Rifle Range

2024/11/29

A new rifle range was established as a new facility inside the Hiyoshi Commemorative Hall, which was completed in 2020. It is a shooting range dedicated to small-bore rifles, primarily used by the Athletic Association's shooting club. Because firearms are handled here, security is strict, and access is limited to shooting club members and a few authorized personnel. It is very rare for a university to have such a facility.

The shooting club was founded in 1924 and has a history of about 100 years. Sports competitions using firearms have a small number of participants in Japan. Owning a firearm privately requires a possession permit, and the screening criteria are strict, making it generally unfamiliar to the public. While the shooting club uses the air rifle range in Hiyoshi's Mamushidani as its base of operations, for small-bore practice, members previously had to travel to the Nagatoro or Isehara shooting ranges.

Shooting sports include rifle shooting, pistol shooting, and clay shooting, with events categorized by the type of firearm used and other factors.

Small-bore is a competition where athletes shoot a set number of rounds at a target 50 meters away using a .22 caliber rifle from three positions: kneeling, prone, and standing. It requires precise technique, and the key to victory is how long one can maintain concentration.

The shooting range in the Commemorative Hall is an enclosed-baffle style range, where the walls and ceiling of the room, including the bullet path, are all covered in concrete. The distance from the firing point to the target is 50 meters, and with eight firing points, eight people can shoot simultaneously. The targets are electronic, and infrared sensors display the bullet's impact position on a monitor. This entire system was imported from Germany. A bullet trap prevents projectiles from scattering, and ventilation ports are installed behind the targets to prevent the accumulation of gunpowder smoke. The area around the firing points is covered with wood; this is a deliberate choice so that if a shot is accidentally fired, the bullet will embed itself in the wood rather than ricochet. The sound of gunfire is moderately dampened by sound-absorbing materials on the walls and ceiling. Too much sound dampening can be disorienting, while too little can cause hearing loss for the shooter. As this directly affects health, the optimal sound absorption level was determined by referencing multiple indoor shooting ranges.

When it was decided to install a shooting range during the planning stage of the Hiyoshi Commemorative Hall, we contacted the Kanagawa Prefectural Police. However, as they had no precedent, we both started from scratch. The standards for establishing shooting ranges in Japan are based on a 1962 Cabinet Office Ordinance. It is a very strict law with detailed facility standards and management methods, but being an old law, some parts are not suited to current competitions. After two years of coordination from the planning stage, we submitted an "Application for Designation as a Designated Shooting Range" to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police and obtained a "Designation Notice," finally allowing the range to be used.

In May 2020, after relevant parties invited a Shinto priest to the shooting range to conduct a safety prayer ceremony, the facility began operation.

(Hiroshi Watanabe, Office of Facilities and Property Management)

*Affiliations, job titles, etc., are as of the time of this publication's original issue.