The Pistol Range has nine shooting lanes with a retrievable target system. The range is indoors, with the entrance through the Pistol Building. There is a registry on the bar by the door. The doors to the Pistol Building and into the Pistol Range are accessible, with powered openers that actuate with a card scan. Please do not change the settings on the door openers, or pull on them. Let them open on their own.
All range users must print their full name, date, time, and calibers they are shooting in the registry.
BB & .177 pellet air rifles and .22 LR rimfire rifles are also allowed on this range. The range uses a “snail” type bullet trap backstop designed for lead ammunition under 600 foot-pounds of force (ft.-lb.f) at the muzzle, or 6000 ft.-lb.f. per square inch impact energy at the backstop. Ammunition that exceeds these limits will damage the backstop. Please see “Allowed and Disallowed Ammunition.”
Always be aware of your shooting angle so as to not cause damage to the building or range facilities. Taller and shorter people will need to adjust the height of the target to avoid damaging the building.
Shooting unapproved ammunition, acting in violation of the range rules, and/or causing damage to the facilities will result in disciplinary action by the Club.
Range Hours
Monday – Sunday: 8:00 AM to 9:30 PM
Range Location
984 Collins Road
Stoughton WI 53589
Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/7CoQSuFFT825CH5FA
Range Rules
- Read, understand, and follow all rules in “Fundamental Firearm & Range Rules.” There is no tolerance for violations of the “TAB-K” rules. When your firearm is loaded it must always be pointed downrange, at the backstop.
- All members and guests must sign in to the registry. Members are responsible for all guest behavior, which includes safety. Children must be supervised at all times.
- No continuous rapid fire. No more than five (5) shots in ten (10) seconds are permitted.
- Jacketed and non-jacketed bullets are permitted.
- No long guns or pistol-caliber carbines are permitted except as noted above (BB, .177, .22 LR).
- All shooting must be done from the firing line benches. Never shoot in front of the benches.
- Pistols may only be uncased at the firing line.
- Firearms may only be loaded at the shooting bench.
- Absolutely no drawing from holsters. See Fundamental Firearm & Range Rule 7.
- Paper or cardboard targets only.
- Targets must be positioned at or beyond the closest red line (7 yards).
- Use target hanger extensions to lower the targets for people sitting while shooting.
- Be sure of your backstop and angle of fire so you do not shoot the ceiling, floor, or walls.
- Use receptacles provided at each range for spent ammunition cases, targets, trash, and duds. Leave the ranges cleaner and better than when you arrived.
Allowed & Disallowed Ammunition
Repeated impact of high energy bullets will damage the hardened steel plate backstop material. For this reason, higher energy pistol calibers are excluded from the SCC indoor range.
Discharging firearms in violation of these policies will result in suspension or termination of your membership. Do not shoot ammunition and firearms that are not permitted.
In the SCC Pistol Range, no ammunition is permitted that produces more than 600 foot-pounds of force (ft.-lb.f) at the muzzle, or 6000 ft.-lb.f. per square inch impact energy at the backstop. For more information see “Computing Bullet Impact Energy” below.
Calibers explicitly allowed are BB, .177 pellet, and .22 Short, .22 Long, .22 LR, 38 Special, 380 Auto, 9 MM, 40 S&W, .41 Special, .44 Special, .45 Colt, and 45 ACP.
Calibers disallowed include, but are not limited to, all “magnum” and high power calibers including .22 Magnum, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum, 10 MM, .17 HMR, and 5.7x28. In addition, armor-piercing, tracer, centerfire rifle ammunition, shot shells, shotgun slugs, shot shells with sabots, or pistol-caliber shot shells for handguns are not allowed.
You may NOT shoot ANY full-power or factory magnum rounds in the Pistol Range.
If a type of ammunition is not explicitly allowed, it needs analysis and approval before using it in the range. Members who hand load and down-load other calibers may seek approval from the Board of Directors. Please see “Pistol Range Handload Policy.”
Pistol-caliber rifles/carbines, rifle caliber pistols, and pistols with very long barrels are not allowed at the indoor pistol range. Longer barrels can significantly increase bullet energy.
Do not shoot ammunition that is not on the approved list or has not been approved in writing by the Board of Directors. Direct questions to activity leaders and/or the Board.
The rifle range is often a suitable place to shoot ammunition and firearms that are not compatible with the indoor pistol range. See the “Rifle Range” for more information.
Pistol Range Handload Policy
Handloading or reloading ammunition is common practice and is allowed at SCC. Special permission is not required for handloading normally allowed calibers with standard load data.
Hand loading ammunition beyond the standard recommended load data to potentially unsafe pressure levels, commonly known as “wildcat” or “wildcatting,” is not permitted.
Down-loading of disallowed calibers to safe levels is allowed with approval of the SCC Board of Directors. For example, a member might load .357 Magnum brass with a reduced powder charge that results in a safe level of bullet energy.
Down-loading ammunition should only be done by experienced reloaders using published data. You cannot use the load data from one caliber to load another caliber’s case (e.g. using .38 Special load data to load a .357 Magnum case). You may have unexpected and dangerous results due to the greater cartridge length and capacity.
Pistol Range Approval Process
If you wish to seek approval for your hand loads, please follow these instructions and email the information to handloads@stoughtoncc.com or bring your data and information to a general membership meeting (2nd Monday of each month).
Verify your proposed load data using the SCC Bullet Energy Calculator:
https://stoughtoncc.com/calculator/
Provide the following information:
- Caliber of cartridge you are reloading
- Picture, screenshot, or photocopy of the load data from your reloading manual.
- Be sure that the bullet weight and velocity are visible and readable.
- Source of the data (for example: Lyman’s 49th Edition Reloading Handbook)
The Board, at their discretion, may request testing of the load using a chronograph at the rifle range before approval.
If approved, you will receive an email and/or printout of the approval letter including the information you have provided. If requested, you must provide proof of the Board of Directors’ approval at the range with an electronic or printed copy of the approval. When filling out the logbook, please use the text provided in the approval letter.
Computing Bullet Impact Energy
To make a direct comparison of different calibers and load variations, impact area and cartridge energy are converted into foot pounds of force (ft.-lb.f) per square inch.
Muzzle energy data can be found on the Internet, such as on Wikipedia. In computing energies we use the highest energy value listed, as a worst-case to hedge against variances introduced by bullet shape, core material hardness, and jacket material, which are difficult to calculate.
“Wildcat” and hand loads can be calculated more specifically at shooterscalculator.com if the bullet mass and velocity data are known.
As an example, let’s compute this value for 45 ACP, which has a 0.451” diameter. Using πr2 to calculate the area, we find that the impact area is 0.16 square inch.
To determine the number of bullets in 1 square inch we divide 1 by 0.16, resulting in 6.25.
We know from Internet data that the muzzle energy of a 45 ACP bullet is 587 ft.-lb.f. Plugging these values into the formula above, we get:
In the Pistol Range, no ammunition is permitted that produces more than 600 foot-pounds of force (ft.-lb.f) at the muzzle, or 6000 ft.-lb.f. per square inch impact energy at the backstop. The force imparted on the pistol range backstop from this 45 ACP round will be 3669 ft.-lb.f/in2, which is below the limit of 6000 ft.-lb.f/in2 and therefore acceptable to fire in the pistol range.
With regard to force at the muzzle, pistol-caliber rifles are disallowed in the pistol range because their longer barrels lead to increased force, which increases bullet velocity, and therefore greater impact energy against the backstop than an equivalent caliber handgun.