First off, Gun City (or Gun Sh*++y, as I refer to it) is one of the worst ranges in the area. Their range is commonly referred to as "the Dungeon" for good cause.
The best indoor range in the area is just north of Nashville, in Greenbriar, at Guns and Leather (
www.gunsandleather.com). They have a state of the art, computerized range with a hundred scenarios programmed. To get there, take I-65 north to exit 98. Then follow the signs to Ridgetop, going through Ridgetop and on a couple miles until you enter Greenbriar. You'll see a Shell station on your left, followed by a used car dealer on the right. Guns and Leather is just past the car dealer.
The next best range in the area is at On Target in Murfreesboro. Follow I-24 east to the first M'boro exit (Hwy 96). Get off the Interstate and turn left. At the light just before Wal-Mart, turn left again and the On Target will be on the left about 1.7 miles up the road (Thompson Lane). Here, you can shoot handguns, rifles or shotguns. They are also associated with some folks who will come out and rent machineguns to you.
Then there is Uselton's Sporting Goods in Goodlettsville, near the Rivergate Mall. I haven't been into the range part, but I doubt it is as nice as Guns and Leather, or On Target for that matter.
Next on the list is ASP in Joelton. From Nashville, take I-24 west to exit 35. Turn left and there will be a small strip mall on the left, just past McDonald's. It's not a great range (they use old mattresses as backstops), but they will let you use shotguns and pistol caliber rifles.
There are also a few outdoor ranges.
First is the new state owned range next to Percy Priest Lake. It is open weekends only, and costs $4.50 per shooter. If they are busy, they will give you a two hour time limit, so that others can shoot. After two hours, you have to pay for another two hours.
Then there is a state owned range in Cheatham County that is free, however it is also difficult to find unless you know where you'regoing or have someone to follow. It is also unsupervised, so it gets trashed frequently and there are occassionally some real clowns out there.
There is a members and guests only range south of town in Williamson County, called Owl Hollow Gun Club. It is fairly nice, albeit a little restricted at times. If you're with a member, guests can use the range for $5 a day. I'm a member. If you'd like to shoot there, drop me a line with the dates you'll be in town and maybe we can work something out. I know they have a couple upcoming weekends where they'll be closed for competitions or maintainence. I'm fairly certain that Labor Day weekend is one of the closed weekends.
There are also a couple skeet/trap/sporting clays ranges in the area, if you're interested. I've never shot at either of them, so I can't talk about the quality.
Hope that helps. If ou want, drop me a line when you're coming to town. I'll show you around to some of the area ranges and gun shops.
Frank
