Wake County Firearms Education & Training Center (WCFETC from now on) is set to open October 2, 2020.
The official website for all the official information is here:
Below you’ll see my highlights, overview, 2 cents, or ‘whathaveyou’…
The Main Points
Reservations – The first thing you’ll need to do is go the official WCFETC Online Calendar and pick your time and rifle/pistol time slot. Some lanes are mixed use, some are pistol only, and some are rifle only with 50 yard minimums so be sure to pick the right lane for you. The reservation process is pretty easy, I highly encourage you to read the confirmation email as the information in that email is quite helpful.
Arrival – If your scheduled range time is for 5:30 pm you’ll want to be onsite at 5 pm to ensure you are there in time for the safety briefing and all that jazz. If you miss the safety briefing you will not be able to go on the range with that group and you’ll have to sign up for another time slot.
Safety Video/Briefing – This is only about 15 minutes total. The safety stuff is good, there are a lot of new shooters who need safety beat into their heads right now. So just because you may not need the safety brief, there’s a good chance the person to your left, or the person to your right might really benefit from it, which means YOU are also benefiting from it. So please just deal with the safety brief and know it’s for everyone who comes in and you must sit through it every time you come back. After all, it’s only about 15 minutes total.
On Range – The range is running at about 50% capacity, so basically every other lane will be in use for a total of 16 people on the range at a time. There will be plenty of RSO’s (range safety officers) onsite to assist you as you need it. As mentioned earlier there are pistol, rifle & mixed usage bays.
You can anticipate a maximum of 50 minutes of shoot time per hour. Mandatory clean up eats into the range time a lil bit but it’s expected and for the most part appreciated. And just because it’s free doesn’t mean it has to look like crap, so please police your brass and leave the lane as nice or nicer for the next person coming onto the lane.
Range Review – 100 yard indoor ranges are a bit rare, so that’s a definite plus. I’m a bit old school so I actually like the hot/cold aspect of the range. The staff are friendly & seem to have easy going attitudes. I don’t really have any bad things to say about the range, and I’ve really put some thought into it. Some of the covid protocols kind of suck, but with that, it just is what it is. I’d like to see the range open during the week, but weekends only is certainly acceptable.
Let me know what you think!