Escondido Fish and Game.

[Richie Rich]

I have been looking into becoming a member and was wondering if any current members could fill me in on what kind of orginization they are.

Are they OLL (or EBR in general) friendly? How are they when dealing with novice shooters when it comes to trap, skeet and longer distance rifle shooting.

Other then a few desert trips years ago, I have not had a chance to fire a rifle at any target more then 25 yards away. Have yet to shoot skeet, trap or in any competitions but have an interest in doing all of the above.

I am an NRA member, well versed in safe firearms handling and have been shooting pistols and rifles at least 2x a month for the last 6 months or so. Been a firearms owner for 15 years but just got back into it about a year ago.

Will I find a nice group of open minded people or a tight knit group of fudds that will sneer at me and my EBR when I show up (or worse, call the cops)?

Thanks..

[pewpewguns]

EF&G is a great private range. No one will question any firearms you have and no one will interfere with your shooting unless you do something dangerous or stupid. I think their rifle range goes out to 100 yds and they have a full trap house range. They also have a pistol range and tons of neat events.

I'd recommend going out to one of their public events (anything listed on their calendar) and talking to a member about joining.

http://www.escondidofishandgame.com/

Their calendars somewhere on their site, I think as a .pdf file

[psriley]

You might also try Project 2000 in El Cajon:

http://www.project2000range.com/

They have trap, skeet, 100 yd+ indoor rifle range and handgun range. Very nice place and nice folks.

[Richie Rich]

Thanks for the info. A friends dad is a member and has offered to recomend me for membership. Been reading their newsletter off the website and so far I like what I see. Someone wrote an article on their site stating that other then F/A weapons, it is up to the individual shooter to follow Ca laws, not the ranges job to pass judgement. I follow all applicable laws but things like OLLs and preban std cap mags have a lot of misinformation surrounding them.

Project 2000 looks like a really cool place but EF&G is about 20 minutes from me as opposed to the hour+ drive to El Cajon. I might have to make a field trip down there to check it out.

[mike100]

There are board memebers with registered AW's at EF&G. They did decide to make it known at the meeting to try to educate other members about the legalities of unregged rifles and there was talk of the 50 bmg stuff. Basically, that the club didn't want to enfore the law for the state etc, etc. Most rangemasters probably aren't real up on OLL's, but some of the regulars at the rifle range know about it and encourage it. The current leadership would also encourage any legal shooting and wouldn't discourage it.

On a good note: the City of Escondido just extended the lease 20 years (plus the 11 years left on the current one with the option of 20 more after that expires...so they got a possible 31-51 year lease and just got 8 more acres from the city, so eventually the rifle range should be doubled in range. The pistol range will be getting a couple of improvements as well.

The shotgun sports are real active and fun if the drive isn't too far for you. Activities on Saturdays, Sundays and Wed. night trap practice are open to the public. Come up Wed. night 5-9p. the trap range is well lit.