BILL PRATOR GUN RANGE IS NOW OPEN!

Range will be available for Summer NRA students at no charge while you are here for your classes.

Contact Carl Putz to schedule individual times: 719- 680-9455

A long-time local tradition has found new life in rural Trinidad. The Bill Prator Shooting Range was formally reopened Saturday, November 13th. The range has been revitalized thanks to the interest, hard work and enthusiasm of many area citizens.

Two covered shooting stands, one for pistols, the other for rifles, are part of the range’s new look. Five heavy concrete shooting stations allow for steady aiming. The stands were donated by the NRA Whittington Center. The earthen berms at the facility have been completely rebuilt, to protect the public from wayward rounds.

The main building is in the process of renovation, with insulated walls and new bathrooms for the public’s convenience.

Remodeling and updating the range has been the project of Speedy Gonzalez, director of the Brownell’s-Trinidad American Firearms Institute at Trinidad State Junior College.

Many people contributed funding and hard work in getting the range up and running. Dirt was donated by the Trinidad community, and was worked into shape by the students of the heavy equipment operator’s classes at TSJC. The state Department of Corrections supplied much of the labor on the project, and the new gates and signage were contributed by students from TSJC’s welding classes. Las Animas County Sheriff Jim Casias and his department funded one of the shooting stands. The newly renovated range will now provide a place where law enforcement officers can train.

The facility is owned by the TSJC Educational Foundation, which leases it to the college.

By next spring, trap and skeet shooting will again be available at the range, with fees for shooting used as a way for the range to fund continuing operations.