Guns at Firing Range

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ulflyer

ulflyer

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Took a CCW course yesterday at an indoor range and while waiting for it to start chatted with the owners son about the case full of rental handguns; lots of filthy dirty Sigs, HK's, a Kimber, Kahrs, revolvers, etc. He showed me the Kimber in response to my question if he'd had any probs with it, saying they'd had none. He said they rarely ever cleaned them unless they started having malfunctions!

Nice owners...father and son...at Calibers near Greensboro Airport. Heard him tell one guy who was renting a 9mm that if he didn't like it, come back out and get another style 9mm at no extra charge. Rental is $6 plus you buy their ammmo (PMC)..none higher than $13.95 box.

CCW course included 5 months membership so I might have to go back and try some of the Sigs and Kahrs.
 
Most ranges rarely clean their rental guns, if ever.

Can you imagine the workload to clean 40 to 50 rental guns?

Of course it's a poor representation of the firearm you want to try out - dirty
gun = poor accuarcy, malfunctions, etc.

When I was looking for my first handgun, I was completely turned off of the PPK's becasue the one I rented had so many problems - probably all related to the lack of cleaning.

Glad you found a range you like!
 
One range I frequent uses an ultrasonic cleaner to clean their rental guns. Pretty easy work!
 
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Glad you found a range you like.

Sort of off topic but you might ask if they rent to people shooting alone. Lots of ranges have stopped renting handguns to people that arrive alone. There have been too many cases of folks renting a gun, walking into the range area, and shooting themselves.

So, most ranges I know require you to be shooting with a "buddy" before they will rent. I guess they think you're less likely to kill yourself if you have a friend.

And I am not certain, but I was told by a range manager in California that in that state it's actually illegal to rent to a single shooter. I wanted to try a Glock he had but he couldnt rent it to me, he claimed, because I was alone.

Something to check before you show up to shoot anyway.
 
Doesn't seem to be a prob here. I was the only one in the range doing my 50 round shoot off early that morning. Owners both seemed extra nice and by end of day thier wives were there helping out as they had a room full of shooters coming and going. Was hoping they also ran a gun shop but its strictly a gun range with rentals avail. Don't know how thier business is during the week, but yesterday it was booming.
 
I noticed yesterday at the range that the rental guns were EXTRA filthy. I have seen them getting cleaned on occasion. I think they only clean them when they're just about to drop dead of boredom.
 
Rental ranges near here will rent to groups (more than one) or to somebody who brought his own and wants to rent another. They will not rent to a single person walking off the street who wants them to "gimme a gun".

Reason is not the law. It's concern over suicides.

I notice the range I frequent most has ultrasonic cleaning equipment AND an air compressor and blast hose, with a big sign saying "this is OURs, not yours." They know one of the reasons I would rent from them is to check out a piece I might turn right around and buy from their case, so I suspect they are pretty good about using them. What they rent (which is mostly black. Maybe the reason for black isn't "Takticul", but "hides dirt".) looks reasonably clean and mostly works good.

Fud
 
I would think so; unfortunately that Range doesn't sell guns...just rents them.
Still, if one were to rent one and like it, it does make a positive statement for that brand.
 
I rented a G19 last summer just to get the feel of it, even though I was pretty much dead set to get it. It was reliable, but wasnt too accurate.

Several months later I asked them when they clean their guns. Their reply was "whenever".

The range has around 10 employees (which BTW also sells guns), so I dont think it would be too bad to assign 5 guns to each. Nothing other than the barrels really need to be cleaned, unless the gun is having serious problems being so dirty.
 
Range Suicide

People renting guns and offing themselves in one of the bays...That actually happened at Calibers about 2 years ago, give or take a month. We also had a fatality at PHA about the same time. Still a question...in MY mind at least...whether it was a suicide...accidentally self-inflicted...or an accidental shooting by a second party who had a panic attack and fled the scene.
The call was suicide...but logic doesn't point to that. Neither does bullet placement and entry angle suffest self-inflicted accidental shooting. I'll
always believe that somebody else was on the scene.
 
We only have a very few indoor ranges up here in the Seattle area and I think each and every one of them has had at least one obvious suicide with a rented gun, some have had multiples. I can certainly understand their concern considering how bad the press can be. The rule is usually ignored if you have spend a lot of time there or if you have brought your own guns along with you.

If I am trying out a gun that I might buy I prefer it to be dirty since it gives me a better idea of what I can expect when I get it. No matter how anal retentive you are, your gun is dirty after the first mag no matter what. Wether a gun is clean or not really shouldnt effect its accuracy in a measurable way, at least with handguns.
 
I have had same experience as Old Fud. If you bring a "working" gun of your own to shoot, they will let you rent one of theirs. No gun of your own, nor rental--unless you have a group of two or more.

I have been to Iron Sights in San Diego and had pretty good experience with their rentals. On top of that, they have what I consider to be a huge selection for rent.

My .02
 
Seems to me that ranges would be able to clean a couple of guns per shift. Each employee cleans one gun every day, they rotate through them. They won't all be clean at the same time, but at least they won't all be dirty all the time. If somebody is supposed to work until 6, let 'em off at 5:45 instead, use the 15min to clean.

At restaurants it's called side work and is factored into the shift. Don't see why ranges can't do the same thing. I know I'd be a little upset if I rented a gun and it didn't function correctly because it hadn't been cleaned in a few years.
 
My range in San Diego requires two people (or more) to rent a lane (indoor range) UNLESS you are a member.

So I don't think there are regulations forbidding renting to individuals, shops are merely reluctant to do so.

As a member they 'rent' me guns all the time (rental is free, but I have to use their ammo).
 
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