suggestions as this part of the project will be done AFTER the Short Range is finished by the contractor, BUT as part of your solution you MUST factor in a full balancing of the ability to talk to friends while shooting with the need for maximum shooting capacity on weekends, and on weekends I'm pretty sure that the need for maximum shooting positions will win out no matter what. How long would YOU be willing to wait for one of 5 positions while other people were talking with their friends? Plus allowing grouping of shooters increases the risk of a lateral ND without a partiton between them, so how will this risk be mitigated?

This is the kind of stuff that HAS to be addressed and documented as part of a formal risk analysis, so for any possible setup there has to be a justification for that setup which takes into account range usage and throughput, plus safety at the same time. So if you have some ideas that cover all these bases in a different way, feel free to suggest them, and I, Bryan, and Petar will seriously consider them.

[river_boater]

Apparently, it's a lot more complicated than I thought. I have no better suggestions.

I am glad that this is all being handled by competent people, though. Thanks for your work on this.

[Seismic Sam]

Well, ALL of you out there can think on this for a while, and there may be something out there that might be better. I'm willing to put a $100 bill on the table in front of any member right now and challenge them to come up with a 100 yard layout that is shorter and/or uses less baffles, because I have absolutely strangled that problem to death. This, however, I wouldn't wager more that $20 on, and there could be another unique way of looking at it.

[Erud]

How did OGC get to this point? Have there been rounds leaving the range? Complaints from neighbors, state/local government, threatened lawsuits, or what? I have shot at a LOT of different ranges and have never seen anything nearly this extreme anywhere.

Seismic Sam never answers my questions, but maybe someone else will?

[ttousi]

How did OGC get to this point? Have there been rounds leaving the range? Complaints from neighbors, state/local government, threatened lawsuits, or what? I have shot at a LOT of different ranges and have never seen anything nearly this extreme anywhere.

Seismic Sam never answers my questions, but maybe someone else will?

no, no and no

[ttousi]

Can someone post a link to Your website (OGC) and what it costs to become a member?

Thanks

http://www.oakdalegunclub.org/
85 per yr and 100 initiation 1st year
Get on the waiting list thru the website

[bstrawse]

How did OGC get to this point? Have there been rounds leaving the range? Complaints from neighbors, state/local government, threatened lawsuits, or what? I have shot at a LOT of different ranges and have never seen anything nearly this extreme anywhere.

Seismic Sam never answers my questions, but maybe someone else will?

This is the NRA standard for current range design. What's extreme about it?

[Erud]

How did OGC get to this point? Have there been rounds leaving the range? Complaints from neighbors, state/local government, threatened lawsuits, or what? I have shot at a LOT of different ranges and have never seen anything nearly this extreme anywhere.

Seismic Sam never answers my questions, but maybe someone else will?

This is the NRA standard for current range design. What's extreme about it?

So, you are required to spend a half million dollars or so to meet NRA standards?

[xd9]

Erud, I am just wondering, are you a OGC member?

[bstrawse]

So, you are required to spend a half million dollars or so to meet NRA standards?

For these two ranges - and specifically to mitigate risks identified and shared through this process? This is the course of action that has been reviewed, proposed, debated extensively, and approved by the members.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on a more cost effective way to do this that meets the specific requirements under Minnesota Law, the current NRA Range Source Guide (standards - 800ish pages), and effectively mitigates the risks identified in our range risk assessment.

B

[Erud]

I was a long time ago, not anymore.

Just curious, more than anything. If I were still a member, I would hope for a better explanation for an expenditure of this size than just "NRA standards".