Tucson bound!

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stevieboy

New member
In about two weeks my wife and I will be emigrating from the gun friendly state of Georgia to the (much) gun friendlier state of Arizona, specifically, Tucson. We're very excited about this move!

My question to those of you who live in the Tucson area: where do you shoot and what are the benefits of shooting there? We're going to be living in the Catalina Foothills area, north of town. What's available?

Thanks -- and both of us are looking forward to shooting with you!!!!
 
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Quantrill

New member
Stevieboy,
Welcome to Arizona. Your'e gonna love it. I did it 3 years ago and am grateful every day. Not from the Tucson area so I will let others give you the local lowdown.
 
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gak

New member
Stevieboy -
I just PM'd you but don't see that it "took." If not, PM me, preferably with email address, in case the PM (outbound) thing still doesn't work for me.
 
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Jim March

New member
One option is "wild desert shooting". Take Tanque Verde east until it turns into a windy dirt road going up into the hills. A few miles up it'll be obvious where people shoot :).

You will also see huge, shot-to-hell signs saying "WARNING: KNOWN HUMAN AND DRUG SMUGGLING AREA!!!" Welcome to the wild west. Go with a group if you're smart, keep at least one piece loaded for defense, if you go alone wear two guns minimum - one to shoot, one for defense.

The Nogales/Tucson/Phoenix corridor is the largest land-based drug smuggling route into the US. The back country out there can get freaky fast. Other than that, it's not a dangerous town! There's a moderate murder rate, yeah, but it's virtually all "drug runners killing other drug runners". Even that isn't THAT common because the border is tightly controlled on the Mexican side by the cartels. *Nobody* gets across from the south without cartel approval, not even individual illegals just looking for work north. No, they either have to pay for a ride or pay by walking with 100lbs of pot on their backs. So once the smugglers are up here, they're already "approved and vetted" so it's not even close to what Miami was like circa 1988 or so (peak of the coke trade years).

I've been here since 2006. If you see a big redhead open-carrying a Ruger New Vaquero with a funky loading gate and a yin-yang symbol on the holster, that'd be me...
 
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stevieboy

New member
Thanks, guys. I've been coming to Tucson for vacations and work for about 20 years so I know the area pretty well. The one shooting range that I've checked out so far is in the vicinity of the Desert Museum on the West side, in what appears to be a county park. It looks to be small and well run. You'll probably know me when you see me, I'm the (nearly) bald guy with the revolvers.:D
 
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armoredman

New member
That's the Tucson Mountain Park range, nice little place.

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There is the Marksman indoor ranges, one on 29th and the other by I-10 on Prince/Flowing Wells. The last time I looked, there is nothing by Catalina Foothills, and I grew up there. :D You will have to hike out a ways. I don't know if Desert Trails is still open waaaay down on Kolb Road, that was an interesting place.
If you want to go way out there for a neat membership range, Tucson Rifle Club is out by Three Points, has many different ranges including a 1000 yard range.
Up here by CG we have a GREAT free outdoor range, but a long ways to hike unless you want to stop by for barbeque. :D

Edit to add, I forgot the Pima County range down by the fairgrounds south of town, but I never went there, and know next to nothing about it.
 
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PatAz

New member
You might want to chose the indoor range on Prince when it is 110 degrees though. We are just 12 miles north of Tucson.
 
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armoredman

New member
And have that excellent shredded tire backstop, FAR superior to the old metal one back when I worked there, when it was Jensens. Marksman II was a really nice indoor range, last time I was there.
 
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