Considering all the shenanigans of the current government, National Range Day is more important than ever. Now in its second year, NRD features events all over the country intended to introduce our sport to new shooters.
This year Gun Girl and I opted to attend Milverton Rod and Gun Club, in part because we had never been there before but more importantly because I know one of the organizers through knife collecting. I usually prefer to go where I have some connection.
We checked in at the clubhouse
where we were greeted by some nice taxidermy
As is typical of such events, there are vendors on scene and we stopped by Ontario Gun Services to check out their wares. I was not familiar with this store so a visit is in my future.
Although I was tempted by the night vision binoculars…
We just picked up a few stickers
We opted to shoot long guns first and on our way to the range we passed by the barbeque pit with what could be the largest grill I have ever seen lol
We met up with Jeff, co-organizer and as I mentioned fellow knife collector, with both of us carrying Striders and a Chris Reeve
We also ran into Seamous of Buffalo Bones, who makes incredible leather goods for the EDC community. His daughter Ella was shooting for the very first time.
Given that the event was focused on new shooters, there was something for everyone on the range
Kriss Vector in .22LR
GSG-16
Ruger PCC
They started the shooters off in .22LR
Gun Girl opted for the Henry Classic Lever Action 22 Carbine as she had never shot lever action before
Ella taking her first shots!
Next we switched to larger calibers, starting with the IWI X95
and another bullpup, the Norinco Type 97…with Seamus giving it a whirl as well
Last but certainly not least, the awesome Benelli M4
All done shooting long-guns, we made our way to the pistol range, where again they had a large selection, including a beautiful Colt Python in .357magnum
In the end we decided to just watch other new shooters
Gun Girl was excited to try archery for the first time and she did AMAZING I must say!
Given her newfound interest in archery, Milverton Rod and Gun Club was gracious to give us a tour of their beautiful and expansive grounds where they have targets set up to simulate hunting environments!
A walk through the woods (don’t see too much of this in downtown Toronto)
Target set ups
Including a tower to simulate tree-stand hunting!
Thank you so much to Jeff and the whole crew at Milverton Rod and Gun Club for putting on such a great event and being such incredibly gracious hosts. We really appreciated the treatment and plan to be back for your CCFR Ladies Day shoot in August.
Our National Range Day wasn’t over though. On the way back we stopped in at Shooter’s Choice gun store, or should I say gun and bow store! I have been there several times but never went up to the top floor where there is an archery range and a second storefront with a massive selection of every kind of bow imaginable!
We took a few moments to watch and chat with competitive bow shooters and learned quite a lot about the sport and their gear. We also met the current ranked number one bow shooter in Canada! How great is that, we go from trying archery for the first time to meeting the champ just a few minutes later!
Another shooter was using a “horse bow” of the type that would be used by mounted soldiers! Very cool!
My favourite in the store was this “pistol” or more accurately a “pistol-esque” crossbow.
I thought pistol crossbows are prohib but this one has a stock and foregrip (at least two points of contact) so it is legal. By comparison, something like this would not be.
Our last stop for the day was Lancaster Smokehouse. I have seen them at gun events (like O’Dell Range Day) but had never been to the actual smokehouse. All I can say is WOW! That was probably the best brisket and ribs I have ever had in my life!
A great cap to a great day! Once again, I applaud the National Range Day initiative to spread our culture to new shooters. I strongly encourage you to get involved either as a volunteer or to bring new shooters to a great range like Milverton Rod and Gun Club.
RL