By Dave Workman | Editor-in-Chief | Images by author and courtesy of Jaime Kemper
Who said the COVID-19 pandemic panic shutdown wasn’t a good thing?
At the Snoqualmie Valley Rifle Club, located about 30 miles east of Seattle, Wash., it turned out to be a very good thing, indeed.
During a state-ordered shut-down of such facilities that began in mid-March, club officers decided to launch a much-needed major upgrade, complete with paint and building repairs, rebuilding safety berms and improving pistol pits for various competitions, resurfacing the access road out to the 200-yard-line, repairing and refinishing shooting benches and installing new telephones.
The place looks brand new, and members who have so far visited the re-opened range have been favorably impressed.
The price tag had several zeros, and SVRC President Jaime Kemper told TGM it was a timely and needed investment. TGM visited the range (full disclosure, this reporter has been a member for decades) and realized it had undergone literally a complete facelift. It looks hardly anything like the facility did 20 or even 10 years ago.
SVRC goes back generations. The club was incorporated in 1946, but it had been an informal bunch even before that, going back all the way to the 1920s. The present range is located in a ravine downhill from the world-famous Snoqualmie Falls, where it has been operating for decades under agreement with the Weyerhaeuser Company. It is a perfect spot for a gun range, with something of a southwest-to-northeast layout so shooters have the afternoon sun at their backs, and it is surrounded on three sides by high canyon walls that are heavily timbered.
Originally, it was a picnic and campsite, but decades ago when there was a problem with trash piling up, and the SVRC was looking for a place to locate a safe shooting range, an arrangement was quickly made and members at the time went to work. Trees along the north side of the range area were left in place to provide shade for a nearby stream, and to prevent anglers in those days from crossing over into the range, everyone agreed to allow wild blackberry tangles to grow up, forming a natural barrier that is now home to small game and non-game species, and even an occasional deer will stroll across—as one did on TGM’s recent visit—putting a halt to any shooting activity.
Over the years, club membership has expanded to about 1,300, Kemper said. SVRC is now one of the largest gun clubs in western Washington, where it seems a majority of voters support candidates who press for gun control laws.
The club hosts all kinds of shooting disciplines, from black powder to a well-established juniors’ program that develops the next generation of safe shooters. It has hosted Action Pistol and Cowboy Action events, a muzzleloader’s “Rendezvous,” and firearms self-defense training course. Area law enforcement agencies also utilize the range facility at least once a month.
According to Kemper, the remodeling project involved weeks of planning, communicating with Weyerhaeuser about the proposed improvements, getting bids from contractors and then hiring a crew to do the work. Once the organization’s plans were approved, “We hit the go button,” Kemper said.
Sloping walls inside each of the restored pistol pits were covered with shredded wood material known for effectively stopping and absorbing bullets with no ricochets. There are now adequate ramps to the rifle and pistol shooting bays, and even the parking area has been improved.
Kemper told TGM that the shutdown order by Gov. Jay Inslee, who is well known in the Northwest as an anti-gunner, gave the club an opportunity to do important work that could not have been done if the range had been in use.
“You can’t get that done while people are shooting,” he chuckled.
Through much of the process, SVRC’s Ellen Clark was at the range nearly every day monitoring the construction process.
The end result is nothing short of wonderful, according to various members. It’s clean, the smell of fresh paint still lingers, and members are encouraged to sweep up their brass and keep things tidy.
With a growing interest in recreational and competitive shooting events outdoors, the SVRC range upgrade came at an opportune moment.
