Obscure and defunct shooting ranges

[dpr]

The Brentwood Gun Club is a housing subdivision. Contra Costa Co said they would help them to find property and fast track per it's for a new range of they would agree to sell. 25 years later the county has reneged every time they have found a decent property.

The Sacramento Trap Club is now Mel Rapton Honda. Mel Rapton worked with the city to get the trap club removed even though the property was donated to the city by a private party with the promise it was to only be used for out door recreation. We bought a new Honda last year. It wasn't from Mel Rapton!

[Tasty]

Crazy how many ranges used to be here in the bay area. I've grown up here and had no idea, granted...I'm 30 years old and most of these places were already closed by the time I was born, but still.

[MeatyMac]

Wow, those were my old stomping grounds and I never knew anything about that. Granted I was a teenager in the 70's but I never knew that place existed.

There was a Nike missile and radar base up there too in the late 1950's into the 1970's, http://www.trailstompers.com/wildcat...rail-runs.html

[Burbur]

The range in Ventura up on the hill. Noise complaints finally got it shut down, the PD may still use it.

It got closed to the public because Ventura PD was shooting a lot and using flash bangs. They still get to use it. Funny, Ventura Ave residents complaining about gunfire; they should be used to it.

[97F1504RAD]

Crazy how any ranges used to be here in the bay area. I've grown up here and had no idea, granted...I'm 30 years old and most of these places were already closed by the time I was born, but still.

We use to just go down to the bay in Pinole and shoot. We would walk into old town with our guns and ammo and the cops would stop and tell us to be careful.

[71MUSTY]

Now most of the Inland Empire shoots at Baseline and Waterman or in Casa Blanca.

[MrOrange]

Wildcat Canyon National Guard Target Range above El Cerrito in the East Bay hills, now a regional park. It opened in the late 1930's and closed in the early 1970's. Here's a news article with pictures from 1939 about the range.

My Dad was an officer in the NG, after graduating OCS in '47 through the late '70's. (He left WWII as an E-6.) He told me that his battalion CO once had a big party for all the officers and their wifes, and part of the entertainment was shooting MGs. He said it was "up in the hills by Berkeley" or something like that. I could never figure out if he had it wrong from being drunk at the party or what. He was more impressed with the spread, which included a spit-roasted pig. This range is the most likely spot I've ever seen, thanks muchly for the info!

Imagine an Army officer hosting a Bacchanalia where the participants are firing off machine guns in this day and age.



Anybody else remember the range just West down the hill from U.S.I. that existed for like 10 minutes? IIRC it was planned to be some Super Cool Tactical Training facility catering to law enforcement. I want to say I heard about it around the late '80's, early '90's, but really not sure. I went down there one day but as usual the access off of the dead end of Evora was a locked gate.

It was supposed in this area, this was before the Chevron station and the industrial park were built.

My Grandma was just teling me about Pacifica range . Interesting how shooting used to be in CA Seems lots of ranges everywhere . Pretty sad state of affairs we are in .
There is also a Range in the Basement of Alameda Police Dept .

Crazy how many ranges used to be here in the bay area. I've grown up here and had no idea, granted...I'm 30 years old and most of these places were already closed by the time I was born, but still.

...and race tracks, and airfields. For those interested in aviation it might be fun to look up how many small airfields there were around Nor Cal, mostly from WWII days as secondary & tertiary back ups to the main ones in the SF Bay Area. Seems like there was one every 20 miles or so. Speaking of old ranges and WWII, there was the aerial gunnery range on Mt. Diablo, with the outline of a submarine painted on a cliff. Be damned if I can find anything about it now.

[Huntsprig]

...and race tracks, and airfields. For those interested in aviation it might be fun to look up how many small airfields there were around Nor Cal, mostly from WWII days as secondary & tertiary back ups to the main ones in the SF Bay Area. Seems like there was one every 20 miles or so. Speaking of old ranges and WWII, there was the aerial gunnery range on Mt. Diablo, with the outline of a submarine painted on a cliff. Be damned if I can find anything about it now.

Here is a interesting website I stumbled across that lists many of the old airfields.

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA.htm

.

[MrOrange]

Here is a interesting website I stumbled across that lists many of the old airfields.

http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA.htm

.

Nice site, thanks. Around the Bay Area it seems it was more like an airfield every 5 miles.

[G-forceJunkie]

It got closed to the public because Ventura PD was shooting a lot and using flash bangs. They still get to use it. Funny, Ventura Ave residents complaining about gunfire; they should be used to it.

It was more than that. I was an instructor for the concessionaire that ran the place in the late 90's. The Saturday and Sunday morning classes drew the most complaints. The city did a sound study and found nothing was over the limits, but as long as people could hear gunfire " ona quiet sunday morning watching cartoons with my children...", they kept complaining. We did a bunch of sound mitigation things such as a connex box and courguated sound screens to control sound going down the hill, pushing classes back to 9am start times, moving night shoots to a private range in Ojai, etc. But nothing was going to make these people happy as as was evident if you went to any of the city hall hearings. Eventually the city caved. It puts a smile on my face to think they are still hearing the PD firearms and flash bangs to this day

Another range I thought of, was the public shooting area called Horse canyon, it was off the 15 near Devor. Open shooting range, that people junked up so much they just shut it down, despite several clean up efforts by shooters.

[Tom Trevor]

The Brea rifle and pistol club on the Union Oil Co. property in Brea.Closed in the Mid eighties.

[splithoof]

There was a shooting range off of Soledad Canyon Rd about a mile north of Sand Canyon in Canyon Country that closed in the late 80's or early 90's. Regretfully I don't remember it's name and can't find it searching the net but it's all tile roofs now.

That was Wes Thompson's Juniper Tree Rifle Range. It was prior to their move to Piru, Ca. It was used a bit for the early Southwest Pistol League, back in the 70's to early 80's. I remember old Wes showing my father a box of .22 Winchester Auto, for Dad's old '03. Shot my first deer rifle, Rem 700 BDL Custom Deluxe .30-06 there using only the iron sights.
Now it has been long ago been developed.
Wish I could go back in time......Bye dad, I love & miss you!

[Tasty]

Speaking of old ranges and WWII, there was the aerial gunnery range on Mt. Diablo, with the outline of a submarine painted on a cliff. Be damned if I can find anything about it now.

Could it have been part of Camp Stoneman? I know Stoneman was on the outskirts of Pittsburg. While it's not exactly Mt. Diablo...it's real close.

[john myers]

Richmond Ramblers MC just past the tunnel in point Richmond had a range near the clubhouse

[MeatyMac]

Anybody else remember the range just West down the hill from U.S.I. that existed for like 10 minutes? IIRC it was planned to be some Super Cool Tactical Training facility catering to law enforcement. I want to say I heard about it around the late '80's, early '90's, but really not sure. I went down there one day but as usual the access off of the dead end of Evora was a locked gate.

Yes, that's where I took my hunter's safety class and test, I'm going to say that was in 1978 or '79.