Construction on the $3 million Liberty Mountain Gun Club (LMGC), located on 490 acres near the Hydaway Outdoor Recreation Center, is well underway. Work is nearly complete on the 100-, 200-, and 300-yard rifle ranges, a three-gun range, a pistol range, a shotgun range with a five-stand, a super sporting clay station, and a bunker equipped with 15 clay trap machines. By the fall, the facility will also have two sporting-clay courses with 26 stations and a 5,000-square-foot lodge with a team room for gun storage, a small armory, an awards station, and a covered area for outside viewing and dining.
Dave Hartman, shooting sports head coach and LMGC executive director, said the new facility provides an outlet for enthusiasts of one of the fastest-growing sports in America. It is the only collegiate range that is a venue for all of the Olympic shooting sports.
“There are hundreds of thousands of youth in our country who love the shooting sports,” Hartman said. “Where do they go when they get done shooting in high school? We have a rare opportunity here.”
Nick Berry, world ambassador for LaPorte, the French manufacturer of traps and clay targets that supplies equipment for the Olympics and the United States National Championships, installed skeet machines at the shotgun range and sporting clay courses.
“It’s definitely a lot of machines, but it’s how you make champions,” he said. “This is really a world-class facility.”
Students, faculty, and staff can use the new range after taking free firearm safety courses offered through the Liberty University Police Department. Members of the law enforcement community can also train at the facility. It will be open for public use in the future.
