Best gun store in East Bay/Oakland?

Reed's Indoor Range in Santa Clara. There are probably some good shops closer to you. I just don't know of any. It sounds like Reed's in Santa Clara (not San Jose) gives you what you need. I'd buy somewhere else though for a better deal.

http://www.reedsindoorrange.com/

There used to be Trader's in San Leandro. Not sure if they're still around. There's a good place in Fremont, but the name escapes me.

There are in fact no firearms retailers inside the city of Oakland - the last one closed years ago, after the city council decided to tax everything such vendors sold an extra assessment.

Trader's in San Leandro lost its FFL.

Try asking over at Calguns.net - I live in Concord and I don't know of one close to either of us. Milpitas, Fremont (Irvington Arms), Santa Clara, yes. Marin County, yes.

Odd your wife has problems with revolvers; mine can't work the slide in a semi-auto. Just can't seem to apply the upper-body strength.

There is one in El Cerrito (Old West) and two in Castro Valley (Andreotti and another).

Reed's is all right, but I've always gotten much better service at Sportsmen's Supply at Bascom and Camden in Campebell. It's about the same distance away from you as Reed's. They have a fairly sizable collection of handguns at all times, and slightly better prices than Reed's and others.

Doms has a small but adequate supply but no range to use. It is in a friendly town though. Grip and trigger pull is one thing you can test there though and have fun. Livermore.

I like Reed's in Santa Clara

Geez...you mean to tell me there are still actual gun shops in California?

I used to live in that area and I heard years ago the Oakland city government put all gun dealers out of business. CA is the most unfriendly state to guns and the Bay Area is maybe the most unfriendly region in the state.

Traders had a terrible accident years ago when a gunsmith test fired a gun in the shop in back and the bullet went through the backstop and killed a customer standing at the front counter. After that the ATF went after them and nit picked every little violation until the owners gave up under the constant harassment and surrendered the FFL and closed up.

For used and collector guns try Krausewerk in San Mateo. For new and used guns try Imbert and Smithers in San Carlos or Bullseye in San Rafael. Bullseye has a range. If you go to San Rafael, check out Western Sport Shop, but they have long arms only.

There is Canyon Sports in Martinez and Triple A Sporting Goods in Vallejo. Both are about a half hour away from you.

Reed's has everything and the staff is very friendly and professional. They have a nice, clean range which is policed very well to keep out the dangerous (inexperienced) people, so the guy in the lane next to you is probably not going to accidentally shoot you. They really enforce good safety practices.

They have a wide range of rentals and an even wider range of arms - revolvers, autos, shotguns, rifles, OLL rifles, and accessories. If they don't have it they can order it. The only thing they don't have is reloading stuff. For that they send you to Kerley's.

Granted they don't have the lowest rock bottom prices around, but I'll spend my money there because it's a great place to go. It's a bit far from O-town for a weekday trip, but if you're in the area on a day off it's worth stopping in.

-MW

I use Reed's range about once a week and have purchases a couple firearms from them. Nice place. They watched me like a hawk on my first day at the range with my expert friend giving the lessons. RO even came over to help improve my stance, etc.

Also there is Bay Area Gun Vault on El Camino in Mountain View just north of 237/Grant Road. Never used them, but they like SIGs it seemed like. I hope their prices are negotiable ...

Target masters in Milpitas has a large selection, and a range.

In Fremont, look for Irvington Arms. They have a very small selection of in-stock firearms, however, they are able to help order almost any pistol a available for sale in the USA via private-party-transfer. AND they sell off-list black rifles. All legal & FFL transfer of course.

I recommend Irvington Arms for begin cool with their FFL. I was working with an FFL dealer in Martinez who refused to accept a Saiga 308 that I wanted to order over the Internet. He claimed the California Department of Justice wouldn't let him do it, what a liar. Anyway, Irvington Arms actually had various versions of the Saiga 308 in stock. They are a small shop and relatively expensive, but they're cool. Regarding shops being expensive, I know of only one shop that has ever given me a good deal. It's Marin Firearms in Novato.