Local Shooting Range Experiences Steady Growth

By Misty Cryer

James Bindel opened Across The Canal Shooting Sports (aka ATC Shooting Sports) in Carlsbad in 2008. It is a private shooting range that offers individuals, families, companies, community groups, and non-profit organizations the opportunity to enjoy shooting sports, along with hosting fundraisers and special events.

“I actually went to a shoot down in Houston, and I enjoyed it,” said Bindel. He started out by putting in a skeet field. “I had a company that wanted to do a company shoot for their employees, so I had to put in another one. People from town were just wanting to come out here, so it just kept growing,” he said.

Businesspeople who wanted to shoot helped Bindel out with throwers and materials, including pipe. “I hired welders to help me build it up,” he said.

Bindel said Mike Carrasco with M & J Oilfield Services and Nathan McGee with Black River Oilfield Service have helped out a lot recently.

“We were able to run 200 people through in a day,” said Bindel. With the growth of the range, he said, “We can do as many as 400 to 500 in a day.”

Members and non-members are allowed to shoot at the range. Bindel said the price structure is different between the two. “The thing with membership—you get access,” he said.

“I have more than just shotgun sports,” said Bindel, explaining that 200-, 600-, and 800-yard-long ranges, a pistol range, and 22 silhouettes are part of the setup.

Bindel said if there are people on the sporting clay range, there can’t be people on the rifle range, so those services are alternated.

ATC Shooting Sports supports 4-H groups and Trap and Skeet clubs. “We’ve taken first place in the last three or four years,” Bindel said. For non-profits, he said, fundraisers are typically held at the range monthly.

“On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we shoot under the lights,” said Bindel, adding that it continues all winter. “We changed the targets out to orange targets so that we can see them at night; that makes it nice.”

For companies, Bindel said, “We do team building a lot.”

Team building is the biggest thing that drives communities, said Bindel. “I have one company, they lost like 15 people to another company, and it’s because they didn’t do any team building. Now, they are coming together with 150 to 200 shooters in a couple of weeks,” he said.

“We have those companies; they actually give a lot back to the community,” said Bindel. He said he offers the opportunity for companies to become station sponsors, which results in advertising for the life of the company. Current station sponsors mentioned by Bindel include Delta Constructors, XCU Pipeline, Devon Energy, Penasco Services, RDL Construction, J Price, and Texas J&A Service.

Bindel said those interested in membership should call or visit. “We go through all the safety rules and stuff like that. It’s just a transaction. They can also do a prepaid card where they can go out and shoot on their own,” he said.

“Membership is $100 per calendar year for individuals or $150 for families,” said Bindel, adding that membership fees help with batteries and maintenance.

“The difference between my sport and golf is that in golf, you can only get to 100 to maybe 150 people. I can run 400 people throughout the day,” said Bindel, specifying that is for a one-day event, but multiple days can be planned as well.

Seven Rivers Regulators, a local club, gathers at ATC Shooting Sports on the third Saturday of each month for Cowboy Action Shooting. Ron Priestley (cowboy name, Happy Shootzmore) invited anyone interested in joining them to stop by. He said they are part of the Single Action Shooting Society, a worldwide organization. “We’re in 32 countries around the world, with about 150,000 members,” he said.

“What we do is we use single-action firearms, and we dress up in 1870s clothing.

We shoot a prescribed sequence of targets—metal targets—using lead bullets, and we shoot for time,” said Priestley. He said the club is family-oriented, and the competitions have 40 categories, including ladies and children. “The ladies get together and talk about guns, and the guys get together and talk about clothes. That’s the only place you’ll find that happening,” he said.

The weekend of May 23, ExxonMobil is helping organize a clay shoot to support the United Way of Eddy County

James Bindel of ATC Shooting Sports can be reached at 575-361-4505. The hours of operation are Tuesday and Thursday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., and Sunday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Rifle range use and special events are offered by appointment.