Events/Trails ROTM - April; Tour of Saddleback Mtn Recreation Area Shooting Ranges (Sat, Apr12)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

LongDuck

LongDuck

10 Year
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Threads
49
Messages
1,727
Location
N. Phx
April Run Of The Month (ROTM) - though I hesitate to call it a run, as you could do it in a car - but it's open to CSC members;

Tour of Saddleback Mountain Recreational Shooting Sites (*all 3 in the Saddleback Mtn area)

Date: Saturday, April 12
Time: NOTE NEW START TIME of 9a Meet up at Carefree Hwy & I17 "Four Sons (*aka Four Thieves)" Chevron station
Duration: Likely 4-6hrs, but easy access to pavement if people want to duck out early

Description: The Saddleback Mountain Recreation Area has added 3 public shooting ranges in the past few years - Baldy Mountain, Church Camp, and Saddleback Mountain ranges. These are managed by Bureau of Land Management and are free for public use during normal daylight hours. These are first-come, first-served shooting ranges offering pistol ranges from 15-25yds and rifle ranges from 100 to 700 yards, and we'll be running them from North to South, starting at Baldy Mountain, then to Church Camp where the best shooting opportunities are for most shooters, followed by Saddleback Mountain which offers long-range rifle shooting from 200-700 yards. All ranges feature steel targets of varying size and NO PRIVATE TARGETS are allowed. Ranges are ALWAYS HOT, so there is zero range trash downrange. Shooters should plan for dry, hot desert conditions and bring plenty of water.
Screenshot_20250324-191056.jpg

If you're interested in this run in April, please reply here I'll gather a count. Given this is a Saturday and the ranges are likely to be crowded, I'm aiming for no more than 6-8 vehicles or we can split into 2 groups if more people want to do the run. Being on the North-West side of Phoenix, this may only appeal to a small number of club members and I've heard back that this is a CSC Club recognized run - given the potential liabilities involved, we will cover the 4 Rules of Gun Safety at the Driver's Meeting, which are;

1. All guns are always loaded.
2. Keep your finger off the trigger u til your sights are on target and you're ready to fire.
3. Never let the muzzle cover anything you're not willing to destroy.
4. Know your target, what's in front and behind it.
8757.jpeg

If you're NOT a shooter, feel free to come along! We'll all have .22LR (small caliber) training guns that I'd be happy to teach on and this club is amazing for being easy going and helpful. If you ARE a shooter, bring out your good attitude and safety mindset to help others as ambassadors to the shooting sports.

I'll post more info as we get closer to the date, and here are a few links for those interested;
www.blm.gov

Baldy Mountain Recreational Shooting Site - Arizona | Bureau of Land Management

Near Phoenix, enjoy long-range rifle shooting from 100-, 200-, 300-, 400- and 500-yard shooting lanes with steel targets.
www.blm.gov www.blm.gov
www.blm.gov

Saddleback Mountain Recreational Shooting Site Map | Bureau of Land Management

Explore a map of the Saddleback Mountain Recreational Shooting Site, which is north of Phoenix in Maricopa County.
www.blm.gov www.blm.gov
www.blm.gov

Church Camp Road Recreational Shooting Site - Arizona | Bureau of Land Management

Near Phoenix, enjoy rifle and pistol shooting at 50-, 100-, 200-yard shooting lanes with fixed, 6- and 12-inch steel targets.
www.blm.gov www.blm.gov
 
Last edited:
Let's get a few more voices in the room and maybe we can consider moving it to earlier (~8a-9a meetup?). This would also help to beat the heat,...
 
I posted the start time as 10a - but can we get started an hour earlier at 9a, if that fits wih everyone's schedule? Trying to help out @jtreger who needs to bug out early.

We'll still plan to hit all 3 ranges. I'll see if my brother can tag along, too - since that seems to be the theme!
 
LongDuck said:
Calling all those who showed prior interest; @Somebodyelse5
@Highway Romping
@Mudy mudskipper
Click to expand...
I'm ok with 8-9a.
LongDuck said:
I posted the start time as 10a - but can we get started an hour earlier at 9a, if that fits wih everyone's schedule? Trying to help out @jtreger who needs to bug out early.

We'll still plan to hit all 3 ranges. I'll see if my brother can tag along, too - since that seems to be the theme!
Click to expand...
i’m flexible on time. Just don’t expect me to be very chatty before 8a 🤣
 
Thanks, guys! Updated #1 above;

Date: Saturday, April 12
Time: NOTE NEW START TIME of 9a Meet up at Carefree Hwy & I17 "Four Sons (*aka Four Thieves)" Chevron station
Duration: Likely 4-6hrs, but easy access to pavement if people want to duck out early
 
To be clear for the meetup I have the following planned participants;

1. LongDuck (+1 brother, maybe...😁)
2. @Somebodyelse5
3. @Highway Romping
4. @Mudy mudskipper
5. @jtreger
6. @NeVrDun
7. Anybody else...?

The meetup time is 9a this Saturday, Apr12 at the following location;

TRAMONTO CHEVRON
(Carefree Hwy. & I-17)
3150 W. Carefree Hwy
Phoenix, AZ 85086

In this same parking lot is a McDonald's, a Subway, and various other donut, sushi, etc. restaurants, along with an Albertsons grocery store if you want to shop food & drink. Pease be ready to depart by 9:15 or so, and it's only a 20min drive to the first range (Baldy Mountain). Along the way, I'll be on 146.460mHz (HAM, Simplex) pointing out landmarks and giving some history of the area. Once we arrive at the 1st shooting range of the morning, we'll do a quick safety briefing and then get to shooting!

From there, we'll head back to Carefree Hwy and West to the Church Camp Road facility. This is actually one of my favorite ranges because it offers pistol (15-25yd) and rifle targets (100-200yd). There's also a covered Ramada where people can take a break, and it's a good spot to eat lunch after everyone has had their "short range" fun. Back out to Carefree Hwy to the East and it's on to long range shooting, for those who are up for it. If you're done for the day, peel off and stay on Carefree Hwy East back to I17 - about a 15min drive.

The last stop will be the Saddleback Mountain Rifle Range which has steel targets from 200-700yd. The parking is a bit further from the firing line, so we'll grab our favorite rifle(s) and it's a short walk up. We can spend as much time here as anybody cares, as this range is limited to rifles, is usually not nearly as busy, and the line is physically smaller, so we may have to take turns shooting. Leaving this range turns East on Carefree Hwy and is 15min back to I17.

All 3 ranges are state managed (Bureau of Land Management) and there are no fees for use. Further, all are maintained roads on public land requiring no permits for transit.

If anyone is running late, give me a call at 602-738-sixfiveOeight, and we'll make accommodations. Thanks guys for your interest, and I look forward to this day out enjoying the shooting sports!

Screenshot_20250409-151559.jpg
 
Last edited:
Added NeVrDun. If you have shooting tables or shoot in mats, you can make the call at the first 2 ranges. You'll definitely want something at the 700yd range, as there's nothing but pea gravel - perfect if you love laying in the dirt! I'll have a portable table for long range that I'll drag out.

If you have any spare 9mm or .223 factory ammo laying around, bring it along. I'll leave it at that... 😎!
 
Others may still be at the event but I had to leave early.
Had a great time and even got HighwayRomping to help me out with radio technology, thanks Chris. Huge shout out to LongDuck for all of the care-taking and attention to SAFETY at the range, and on the trail. Very nice to have that guidance.
 
Post-Run Report

First off, huge THANK YOU to the guys who came out yesterday! We had a collection of 1× 200 (Lexus?), 2× 80s (Lexus & my LandCruiser), 1×40 (recent LS swap) and a stick-shift Taco. We also parked with an FJ Cruiser at the first stop and I dropped a CSC business card on their DS window when we left. Total of 8 participants / shooters, and a nice selection of short- and long-range hardware, too.

As you can see in the pictures already posted, it was a great day to be out. The Driver's Meeting at the meetup location included a safety briefing, and all of our club members showed outstanding safety skills, both on the road and on the range. The first stop of the day (*Baldy Mountain Range) got everybody started and we mostly had the range to ourselves. Special thanks to @Highway Romping for tail-gunning for me, as he was called on to double-back to check on a run participant who pulled off to take some pics of the desert. We leave no one behind!

The second range stop was a lot busier (*Church Camp Rd), and we passed by a MCSO felony stop on a blue Mustang on the way. This range was busy, but we did a great job looking out for each other. Split our time here equally between the pistol bay and the 200yd rifle bay, and I'm pretty sure everybody had a great time judging by the smiles all around.

Skipping lunch, and with a hurried departure, we headed to the 3rd and final stop of Saddleback Mountain to shoot long range and the bigger rifles came out. High clouds and light winds blessed us to keep the temps down as day progressed and we soon had this range all to ourselves. A couple of the guys were quickly hitting the steel target at 700yds - and being a 24" steel disk, that represents just under 4MOA from edge to edge. Great shooting by everyone.

All in all, we put in roughly 35mi of track, mostly blacktop. A few participants peeled off at various times to head back to Phoenix, and a good time was had. Trail comms were done on HAM which allowed me to be a tour guide along the way and kept us all together on the route. Thank you to all who attended for your consideration for safety at the range, and for contributing to a fun trip for everyone involved. Looking forward to the next one,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom