bcgc

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Colorado , November 1996. The Buffalo Creek Gun Club (BCGC) was 35 years old some time in the summer of 1996. Exactly when is not known, because the first written records of the club of October 5, 1961 indicate that the founders had already put into action the idea of forming a gun club. In spirit, BCGC is many years older than a third of a century. An essential part of it, the rifle range that became its organizing focus, dates back to World War I. In fact, this club is one of the very few in the United States or anywhere which began with a shooting range looking for shooters, rather than shooters looking for a range. The range, which has become renowned among highpower rifle shooters around the country for its excellence and natural beauty, apparently began life with the U.S. Army in 1918. But how and why and for what is a mystery. Nearly 20 years later, in 1937, the Army decided it needed a rifle range and sent its Reserve Second Engineers from Ft. Logan to renovate the old range. The Engineers established camp near where the club currently has its statistics cabin. They built the concrete target pits and the rest of the range in 1938. The facility was first actually known to be used for shooting in that year. But in this phase it had a very short life. It was abandoned after the end of World War II. This army range had berms at 200, 300, and 500 yards. It had been designed for military use, and before World War II armed services rifle shooting was done at those distances. The original 200 and 300 yard berms are still being used today by BCGC. But to fit the shooting style of the 1960's, the club in its early days used most of the dirt from the 500 yard berm to make a new berm at 600 yards. The army range got a name from a freak accident that happened while it was being re-built in 1938. A Lieutenant Fickes and two other soldiers were in the Engineer's mess tent (where the Roger Nolan pavilion is today) when a wild lightning storm came up. A bolt stuck the tent and killed the three men. Another bolt is said to have improved the 6-hole latrine, located down the hill a bit from the mess tent, by blowing a hole in the ground in line with the existing 6 holes, and thus expanding the latrine to 7-hole service at Camp

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