Some say the Universe took six days to get to where it is today, but the Charlotte Rifle & Pistol Club took longer. Seriously, this part of the Carolinas has seen dramatic changes in the past thirty years as has the CRPC.
As recently as1990, Kensington Road was just a dirt road, there were no developments along Kensington at all, and no Millbridge, no Walnut Creek, no subdivisions. There were only a few homes dotted here and there, and a couple of large farms with horses and cattle. At the Club, there was no ASF Range and no Multi-Purpose Range. Everything else did exist on the property in some form or another. One portion of the range that was about to evolve was the Outdoor Pistol Range.
The original Outdoor Pistol range was laid out at the same time as the Rifle range after the property was purchased in the late 1950's. In July 1965, the club hosted the North Carolina Pistol Championship on July 10-11,1965 that gained some notoriety. The regional competition involved over 150 shooters in the multi-day event and was sanctioned by the National Rifle Association. It included participation by the .22 caliber Army and the Marines pistol teams and a special “marksman” team from Ft. Benning, GA that entered the program. From this event, the NRA awarded the Charlotte Rifle and Pistol Club with the NRA Club Achievement Citation. There was no doubt that the CRPC Outdoor Pistol range had developed a positive reputation in the region. 1
The physical appearance of the range in the 1960’s was not nearly as well developed as the Range appears today. In the early 1990’s, the greater pistol range consisted of a “Sight-in Range,” a larger “Pistol Range (36 positions) with 25- and 50-yard short berms for target stands, the “Large Plinking Range” and the “Small Plinking Range.” Yes, it generally was similar but there were significant differences. There were no protective barriers between each sub-range, and it was wide open side to side. While this might have a been a cause for concern regarding risk of crossfire, it was minor when compared to the problem that people would change targets on the open range while others were firing away non-stop; kind of a "wild west situation."
The rear pistol backstop was approximately five feet in height with the small plinking range on right that had an additional few feet of tires on top. Any natural growth behind was minimal. Considering the excellent safety history, the Club membership had been lucky. Competitions were held at the Pistol range, the U.S. military trained at the range from places including Ft. Bragg, and local law enforcement regularly using the range, and nobody had been hurt.
All was fine until on one average day, an army officer practicing on the pistol range in the prone position accidentally fired a round over the backstop and that found its way “through the facia boards of a neighbor’s house and where it came to a stop in the wall of their study.” It still baffles the older members of the club how the officer made the mistake but it didn’t matter. The problem could not be allowed to be repeated and at the Club decided to take action immediately.
The board decided that the height of the backstop needed to be raised. How to increase the height was the question and find more dirt was the answer. If the Club had a lot of anything on the property, it was dirt, the Carolinas kind, red clay, and according to dermatologists, good for eliminating skin wrinkles, and acne. Most know that the Carolina red clay harbors nasty biting fire ants and Loblolly Pine trees but not much else.
Technically, the “dirt nerds” call the red clay Ultisols. Red clay is one of twelve possible ultisols found in humid or tropical climates, extremely acidic, < 5, full of iron oxide, and generally awful for agriculture. It is abundant in places like Africa, India, southeast Asia, and the southern United States. In other words, the soil of the Charlotte Rifle and Pistol Club was perfect for receiving brass and lead. 2