Changing for the Better; the 300 Yard Rifle Range in 2002

As many of us age, we tend to prefer things to slow down just a little. The problem is that in life, there is one certainty, change. The year was either 2002 or 2003. At the time, the Dot.com bubble in the stock market burst sending retirements crashing, Kelly Clarkson was the first winner of American Idol of a new TV show, and the Anaheim (today Los Angeles) Angels were on their way to winning the World Series later that Fall. There was no such thing as streaming video, meming, Facebook nor was there Twitter.

Down at the corner of Jim Wilson Rd. and Highway 521, there weren’t several high traffic strip malls with restaurants, no insane offer for $6 coffees that people lined up for at a drive-up window with a mobile app. There was just The Warrior Shop, a gas station/ small convenience store and the only business in the immediate area. Danny, the owner, cooked the hot dogs and the hamburgers for the CR-PC board meetings. As Jim Wilson Rd (dirt) turned into Kensington on the State Line, the road became paved but otherwise every other road around the club was still unpaved.

At the corner of Providence and Kensington, developers broke ground on one shopping center over the old goldmine land. The other center on the corner was only an idea. The elementary school near Waxhaw-Marvin Rd. on Kensington Rd. had recently opened and a couple of developers across the street from the club were putting up two subdivisions. What had been grazing fields were now homes with people, families, strollers, and children.

CR-PC recognized the need to be a good neighbor and ensure safety. At the club, it was experiencing its own significant growth. The club expanded in the previous two decades with two new clubhouses, indoor meeting areas and other developments to upgrade facilities for hosting national and regional shooting competitions. There were almost 600 members. The pistol range that had been very popular since the 1960’s was improved recently (previously covered.) The new and greater challenge was the 300-yard rifle range. The chance of lofting a rifle round over a 25-foot-high rear berm at 300 yards was possible and further protection was questioned. It was concluded that fifty feet was the required height across the wide field.

Long time member and then President Bob Andrews and the Board of Directors debated on what to do. The plan that was agreed upon was the implementation of a higher earthen restructuring to the backstop. The cost of dirt was a great concern. By the good graces, luck came by for a visit at the Club one day. Chuck Starnes contacted Bob to inquire if Charlotte Rifle and Pistol Club would be interested in some dirt. It was a reasonable question from Chuck, who knew of a serious amount of dirt that needed to be moved. The club was also an ex-goldmine, consisting of woods, ravines, ridges and depressions and gun ranges. Gun ranges could always use dirt, maybe? For Bob and the Club, it was too good to be true. The source of the soil was from Blythe Construction of Charlotte, a 70-year-old company who were responsible for major road projects and developments in the area. They had a problem and Charlotte Rifle & Pistol Club was the solution.

The next question was how much? The answer was a surprise, Nothing. A fair price but why free? The specifics of Blythe’s problem was that for many uses, construction fill requires the dirt to perform in certain ways. In this case, the dirt needed was compacted dirt at Blakeney Shopping Center. Unfortunately, the dirt in question wasn’t stable. It’s construction value “wasn’t worth dirt.” Another question, how much dirt did Blythe have, and the response was something more than 73,000 cubic yards. The number was difficult to imagine but the club needed to get the berm above fifty feet. The company even offered to deliver the dirt at their cost. The board met, discussed all of the variables and approved the project, really too good to refuse and the schedule was planned.

The project began in the summer when the weather was nicest. The firearms portion of the range was temporarily closed during construction. First, the current backstop was lumbered. Next, a bulldozer pushed and plowed existing ground and buried the scrub and trees into the backstop. Third, a road was cut to the right of the current dirt road that proceeded north the length of the three-hundred-yard portion of the range. Today, if you look to the right just beyond the 50 meter rise you on the rifle range, you might notice some remnant of that road grown over in the trees. At the time, it ran past the small white storage shed and continued around to behind the backstop. The roadway then continued around. As the cut road turned back south, it turned again at about the 250-yard mark where it looped back east to the cut road on the right side of the range back to the parking lot. The area behind the backstop was expanded to enable space for trucks to drop the earth and so it began.

Movement began one morning when large haul earth dump trucks lined up on Kensington Road and waited to be called. An old, grizzled man sat in a truck next to the clubhouse with a two-way radio and directed the traffic coming and going. One loaded large haul dumper would enter on the main road into the club, descend the hill, fork to the right down over the run and up the hill between the trees and into the parking lot. Sometimes, they stopped for any possible instructions, then turned left and started to the back. And the process repeated itself, one truck at a time.

Outside the club, a line of trucks awaited the call to drop their load of unstable dirt. As one truck left the line to enter the club, another freshly loaded truck arrived to replace the empty vehicles departing. While the trucks made their circle, bulldozers pushed dirt and accompanied by earthmoving buckets slowly raised the height higher and higher. The bulldozing equipment was also supplied by Blythe Construction Company. In the end, the entire process took just over two months to complete.

While it was going on, an inquiry was made to see if Blythe could help on another matter. There was an issue with the Multi Purpose Range. It was nicknamed the “mud pit” for a reason and President Bob Andrews inquired if it could be added to the project. The reply was “no problem”.

Twenty-two years later, Charlotte Rifle & Pistol Club offers a wide selection of events and opportunities for all types of shooters to get involved in. It also has a much larger membership. Fundamental to aiding in that growth was the improvement of the 300-yard Rifle Range with a 50 foot high backstop and the Multi Purpose Range.