Dragon man, Colorado Springs

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FL-NC

FL-NC

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I spent the morning at Dragon Man's. He is a man who owns the most extensive military museum probably in the world. I have never seen so many working machine guns, military vehicles, and displays of equipment and artifacts in my life. He is a very unfiltered gentleman who has a real attachment to history. In addition, he operates a gun shop that deals with every class of firearms, along with a custom Harley/hot rod business and several other ventures. It was worth every penny of the $20 ticket, and is a "must see" for anyone interested in military firearms and related items, should you find yourself in the Colorado Springs area. He also has a large presence on youtube and social media.
 
Does he still have those shot up cars all along the road put the stupid signs that say "This person tried to give Dragon man a bad check"?

And that stupid sign over his gun shop that says that if you walk in there with any type of firearm he'll assume you're trying to rob him and shoot you?

And is the shop still covered in concertina wire?
 
To be fair, he's knowledgeable and one-on-one he's a very polite man. I might be wrong but I don't even remember him using profanity when I spoke to him. My wife was there that may have had some bearing.

Those stupid signs, including the one that said that he had wild dogs running loose all night long and if you came there after hours they'd kill you, just rubbed me the wrong way.
 
His reputation in the motorcycle world is horrible but he still finds a sucker now and then. A notorious parts swapper (your good for his junk), poor work, long lists of unhappy customers, on and on....
He managed to kill his own wife along the way, too.
 
I've watched some of his YouTube videos and have found them to be entertaining as well as informative, a truly worthwhile combination of traits.
 
Trunk Monkey said:
To be fair, he's knowledgeable and one-on-one he's a very polite man. I might be wrong but I don't even remember him using profanity when I spoke to him. My wife was there that may have had some bearing.

Those stupid signs, including the one that said that he had wild dogs running loose all night long and if you came there after hours they'd kill you, just rubbed me the wrong way.
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He has all that. He struck me as a guy who is 75 years old and has lots of $ and does and says what he wants. He was very polite to me and Mrs. Fl-NC and we had a nice conversation about guns, Harleys, etc.
 
I seem to remember him supporting the Colorado Magazine Capacity Restriction law BUT I haven't been able to document it.

I do know that the few times I've been out there his range was at capacity and every shooter on the line was dressed like Tactical Timmy

 
I haven't been to Dragon man's in a while so this may have changed.

It's east of Colorado Springs on Highway 94. And he's got a big complex. I THINK it's over 200 Acres.

The first thing you see when you drive through the gate is a sign that says he has guard dogs roaming loose after business hours and if they catch you they will eat you.

I have no idea how true it is, especially given he was robbed a couple of years ago.

As you drive down the road to the main shop and range every so often you run across a shot up car and a sign like this

20201022-074730.jpg

They say stupid things like "This guy tried to give Dragon man a bad check" or "This guy tried to steal from Dragon Man."

Then when you get to the gun shop it's a quonset hut and it's surrounded by concertina wire and an 8 or 9 foot fence topped with barbed wire.

And right over the front door was an 8 by 4 piece of plywood painted white and written on the plywood in red was something to the effect that if you walk into his shop with a firearm of any type he will assume that you're attempting to rob him and he will shoot you . The last time I went out there I got out of my car I took one look at that sign and decided I was never going back again. So I might have only been there once.

His range was one long berm with stacks of pallets every so often for target stands and great big wooden wire spools for shooting benches.

If I remember right it was pistols and rifles on the same range.

As I mentioned earlier the range looked like a mall ninja convention.

Across the road from the range he had a great big Paintball Park.

In August of 2017 his ex-wife's daughter and I guess his ex-wife's grandson broke into his gunshop and stole 57 rifles pistols and shotguns. It took less than a week to figure out who did it.

https://www.kktv.com/content/news/Crooks-steal-guns-from-Springs-shooting-range-441986653.html


As I said earlier when I spoke to him he was not a jerk. He was very polite. He was very polite to my wife. I don't recall him using any profanity at all. I mean he just seemed like a normal human being.

It's kind of like WWF. He's Mel Bernstein and Dragon Man is a character he plays.
 
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I've seen some of his videos , seems to be a character who has done well for himself over the years.
 
Listening to him say “they cancelled the whole thing after that” when talking about his wife’s death put me off. To each his own.
 
We went down there for the missus' birthday in June. It's a bit south of Co Springs, and and as other have pointed out, the long, long "driveway" is littered with silly/funny "warning signs" that made both of us laugh. The parking lot was FULL of cars, with a surprising number of out-of-states. The Quonset hut described earlier in this thread is dead-on accurate but doesn't quite cover just how seedy it looks inside.

When our group was called to gather for the tour, I was beginning to regret spending the $$. We went through a workshop that appeared to have every tool in the Snap-On catalog, then out the back door and gathered in front of what looked like storage units. The Dragon Man knew what I was thinking and told us to just wait til we got inside. He looks and sounds like he just left Brooklyn, but he was never crude or disrespectful at all; he is a walking encyclopedia of WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam trivia (he's a Vietnam vet).

WOW! I cannot adequately describe the enormity of his collections, nor his pride. But not the pride of having what is probably the largest collection of militeria in the world, but rather that of honoring all the brave fighting men and woman of our country. I was a bit overcome at all the uniforms hanging up, and the pictures of the the soldier actually wearing that very uniform; I may have to dig up an old uniform and pic and donate them as literally hundreds of others have done from WWI thru the GWOT.

Every single firearm shoots, and he has more small and medium arms and ammo for everything that most third-world countries. He's restored every vehicle and drives most of them. And you have to appreciate his enormous collection of 1950s cars (all restored to stunningly new condition) and '50s memorabilia .

Remember the old saying "He has has the most toys when he dies, wins"? The Dragon Man wins hands down!

Now for the shooting ranges. The main range is just a short walk from the parking lot, and is a pretty basic outdoor range. I can't recall what an all day pass is, but something stupid cheap like $12 or $15 bucks. We were the only ones shooting on the inexpensive instructor-only range after showing my instructor ID and insurance and paying far less for both of us to shoot there than at my local indoor range. Next time, we'll bring the camper with far more toys AND a lunch.

If you're ever in the Denver or Colorado Springs areas, the trip is well worth it to see the museum. Just check online, because they don't have tours every day.
 
jlmwrite said:
(he's a Vietnam vet).
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One very important correction.

Mel Bernstein is NOT a Vietnam Veteran and he never claimed to be. He is a Vietnam ERA veteran who did his entire tour at Ft. Bliss.

There are a lot of rumors floating around Colorado Springs about Dragon Man. A friend of mine who's a retired cop once told me that Dragon man is a convicted felon and that all the weapons and the FFL were in his wife's name and I believed him, until I stopped and thought about it.

First of all I can't imagine the ATF issuing a federal firearms dealers license to a woman who's married to a convicted felon and even if they had they would have shut down Dragon man's when she died.

Also, Dragon man owns hundreds of NFA items. Again, if he was a convicted felon they never would have issued those licenses to his wife.

One thing that you can be certain of when it comes to Mel Bernstein that man is cleaner than a Hound's tooth
 
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I travel to Co Springs a couple times a year for work. I was there last December and again in March. COVID has really slowed travel. But it is sure to pick up early next year. I will have to make a trip out to his place or at least a drive by. Sounds interesting to say the least.
 
Trunk Monkey said:
One very important correction.

Mel Bernstein is NOT a Vietnam Veteran and he never claimed to be. He is a Vietnam ERA veteran who did his entire tour at Ft. Bliss.
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Yep, you're correct; he is a Vietnam era vet and said something about spending his career at Ft Bliss.

I think you're also right about the idiotic rumor that his wife held his FFL. After all, she died in 2012 and the Dragon Man keeps adding and adding and adding to his amazing collection. Yeh, I've heard the other rumors about him in the biker and the collectible car communities but I'm thinking they are based more in jealousy than anything else.
 
How long has he been there? I was stationed at Fort Carson in the late '80's... but I never heard of this place. Granted, that was pre-internet... actually, that was pre-a lot of things.
 
Charlie98 said:
How long has he been there? I was stationed at Fort Carson in the late '80's... but I never heard of this place. Granted, that was pre-internet... actually, that was pre-a lot of things.
Click to expand...

1982.

I suspect his business got a boost when Rampart Range was closed in 2009
 
I used to shoot there when I was stationed at Carson. Everything else aside, it was a decent way to spend Saturday and Sunday mornings/afternoon.
 
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