Organization

The Butte Gun Club is one of the oldest organizations in America. The club traces its history back to the Butte Rod and Gun Club, which was organized in 1880. The Butte Rod and Gun Club was devoted principally to shotgun competition, so in 1895, the Rocky Mountain Rifle Club was formed with a majority of members from the Butte Rod and Gun Club. The Rocky Mountain Rifle Club affiliated with the NRA in 1909. In 1910 the club built a new range at Rocker, Montana to accommodate increased membership. The Rocky Mountain Rifle Club and the Butte Rod and Gun Club merged under the name Butte Gun Club in 1925. There were two reasons for the merger of the two clubs. The name of the Rocky Mountain Rifle Club did not reflect the membership of the organization, and by eliminating duplication of effort, the purposes of marksmanship could be better effected.

Throughout the Butte Gun Club history, its members have earned recognition in all shooting disciplines. A few of the more historical accomplishments follow.

• In 1910, Rocky Mountain Rifle Club team members from Butte won the first ever United States indoor championship.

• Also in 1910 Rocky Mountain Rifle Club members for the Dewar trophy representing the championship of the world defeated teams from Great Britain and Australia.

• Due to their shooting proficiency, several members of the Rocky Mountain Rifle Club were called upon by the United States Army to serve as small arms instructors for World War I infantry.

Facilities

The Butte Gun Club’s main facility, called the Rocker Range, is located west of Butte and just south of Rocker, Montana.

The Rocker Range is spread out over several acres and caters to all shooting disciplines. Several buildings are on the range including the Schuetzen and Bullseye houses, which are designed specifically for shooting and also provide shelter during inclement weather and winter.

Construction of the Schuetzen house began around 1910. Its architecture is influenced by both German schuetzen style competition and mine hoist houses. The Bullseye house and range was built in 1939 and is believed to be the only one of its kind as late as 1947.

The Rocker Range has:

• 25, 50, 100, & 200 yard benchrest capabilities,
• an 800 yard highpower rifle range,
• a 500 meter highpower metallic silhouette range,
• a 200 yard schuetzen range,
• a 100 yard smallbore/pistol range,
• several pistol ranges,
• miscellaneous long range metallic targets ranging from 200 yards to 750 yards,
• and plenty of space available for shotgun use.

Rocker Range Use

Although the Butte Gun Club would like to make all Rocker Range facilities available to members at all times, unfortunately; some types of use cannot be enjoyed concurrently without an unacceptable level of risk of accident.

Scheduled group use of the ranges takes precedence over individual use. Scheduled use includes club-sponsored matches and competitions, and range use as a public service to organizations such as hunter safety programs and law enforcement units. Scheduled group use must be requested and approved in advance so members can be notified. Requested group use dates are typically granted on a first come basis. If a particular date has more than one request and one of the requests is for a state, national, and specialty event, precedence will be given to that event.

Priority use of the Rocker Range will be in accordance with the following schedule when not preempted by a scheduled event:

Monday - Benchrest/Pistol

Tuesday - Highpower Rifle/Silhouette

Wednesday - Benchrest/Pistol

Thursday - Highpower Rifle/Silhouette

Friday - Benchrest/Pistol

Saturday - Highpower Rifle/Silhouette

Sunday - Benchrest/Pistol

In the event no one is using the range for the regularly scheduled purpose, the ranges can be used for any other sanctioned use on a first come basis. If one or more members should arrive later and want to use the range as scheduled, others must defer to them after a maximum of 15 minutes.