BALD KNOB — Todd Bell, belly to the ground, shot a 300 Winchester Magnum rifle as Patrick Mc-Carty kept track of each shot toward the 850-yard long-range targets.
“That one was off to the left,” Bell said.
“Yep,” McCarty replied as he jotted it down in his notebook.
“That means I didn’t time the wind right,” Bell responded.
“It’s very tricky to read the wind, but it’s something you pick up on over time,” Michael McCarty said.
Patrick and Michael McCarty are not only brothers and business partners, but they are also war veterans, having served in the same National Guard unit in Baghdad. Born only 17 minutes apart, the twin brothers opened the Veterans Elite Tactical and Sport Shooting Center in June. The center, which is just outside Bald Knob, is the brothers’ attempt tobring shooting sports to central Arkansas.
“My brother and I are both combat veterans, and we both like to shoot,” Patrick said. “There was nowhere to shoot around here.”Patrick was a sniper team leader, and he and Michael served in Baghdad in 2004 and 2005 withCharlie Company, 1st Battalion, 39th Infantry. But that’s not where their love of shooting began. Patrick said he got his first gun when he was about 6. Even though the McCarty brothers are accomplished shooters, the shooting center is open to all levels of shooters.
The new 80-acre shooting center offers classes and competition matches, and Patrick said any type of training scenario can be set up. The shooting center has qualified instructors for 4-H Shooting Sports, the Youth Hunter Education Challenge, classes to obtain a concealedweapon permit, carbine classes and more.
A 75-yard pistol range offers movable targets, and the center also features a 100-yard rifle range, and a 100-, 200- and 300-yard paper-target range.
“Our long-term goal is a 600-yard National Rifle Association high-power range,” Michael said, and that vision is expected to be realized in midsummer next year.
Membership fees for the center are $120 per year for a family; however, law enforcement and military personnel can join for $100 per year for a family, which will give them access to the range during daytime hours seven days a week. Members will be able to practice safe firearm handling and have a safe place to shoot.
V.E.T.S. is also open to competition shooting.
Michael said the range hosted a long-range tactical rifle competition recently, and about20 shooters came to Bald Knob from as far away as Mississippi, Missouri and Washington.
There is also a pro shop on the range, where ammunition, guns, safety gear and reloading equipment can be purchased. Gunsmithing services are also available, and guns can be rented at the shop.
“If we can’t get it, you don’t need it,” Michael said about merchandise and services offered in the pro shop. The shop also tries to offer its merchandise at a less expensive price than chain stores and only buys American-made products if possible. Many of the firearms are Arkansas-made.
For more information on the V.E.T.S. Shooting Center, visit www.vetsshootingcenter.com.
Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.
Three Rivers, Pages 47 on 10/27/2011