Robins Skeet and Trap Range offers full-service recreation

  • Published
  • By Angela Woolen
  • Robins Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  For centuries, men and women have used target practice as a way to hone their skill at shooting. At the Skeet and Trap Range on Robins, the target is a moving clay disk, traveling at about 40 mph. 

This summer, the members of the range installed a new trap machine which has the ability to shoot two disks at once, painted fences and built two new trap houses.

"It is designed to simulate a bird flying away," said Rich Korbas, vice president of the Robins AFB Skeet and Trap Club and HH-60 Pavehawk rescue helicopter equipment specialist with the Special Operations Forces/Personnel Recovery Division. 

The orange disks are made to be biodegradable and the machine can be set up to include either a straight flight or an oscillate or wobble, where the "bird" doesn't fly in a straight fashion. 

On a drizzly afternoon, the SOF/PR team of a dozen equipment specialist went to the range for a wingman day, some shooting for the first time. Korbas and Ed Wolfe, who worked for SOF for 15 years and are now retired, spent their time instructing those who were out for the first time. 

"You are just moving your torso and tracking the bird with your eyes. Make your eyes do the work, head in the gun, eyes on the target," Korbas told his group. 

Dennis Carls, president of the club, said many improvements have been made at the range. There are currently 62 club members and during a tournament in September, there were 30 registered shooters who came from as far away as Ohio. 

The range is ideal for those who don't own their own equipment. Gun rentals are $4 and a round of 25 targets is $5. The range is open from noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays and 5 to 9 p.m. Thursdays. 

Adjacent to the skeet range is a new archery range. Targets at 20, 30 and 40 yards are up now with 3-D targets and tournaments planned for the future, according to Carls. Upcoming events include an archery class on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with the class taught by a Georgia Department of Natural Resources instructor.   Editor's note: For information, call Bill Gurr at 478-926-4001 or DSN 468-4001.