The Summit County public shooting range in Keystone has reopened with new sound mitigation measures in place.

The shooting range, which is free to the public and includes pistol, rifle and shotgun ranges as well as a range dedicated for law enforcement training, closed in September as the county installed sound reduction features to address complaints about noise.

Located at the Summit County Resource Allocation Park, the shooting range falls under the responsibilities of county Solid Waste Director Aaron Byrne, and is managed jointly by the county government and the Summit Range Association, a nonprofit.

“Summit County Public Shooting Range continues to be a great resource to our community and all its visitors near and from afar,” Byrne said in an email. “This continues to be a great model and example for other free public ranges throughout Colorado.”

The range dates back to the 1970s and has evolved from the “old dump range” to become Summit County’s public shooting range allowing the public to have a safe place to practice shooting, Byrne said.

The new noise mitigation features at the range come after years of complaints from nearby residents in Keystone and Summit Cove. 

The county hired professional sound engineers to measure, model and predict the noise levels from firearms, and two rounds of analysis were conducted, Byrne said. Both analyses involved volunteers and live-fire exercises, he said, and temporary sound walls were set up to sample the sounds to verify the mitigation was effective.

“Keep in mind there will always be sound from the range,” Byrne said. “But taking these steps and using this advanced technology, dampening this sound significantly, allows us to still have this resource and facility within our community, while being good neighbors.”

Byrne noted that having a safe, legal place to practice shooting helps keep individuals from shooting in local forests and helps prevent wildfires. Moreover, he said, the range is used by local and state law enforcement for training, helping to keep the community safe.

The shooting range features a 50-yard pistol range with six shooting benches, a 100-yard rifle range with seven benches and a shotgun range with four commercial-grade trap throwers. These ranges are now each enclosed in a three-sided, roofed canopy with an acoustic sound barrier, Byrne said.

Summer hours at the range run from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.