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Colorado 1000+ yard range

Grew up in Colorado until age 27.

Pawnee is a nice place but the wind out there sucks huge nuts. We used to go to "Slaughterhouse" which is a range by Bailey but it may have been shut down by now because people leaving trash. Otherwise just go find a nice spot in a National Forest? I'd suggest by Cowdrey/ Independence Mountain. Only a couple hours from town, and you can shoot as far as is humanly possible.
Yeah, the winds in Pawnee are harsh. Unfortunately there's a huge fire ban now that prevents shooting in national forest, but I have scouted out a spot where I could safely shoot to near a mile up there a little ways if you're willing to hike.

Even worse, there's a proposal to ban shooting in about a sixth of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. What's even more laughable is that they suggest that Boulder county will build two shooting ranges allowing recreational shooting as "compensation", which anyone who lives near Boulder County knows is never going to happen with the effort they've already spent trying to remove the one private range that exists in the county.

Here's a map of the proposed changes
 
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Yeah, the winds in Pawnee are harsh. Unfortunately there's a huge fire ban now that prevents shooting in national forest, but I have scouted out a spot where I could safely shoot to near a mile up there a little ways if you're willing to hike.

Even worse, there's a proposal to ban shooting in about a sixth of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. What's even more laughable is that they suggest that Boulder county will build two shooting ranges allowing recreational shooting as "compensation", which anyone who lives near Boulder County knows is never going to happen with the effort they've already spent trying to remove the one private range that exists in the county.

Here's a map of the proposed changes


Well when I was coming up there was that range up the canyon out of Lyons. About 8 years ago boulder PD attempted to shut it down with a sign, we went in and shot anyway. Within about 15 minutes we had a county sheriff out there with us. Basically the argument was made that the city of Boulder and Boulder County have no jurisdiction on federal land to shut down a range. The next week they had it shut down by using a "temporary" fire ban. To my knowledge the range has never opened again?

And Boulder county won't ever build a range. I will say with all the beetle kill etc. and how stupid the people are moving in from out of state, I can understand the worry really. But at the same time it just ruins it for everyone.

You heard about the Fort Lupton shooting complex right?! --> link https://www.ftluptonpress.com/content/shooting-range-opening-delayed-2019

I moved to Alaska about 2 years ago so now I'm free! (y)
 
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Grew up in Colorado until age 27.

Pawnee is a nice place but the wind out there sucks huge nuts. We used to go to "Slaughterhouse" which is a range by Bailey but it may have been shut down by now because people leaving trash. Otherwise just go find a nice spot in a National Forest? I'd suggest by Cowdrey/ Independence Mountain. Only a couple hours from town, and you can shoot as far as is humanly possible.

My wife took a cow elk on independence mountain last season during the 1st firearms season. That really would be a great place to shoot at extended ranges. I wish it was wasn’t so far away
 
My wife took a cow elk on independence mountain last season during the 1st firearms season. That really would be a great place to shoot at extended ranges. I wish it was wasn’t so far away[/QUOTE

I'm glad to hear! Independence is usually more of a 4th season area so she did good there! Typically if I was hunting before 3rd I'd hunt the other side by Big Creek Lakes. And yeah it's a bit of a drive but that old hotel in Walden is worth a stay and not too over priced (or used to not be).

How did it look? I haven't been there since that big fire like 3 years ago.
 

It looks pretty rough in some spots on independence. between the beetle kill and the fire there are huge bald spots kinda over by the tower on the mountain that half ass faces cowdery.
There was actually a lot of elk on independence mountain last year during the first season. The day before season we videoed 70 some elk around the far side of the mountain. Of course when the orange army comes out the elk are harder to find. We caught a lot of trout up there at lake John too. It was the best trip I’ve had with the family
 
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Well when I was coming up there was that range up the canyon out of Lyons. About 8 years ago boulder PD attempted to shut it down with a sign, we went in and shot anyway. Within about 15 minutes we had a county sheriff out there with us. Basically the argument was made that the city of Boulder and Boulder County have no jurisdiction on federal land to shut down a range. The next week they had it shut down by using a "temporary" fire ban. To my knowledge the range has never opened again?

They've got a bunch of signs up there that say no shooting. Last time I was up there was about 6 months ago and there were about 10-15 others throughout the area shooting along with me and a couple friends. Nothing really beyond 100 yards there though, and now they've got an ATV business that's renting out gators to people to go up and down the trails with so the dirt road has gotten pretty rough. The only time recently I've seen the sheriff or others come up there recently was when people were shooting tannerite (which is illegal on national forest property).

As far as the Fort Lupton shooting complex goes, I doubt it'll be anything past 200 yards since there's so much oil and gas in that area. I grew up pretty close to that near Firestone and you couldn't go a quarter mile between pumpjacks and drilling rigs. It's slowed down with the drilling rigs, but all the pumpjacks are still there and they're usually checked at least once a week if not more often which would be a safety concern about shooting further. 4 miles east of Ft. Lupton, like they were talking about, would also put the range right up next to the airport.

A nice recent facility that got put in was Liberty Firearms Institute though. I'm a member there and Trigger Time and strongly prefer LFI since they've got more ranges, they're very well lit (Trigger Time is a bit dim), and they're looking at also adding indoor trap/skeet in the next couple years depending on their membership numbers. Neither is long range, but they're better than nothing and the only real long range options (at least 1,000 yards) now are places in the grasslands, national forest (if you can get outside the fire ban), Pawnee Sportsman Center, Colorado Rifle Club, and the Ft. Carson range.
 
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They've got a bunch of signs up there that say no shooting. Last time I was up there was about 6 months ago and there were about 10-15 others throughout the area shooting along with me and a couple friends. Nothing really beyond 100 yards there though, and now they've got an ATV business that's renting out gators to people to go up and down the trails with so the dirt road has gotten pretty rough. The only time recently I've seen the sheriff or others come up there recently was when people were shooting tannerite (which is illegal on national forest property).

As far as the Fort Lupton shooting complex goes, I doubt it'll be anything past 200 yards since there's so much oil and gas in that area. I grew up pretty close to that near Firestone and you couldn't go a quarter mile between pumpjacks and drilling rigs. It's slowed down with the drilling rigs, but all the pumpjacks are still there and they're usually checked at least once a week if not more often which would be a safety concern about shooting further. 4 miles east of Ft. Lupton, like they were talking about, would also put the range right up next to the airport.

A nice recent facility that got put in was Liberty Firearms Institute though. I'm a member there and Trigger Time and strongly prefer LFI since they've got more ranges, they're very well lit (Trigger Time is a bit dim), and they're looking at also adding indoor trap/skeet in the next couple years depending on their membership numbers. Neither is long range, but they're better than nothing and the only real long range options (at least 1,000 yards) now are places in the grasslands, national forest (if you can get outside the fire ban), Pawnee Sportsman Center, Colorado Rifle Club, and the Ft. Carson range.

Is Dragon Man still open by the Springs or did that all go away when his wife passed? The last time I was there was probably 8 years ago for an Oath Keepers BBQ :ROFLMAO:

Are you talking about Slaughterhouse or the Lyons canyon range? If Slaughterhouse, you can shoot off that far side down into the national forest land. Like if you are walking onto the range there's firing lines to the right and left. But if you go all the way down to the end there's a little rise. You can walk way down there and I'm pretty sure get out there a ways? You'll be hiking brush but that is what it is.

I dunno that will be interesting to see how they do it in Lupton but you are probably right. I lived on Coyote Creek for about 3 years, loved golfing that course. No dress code and you can bring your own cooler.
 
It looks pretty rough in some spots on independence. between the beetle kill and the fire there are huge bald spots kinda over by the tower on the mountain that half ass faces cowdery.
There was actually a lot of elk on independence mountain last year during the first season. The day before season we videoed 70 some elk around the far side of the mountain. Of course when the orange army comes out the elk are harder to find. We caught a lot of trout up there at lake John too. It was the best trip I’ve had with the family

That's wild! I wonder if the fire changed their migration patterns etc. I remember guys lining up 4th season in their trucks on that dirt road. And the elk would just come streaming down across that private land and up independance. Sounded like a war zone.
 
That's wild! I wonder if the fire changed their migration patterns etc. I remember guys lining up 4th season in their trucks on that dirt road. And the elk would just come streaming down across that private land and up independance. Sounded like a war zone.

I got a couple reports so far from family that they have seen a few elk on owl mountain this year. I hunted owl mountain one time and never seen a single elk up there. It’s weird how things change from year to year. It seems that Independence Mountain does better as far as elk numbers the colder it is earlier in the year
 
Are you talking about Slaughterhouse or the Lyons canyon range? If Slaughterhouse, you can shoot off that far side down into the national forest land. Like if you are walking onto the range there's firing lines to the right and left. But if you go all the way down to the end there's a little rise. You can walk way down there and I'm pretty sure get out there a ways? You'll be hiking brush but that is what it is.

I dunno that will be interesting to see how they do it in Lupton but you are probably right. I lived on Coyote Creek for about 3 years, loved golfing that course. No dress code and you can bring your own cooler.

To be entirely honest, I wasn't aware there were two different shooting areas just past Lyons so I'm not sure which it was. I took the left fork headed west out of Lyons to get there, if that helps clear it up any. It definitely wasn't a dedicated shooting range, just kind of a winding dirt road off of the main road that wound around with enough elevation drop to create good backstops.

Sad thing is there's no golf course in Colorado where you can bring your own cooler (if it's filled) anymore thanks to liquor laws. If they have a liquor license (and I'm not aware of any that don't), it's against state law now to bring your own alcohol onto the premises. Some places will still allow you to bring a cooler to keep beer you buy from them cold though, so long as you show them it's empty first.
 
I finally have a bolt gun that can shoot long range and recently moved back to CO so I'm curious if there are any updates to shooting locations around here. I'm in Castle Rock.

I finally completed this rifle that I've had since like 2016 and I'm eager to shoot it.

Also, bump.
 
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I finally have a bolt gun that can shoot long range and recently moved back to CO so I'm curious if there are any updates to shooting locations around here. I'm in Castle Rock.

I finally completed this rifle that I've had since like 2016 and I'm eager to shoot it.

Also, bump.
In that case you're in a great position to head down to the Cheyenne Mountain range in Fort Carson, just south of Colorado Springs. They've got targets out to around 1,200ish yards or so and a great facility! There's also a local match there the second Saturday of each month.
 
I have heard about this place but have never checked it out. So, how do you get on the facility? Is the facility itself on Fort Carson?
 
I have heard about this place but have never checked it out. So, how do you get on the facility? Is the facility itself on Fort Carson?
It's right next to the entrance of Fort Carson, so you never actually enter the base. Just enter it into your GPS, drive there, and stop by the clubhouse before shooting to pay your range fee. Or if you're shooting one of the local matches, just drive back to where all the cars are parked and pay the MD directly since that includes your range fee.

Here's their website with hours: https://carson.armymwr.com/programs/cheyenne-mountain-shooting-complex

Range 1, the 1000+ yard range, is open to the public only on the weekends. It's still super cheap though, $12 to go shoot.
 
It's right next to the entrance of Fort Carson, so you never actually enter the base. Just enter it into your GPS, drive there, and stop by the clubhouse before shooting to pay your range fee. Or if you're shooting one of the local matches, just drive back to where all the cars are parked and pay the MD directly since that includes your range fee.

Here's their website with hours: https://carson.armymwr.com/programs/cheyenne-mountain-shooting-complex

Range 1, the 1000+ yard range, is open to the public only on the weekends. It's still super cheap though, $12 to go shoot.
Awesome thanks for the information. Do you know if it gets pretty busy on that 1,000 yard range? I imagine since it is only open weekends that it does...
 
Awesome thanks for the information. Do you know if it gets pretty busy on that 1,000 yard range? I imagine since it is only open weekends that it does...
Not certain because I've only been there for matches before. I would assume it gets fairly busy though.
 
I finally have a bolt gun that can shoot long range and recently moved back to CO so I'm curious if there are any updates to shooting locations around here. I'm in Castle Rock.

I finally completed this rifle that I've had since like 2016 and I'm eager to shoot it.

Also, bump.
I also recently moved back to Castle Rock, and was gonna check out Fort Carson this week. Would really like to find a worthwhile stretch of public land worth driving to since everywhere is equally a shitty drive for us. My old go to was the area north of Woodland park but I can't find any hard info on if it's been shut down in the time since, let alone with the fire bans
 
Colorado Rifle Club is about 75 minutes from you. Shoot out to 1000 yds almost every day of the week.
 
Except on the weekends when there's a match almost every week. Loaded up 3 times to go out only to check the schedule and find every range I would use busy
 
Awesome thanks for the information. Do you know if it gets pretty busy on that 1,000 yard range? I imagine since it is only open weekends that it does...

It's been some time since I've done anything but shoot matches at Cheyenne Mountain, but on weekends, all their ranges get pretty busy. If i remember correctly, ranges 1 through 3 or 4 were all rifles ranges. All had steel targets, but only 1 went out to 1080. The other ranges only had steel in the 400 to 450 range. I used to show up with 200+ rounds as soon as they opened and spend all day shooting. Sometimes you have to wait for range 1 to open, but if it's your only access to 1000 yards, you do what you have to do
 
I also recently moved back to Castle Rock, and was gonna check out Fort Carson this week. Would really like to find a worthwhile stretch of public land worth driving to since everywhere is equally a shitty drive for us. My old go to was the area north of Woodland park but I can't find any hard info on if it's been shut down in the time since, let alone with the fire bans
So if you're talking about the area north of woodland Park along rampart range road, there's no shooting east of rampart range along mt herman rd, but if you go further north along rampart, you can shoot there. Problem is that's all seeming like close in stuff, i couldn't see any place that would've been safe with a long range rifle. Just too many people out there.

If you're talking about north of woodland park along 67, there's a place called turkey track which apparently has a range on it. Never been there myself and at some point I'll need to check it out but from what i saw it didn't look like a long range area, a few hundred yards maybe. But that's just based on map recon.
 
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If you're talking about north of woodland park along 67, there's a place called turkey track which apparently has a range on it. Never been there myself and at some point I'll need to check it out but from what i saw it didn't look like a long range area, a few hundred yards maybe. But that's just based on map recon.
Yeah that's the name of it. I want to say the longest "lane" was maybe 300 yards, and that's if you put your target about halfway up the hill and well within line of sight of shooters from other lanes. From what I understand, one government service or another put up quite a bit of fencing there to prevent people from dumping tv's and clothes washers and such shit, but I'm never optimistic when the government says "don't worry, we're only taking this much away from you, it's not much!"

Once when I was there with some friends, about an hour into shooting in our lane, some teenagers come driving out from down range in a brand new Jeep, almost ran over our steel, and thought we were some kind of assholes for surrounding their car with guns asking what the fuck they were doing driving around the backstop of a very well known shooting area. Other than that and the never shrinking pile of Tulamo boxes and soda cans littering the area, it wasn't too bad a spot. I've seen folks show up with everything from full auto to black powder to archery.

I did make it out to CMSC a few days ago- nothing super stellar, but the RO's were certainly more attentive and safe than the likes of Dragonmans/Cherry Creek/etc