Newbie needs a place to shoot near Sandy/Eagle Creek

MissJ · Nov 15, 2009

Hey there. I'm pretty inexperienced with guns. I've shot maybe 100 rounds in my life, and only with a .22 and a .38...and I'm not originally from this area. I currently live in the Sandy/Eagle Creek area and would LOVE to find a nearby, safe and sane place to shoot for cheap or for free. The douglas ridge rifle range is near my house, but it seems too expensive. I'd prefer just an old gravel pit or mine pit out in the woods where hopefully not too many lurkers or drunkards will be crowding me out.

Also...since I'm being honest and putting it all out there...I've bought a shotgun almost a year ago and I'm embarassed to admit that I've never even fired it once because I don't know where to go and even though I do have some property out here, I don't feel it is 100% safe to shoot on my property.

This is probably a dumb question, but if you go out shooting with a shotgun how is it different from shooting with a .22 or a .38? Other than the obvious fact that it will be louder and more powerful. But what I mean is from a preparedness standpoint...you just go, and set up some targets, and try and hit them and then clean up your shells, right? I know ear protection is necessary...will foam earplugs be enough or do I need those noise cancelling headphone things? What about eye protection? Can I just wear some cheap sunglasses?

Are there any weird Oregon laws about shooting on public lands? As long as you are safe and clean up after yourself it should be OK, right? I'm from Idaho where it's pretty lax.

Thanks for any insights and sorry if my questions are lame!

UncalledForGabe · Nov 15, 2009

one of the best places to shoot is memaloose. its a ways down the road but its worth it. regular ear plugs are fine for a shotgun too.

RW-Ore · Nov 15, 2009

The only dumb question is the one you don't ask.I don't live in that area so I can't help you all I can say is make sure there is a backstop your shooting into.

MissJ · Nov 15, 2009

UncalledForGabe said:
one of the best places to shoot is memaloose. its a ways down the road but its worth it. regular ear plugs are fine for a shotgun too.

Thanks. Yeah, I read a little about memaloose...it sounded like it may or may not be closed and if open it sounded like it may or may not be crowded....what's your experience? is it a go?

eldbillbo · Nov 15, 2009

actully your kind of close to a couple places . you can get cheap shooting glasses and hearing protection at bi mart or most sporting good stores

shot guns have more power up close but the it spreads and looses power but a .22 will shoot a lot further and be lethal at longer distances

as far as safe and sane place you should never go alone i have not heard of too many instances but some pits are pretty isolated and you don't know what kind of riff raff might show up .

foam ear plugs are fine but cheap head phone are not that much the noise cancelling type are great cause it only blocks the the shots and you can still hear other things

shooting on public lands are fine unless noted look for signs try to find areas that are used by shooters like pits ,do not shoot trees there is a stiff fine for shooting those a guy on another board got hit with one even though it was a tree that was alread pretty shot up.

UncalledForGabe · Nov 16, 2009

From what I hear, there is about 2 feet of snow at Memaloose right now. Anyone go up there lately? I haven't been up since August. Its definetly one of my favorite places.
Theres a thread about Memaloose and its restrictions. I'm sure you can find it

Edgewaters · Nov 21, 2009

A good place for the shotgun is Portland gun club for trap shooting http://www.portlandgunclub.org/ The first Thursday of the month is a free new shooters class at 6:30 pm. It is fairly inexpensive to shoot there and fun too.

MissJ · Nov 22, 2009

Edgewaters said:
A good place for the shotgun is Portland gun club for trap shooting http://www.portlandgunclub.org/ The first Thursday of the month is a free new shooters class at 6:30 pm. It is fairly inexpensive to shoot there and fun too.

Thanks for the info. Sounds fun!

dkh · Nov 27, 2009

There is a place up Lolo pass rd, (about 16 mi up hwy 26 from Sandy) about 9-10 miles up that is "recognized" as a place to shoot. have even had USFS personel direct shooters there. unfortunately won't be able to get there much longer due to snow.

timbernet · Nov 27, 2009

Edgewaters said:
A good place for the shotgun is Portland gun club for trap shooting http://www.portlandgunclub.org/ The first Thursday of the month is a free new shooters class at 6:30 pm. It is fairly inexpensive to shoot there and fun too.

There is a trap shooting place in Sandy - Highway 211 and Bornstedt Road. It is pretty cheap to join, $40/year I think... Not as fancy as the Portland Gun Club and not sure if they do stuff during the winter... but it is a bit closer than Portland.