by John Dowd
After nearly 19 months, the Bitterroot Marksmanship Club is finally getting off the ground. After over a year of construction and organization, club organizers David Naber and Joe Hein are excited to finally get kids on the range.
The club will officially open its doors on Nov. 2 for parent/youth orientation and practices will start after Thanksgiving. The club plans to take on 15 to 20 kids, and organizers think they may end up with a waiting list. Currently, the club is almost full, but has a few spaces left for interested parties. Kids must be between 10 and 18 years old. They will accept kids from all across the Bitterroot Valley, but hope this helps promote the start of similar clubs throughout Ravalli County.
“We hope to become the example for other clubs to form in the area,” said Hein.
The club uses standard .177 air rifles as part of a sporter class. Their goal is to get enough interest and participation to add a precision class and eventually a small bore class. The reason for the wait in classes is the incredible jump in cost up from sporter to precision class. This is because the equipment is far more expensive and there is much more equipment needed, including specialized boots, clothes and rifles, among many other things. The group also hopes to progress to getting electronic targets, for increased precision and training effectiveness.
Originally, the two men were looking for a facility or building that they could convert into an indoor range that would meet the international specifications for an air rifle range. As Naber tells it, they thought the Darby rodeo grounds may be a great place to start looking, as they were already given a booth in which to sell hamburgers and hotdogs during the rodeos. The food sales are then put directly back into the club to help it grow. They approached the Darby Rodeo Association and inquired. Naber asked the president of the Darby Rodeo Association, Cal Ruark where they could find a building like the small quonset hut just northeast of the rodeo arena, explaining that such a building would be perfect for what they wanted to do. However, the men had no idea where to find one. According to Naber, Ruark’s reply was something akin to, “What’s wrong with that one?” From then on, they started converting the building into a range.
The organization is a non-profit, and the two organizers and participants have raised nearly $85,000 for the club. Much of that has been from private donations, according to Naber. They are already in the process of spending nearly $50,000 on equipment and have invested $25,000 into the building.
So far, the facility now has 10 lanes, each of which meets the international standard of 10 meters. The lanes have target boxes at the end and a customizable Kevlar bullet stop. Participants will get the opportunity to receive expert training on the basic concepts of marksmanship, and eventually get the chance to try to qualify for Olympic shooting competitions. During competitions, competitors are timed and their targets scored.
In fact, the actual pellet rifles are far more accurate than most standard cartridge firing rifles. The competitions require a high level of precision, and the rifles for competition, as stated before, can be very expensive and function at a very high level as well. These are not the average BB gun. A single precision class rifle can cost three to four times that of a standard hunting rifle. They are also laser accurate, even out past the ten meter standard olympic range. The target cards are even scored by percentage of the target covered. This means that many high-level olympic target cards may appear to have a single hole, graded only by how much it stretches beyond the bullseye perimeter.
Naber was a Junior ROTC leader and coached sporter and precision class competitors. He met Hein during a match at an Olympic training center. Hein was operating a rifle repair business, and also sold competition rifles there at the event. Hein brings with him a vast amount of experience, holding several Olympic titles himself, both prior to and during his military experience.
Hein started in a 4-H program similar to the one he and Naber are starting. “I came from a program that wasn’t very well known,” said Hein, explaining that it was due to the efforts of his family getting it started that he was given the opportunity. He qualified for the Junior Olympics and his path carried him all the way to become part of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit. He showcased top tier marksmanship skills, helped train and develop shooting protocols and event trained partner forces overseas to begin their own marksmanship program. “There’s a lot of kids here that could benefit from this and show them that there is a wider world,” said Hein.
If you are interested in financially supporting this youth club or have a youth interested in participating, email info@bitterrootmarksmanship.org or call (505) 330-4845.