Scouting Tombstone and Shooting

We decided to take a short trip to Tombstone and scout for our trip there next week.  We drove 12 of the 13ish miles from St David and I turned onto Arizona Highway 82 on a tip from a fellow traveler.  Very shortly down the road we came to the Tombstone Livery and pulled in.  Tombstone Livery is a campground and a shooting range.  I stopped and talked to one of the fellows there and found out it is for "cowboy shooters" only.  Now while it might sound like you are using your range hands for target practice, cowboy shooting is really a style of shooting and in many instances cowboy shooters adopt an entire wild west persona with a western name and outfit and of course six guns and rifles only, with maybe a derringer or two thrown in for excitement.

Nationwide the cowboy shooting craze has grown greatly and there are cowboy shooting clubs almost anywhere you go.  Typically they have meetings and shooting contest and competitions with other clubs. It is a subculture all it own and very exciting and interesting to those hooked on old west history and culture. Interested in finding more info?  Try http://www.cascity.com/ or google cowboy action shooting or ask a gun club or store near you.

There are hours in addition to the weekend hours shown.
Go to the website for a full schedule.

Well, since I am not a "cowboy shooter" I was politely asked to mosey on, which we did after the kind cowboy told where I could find a regular shooting range.  We drove another 13 miles south of Tombstone to Arizona Highway 90, turned west and found the Sierra Vista Shooting Range.  After driving the 1.25 miles of hard trail (seriously washboarded dirt road), we came to the range.  Two volunteers were there to run the range and were very helpful.  They even opened the range 15 minutes early for me.  I spent nearly two hours happily sending bullets downrange and even met a guy who let me shoot his .50cal black powder rifle.  Not as much kick as I thought but what a hoot!

We headed back and stopped to take a picture of the entrance to Boot Hill Cemetery.  What else is in there with the cemetery?  Well I'm not sure, but I really can't wait to go there next week and find out.








On the way back we passed through a Border Patrol check point.  Does anyone else wonder what use these are since the people who are trying to avoid being caught are well aware of where these checkpoints are.  Seems to me there should be a better way.
          -Kent