As some might remember my wife died back in 2016. After coming to grips with that change in my life I decided to go on a shooting trip. For years wanted to head to the SW and do some shooting in wide open spaces. Settled on a destination of the NRA Whittington Center in Raton where they have a couple of 1,000 meter ranges, pistol ranges, and Shotgun Ranges. Total of 16, I think. Right after I made plans and upgraded my travel trailer I ended up having a heart attack and had bypass surgery. So much for last years trip.

Finally recovered enough to hit the road and headed off to Raton. Stopped and visited a few friends along the way and at last pulled into a really nice campground just a few hundred yards from one of the nicest ranges I've ever shot on. The High Power Rifle Silhouette range.





The Silhouette range has the standard steel silhouettes of chickens (200 meters), Turkeys (over 300 meters), Pigs (~400 meters) and Rams (500 meters).
To sweeten the deal they have a white buffalo silhouette out at 1025 meters (1123 Yards). See if you can spot it:



(Hint: It's directly over the top turret on my rifle)

For those who have "older eyes" here's a "closer" picture:



Took a few rounds with the 6.5 Creedmoor to get the range, apparently my scope had not been zeroed as I thought before I left on the trip. Once I started hitting the 500 meter Rams, I shifted to the buffalo. What a hoot. The bullet is in flight for almost 2 seconds so you shoot, follow through, and wait for the bullet to hit. Then wait a few more seconds for the sound of the strike to return to the firing line. After a box of ammo I shifted over to my .308 I just finished last fall. A special barrel from Benchmark. a 24" 1:10 twist, TWO GROOVE barrel with a Benchmark Tactical Muzzle Brake (has built in compensator port, caliber specific).

First round nicked the top of the steel Buffalo. I saw the bullet fragment in the scope and the dust cloud directly behind the top edge.

A few clicks down and I was not only smacking the main chunk of steel but the 16" round aimpoint that hangs on an arm welded to the main body. Hit that and you not only hear the clang but can see it move as well. Out of 10 rounds, the first was a near miss, the next 9 were all hits, and of those nine, 6 hit the aim point.

The 6.5 Creedmoor shot a mix of my hand loads using IMR4166 with 140 gr Hornady ELD-M's and IMR 4451 with Hornady 147 gr ELD-M's. Also shot a bo of Winchester Match I picked up at Cabela's with 140gr BTHP's. All smacked the buffalo with no problem and were still supersonic when they arrived.

The .308 shot nothing but Federal Premium loaded with 185gr Berger Juggernaut bullets. What a load. For factory ammo I found it to be absolutely amazing. Now to duplicate on my loading bench.

For anyone that wants to have a fun trip, head off to the Whittington Center. If you don't want to drive or tow a trailer down as I did, Fly into Albuquerque or Pueblo, Co then rent a car. They have rental cabins on site that are really nice.

And the neat part? Former Military or Law Enforcement shoots free on the ranges. Otherwise you buy an annual membership for $30.

Ranges are unsupervised. Go to any open range (they tell you at the gate house), if the flag is raised the range is hot and other shooters are present. Introduce yourself and when time to go down range to set up targets it's by mutual agreement. You also get to drive down to the targets so no hiking required.

During the week the ranges aren't crowded. One day (I spent three days there), I shot all by myself for several hours before other shooters showed up.


For those who haven't been there, put it on your bucket list. I'm already making plans for another trip, maybe in the fall, just before it snows.


BTW, on day one a REAL wild turkey walked across the target line, apparently checking out the steel turkeys to see if one would be a suitable mate. Nobody shot it as they are protected on the range. Deer wander through the campground and all kinds of other high desert wildlife come visiting.


Brought back a new hat too:

Added to the bucket list! Great pictures.

Wow!!!

Wow awesome pictures and a beautiful range replete with nice scenery to boot. New Mexico has some really beautiful locales.

Glad to hear you have mended from your heart attack and were able to make the road trip and enjoy the shooting ranges at the NRA Whittington Center.

Looks like a blast!!

Outstanding! Thanks for sharing your adventure!

That pretty much sounds like the best vacation EVER.

Wow, that sounds like an awesome time! Glad you're feeling better.

Tagged so the hubs can read the details and start giving me the full-court press on planning a similar trip.

That's so freak'in awesome!! I'm really glad to hear you were able to do that. The story warms my heart. That range looks absolutely incredible and it looks like you were the only one there that day too? Nice. That hat would be worth gold to me. Thanks for sharing that.

The pictures are from only one of over a dozen ranges on the "grounds" {several thousand acres of "grounds"}.

I shot on the silhouette range because the other long ranges were being used by the NM National Guard for training exercises. Thursday evening I was serenaded by Full Auto fire, both burst and long strings from the SAW's. Was music to my ears

Some of the ranges are reserved for LEO use only unless approved by the Range Director but Pistol, Rifle (bolt action LR and shorter range AR's), Archery, Black Powder, something for everyone.

A note for anyone going there with a travel trailer or Motor Home, pay the extra $3 for the West Campground. It has all pull-through spaces with full hookups (30 and 50 amp), but most importantly-------- trees. The East Campground is like camping in one of the Puyallup Fairgrounds parking lots. Nice, but no trees.

It's a 24 hour drive from the Seattle area. I took a week and a half to drive there, stopping numerous times along the way.


Oh yeah, well worth mentioning. All the range personnel I met from front gate, store, and on the ranges, not a single dick-head among them. Everyone was pleasant to talk to and no "Range Nazi's". Made the shooting experience so much nicer.

Google "NRA Whittington Center" and go to their website for even more pics as well as range maps, etc.

Great write up- thank you for sharing. I think you earned that vacation!

Agreed.

Great write-up and well-deserved vacation!

DS2 you are such a show off! Thanks, and drive on.

Ditto the rest. Great info and details.

Very jealous. How hot was it? How windy?