Etowah Public Shooting Range
Rated 4 out of 5.0 based on 1 member reviews.
Address: 8302 Owls Hollow Road
Gadsden, AL 35901
Range Type: Shotgun, Pistol, Rifle, Muzzleloader
Hours: daylight hours only (except by permit)
Days Open:
Latitude: 34.00824 Longitude: -85.94424
Phone: 256 435-5422
Indoor: No
Outdoor: Yes
Maximum Distance: 200 yards
Firing Points: 0
Handguns Allowed: Yes
Rifles Allowed: Yes
Range Status: Open
Range Fee:
A valid hunting, heritage, fishing, or WMA license is required for all shooting range users between the ages of 16-64.
Directions:
The range is located approximately 5 miles north of Gadsden on Owl's Hollow Road in Etowah County.
GPS coordinates for the range are: 34 deg. 05' 00.98" N 85 deg. 55' 57.42" W.
Range Rules:
Range is open during daylight hours only (except by permit).
No alcoholic beverages allowed.
Any legal firearm and ammunition, except armor-piercing or tracer, may be used on target range.
Keep all firearms unloaded and muzzles pointed in a safe direction when not firing. Action on uncased guns shall be open when not on the firing line.
All persons are to remain behind the shooter while firing is taking place. No firing shall be allowed while anyone is down range.
All firearms (except as noted below in # 7) shall only be fired from designated stations on the concrete shooting line into the embankment at stationary paper targets. Targets must be placed so shots will impact the embankment no higher than 5' above ground level at the base of the embankment. Only one person may shoot from each designated location at any given time.
Shotguns with no. 4 shot or smaller may be fired at moving clay targets on designated clay areas only.
All used targets, brass, shotgun hulls, and other trash shall be placed in a garbage can, or removed from the range.
It shall be illegal to violate any posted restriction.
Member Reviews For This Range
Submitting member: Aaron B
Submitted on: February 3, 2015
Good Free Range
This is a great free public range. It is laid out for safety. The shooting tables are the best I have seen at a free range. It is a paper target only range. There are however some issues at this range. One is typical and that involves the users. Many do not know what the term "cold range" means. They will handle their firearms at the tables during a called cold range. A cold range means nobody handles their firearms at the firing line period.
The other issue is not as dangerous but is just as aggravating, maybe more. The range is managed by the Department of Conservation. To shoot there you need an Alabama hunting, fishing or management area licence. The local Game Wardens see over the range. Therein lies the problem. While they should be making sure the range is safe, they are more interested in giving people citations who don’t have the proper licences. I met a man who got a citation when he was not actually firing or using the range. He was there with a friend and told him he could not shoot because his fishing licence had expired. The wardens gave him a citation. He explained he had not fired a gun. The wardens said if he was standing under the canopy, he was using the range. He fought it in court. The warden did not show up and the judge put the trial off until the third time. He brought a witness that said he had not fired a gun there. The warden would still not back down and stuck to the story that if you are standing under the canopy you are using the range. The judge found him guilty, but did not fine him.
The moral of the story is, don’t take your wife or children who are sixteen or older to watch you shoot. They could get a citation just for watching you. I am not saying it, but many people I know have said two of the wardens who come there are real jerks. This is not the only story I have heard about those two wardens. One of the stories showed they don’t even know the Alabama law about wearing a firearm in a holster. These and other stories have been told to me by the people who were there first person and not just gossip.
Piedpiper46
