Shooting Park Hits Bull’s-Eye
If you want to shoot skeet or trap or learn about shotgun safety, you pretty much have to sneak over the county line to Prado Olympic Shooting Park in Chino, site of the 1984 Olympic shooting events; you can still see the medalists’ pedestals. After a hard day on the range, many regulars reload at Joey’s Bar-B-Q, where the dish called the Works is right on target.
MORNING 1
It’s been years since gun clubs in Irvine and Coto de Caza were open. So, many Orange County sharpshooting enthusiasts now make the trip to Prado Olympic Shooting Park, a few miles north of Anaheim Hills, near the “200 Years of Freedom” dam. The shooting facility is part of the San Bernardino Parks and Recreation system.
Given the political incorrectness of guns these days, the Prado clientele may not be what you expect. One group of friends from Costa Mesa, Tustin and Orange meets on Saturdays, shooting all morning and then, beneath the park’s shady pavilions, staging informal tastings of, say, beluga caviar.
Said Dick Holt of Tustin, “Families come out. Couples shoot together. Olympic shooters come to practice. All of us come for camaraderie and for self-competition.”
“None of us hunt,” said a fellow Tustin resident and member of the tasting group. “Just clay birds. Targets, that’s it.”
Holt said the attraction and the techniques are a lot like golf: “Keep your head down and follow through.”
A kid’s club meets from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the first Saturday of each month; the $5 session includes gun-safety instruction and target-shooting games.
Adults can rent a shotgun for $10; shells start at $5 for a round of 25, and a ticket to shoot is $5.50 per round. Shell bags, earplugs and protective eye wear are provided, as is a trapper, the person who launches the target when shooters yell, “Pull!” Participants rotate among five stations, so that the angle of the shot keeps changing. (Prado also operates air-gun, pistol and rifle ranges; $10 for two hours, $12 for four hours.)
The shotgun facility offers several configurations. In trap, the clay target moves away from the shooter at a 45-degree angle. In skeet, a pair of targets is launched from a high house and low house in quick succession. Five-stand-style involves target-launching machines with trajectories including horizontal along the ground, incoming low overhead and straight up. Field manager Ray Dickerson said no other shooting facility in Southern California operates as many specialty machines.
Hungry? The park just added a Shofar-brand kosher hot dog stand; choices include a quarter-pound Cajun sausage ($2.50).
MEALTIME 2
Really hungry? Try Joey’s Bar-B-Q, where the decor features horse paintings and vintage photos of owner Ray Moors (a former KTLA-TV cameraman) with stars such as Farrah Fawcett. A sign at the entry reads, “If you are grouchy, irritable or just plain mean, there will be a $10 charge for putting up with you.” A little flag is rigged atop a wooden cow at each table with the instructions “Raise Joey’s flag for service.”
At lunch, two beef ribs with side dishes--including barbecue beans or corn cobette--is $6.95 (pork ribs, $1 more). Dinners come with more sides: “Butter and marshmallow on your yam?” inquired the waitress.
Notable among dinner entrees is the Works, a prodigious platter piled five inches high with ham, beef, chicken, beef and pork ribs and a country sausage link, served with garlic bread and salad ($16.50); let’s just say it’s enough to share.
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1) Prado Olympic Shooting Park
17501 Pomona Rincon Road, Chino, (909) 597-4794.
9 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
2) Joey’s Bar-B-Q
3689 Riverside Drive, Chino, (909) 628-1231.
11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-10 p.m. Friday, noon-10 p.m. Saturday and noon-9 p.m. Sunday.
Parking: There is free parking in lots at both locations.