English Pit Shooting Range — Local services in Vancouver

I am so glad I took my son here to play with our Henry .22 with others on the firing range for the first time. We were greeted to a utilitarian and relaxed environment that begins with wooden steps down to an entrance kiosk where you sign in, then more stairs down to the bottom level of what you might imagine as a side of a steep hillside with two well separated shooting pits. On the left you have pistols and rimfire/50 yard, to the right you have centerfire/50 and 100 yard range areas.

I've been practicing with the kid at a private range without other people present, but I decided to get him in a public space and expose him to other people shooting around him to gauge his safety and help teach. David, the RSO, made the experience a positive one and in a way that I won't forget. He included my son in safety, quizzed him on major points while simultaneously deferring to me, checked in with the other shooters at the range, he was on it. The other shooters were also friendly and kind. When I neglected to bring targets (I was gonna buy some there but I forgot to ask!) he yelled to his buddy and grabbed one for us. When the line was made cold, he explained in detail about what cold range means and made an effort in helping me teach my son about safe shooting. A guy was shooting an AR pistol at another shooting bench across the way, David initially said "I don't give a damn dude, hell yeah fire away!" then at next round he walked up to us and asked us if it was too loud. My kid nodded his head, and he walked over to the guy and said "alright you gotta go to the centerfire pit, cmon!". Just that kind of watching out. Loose and relaxed but safe.

I've already told a bunch of my friends about the English Pit. It's right up my alley. To David: Thanks so much man. I love the picture you took of us. Thank you for making an important teaching moment that...

For a born again virgin shooter this was a good "first" experience. It's my first time ever shooting at a legit range, the staff was knowledgeable, they definitely are fond of weapons in general, not very high on social skills. During our introduction there were some negative comments about if we can't behave we should just go back to Portland, so they definitely are more welcoming to people who actually live in Washington. But from the looks of the crowd , I would say the majority of Oregon is supporting what's left of this place. They have a good variety of weapons, nothing has been maintained, we chose two different guns both 22s, the revolver worked great without any issues, the Ruger was jamming constantly and A worker brought down his personal Ruger and It did exactly the same thing because none of the guns have been maintained or oiled. If you were coming here to just try it out, I say it is a good place to get over your fear of guns and others using them. I would definitely recommend coming here if you're bringing your own guns, your own ammo and just paying the fee for the day which is about $19. If you don't have your own gun and will be renting, it will take you about an hour to get checked in, so be prepared to wait. I personally do not own my own gun so I will not be returning to this location but it did not completely destroy my spirit so I will be trying other local ranges here in Oregon that are happy to have...

First off I want to say that I’ve been going to this range for years and always have great experiences there. Dave is a very kind professional there and will gig you if you don’t follow the rules. Caught me once brain farting haha. I always appreciate the ROs keeping us safe. There is a review below about the ATF and whether an AR pistol can be shouldered, well, it can end of story. You can google the letter stating so. Just because you use a can of corn to drive a nail doesn’t make make it a hammer, same goes with the AR pistol. The only issue I’ve had was today after the all wise Washington governor declared a state of emergency because of a few inches of snow. I was able to drive my RWD sports car in it just fine. Anyway, the wife and I checked their schedule the day before and it stated it was going to be open today. So we made a trip of it. Got a hotel just so we didn’t have to get up so early. We went shopping and what not the night before, got up at 7am ate breakfast and then checked the range schedule again for GPs. Closed... all over a few inches of snow. Needless to say pretty upset about that. We were told rain snow or shine when we first started going there. Let’s hope they stop following our illustrious governors sky is falling mentality...