Karlon N. Rama
Stage Five
THE end of the gun ban will unveil an ultra-modern indoor shooting facility right in the heart of Cebu City.
It promises to be the “ultimate” place to go for indoor target practice and those behind its design and construction believe it will be the bar upon which other indoor shooting facilities will be judged in the future.
The place boasts of a gallery that hosts the latest in range apparatus, a good selection of firearms that guests can use, plus ammunition that is custom-loaded for safety and reliability.
Its staff includes a team of range officers trained by a United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) grand master and instruction is available for beginners.
The Ultima Sharp Shooters Club is the latest endeavor of businessman Richard King, Chief Executive Officer of J. King and Sons Co. and its subsidiary, the Fuente Triangle Reality Development Corp.
Built to international standards, the shooting facility is located inside Tower 2 of the Ultima Residence.
IT MATTERS. All other things being equal, shooting ranges are defined by their area.
Larger ones are open-air and offer more bays; bays that are wider and deeper, and with more space to set up more challenging target-strings.
And since the more targets there are, the more fun there is in shooting them, it stands to follow that the larger the range, the greater the fun.
But in a place like Cebu, setting up a nice large range is difficult because land is expensive.
And even if one could afford it, finding one which is not immediately surrounded by a lot of people, homes or other buildings is quite difficult.
Indoor ranges are popular in Manila, where finding any parcel of land without people is next to impossible. There are a few inside a mall in Makati.
CREATIVE. The limited dimension of an indoor range limits what it can offer its clients.
This is not to say, however, that the shooting is less enjoyable in an indoor facility than in one which is open-air.
One just has to be more imaginative and the people operating such a facility just need to be more creative.
For example, computer-run target mounts can make a target turn to its side momentarily, only to turn again after a fraction of a second.
This makes a target appear, disappear and then reappear from view. This is a very good thing to have in shooting training.
The mount can also be made to run towards or away from the shooter, which is good in practicing to shoot at target from varying distances.
What’s important is that a shooter goes out of the facility with more than the knowledge he or she had when he or she entered.
It should not be just a place to shoot but a place to continue learning how to shoot.
STRUCTURE. Instead of bays, indoor ranges have shooting booths or galleries.
Downrange is a bullet trap—a thick plate of steel that, when hit, forces bullets to ricochet downward.
The one which will open at the Club Ultima has nine shooting booths and a bullet trap that released into a lead dust collection and evacuation system.
It also has exhaust vents that capture nitrates and other irritants.
The target mounting system has not yet been installed though.
The entire place is also well lighted. Soundproofing is still on-going and the air-conditioning is already underway.
The facility has space reserved as a reception area, a lecture/training room, a gun vault, a reloading room and a pro-shop.
It makes perfect sense for an executive-class place like Club Ultima to have its own firing range.
After a tiring workweek, one can bring the entire family there—mommy and the girls hit the spa while daddy and the boys go to the range.
Now, all we need is for the gun ban to end.
(knrama@gmail.com)