Foothills Public Shooting Complex is the largest outdoor shooting range in the Southeastern United States.
A crowd of shooters filled out most of the lanes at the 50-yard rifle range on a recent weekday at the Foothills Public Shooting Complex.
That is a fairly common site at Range #3, which has become the most popular destination at the complex, according to Range Master Ron Newcomb. The 50-yard range is even busier on weekends, when the complex sees its highest attendance numbers.
“I’ve seen as many as 10 people standing in line right here on this sidewalk trying to get in to shoot,” Newcomb said.
To keep up with the demand, the Foothills Public Shooting Complex is increasing the size of that range by 50 percent. Contractors began work this week to add six new lanes to the 12 lanes currently in place at Range #3.
The N.C. Wildlife Commission will pay for 75 percent of the $38,790 expansion project, with the remaining cost balance being covered by earned revenue at the range.
The 50-yard range will remain open on Fridays and Saturdays, with construction scheduled for Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The hope is to have the new lanes open sometime in November.
Though the 50-yard rifle range is most popular, the Foothills complex also offers a 250-yard rifle range, a 20-yard pistol range, a 50-yard multi-purpose range, skeet and trap shooting, as well as archery practice and a 3D archery range.
The 250-yard rifle range currently opens later than the 50-yard rifle range on weekdays because the demand is much higher for the shorter range.
Newcomb said the complex staff is constantly monitoring range use to meet the demands of customers efficiently.
By the numbers
In its first year, the complex brought in 12,526 customers. The complex improved upon that attendance in its second year, bringing in 16,107 people.
With additional lanes coming to the complex’s most popular range, Newcomb expects that trend to continue.
“I think it’s only going to grow to be honest,” Newcomb said.
To date, the range has had more than 35,000 visits. The number of total individual customers is 18,029, indicating the range has generated return visitors.
While some are from Cleveland County, many come from the surrounding area and beyond. The range has seen visitors from 45 states and 17 countries.
“I live in Concord so I drive an hour to get here. There’s an indoor range 12 minutes from my house, but the indoor ranges aren’t as fun,” he said.
For Geer, it has become a tradition to shoot with friends at the range in the morning before taking a lunch break to grab barbecue from Bridges.
More changes and what’s to come
In April, the Foothills Public Shooting Complex opened a classroom for training sessions just up the road from the complex.
More than 1,000 officers have been through law enforcement training at the complex since it opened in 2016. The new classroom gives the complex a larger room to conduct training and classes than they have at their office.
The building and eight acres of land were donated to the complex by the Cleveland County Law Enforcement Association.
Plumbing and carpentry students from Cleveland Community College conducted most of the necessary renovations to get the building ready, and both the college and the complex are able to use the building for classes and training sessions.
Newcomb has a few goals for the future of the complex as well.
Foothills Public Shooting Complex hosts a Steel Challenge shooting competition every third Saturday of the month, and Newcomb hopes to increase tournaments all around to drive more people to the ranges.
Newcomb’s main goal is to host a National Glock Competition, which has been known to drive around 1,100 people in Morganton.
While the shooting ranges have proven popular, archery has not been drawing big crowds to the complex. But the range has hosted a couple pop-up 3D archery competitions, and Newcomb is hopeful that continuing to do so will drive more numbers at the archery range.
“We’re working on boosting our archery events to get more attendance with archery,” Newcomb said.
Casey White can be reached at 704-669-3339 or cwhite@shelbystar.com.