Fantastic new shooting range and gun shop

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George Dickel

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The wife and I recently moved to a retirement community in Florida. There has been a new range and gun shop under construction nearby for quite a while now and is now finished and had a soft opening this weekend. The building has around 57,000 square feet, an indoor 9 lane 100 yard rifle and separate pistol ranges. The gun shop display area has display cabinets along the walls that when filled will hold a few hundred hand guns and rifles. There is a circular counter about 20 feet in diameter that has tethered pistols so that you can actually hold the gun and get a feel for it without having to get a customer service person to unlock a cabinet. The guns are real except for having the firing pin removed. There will be various full auto weapons to shoot, but under the close supervision of a store employee.

The range walls are 1 foot thick concrete to reduce noise levels outside the range so as not to annoy the nearby residents. The back stop is built to handle 50 BMG rounds should you have one to shoot. It is a first class facility that had to have cost several million dollars to build not to mention the inventory they will have on hand. Range rental is a bit high, $20 an hour for pistols and $30 an hour for the rifle range but everything is first class. You can buy various membership levels that give you various perks and freebies with the highest level costing $2,500 a year. I will be looking for one of the lower membership levels.

I was disappointed in that you can't shoot reloaded ammo, it has to be factory new. You don't have to buy their ammo but they have very competitive pricing on their products.

I'm not affiliated with the this range, just wanted to relate the quality of the range and how well it was thought out and executed. I've never seen a range like this one. I will try to get some pictures and post them later, if they allow me to take pictures.

Just remembered, they have a smoothie bar, coffee machines and serve beer. You can shoot and have a beer afterward but you can't have a beer and then go shoot. There is a huge training classroom and has a small kitchen to serve food for special occasions or meetings.
 
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Sounds nice. Can't imagine what a 100yd indoor range looks like. All around here are 25yds.

Those rates are normal around here for a classier indoor range with similar amenities, for what its worth.


Hope you take advantage and support it from time to time.
 
Sounds awesome!

I live on the border of Idaho and Washington in the most liberal area in the region. Moscow, Idaho and Pullman, Washington both have major universities and are 8 miles apart. There are dozens of smaller towns in the area full of conservatives and we are on the edge of wilderness with awesome hunting and fishing opportunities.

Oddly enough, there just aren't many gun shops. My dad owned one in Moscow for decades and he sold it in 2007 or so and it was leveled and replaced with an auto parts store. It was the only gun shop in the two major towns. Now in Moscow, there are two places that sell guns; WalMart and a Ace Hardware/sporting goods store called Tri-State. Across the border in Pullman, with 30k residents, there isn't a single gun shop or FFL. There are, however, 5 marijuana shops.

If you want to buy guns or shoot at an indoor range then it's either 60 miles North to Spokane, or 50 miles South to Lewiston. Really sad. But, liberals...
 
A name or a link so we could take a look at it online would be great.

A newer local range is similar, normally $20 an hour, but Mon, Tue, & Wed 11-2 they are half price. They also have a military and first responder discount on a basic yearly membership.
 
Two big fancy ranges have been built in this area but I just pay $10 or shoot free at the old range.
 
Sounds nice. Can't imagine what a 100yd indoor range looks like.

Our local "country club" indoor range has 3, 100 yd positions, but they're not what many would imagine. They are 2' diameter pipes or tunnels. Keeps wild shots contained. You shoot from a bench and they use electronicly scored targets.
 
My outdoor range which is in the country a hour rife (well worth it) has a 100 rd range and 50, 25 and 15 and 5 yds. Most of the time just a few shooters, all of us go by the rules and one of us wear a range officer badge and taught the rules. Many times throughout the winter I am there by myself. Love it. Hate indoor ranges. My cost is $75.00 a year and a few hours to contribute to maintaining the range. It also has a skeet and trap range. NRA membership a requirement. (helps keep out the riff raff)

I also have membership in two local indoor ranges. And recently they built a hightech indoor range. I do not like it. I feel it is almost clinical, like walking into a hospital.
 
That's gotta be Shooter's World. https://www.shootersworld.com It's the fanciest new fangled place out there. I've been to the Tampa location. Very nice, well lit, good classes. My only gripe is it's a "Lost Brass" range, ie. they don't let you pick up your brass. That, and because it's the newest fangled place out there...it has a tendency to attract your "Tactical Timmys"...your "Billy Bad A****" if you will. I tried using the 100yd indoor range, however the Timmy next to me was firing a Barret 82 with a muzzle brake...the blast sent the ammo in my station scattered out in front of my bench, wound up being a very short session. Not the range's fault...just aggravating
 
Congratulations on your move, and welcome to Florida! The key to survival here is hydration. It’s 86* F this weekend! It was 81*F on Christmas Day. That’s normal for SW Florida.
 
I have tried an indoor about twice, the thunder and concussion of infoor discharge is very aggravating to me. Indoors are great for bad weather but hell on my shooting concentration. I am glad you have a nice place to shoot.
 
I was disappointed in that you can't shoot reloaded ammo, it has to be factory new. You don't have to buy their ammo but they have very competitive pricing on their products.

Maybe look around for some empty factory ammo boxes.... A range that actually kept me from shooting my own rounds (or from keeping my own brass) gets zero of my business, regardless of other amenities.
 
That's gotta be Shooter's World. https://www.shootersworld.com It's the fanciest new fangled place out there. I've been to the Tampa location. Very nice, well lit, good classes. My only gripe is it's a "Lost Brass" range, ie. they don't let you pick up your brass. That, and because it's the newest fangled place out there...it has a tendency to attract your "Tactical Timmys"...your "Billy Bad A****" if you will. I tried using the 100yd indoor range, however the Timmy next to me was firing a Barret 82 with a muzzle brake...the blast sent the ammo in my station scattered out in front of my bench, wound up being a very short session. Not the range's fault...just aggravating

Yes its Shooters World. I'm hoping that the wannabe tactical ninjas and other like types will be controlled. I'm planning on joining two clubs with in an hour and a half of where I live, they shoot metallic silhouette and have outdoor ranges. The 100 yard range is wide open, no tubes to shoot though, its quite impressive.
 
Maybe look around for some empty factory ammo boxes.... A range that actually kept me from shooting my own rounds (or from keeping my own brass) gets zero of my business, regardless of other amenities.
That's what I intend on doing, picking up some empty factory boxes. The guy giving me the tour said that they have no way of determining if ammo is factory or reload. In a factory box must be factory ammo. I don't know how much business I'll give this place as I joined an indoor range just down the road from me about 5 miles.
There is a 25 yard pistol range and a 50 yard rifle range.
Only problem with this range is that it isn't air conditioned and in the summer here that could get pretty uncomfortable where as the new range is airconditioned.

I only plan on using the rifle range to test loads, nothing like no wind to remove some variables.
 
My outdoor range which is in the country a hour rife (well worth it) has a 100 rd range and 50, 25 and 15 and 5 yds. Most of the time just a few shooters, all of us go by the rules and one of us wear a range officer badge and taught the rules. Many times throughout the winter I am there by myself. Love it. Hate indoor ranges. My cost is $75.00 a year and a few hours to contribute to maintaining the range. It also has a skeet and trap range. NRA membership a requirement. (helps keep out the riff raff)

I also have membership in two local indoor ranges. And recently they built a hightech indoor range. I do not like it. I feel it is almost clinical, like walking into a hospital.
I also joined an outdoor club with 100 yd rifle/25 yd pistol range. It's never crowded and I get to enjoy the outdoors. I pay about $200-$300 per year which also includes an NRA membership through the club . I went to Daytona FL in March and shot at one of those new indoor clubs,I like the bar and food ,but thats it.
 
Every once in a while, I have to remind myself that I'm very lucky to live a 10 minute drive from my usual indoor range, where an unlimited use membership is less than $500/year, and the RO's help me gather my brass. My only complaint is that they don't allow anyone to draw from a holster (though they may have bent that rule a time or two for me when no other customers were around). And there are about 3-4 more I could get to in <20 minutes with basically similar setups. Any place that tried to tell me I couldn't pick up my own brass would be a hard pass from me, but I have other options.

And the guy who lives on 100 acres and has his own 200 yard steel range set up off his back porch would say the same about my situation!
 
Our local "country club" indoor range has 3, 100 yd positions, but they're not what many would imagine. They are 2' diameter pipes or tunnels. Keeps wild shots contained. You shoot from a bench and they use electronicly scored targets.

Same deal on the one I have seen.
Very limiting, very loud. But all a lot of urban gun owners can get to.
 
The St Pete police range was in walking distance from my house, but the anti gun mayor and police chief closed it to the public.
So now the Wyoming Antelope Club; Florida Chapter gets my business.
 
Wow! That sounds like a beautiful and luxurious range George.
Ours is somewhat more pedestrian, an outdoor range operated on Forest Service land, $50.00/Yr. for 24/7 access. It has a 100 yd. covered main range, with other shorter ranges on the site, one out to 300 yards. It's about 20 minutes away for me. But the downside is, no smoothie bar:(
At the Range (6) (640x480).jpg
 
minimum of $20 every time i want to shoot, cant shoot my reloads, and cant keep my own brass? that actually sounds pretty terrible.

The majority of shooters don't reload so they couldn't care less about keeping their own brass. Shooters World allows you to pick up your brass as long as it doesn't interfere with other shooters or cause a safety problem. I've shot at a few indoor pistol ranges and the cheapest I've paid was $12 an hour, most of the fancier ranges charge $20 or more an hour. In Tennessee I belonged to a club with an outdoor 25 yard pistol range and a 300 yard rifle range that I could use 7 days a week for $60 membership fee. A very modest cost to use that range but in this area there is only one other indoor range and it only charges $16 to use the range for as long as you want unless there are people lined up to shoot, then you have to let them shoot. It is an older range with poor lighting and no air conditioning.

For you, me and others who reload this is a negative but for the majority of shooters it means nothing, they want a nice clean, climate controlled and safe range to shoot. In a lot of areas these "elite" ranges are the only option available. If you have a place like I did in Tennessee to shoot, be grateful, not everyone is that lucky.
 
I dont think I could ever go to the "elite ranges" on a regular basis. I like my private club.
I can spend hours at the range, take my time,
paying by the hour really bothers me....
 
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