NRA Whittington Center Visit

[Don Lovel]

I just got back to the house, luckily my house in Crestone is right at 170 miles if I go through La Veta & Chuchara passes to Trinidad and down to Raton.
Dad turned 89 on March 23rd
He shot really well this visit, simply amazing with his 308 Garand he built, this cool 03 Springfield sniper and pretty much everything else that did not have a mechanical failure. His 8mm K98 broke the firing pin, his Remingtn 700 .243 had a scope mount catastrophe, his M1 Carbine had a shel grenade and split the case and a piece of the mangles case is stuck in the chamber like it is welded in there, we tried and a cleaning rod would not budge it. His 88yr old friend Lou had the firing pin on his 116 Savage 260 Rem broke, his Ruger varmint in 6.5 Creedmore, the scope had air leak and fogged up inside. Dad's 85yr old friend Dale had apparently banged the scope on his Rem 700 .243 and it was shooting all over the place and I worked on it myself for awhile and never got it on target.
My guns performed flawlessly. My old 30-06 Mauser target rifle was making great shots. I made two shots at 605yds diagonally across the range to a sight in gong hitting it dead center both shots. (we were the only ones on the range then so ok to shoot diagonal at the gong)
and I knocked down probably 80% of my 500 meter ram shots with the Bolt 06 and my Garand both.
I did better on Chickens & Turkeys than I ever have out there. I also got to go shoot 1911 about 500rnds this morning and did pretty good. Dad had a real nice SMLE 303 Brit and it was fun to shoot silhouettes with, that 303 is a hard hitting round and really made a loud clang on the steel.


Heads up on a commercial ammo problem, Sellier & Bellot 180gr FMJ 30-06 has undersized rims and the claw extractor on my Mauser target rifle and my Garand and the extractor on Dad's 03 was not even touching them.

 

[don44]

Thanks for posting.

 

[contender]

I've visited the Whittington once. I loved the experience. It sounds like y'alls visit was plagued with problems. But it also sounds like some of it was great.

 

[FastEd]

Visiting the Center is a great experience. Wish I lived closer.

 

[graygun]

A friend lives near Black Lake and goes there fairly often...1.5 hr drive. I've been there with him 3 or 4 times and it's usually empty,like you experienced. He also has a Garand which we fired a little along with .357,.454,9s,.22s and a SKS.

We also have explored the old coal mining area adjacent to the farthest range. You can see bits and pieces of coal right at ground level.

It's a great place to shoot and would be a fine Ruger-event location. Raton is the only close town and it's kind of a dump but lodging is available at the center.

 

[WIL TERRY]

We were married on the range at The Whittington Center. We go back every year to celebrate and attend The Shootists Holiday. Having survived Barracks in my younger days we do stay in Raton at a FINE privately owned motel that is as much fun during the evenings singing and sipping Oh-Be-Joyful.
And so it goes...

 

[graygun]

I'm sure even a bad town has a good place or two. Whittington and Philmont are not far,so it's good.

We stopped at Arby's in Raton last fall and the one woman working the place answered her phone and slipped out of sight(customers at counter and window). Some of her loser friends were hanging out inside. We walked out and eventually ate at a nice place in Eagle Nest...not far from Red River and Angel Fire areas.

Folks,visit there if at all possible....who knows how long it will remain.