We were very pleased with the response from everyone this past Sunday when we hosted our first meeting for 2018 Season Pass signups. Thank you very much! However, one thing became clear to me through that meeting: There is an opportunity to further explain the improvements we have planned for the range. There were a bunch of good questions about our plans during the meeting, so I have put together this list to better explain our plans for the range in 2018:
Berms – Over the course of time, berms “flatten” due to normal erosion. We have a contractor that will be starting work on November 6th to push the berms back up and add material as needed. They will be focusing on where the side berms meet the front walls of Bays 2 and 3.
Rifle Bay – The contractor will be working to raise the height and extend the berm at the bottom of the Rifle Bay over to the property line. They will be recontouring the bay so that water doesn’t run down the middle of the bay. This will get rid of the ruts and should allow for the bay to dry out quicker after heavy rains. We are also hopeful that we will have enough material to start a new berm along the north side of the rifle bay.
Fix the Entrance – Again, we will be working with the same contractor to help manage how water runs through the property. We will add a culvert under the main entrance and build back up the entrance way so that it meets the road (right now there is a significant drop-off from the road). With water being able to move through the culvert, we feel this should prevent future erosion.
New Bay Surfaces – Regular wear and erosion of the surfaces in the bays requires us to periodically add new material to the surface of the bays. We hope to complete this in November, weather permitting. We also plan to put material on the Rifle Bay (which hasn’t been surfaced previously).
Additional Storage – We have plans to add another 12’ x 32’ storage building on the property. This will be located at either the top of the rifle bay or alongside the current storage barn behind Bay 2. This new building will be used to store match equipment and supplies. This will also free the current building to be used for the…
Public Range Building – That’s right, the current storage barn will be converted to store equipment and supplies for day-to-day use by our Season Pass Holders. We will have target stands, sticks, static steel targets and some reactive steel targets available. The steel targets will be available for pistol use and the reactive steel targets will be available for pistol and shotgun (birdshot only). We will not have any rifle steel available at the start of 2018 but plan to offer it later in the year. We will supply used targets from our matches and will have new targets available for purchase.
2018 Season Passes – We are offering 2018 Season Passes at a discount through November 1st. Please see the previous posts for all the details. We still have 4 more meetings this month to sign up and take advantage of the Early Bird Discount pricing!
Team DSS - Team DSS will be a group of shooters that excel in the various practical shooting sports offered at Dynamic Shooting Sports, LLC. The team will work together with our sponsors to improve their skills, provide guidance to newer shooters, and grow the practical shooting sports in our region. These individuals model good sportsmanship, a willingness to help others, dedication to training and a passion for all shooting sports. For 2018, we will have a team of 5 shooters. They are supported through our…
Sponsors – We have secured three sponsors for the range and shooting team and are very close to adding a fourth sponsor. We already introduced Gunfighter Targets, they are the title sponsor for the upcoming North-East Ohio 3 Gun Shoot-Out. We will be introducing the other sponsors through social media and our website during the month of October. We view our sponsors as business partners: Team DSS is an extension of their companies and they reflect the passions and ideals of DSS to grow the practical shooting sports in our area.
New Range and Match Equipment – Here is a breakdown of what we have purchased and plan to purchase for 2018:
- 40 targets stands that can be used for both paper and static steel. – Already being used in our USPSA matches.
- We now have over 60 reactive steel targets from Gunfighter Targets and plan to purchase more in the spring for use in many of our match formats.
- We look to have about 6 new moving targets (swingers, max traps, drop turners) and a couple of foot activators for use in our matches for 2018.
- Some of our local shooters have provided us with over 40 pieces of static steel and 50 clay target stands…thank you Brian and Jim!
- We have constructed 12 new “dump boxes for use in our multi-gun matches. They will be in action at our November 4th, North East Ohio 3 Gun Shoot-Off.
- We have supplies to build another dozen walls for our USPSA matches.
- Building new shooting boxes out of tubular steel (not wood) for the weekday steel matches.
- We will be building some additional walls out of heaver materials (rather than the 2”x2” walls we use for matches) for another project…
Practice Stage – We will be building some heavy-duty/weather resistant walls to create a practice stage. The practice stage will be left up for several weeks at a time in one of the bays. We will probably change the configuration of the walls about every 4 to 6 weeks. The practice stage will be available for Season Pass holders and on…
Training Sessions – Through-out the year we would to have training sessions that are open to our Season Pass Holders as well as the public. These events will be hosted by me, our match directors, local instructors, and Team DSS members. Different sessions will have different focuses, sometimes they may be related to the competitive/practical side of shooting and other times they may be more defensive in nature. The cost will be relatively low for all and we will offer a discount for the Season Pass holders.
USPSA – We have been very fortunate to have North East Ohio Shooters at the range for the past 3 years. 2017 has been a great year, we have been realizing an increase of over 30% in participation through the end of September. Thus, we are only planning on two changes for 2018: The name will change to Dynamic Shooting Sports and we hope to add additional parking for our weekend events. This should make it easier to get in and out of the property and may afford us to offer an additional start time for certain events (which means the opportunity to shoot a second time/gun). Plans for the parking aren’t finalized yet, we should know for sure at the beginning of the new year. Leadership will remain the same and we will still offer 2 matches every month during the shooting season.
3 Gun – DSS has already become an official 3 Gun Nation club. We look to expand on the current program by consolidating resources with the USPSA program. This will mean more targets, props, and supplies at our disposal to build better stages, simplify setup and enhance match management. We will expand our online payment program to include 3 Gun matches, so shooters will have the option of paying for their matches with a credit card through Practiscore when they register for all week end matches. We will also offer a 2 Gun option at our matches at the beginning of the year on a trial basis. This program has been offered in the past, we will continue to monitor the program and see how successful it becomes.
Dynamic Steel – The week night steel match is receiving a face lift. We will have more steel, more props and more fun! In fact, we already have or have ordered over 120 pieces of steel to use for this match. Match management will change slightly to give a more freedom to shooters. Scoring will remain simple but match directors will be inputting those scores into Practiscore. This will give shooters more information to evaluate and track their performance. Don’t worry, you won’t need to preregister on Practiscore…just show up, shoot, and have fun!
Steel Challenge Series – We will be expanding our partnership with USPSA by offering the Dynamic Steel Challenge Series. The series will consist of 3 weekend matches throughout the year: spring, summer, and fall. These matches will consist of 8 to 10 courses of fire including at least 2 of the official Steel Challenges stages. We will be keeping score for each division and at the end of the year we will be awarding some cash prizes based upon cumulative scores (more to come about this program).
Additional Weekend Matches – We have several other match formats that we will be offering throughout the year: 2 Gun, Action Rifle, Shotgun Speed and Dynamic Shotgun. Just keep an eye on Facebook and the Calendar for what’s coming up next.
Updated Website – Obviously you are probably aware of the website (since you are here now reading this post). The most important feature of the new site is the Calendar. The calendar has all the matches and events that DSS will be hosting as well as information about classes being offered by instructors like Waypoint and Paragon 6. The links on the Calendar will have information about the events as well as links to registration.
I am sure that there are other plans and goals that I have forgotten, but I think you get the idea: 2018 will be a great year at Dynamic Shooting Sports, LCC…see you at the range!
D. Scott Beebe, Owner, Dynamic Shooting Sports, LLC