Who We Are

The Lincoln County Rifle Club, a gun club for shooting enthusiasts.

Whether your passion is target shooting, hunting or competitive gun sports — or your goal is to increase home safety or comfort with gun safety — the Lincoln County Rifle Club (LCRC) will be of interest to you.

LCRC is a private member club in Midcoast Maine dedicated to the safe enjoyment of the shooting sports and safe handling of guns used for personal or home safety. The Club was founded in 1933 by nine original members, and has been providing a quality shooting experience ever since. Today, the club has over 400 members centered primarily in Lincoln and Waldo counties, but with representation from throughout Maine and the New England states. Located in Damariscotta, Maine, LCRC provides a full range of facilities and events to accommodate a wide range of shooting interests.

The Club's facilities include an indoor 50 foot range for pistol shoots. Outdoor ranges include 50, 100, 200 and 300 yard targets from a bench house with 12 benches and 11 off-hand ports. There is an adjacent covered firing line for additional offhand targets, including metal silhouette targets, a personal protection practice area, and a new outdoor pistol range. Weekly trap shoots are a popular summertime activity.

The versatility of the facilities — target types, distance targets, benches and off-hand ports, indoor and outdoor ranges — make the club a venue for many nationally and internationally sanctioned shoots. The facilities help attract a broad range of skills among members who are available for mentoring and instruction.

Members can keep current with scheduled shoots, classes, and work projects on the website calendar. Whenever ranges are unscheduled, they are available for members to practice and pursue their sport.

The clubhouse is a venue for meetings, classroom instruction, and “getting in out of the cold.” Clubhouse services include restrooms, first aid equipment, an information exchange bulletin board, a resource library, and a kitchenette stocked with drinks and snacks available to members and guests for a nominal contribution.

We're serious about gun safety.

As part of its commitment to its members, its neighbors, and the advancement of the shooting sports, LCRC strives to maintain a safe shooting experience. Part of the process of becoming a new member involves an outside and inside orientation to familiarize prospective members with the facilities, safety policies and procedures, and the lead management program. In 2012, the club implemented a Down Range Safety System which uses warning bells and flashing lights to alert shooters when a member needs to check or change targets downrange. All club activities and educational programs emphasize safety first.

Sport shooting for the whole family.

Although shooting can be both a solitary pursuit or an outlet for competitive spirit, it can also be a family sport. LCRC invites young people, accompanied by adults, to participate in any event. As part of its commitment to bringing young people into the sport, the Rifle Club annually sponsors up to two children at Bryant Pond 4-H Camp for a one-week residential summer campership. The camp programming includes the 4-H Shooting Sports Program where youth learn marksmanship, the safe and responsible use of firearms, and the principles of hunting and archery.  LCRC also hosts an annual Ladies' Day, Open Houses and, of course, members may bring guests most anytime.

The shooting sports not only bring friends together, they can bring families and generations together for a good time…

Our Proud History

The history of the Lincoln County Rifle Club begins in 1933 when it was founded by nine original members. The “original nine” started their “shooting club” by shooting plinking guns in the bottom of a garage in Damariscotta.

Eventually, land was donated for the outdoor range and timber was donated to build a clubhouse. 

The members cleared the land and cut, peeled and hauled logs to the site. The original log clubhouse was later moved, along with the club, to a location on Business Route 1 in Damariscotta, where it still stands. Though it is considerably expanded since it began, the same spirit and camaraderie that built the club is alive today.