Matt Billingsley, owner of the Lone Star Gun Range, passed away today. From the LSGR Facebook page:

FOR THOSE WHO KNEW AND LOVED MATT BILLINGSLEY OWNER OF THE RANGE……HE PASSED AWAY TODAY IN A HEAVY EQUIPMENT ACCIDENT. WE WILL HAVE FUNERAL INFORMATION POSTED SOON. HE WILL BE MISSED SO MUCH.

Terrible news. I used to go out to LSGR in its earlier days, and I really liked how things worked there, especially the 25 yard range close to the office where you could shoot, move, use carbines and handguns to work on movement, transitions, etc.. It was pretty nice. I did stop going because some time ago Matt had to put a policy in place where you couldn’t collect brass — I understand why he did it tho, because it was just after Obama came into office, components were in short supply, so some people were picking up every piece of brass they could find instead of just picking up their own, which cut into the range’s ability to harvest brass to resell to help keep range costs lower. I didn’t blame Matt and probably would have done something similar if I was in his shoes. But between that and the fact the range was growing in popularity so I couldn’t practice there the way I liked to (i.e. I needed a range to myself so I could shoot and move, etc.) well… I stopped going. Never was an issue on Matt’s part tho. He always came across as a good, stand-up guy, working hard to build a business, a successful range, and by all indicators he was doing a heck of a job. He was always nice to my kids when we were out there too. Nothing but respect for the guy.

My condolences to his family, friends, and associates.