I awoke this morning composing this post as a response to the swagger of loverboy, but upon further consideration decided that he deserves to strut a bit as long as he doesn't trip on his spurs. The vehicle was going to be a geography lesson, but then decided that the vehicle itself had merit since there may be some traveling here for Winter Range.
The main trail in and out of Phoenix is I-17. From the intersection of the main trail with Wickeburg/Carefree road, about 1/2 mile west is the venue for Winter Range. About a thousand shooters and their camp followers will be at Winter Range February 18 to 25. The Association of Arizona Gunslinger will have a 6 lane range up and running Feb 19 through 24, with a Arizona Bracket Shoot on the 24th. CFDA shooters can shoot all week warming up for Saturday, but it may not do you much good, as the competition is pretty salty at the Showdown at Winter Range.
If you head east down the Wickenbugr/Carefree Road, just about 1/2 mile past Central Avenue (divides Phoenix east and west) you will come to the road (7th Street) that goes from Shady Mountain north around Daisy Mountain back to the main trail (I-17). If you turn south about 1/2 mile you will come to Shady Mountain, the home range of many World and National Champions. Those champions gather about weekly, mostly for social shooting, gunsmithing, and general foolishness. Shooting there is by invitation, but Shady is pretty free with the invitations, his only limit being the space available for the crowd that wants to come.
If, at the intersection of the Carefree road and the Daisy Mtn road, you turn north and go about a mile you come to loverboy flats. When you will come to the girlie street (Dolores), turn east and go about 1/4 mile and you come to the Camp. The Camp is open 24/7 to CFDA shooters and it is a world class 6 lane facility where speed is king. The Camp has a jackpot shoot the first Saturday of the month and quarter matches the third Saturday of the month. The Camp has a 8' by 32' greased wall so there is no practice missing at the camp. If you practice at the Camp and shoot less that 80%, you are not paying attention.
From the intersection of the main trail and the Wickenburg/Carefree road, 1/2 mile to the north is Pioneer Village, Arizona Territory, the home range of The Association of Arizona Gunslingers. They hold a Arizona Bracket shoot on the fourth Saturday of every month. The saying is that "There is no lollygagging at Pioneer Village," but the very nature of the Arizona bracket shoot is to insure that the new shooter, the drifter, the youth and generally everyone feels welcome and competitive..
For those that want to shoot every Saturday, you can travel down the main roads through Phoenix out east beyond Red Mountain and shoot at the Rio Salado Range. The Salty River Cowboys (officially the Rio Salado Vaqueros) hold a club shoot the second Saturday of every month. It is alway an excellent shoot with different formats.
The Loess Hills Paladins, Have Range, Will Travel, are building their portable range at Shady Mtn. The Paladins plan to break camp and head for the Loess Hills when the snow is out of the mountain passes. They will go through Flagstaff then pick up the Pueros River onto the Rio Grande River to Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Trail. They intend to stop at Manual Lisa's place before heading onto the home range of the River City Gunslingers. I will give a photo report when the range is done, hope to set up at Pioneer Village, March 24.
Well, we will see how the swagger goes Saturday.
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