Elm Fork Shooting Sports — Local services in Dallas

Clay shooting side was great since there aren't range safety officers breathing down your neck. You mostly just look out for your own safety and enjoy yourself without being watched like a hawk. One thing to add is that if you are pressing the button to fire a clay and nothing happens, do not continue pressing it hoping it will work. Sometimes the button may not have registered your push, but in our case, the B-tower was out of clay and launching from empty. In the end our total cost was heavily exaggerated compared to the actual number of clays we were launching- around $80 for two shooters, which is absurd considering we brought our own ammo of around ~100 shots firing around 1-2 shots per clay. And Clay was all we had to pay for. May or may not be an issue for some. Another thing was the man at check out that was absolutely impersonable.

The steel/pistol bays, however, are unenjoyable. From what I witnessed while waiting for a vacant stall, the range officers are very unprofessional and talk down to people who are new to shooting. The one-round-per-second rule is heavily enforced unlike at other ranges where it is treated on a case-by-case basis, as it should be. After knocking all 6 pieces of steel with about 0.8 seconds per shot (instead of 1 second), the lady behind me yelled not to shoot that fast again, even after observing that I had complete control over where my shots were landing with no misses. It is a safety issue to unnecessarily raise your voice in an environment where everyone is wielding a loaded firearm. There is a clear lack of humility by the RSO's that walk around like they are superior to others. I understand the need to occasionally deal with nutjobs and such, but that is no excuse to reduce your service quality to the majority of other shooters looking to have a good time.

One other thing I also witnessed a range safety officer do was manipulate other people's firearms without permission. At one point even, an RSO reset the steel targets for one group of people and then afterwards proceeded to draw his own weapon and begin firing on the targets before allowing the group to continue shooting. Again, another situation that may or may not seem like a big deal at a gun range, but is just very unprofessional. It was stressful watching how the other beginner/novice shooters were treated for simply just trying to experience something for the first time. It was also generally a stressful and unenjoyable experience having to limit myself and my shooting ability because of their strict rules. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your shooting ability and experience around firearms.

If you enjoy sporting clay, are a beginner that wants to practice shooting a handgun, just need to sight your rifle in at the longer range bays, or just want to chill and not care too much about improvement, you may be able to get what you want out of Elm Fork. For advanced shooters looking to take your shooting to the next level or for shooters that do not enjoy having to bow down to an egotistical RSO, this is definitely not the...

They split up firing ranges by gun type, but there’s a tactical area that lets you shoot any type. We went there since we had a 12 gauge, a SCAR, a Tavor, glock 9mm, beretta .40, Mauser 8x57, etc.

The road leading in is very rough gravel FYI, and when we got there half the parking lot was flooded. All the spaces by the stalls were dry however, which is maybe 50 feet away from where people are shooting. Surprising close with no barrier.

Staff was friendly but firm, spent around $20 for the lane, don’t remember exactly. Came with one paper target.

Targets are manual, they are held up by pieces of wood you can move. If you want to adjust your target you need to wait for a cease fire.

You put your bags down and wait for a cease fire to even bring out your guns. Once he calls a cease fire, he will check every gun on the tables to make sure there’s no clip and the chamber is open. Never pass the red led during his inspection or fear getting yelled at.

Once the inspection is good, you are allowed to put up your targets. If you are not doing that and are by the table, you will be yelled at to get behind the line.

Finally he will call the ok to fire. Now you can approach the bench, pull out your guns and fire away. Staff doesn’t like if you approach your guns while people are putting up targets, this is common sense and for safety. They want to make sure while people are out in the field, no one is messing with any guns.

As long as your being extremely safe and waiting, there are no issues and you can have fun. To my dismay, they don t let buckshot in the shotguns at the stalls. This makes sense because the scatter can ricochet, and is common to other ranges.

Why 4 stars? It started to rain and the stalls got crazy flooded. Of course I don’t blame them for the rain, but there’s no way to stop the flooding into the stalls and it happens FAST when it starts to rain, we literally had to rush to pick up our bags because the water was about to get them. The problem is that we were done then and there, when we were not done shooting. We paid to be there as long as we want, but it floods so bad when it rains you must stop.

I know it’s an outdoor range and maybe this can’t be helped because of their exact location, but if you plan to shoot for hours and get flooded out in the middle, your not going to be as happy as if you had gone somewhere else that doesn’t flood.

Again, it’s the flooding issue cutting your time short that is the problem, not the rain. The rain actually stopped after 10 minutes but it was already flooded so we were done either way.

I hate to say it, it’s a good range, but if there’s any chance for rain then go somewhere else. It’s not their “fault” but it’s not mine either. I would have expected the stalls to be situated such that they don’t flood, maybe add some drainage or...

Very disappointed in coming to this range. I came to this range on Saturday. 7/14/18 between the hours of 1pm to 4pm at the Tactical Bay #10. I was shooting my rifle and pistols. You will need this information to find out who was the employee since I did not have the pleasure of getting his name. However he was white male, short and was in the "Army". That completely discouraged myself and my fellow Veterans from coming back.

First - I understand the importance of range safety and rules. That's why they are there. To make sure everyone is being safe and following the rules. In no way shape or form a range employee is to eavesdrop into a private conversation when we where not even on the firing line by interrupting our conversation by shouting "Don't listen to that man." And throwing his two cents into the conversation. When he didn't hear the whole conversation in the first place.

Second - If a first time shooter is being shown to shoot with one eye closed then let them. Once again the same employee interrupted a private conversation by barking "Would you drive with one eye closed?" "Then why would you?" "That's how I was trained in the Army."

Third- I understand range safety. Please have the range officers tell the shooters to hang the targets below the lines on the poles. We were never told first off. Nor does it say any where in plain sight.

I was in the Marines and I understand range discipline and safety. But this will be my last time coming back. Needless to say the whole experience was very discouraging and disappointing. I will never come back here again. I will be sure to tell my fellow Veterans and Law Enforcement to void this place to make sure they do not have the same disappointing experience...