Hillsdale College, a private liberal arts school in southern Michigan, has invested millions into creating opportunities for its students to not only learn about the Second Amendment but also develop the practical skills behind the right to keep and bear arms. At the school’s John Anthony Halter Shooting Sports Complex, the college offers an expansive range where collegiate shotgun and action pistol teams can compete and build their firearm-handling skills safely and effectively. Watch our “American Rifleman Television” feature segment above to see the details of the Halter range, as well as the shooting sports opportunities Hillsdale offers to its students.
“We have 113 acres out there. We have five bunker fields, eight American trap fields, four skeet fields that are combination International or American. We’ve got a 23-station sporting clay course. We’ve got a enclosed and heated five-stand facility. We now have a seven-bay. pistol arena. We’re in process of building an indoor/outdoor pistol and precision air building,” said Matt Little, range manager, John A. Halter Shooting Sports Education Center. “The footprint of that building is 64,000 square feet, and we’re in process of building cottages as well for people to stay so people can actually come to us and shoot for a couple of days or three days and stay at our cottages.”
Currently, Hillsdale College supports a competitive shotgun team, which took first place in the 2024 ACUI/SCTP Collegiate International Nationals in both trap and skeet. The team also took first place Team High Overall at the ACUI/SCTP Fall Central Midwest Conference Championship in October 2024. In spring 2025, Hillsdale took second Team High Overall in the ACUI/SCTP Spring Central Midwest Conference Championships, as well as first place in both American Skeet and Skeet Doubles at the 2025 ACUI/SCTP Collegiate Clay Target Championship in Texas. Individually, five Hillsdale students were named as All-Americans on the shotgun team.
”Shooting has opened a lot of doors for me. It’s kind of given me a direction to go with my life. I can genuinely say I’ve met some of the best people in my life here,” Hillsdale student Sophia Bultema said. “Our coach is great. My best friends and I are on the team. And the shooting experience is unparalleled because we get so much funding and support from everyone, and it truly makes you want to be a better person and a better athlete, and I just love it here.”
Hillsdale currently serves as the home of the USA Shooting National Team and hosts numerous Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) and Association of College Unions International (ACUI) competitions. SCTP serves as the official feeder program into USA Shooting, providing competitors with a pathway to advance onto the Olympic Shooting Team.
“Our partnership grows every day with USA Shooting. We’re more than just a partner in name only with USA Shooting, so we work with them on a regular basis,” Little said. “We’re working with starting some coaching foundations where we bring coaches in and bring shooters in to help them with Olympic dreams. So we work with them very closely, so that will continue to grow, and with that relationship, we’ll grow the pistol and rifle program, air programs or precision programs as well with our new building.”
Additionally, Hillsdale College also supports an Action Shooting Team, which is one of the first collegiate teams in what is a growing sport across the nation. In September 2024, Hillsdale hosted the first-ever United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) Collegiate Championship at its Ailes Action Shooting Range, with members of the college’s own team claiming the top three spots in five of six divisions.
“It’s an attempt to get an action shooting game in the collegiate space. So far, we’ve had this classic action shooting program, and we participated that in a few years,” said Adam Burlew, action shooting head coach, Hillsdale College. “We started playing around with USPSA last year, and the guys loved it, and we started going to more local matches, and last year, we had the Naval Academy down and shot against them. So we’re just trying to expand on that concept of more colleges shooting against other colleges, not just shooting in the local matches.”
Only in its fourth season as of 2024, the Hillsdale Action Shooting Team first began competing in Steel Challenge competitions, claiming three national titles at the Scholastic Action Shooting Program College Nationals in Talladega, Ala.
“ There’s been a lot of growing interest around the nation, and Hillsdale is very unique, and we were one of the first varsity action shooting teams. So that’s been a great opportunity to kind of be at the front of this,” Hillsdale student Kayla Mullen said. “So this match, it’s a two-day format, so six stages, and then tomorrow, we’ll shoot six stages again. But it’s really just an opportunity to get other schools out here and kind of involved in the sport and be able to show their schools that it’s a sport and what it’s all about and try to get some more of that school support for the same kind of varsity team that we, at Hillsdale, have the opportunity for.”
Funding for the Halter range complex, as well as endowed scholarships that provide up to 50 percent tuition coverage for team members, ensures that the shooting sports will continue to grow at Hillsdale. Notably, several firearm industry companies have stepped up to support the college’s efforts, with Springfield Armory standing out as a main supporter of the school’s pistol scholarship fund. Springfield also supports the school’s Action Pistol Team by supplying its new Echelon and 1911 DS Prodigy pistols for competition use. Springfield-sponsored competitive shooter Rob Leatham has also provided training to members of the Action Shooting Team.
”I want all of our teams not only to be good students, good citizens, but I also want them to be world-class shooters,” Little said. “I believe a lot of that attitude comes from the top. So we’re pretty proud of that.”
To watch complete segments of past episodes of American Rifleman TV, go to americanrifleman.org/videos/artv. For all-new episodes of ARTV, tune in Wednesday nights to Outdoor Channel 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. EST.
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