At this time WRRC is resuming quasi normal operations. All outdoor Events, Member Renewal Nights, and Safety and Orientation are all resuming as normally scheduled. Keep an eye on our calendar to stay up to date. Since the state is still extending Covid 19 practices please keep social distancing and maintaining high levels of hygiene. If you have any questions please contact the Board of Trustees at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

During this time we'd like to thank you again for your patience and support!

David Belmont | WRRC Club President

It’s been a busy May for Capital Improvements. The second archery target cover on the 30 yard line is complete. Archers may now shoot “target” arrows at the 20 and 30 yard lines. If you want to train with broadheads, please bring your own targets. There are NO FIREARMS of any kind allowed on the Archery Range. Anyone caught shooting and damaging the target covers will immediately forfeit their membership.

Substantial progress has been made on the shop/storage building adjacent to the Upper Rifle Range.
We will have new garage type doors installed in approximately ten days from now. A new man door will be installed about the same time. All the “stuff” in the old scoring shack will be relocated to the larger building and the old scoring shack will become the new scoring shack(again) for the rifle match shooters. Many thanks to Board members Sharon Rose, Brian Ernsberger, and Chris Wilder for all their hard work on the shop. It took quite a while.

Hopefully we will get a truck load or two of gravel to dress up a couple of ranges before this month is out. It will be a part of the range restoration generated by the 100 year flood last year.
Perhaps we can install the safety gate at the Upper Rifle Range before the month is out as well. This will help insure you will be safe when you go downrange.

When our time on the P.U.D.’s schedule arrives, they will install a pole at the edge of the Upper Rifle Range parking lot and we will run electricity to the large building. Then Board member Chris Wilder will install some lighting and receptacles to be used by our members. Safety strobe lights and audibles will be installed after that. Your Board of Directors are definitely concerned about every member’s safety.

Head of Range Maintenance Ron Skaggs

• Always treat every firearm as if it is loaded.
• Keep your finger straight an off of the trigger until your sights are on the target.
• Never point the muzzle of your firearm at anything that you are not willing to shoot.
• Know your target and what lies beyond it.

• This is your range. Make your Mother proud by picking up and disposing of your trash.
• Wearing your red lanyard with your membership card is mandatory.
• Please observe all posted safety notices.
• Do not shoot any type of steel core or similar ammo at our steel targets.
• Observe range closing time. It will vary with the seasons. Times will be posted on the front gate.
• Our website is www.wenrrc.org
• Our e-mail is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | Our Phone Number is 509.662.2388
•  

The original Python was produced from 1955 until 1996. It has a medium size frame and a six shot cylinder. The barrel has a full length underlug and a ventilated rib on top. The full length underlug, which is actually the hollow ejector rod shroud, was designed to help reduce recoil and to make the revolver point better during fast double action fire. The vent rib was designed to help dissipate heat during long strings of shooting.

The revolver has an adjustable rear sight (either a Colt-Elliason sight or an Accro sight) and a red ramp front sight. It was produced with 2.5, 3,4,6, and 8 inch barrels. Finishes offered were blue, Royal Blue, nickel, and stainless steel. My Python was made in 1995, and it has the Royal Blue finish, the 8 inch barrel, the Accro rear sight, and black soft rubber grips with silver Colt medallions. Earlier versions came with checkered walnut grips.

While most handgunners automatically think of the .357 Magnum because most Pythons were chambered for that cartridge, the Python was also chambered in .256 Winchester Magnum, .41 Magnum, and .44 Special, although production was extremely limited. Also, Colt advertised the Python in .22 LR and .22 Magnum, but those chamberings were never actually produced.
The Python was the second Colt double action revolver named for a snake. Others include Cobra (1950, reintroduced in 2017), Diamondback (1966), Viper (1977), Boa (1985), King Cobra (1986, reintroduced in 2019), and Anaconda (1990).

Joel Hutchcroft Shooting Times July 2020

The 2 A acid test. How to make a fool out of a “Gun Safety Advocate”. Earlier this year, there were two occasions when this correspondent wound up in broadcast discussions with gun prohibitionists trying to pass themselves off as “gun safety advocates.”

In one of these encounters, it seemed necessary to remind the listening audience there was one certified firearms instructor in the room and it wasn’t the other person who was representing a Seattle based gun prohibition lobbying group.

Take this as a learning experience because the elections are on the horizon, you’re a voter with an opportunity to question candidates and you might wind up in a debate with some gun grabber who claims to be an authority on gun safety or a member of some so-called “gun safety” organization. This is where you can put them on the spot and they will unintentionally help you do it.

N.R.A. Certified firearms instructors have a card identifying them as such. Mine has been protected with a laminated plastic cover. A friend who used to be a lobbyist was also an instructor and he habitually pulled out his instructor’s card to ask opponents, “Do you have one of these? If you don’t, you probably shouldn’t be here talking about gun safety.”

If you can’t say you’re a certified instructor, the next best thing is to challenge these anti-gunners to recite the four rules of gun safety as set down by the late Col. Jeff Cooper, the “Father of the Modern Technique.” The founder of the American Pistol Institute, now known as the Gunsite Acadamy, Cooper kept it simple and his rules have withstood the test of time:

• Always treat every firearm as if it is loaded.
• Keep your finger straight an off of the trigger until your sights are on the target.
• Never point the muzzle of your firearm at anything that you are not willing to shoot.
• Know your target and what lies beyond it.

There may be a moment of silence, possibly a blank stare as your opponent’s try to figure out who Cooper was and maybe offer a remark about “not being the point” before they scramble to change the subject. This is when you’ve got them. They can’t answer directly since they don’t know. Whatever else is said after this point, just keep reminding your opponent, and anyone else listening, your question wasn’t answered.

Here’s another way to make these people look foolish: offer to take them shooting. If they’ve claimed to be gun owners, invite them to bring their own firearms. 

If or when one of these people claims to be a gun owner, it’s easy to make them stammer by asking, “Oh, how many guns do you own? Or better still, “How many guns have you owned? If you sold one or two to someone else, did you require the buyer to go through a background check?”

It’s not unfair to ask when was the last time they went to the range to practice? Have you taken a gun safety course? The same questions apply to anyone running for local public office.
If you’re in a discussion with somebody who says he or she is a member of a “gun safety” group, stop them cold by asking, “Oh, where do you hold classes on gun safety?”

When they respond, “We don’t really hold classes,” (and they will) this a moment to remind them they’ve got no business preaching gun safety if they’re not teaching gun safety.

The same strategy applies to meeting candidates because the next eight weeks should provide plenty of opportunities to attend at least one of these sessions. Any candidate who claims to support “gun safety” legislation should be challenged to recite Cooper’s Four Rules.

Here’s another way to make these people look foolish: Offer to take them shooting. If they’ve claimed to be gun owners, invite them to bring their own firearms.

A couple of years ago, as a private citizen and constituent, I attended a public forum with three local legislators. A woman in the audience demanded to know if the Republican state representative had taken money from the National Rifle Association.

It’s a fair question, but the savvy activist should immediately counter by asking whether the politician or candidate has accepted contributions from Everytown for Gun Safety or a regional or local gun control group.

Dave Workman Guns July 2020

The .45-70 (1873) is the cartridge that really won the West. Although officially in service only 19 years, it was widely used in the Spanish00-American war in 1898. By then it had long been America’s standard choice for larger game, and amazingly, it remains popular today.

Then and now, the .45-70 is the most common cartridge in big single shot actions. John Marlin’s Model 1881 lever action was the first repeating action large enough to house the .45-70, followed by the Winchester Model 1886 and the Marlin 1895.

Today it’s still chambered to “vintage” single shots like the Remington rolling block and Sharps and Winchester High Walls, but its greatest current popularity is probably in big lever actions, including re-
introductions of the Winchester ’86 and the current 1895 Marlin.

Unlike most of my selections, the .45-70 is primarily an American phenomenon, rarely seen elsewhere, although I’ve encountered a few European double rifles in .45-70. In a tricked up “guide gun” with modern sights and finishes, the .45-70 is as modern as tomorrow and still highly effective. 

All .45-70 factory loads from major manufacturers are mild out of concern that they might be used in the weak trapdoor Springfield action. Even so, the .45-70 is adequate for short range use on all North American big game.

Most lever actions and most single shots are strong enough to handle heavier loads, which take the .45-70 into a different class. Handload recipes are legion, and several smaller ammo companies, including Buffalo Bore and Garrett, supply .45-70 ammunition graded by recommended actions. With heavy loads and proper bullets, the .45-70 is adequate for game up to Cape Buffalo. The .45-70 Gov’t has come a long way since the Little Big Horn.

Craig Boddington Rifle Shooter July/August

All events will be continuing as normal from here on out, see you at the range!

Keep and eye on the calendar! We have plenty of upcoming events through out the rest of the year.

David Belmont, WRRC President and Chairman of the Events Committee

You might be a Redneck if you have to wash your hands before you go to the bathroom.

Last but not least……We thank Randy McCarver for his VERY generous donation to the Club.

Ron Skaggs
WRRC Secretary and Editor.