Cameo Shooting and Education Complex

The Cameo Shooting and Education Complex (CSEC) near Grand Junction, Colorado, is impressive:

This nearly 2,000-acre facility opened in 2018 after years of planning. CSEC is operated by Colorado Parks & Wildlife, part of Colorado state government. A range safety officer gave me a tour today. I took the following photo from near one of the sporting clays courses, looking down on the main complex:

This drone photo from online shows the main complex better:

Some of the facilities at CSEC:

• The Action Shooting Pavilion at the main complex includes 20 bays for pistol and rifle shooting up to 200 yards. There is also an archery bay and a picnic pavilion.

• Options for shotgun shooting include two sporting clays courses and 5-stand.

• There are four 3D archery courses.

• The Long Range Precision (LRP) range has 35 targets with flashing electronic hit indicators at distances from 100 to 2,000 yards. That's more than a mile!

• The 850-acre Terrain Park includes a mountain bike biathlon course.

The photo below shows the building that includes the store and range office where shooters check in:

This photo shows the picnic pavilion with several bays of the Action Shooting Pavilion in the background:

This photo shows benches in Bay 6, a 100-yard rifle range, in the Action Shooting Pavilion:

Currently, all ranges are outdoors. CSEC has plans for an indoor range and classrooms.

CSEC is open to the public. It operates essentially as a Colorado state park with a fee schedule.

Many user groups are active at CSEC, providing education and training and competitions. My tour guide today especially mentioned A Girl & A Gun which held its annual national conference at CSEC in April 2023 with 600 attendees. Attendance at next year's national conference in April 2024 is capped at 700, and it is already sold out.

See the CSEC website for more information including the history of how this shooting and education complex came to be built.

The name "Cameo" comes from the former town of Cameo where the facility is located. The town was once home to a coal mine and a coal-fired power plant, all gone now. The town was named for a cameo-like formation on one of the mountain ridges visible to the south.