Tri-Cities Metallic Silhouette Association

Two rocks were purposefully placed in front of benches 14 & 16 and used as targets.   Rocks are not acceptable targets at any time and in this case the problem was compounded by placing them on flat ground nowhere near a berm; there is no way the bullets were impacting a berm as our rules require.

Shooting rocks is dangerous for many reasons, two that should immediately come to mind is the almost assured ricochet and the probability of sparking .   Direction of a ricochet from a hard uneven surface is unpredictable and creates a hazard not only for the shooter but anyone else at the range.    The range is extremely dry, it doesn’t take much of a spark to ignite a fire. A fire at the range that then escapes creates liability that may well close us down.   

I’d ask that anyone having information about this situation to contact an officer or board member.

President John Drewrey

President John Drewrey

The Main range will remain open.

Mechanical issues keep Ron Hanson from finishing the mowing Monday. He completed the Main Range and much of the fire break. Gary Stratton has offered to mow the Sporter Ranger Wednesday morning and so the Sporter Range will be closed from 7AM – 12PM.

President John Drewrey

At the June meeting Chuck May was voted in as Vice President , and Mark Edgel as Secretary. The club thanks you both for stepping up.

Rule Change

During the June meeting the motion on guests that had been presented in May was discussed and passed as amended. As a result, the following text replaces the former ‘Range Control Rules ‘ #4

# 4 Except for club scheduled events,  members in good standing may control a maximum of 5 guests/visitors. Only 2 of a member’s guests/visitors may handle firearms at the same time and only when the member is present and within a reasonable distance to stop unsafe acts.  Keep children under direct supervision. Unsafe guests/visitors will be directed to leave. 

The new rule will be considered in full effective July 1, between now and then please gently bring the rule change to people’s attention if they seem to have missed the memo The range rules on the web site will be republished soon. A copy reflecting the change is posted in the Rail Car with the recent changes clearly marked with pink arrows.

Additional Motions

During the June meeting two additional motions for changes to the rules or policy book were made and seconded. The complete text is posted here as the policy book requires.

First motion – Remove historical fees in Policy Book #20

Current text –

#20- Annual membership fee schedule: 2023 – Dues $70, work party credit $25, new member $90; 2024 – Dues $80, work party credit $30, new member $100; 2025 – Dues $90, work party credit $35, new member $110; 2026 & beyond – Dues $100, work party credit $40, new member $120. Members that provide extraordinary service to the club may have the entire membership fee waived. The decision to wave membership fees will be made by the club officers.

Proposed text –

Annual membership fees – dues $110, work party credit $40, new member $130. Members that provide extraordinary service to the club may have the entire membership fee waived. The decision to wave membership fees will be made by the club officers.

Note : At the Sept 6^th meeting clarification will be required to determine if this was intended as a dues increase or to reflect the total out of pocket cost – current dues + State sales tax collection as recently required by the WA legislature.

Second motion – replace the text of the Range Rules – TCMSA Key Rules” – the first bullet

Current text –

Cold Range: Firearm handling forbidden, cased or uncased, anywhere on the range including the parking lot.

Proposed replacement text –

Cold Range: Firearms contained withing a hard case (TSA guidance or similar) or within a padded soft case, or holster secured while being worn by the shooter may be moved at any time in the parking lot all the way to the firing line. Firearms must remain holstered or closed and latched or zippered in their case until the range is hot. Uncased firearms may not be handled anywhere including the parking lot until all ranges are hot.

Both motions will be open for discussion, amendment and vote at the next general meeting, currently scheduled for Sept 3rd.

President John Drewrey

There is a special edition of the newsletter that has a lot of important business issues addressed. You can find it here: Newsletter

Main and Sporter Ranges will be closed.

The 100-yard and 200-yard wooden supports for the competitive target frames will be one focus. Peter Clark will be supervising.

I had thought all the old tubular target frame supports for the main range had been changed but there are at least two sets remaining. If we have the materials by that time those will be replaced. In any case we need to move the 50-yard set on the sporter range closer to the wall. There are red flags indicating approx. location.

There is a substantial uptick in brass left unpoliced at the range. Steel cases do not seem to be picking themselves up either. A group will focus on firing line clean up during the work party.

I will bring a small tractor and work to make the new gravel at the sporter range parking area lay a bit closer to flat. There is road work that could be done as well, should additional machinery show up.

There is a possibility warranty work will be done on the new picnic tables, if that turns out to be the case portable drills will be needed for disassembly.

There are always weeds that need to be whacked so we are not going to run out of things to do.

We need someone with a pickup to haul away the rubble from the old picnic tables and used target frames.

Attendees will receive a $40 work party credit towards the 2027 dues.

President John Drewrey