AFTER THE WAR

In 1947, the Steamboat Rock Rifle and Pistol Club was organized. It came as a result of a pre-induction small arms training course which was sponsored by the National Rifle Association during the World War II era. 

The Iowa Falls Rifle Club in cooperation with the N.R.A. was conducting a small arms rifle course for any male citizen of military age, and in the fall of 1943, Harold Luiken, Robert Ruppelt, and Otto Filbrandt, enrolled in this training course. As a result of their training these three men encouraged other shooters to take up the sport and a similar arms training course was conducted in the school gymnasium at Steamboat Rock. In the summer of 1947 the Steamboat Rock Rifle and Pistol Club was officially organized and officers were elected. 

The club has been affiliated with the National Rifle Association and the Iowa State Rifle Association, and has always been registered as a class A club. 

In 1951 the club constructed an outdoor range facility, adjacent to the Pine Lake Wildlife Club property and installed lighting for night shooting. This was the only lighted range in Iowa, and believed to be the only one in the Middle West.