Some of you may notice that when you login to the SVSC website now, the first letters your browser displays in the address bar are "https", whereas before this week the browser displayed "http", without the "s" at the end. This is because the club has obtained a Trusted SSL Certificate to increase your security and privacy. Now, all communications between your browser and our website are encrypted to protect your identity and any information you enter or pull down from the website. There is nothing you have to do to activate this encryption...it's automatic. It also didn't cost the club anything...FREE is always good! Thanks to David Katinsky for taking the initiative to obtain and implement the certificate, and thanks also to member Chris Culligan for poking at David to get it done.  :-)

The club has received a letter from the NRA Deputy Executive Director, Joe DeBergalis, Jr., recognizing our club for being a 100% NRA Club.  See the document by clicking the link. 100 Percent Club Recognition Letter.pdf 

There is a large concrete pipe sticking out of the ground above and to the left of the impact area on the rifle range.  This pipe is an important part of our drainage system. If it breaks because people shoot at it, the club will have an expensive and difficult repair job. If we know who shoots a hole in it, we will charge them for the replacement. Also, shots that hit the pipe ricochet unpredictably and could injure someone off the range, or cause a fire in the surrounding woods.  

Recent hits on the pipe are the silvery/bluish ones that haven't oxidized or become covered with range dust.  

Cal Fire has determined that the Detweiler wildland fire near Yosemite was caused by people shooting on public land.  As a result of this and because of the severe fire conditions, the BLM has posted several new restrictions on shooting on BLM lands. Some of us like to go to BLM areas for target shooting because it's informal and good places to do longer range target shooting. 

These regulations don't affect our range, as we are not on BLM land, but nevertheless, we need to be extra careful because of fire hazards in our area.  

Bureau of Land Management - California

Yesterday at 4:41pm · 

This weekend, please remember the following if you are planning to go recreational shooting on public lands:

-- Cross-country travel is not permitted outside of OHV open area boundaries, so please stay on designated routes.
-- Never shoot from or over any road or highway.
-- Always use a safe backdrop.
-- Glass and exploding targets are prohibited.
-- Do not use plastic pellets, tracer rounds, exploding rounds, or steel-core rounds.
-- Do not attach targets to plants or place targets against rocks, plants, or solid objects. It is illegal to deface or destroy trees, signs, outbuildings, or other objects on federal lands.
-- Carry in your targets and carry out all litter, brass and shell casings. All targets, shell casings, debris and trash must be removed. #leavenotrace#treadlightly

For more information on recreational shooting or areas closed during fire season visit: on.doi.gov/2u8LHB0

You can also contact your local BLM office for questions regarding specific areas: blm.gov/contact/california

The club is introducing an updated design for the pistol house target frames.  This new design is very similar to the prior design, with the following key changes:

1. The top crossbar has been increased in length to 40" so that the frames can be hung on the brackets on the right wall of the range.  This will decrease clutter there and make it easier to select a frame to use.
2. The bottom cross bar has been moved down 6" to enable use of a standard 35" police target such as used by the SVPD and Seaside Security. This will reduce the incidence of police/seaside training shooting up frames when they use their standard targets. 
3. The triangle corners have been re-positioned so that they do not intrude into the target space.  We know people will still hit them, but this will make them a bit less likely to get shot up. 
4. We are marking the top crossbar on one side with the legend "Target Side".  Staple cardboard backing on the other side, and place targets on the "Target Side" of the cardboard.  This will insure that you can see the frame when shooting and reduce the rate at which we shoot up frames.  

Our existing  cardboard inventory was cut to fit a 30" x 30" target space, and is 6" short for the new frames. The next time we order cardboard we will order a larger size, but for now, please live with the cardboard being a bit short on either the top or bottom.

Pistol Target Frames.pdf

The City of Scotts Valley General Plan Advisory Committee is working on a complete update to the city's 23 year old general plan.  Part of this effort involves an online survey which you can take to provide input to the GPAC committee.  If you live in the City of Scotts Valley, please log on and take the survey.  This is your chance to tell the city what you like/don't like in the city, and what you would like done to make Scotts Valley a better place to live. Click this link to take the survey if you live in Scotts Valley. General Plan Update Community Visioning Survey 

The generator key has reappeared in the generator shed.  Thanks!

The electric lock on the back pedestrian gate at the range has been fixed. The lock was damaged by water during the winter rains, and after several attempts to fix it, we decided that we had to purchase a new lock. There were also some difficulties getting the new lock programmed, but as of this morning it is working and your key cards should work.  

The SVPD police training originally on our events calendar for 5/24/17 has been moved to 5/30/17 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 noon. Both ranges will be closed that day. In case you are curious, the SVPD uses the Rifle Range when doing pistol qualification because they qualify at longer ranges than possible in our pistol range.  

Apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced by the late change in the schedule for SVPD use of the Rifle Range this morning. There was a miscommunication between the PD and our club officers regarding their need to use the Rifle Range and an error in posting that resulted in some people not realizing that there was PD training on the calendar for today. In case you are curious, the SVPD uses the Rifle Range when doing pistol qualification because they qualify at longer ranges than possible in our Pistol Range. They use the Pistol Range for close up training, holster work, etc. They are usually very good about scheduling in advance, today was just a communications error of some sort.  

Special thanks to Don Fraser and Steve Reiniger for spending this Saturday morning at the range repairing and building new target frames. In case you ever wondered where the target frames come from, it's members like this who help out by building and refurbishing them.

Also, a big thanks to probationary member Don Prudhon of Prudhon Builders for donating his time, truck and trailer this morning to haul out the big pile of trash left over from the April work party.  Ten yards of trash, leaves, sticks, old target frames, wire, pipe, etc. off to the dump!