WILTON — Members of the Wilton Fish and Game Association have set their sights on restoring the 1930s sporting and shooting club to its former grandeur.

They’re also about to complete the first and second phases of an ambitious three-phase project: that of building a bigger, better and, most importantly, safer and quieter shooting range, according to President Philip Maurais of Jay and Director Noel Brown of Wilton.

“It’s been unsafe for quite a while and we want to make it safe,” Brown said Thursday morning of the 100-yard-long range at the clubhouse beside Route 2.

“It’s for selfishness, too,” Maurais said. “I want a range to shoot on.”

“I enjoy shooting and I’ve been shooting all my life, from .22-caliber to 30.06 and, I’m also into shooting World War II military rifles,” said Maurais, a seven-year Marine who served his country in Desert Storm and was deployed in the Persian Gulf.

Both he and Brown said the club has put well over $10,000 in donated labor and money into the range this year.

“It’s been something of a challenge to raise money and get going, but once the ball got rolling, things have moved fast,” Maurais said.

Area logger Ron Cushman removed trees and brush that had overgrown the range. Then, Ron Ridley donated his time to haul it away.

The range was then completely dug up using both a hired excavator and operator, and an excavator donated by E.L. Vining Construction of Farmington and Vining operator Jeff Rowe.

Twelve-foot-high earthen berms, which will be seeded over with grass, were then pushed into place along the sides. The backstop was doubled. Previously, the range lacked berms.

Using an overseas shipping container, wood and other materials, members Bob Rowe, who donated the money for it, and Everett Gile, built a two-person shooting box.

It will be insulated next week to render it as soundproof as possible.

“We want to make our new shooting range comfortable for our neighbors,” Maurais said. “That’s why we wanted a shooting box and decided this was the year to do it.”

“It won’t eliminate the noise, but we’ll minimize it,” he added.

Next spring, the club will install steel targets and moving rifle targets, enabling a shooter to fire at fixed targets at different ranges, Maurais said.

The members-only range will be open to semiautomatic or single-shot guns, but not large caliber rifles like .50-caliber, or machine guns.

The third phase involves construction of an indoor shooting range.

Ultimately, however, all of the work is about the sport and protecting that right.

“Our goal is to promote gun safety and firearm sports like hunting and target shooting, and to try and get more people involved — especially youth — so that we can protect the Second Amendment rights and keep our sport alive,” Maurais said.

To help accomplish this, the 85-member club is undergoing a membership drive and wants to establish a youth group. They meet on the third Wednesday of each month. Annual memberships are $20 for an individual, $25 for families.

For more information, contact Brown at 645-2797 or Maurais at 897-4305. They will also have a booth at the Farmington Fair later this month.

The association successfully held a Cowboy Shoot last month and plans more next year, along with turkey shoots and other competitions.

By Wednesday, Sept. 16, the association will open the completely redone shooting range to hunters, so they can sight in rifles. An open house for the range will be held in early October on a Saturday.

“Momentum and interest is picking up, so, hopefully, with all the shoots, we will make it a nice club again,” Maurais said. “That’s what we’re shooting for.”

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Wilton Fish and Game Association President Philip Maurais, left, of Jay and Director Noel Brown of Wilton display on Thursday morning the work of Bob Rowe and Everett Gile, a new two-person shooting box built out of wood and an overseas shipping container. The box will be soundproofed next week and installed at the head of the association’s newly rebuilt 100-yard-long shooting range, which opens on Sept. 16.

Jeff Rowe of E.L. Vining Construction of Farmington uses an excavator donated by Vining to help construct the new shooting range at the Wilton Fish and Game Association off Route 2 in Wilton.