Spur targets gun safety

The Silver Spur Ranches hosted a firearms training event in August that attracted around 100 participants over a period of seven days.

John Russo has been coming to Silver Spur Ranches for many years. He writes for a gun magazine, FMG Publications.

Manufacturers have contracts with Silver Spur Ranches to test new rifles, and the writers come up to test and write about the new rifles.

"That is how I got to know Dave (Sturm) and Silver Spur Ranches," Russo said.

Russo is a firearms police trainer and Sturm asked Russo if he would be interested in training the Silver Spur Ranch employees.

In the process, Sturm decided to open it up to the community last year.

Russo, who is from San Diego, said most of the people in the Platte Valley community are familiar with hunting rifles, but using a pistol, or a defensive firearm is foreign to them.

Last year, the training was strictly hand guns. This year included the AR family of rifles, including long range shooting tips and techniques.

The focus is to make people more comfortable with hand guns, Russo said.

The manufacturers have been very generous, Russo said, as they provide the guns and the ammunition for the event. "If we had to pay for the ammo, it would be very expensive for us."

The Spur charges a nominal fee for the event, Russo explained, but they do not make any money on it.

The sponsors of the event bring in writers, including two people for FMG Magazine who were recording and photographing the event. Jade Moldé is the editor and his father Randy Moldé is the vice president of business development.

AR, which many times gets designated as a "automatic rifle" is actually an armor light rifle. The "AR" is designated by the manufacturer, Russo explained. The AR-15 was adopted by the military – they use the fully automatic version – and renamed it M16.

Travis Gibson, with MGM Targets installed two shooting ranges for the event, setting up steel targets which ranged from 100 to 1,200 yards.

Russo worked with Hornady, Vista Outdoors, Glock, Smith & Wesson, Ruger, Mossberg and Volquartsen to bring in the guns and ammo for the trainees who did not have their own guns. Richard Hays, of Shively Hardware processes the paperwork for the handling and control of the firearms.

Training sessions began with Russo asking the attendees what they wanted from the class so that he could tailor the class to fit their needs.

Russo enlisted eight training officers to travel 1,100 miles for the event.

Russo and his trainers worked with the attendees on the gun range as the trainees shot .38s and .45s. They were shown how to stand and hold the gun to get the best stance when firing.

Many practiced with a rubber gun before getting their hands on the real gun.

Earlier in the week, when the trainees were working with the semi-automatic weapons, many were able to hit the 1,200 yard steel place, but more solid hits were made on the 800-yard target.

Gibson, who worked with the long range shooters, explained how to become a successful competitor at an extended range competition.

Many of the trainees expressed their surprise at the level of proficiency they attained with the training and attention of the professionals.

With the classes going seven days, attendees could choose to come back for additional training if they desired.

Russo said he was impressed with the basic firearms familiarity and safety awareness demonstrated by the local area residents who participated. It is something he doesn't always see in the urban training areas.

No dates have been established, but Russo was confident that a third annual training event will happen in 2016.