Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Published Friday, September 7, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - For a person a little nervous around guns, talking to Brent Rausch is the perfect introduction to what's going on at the Yellowknife Shooting Club's firing range.

"Our number one priority out here is safety," Rausch said last Sunday afternoon.

Brent Rausch stands beside a mechanical rest holding his .44 calibre Ruger Super Blackhawk handgun. The rest holds the gun in the same position while Rausch tests different ammunition loads for accuracy and consistency - Amanda Vaughan/NNSL photo

Rausch is the director of the club's airgun section, and a firearms enthusiast of 12 years. On Sunday, he was at the range testing different "loads" for accuracy on his Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 calibre handgun. The gun was strapped into a serious looking machine on a table, which he said is a mechanical rest.

"The rest holds the gun in place to take the human error out of testing bullets," he said, before swinging up the mechanical arm to which the gun was attached.

Rausch said that fine tuning guns is an important part of owning them.

He said many of the club's members are hunters that come down to the range to sight their rifles and get them ready for the hunting season.

"We open our doors to all hunters, members or not, once a year to sight and prepare their guns for the hunting season," he said, adding that the club also has tools and people to assist hunters with their guns if they need.

Community is the name of the game at the shooting club. Rausch said that the members are all very safe and courteous, and usually willing to lend a hand or some expertise, especially to younger shooters.

"We have a very good junior program. Membership comes with use of any of the equipment the club has, as well as coaching," he said.

Anyone 19 or under is considered a junior by the club.

A typical age for kids to start shooting is 11, but Rausch said he has seen children as young as eight take to it quite easily.

"It depends on how well developed the child is, whether they have the strength to hold the gun, and the maturity to be safe," he said.

For younger participants, he said the biggest goal is safety training. Using certified targets is just one of the safety aspects.

"Juniors are not allowed to shoot at any target that looks anything like a person," Rausch said.

The wide range of ages is one of the things that he loves about sport shooting.

"It's one of the few sports you can do at any age. It's a true sport for life," he said, mentioning that he has seen shooters well into their late seventies at competitions.

Tim Stanistreet was one of the small handful of people at the range that day, shooting a couple of different types of guns. Stanistreet recently moved to Yellowknife from Petawawa, Ontario, and is a sergeant in the Canadian Forces. He's been shooting for 11 years, and doesn't really have a favourite gun.

"I like all firearms," he said, though he did mention that he enjoyed travelling to other countries with the military, and trying out the different service weapons they use in other parts of the world.

Rausch told Yellowknifer that the shooting club, unlike the military, prefers the term firearm over weapon, to avoid negative connotations.