Range Report - NEW BASS PRO SHOP IN SAN ANTONIO!

[mosttoyswins]

Well,

I dragged my wife to the new Bass Pro Shop, Outdoor World in San Antonio today.

If you have been to one of these already, I apologize if this is stuff you already knew.

To preface this story, my wife is not outdoorsy, thinks camping is a Motel 6, does not like hunting or fishing, loves the color pink, thinks I am obsessive about guns (even though she can outshoot me ) and is generally somewhat of a priss...so she was less than excited about going, but I love her anyway and she did end up having a good time. .

Anyhoo....

Since this was opening weekend they had all sorts of extra stuff going on, Bass Pro Shop Nascar in parking lot, record hunting trophies on display, the Toyota "Outdoor Experience", live penguins (yes penguins), albino snakes, some kind of HUGE lizards, trained hunting dog shows and of course about 1,876,985 of my fellow San Antonians in attendance.

But on to the important stuff, the GUN department.

LONG GUNS

All in all pretty good. They definately focus on selling long guns over pistols. The "Fine Gun" room was impressive, lots of long guns I will never be able to justify buying, and they had an impressive inventory of shotguns and rifles. One of the cool things is that most rifles and shotguns are all out where you can touch and feel them. They are tethered to the display rack with a spring loaded cord so you can't run off with them but you don't have to ask a salesman to see a particular rifle or shotgun, you can just pick it up and play with it. Very cool.

HAND GUNS

Pretty disappointing. Sportsmans warehouse has a better inventory of different hand guns. They had a case of revolvers mostly Ruger with 1 S&W 686. They had a case full of .22's, mostly Rugers. Then they had a few Glocks, Sigs, Rugers, but a very dissappointing selection of 1911's. It is definately NOT a place to see a lot of different types of pistols.

HERE IS THE COOLEST PART OF OUTDOOR WORLD!

They have an INDOOR SHOOTING RANGE!!! This is big news for shooters in SA because we are very limited in our indoor shooting range choices, in fact I can only think of 1 in town (there may be more).

It was not completed, but one of the guys told me they will have a 25yd pistol range and a 50 yd rifle range. He was unsure about the number of lanes or the cost. Hopefully it will be reasonable. Does anyone have any idea how much they charge at other Outdoor Worlds that have ranges?

This is awesome because it is only about 20 minutes away from my house. I am very stoked about this.

RELOADING

Had only 2 aisles dedicated to reloading. Seemed to be basic stuff, Lee presses etc etc. , and the supplies seemed to be expensive. I was hoping for more selection because I am thinking of getting into reloading.

OTHER STUFF

Nice optic department, lots of scopes and binocs. Good knife dept., Rustic furniture, fudge shop , kayaks, canoes, camping equipment, all the camoflage clothing you will EVER need, nice bow hunting and fishing area...

The also of course sell boats which is cool because they have a boat equipment department which may be nice. (I have a 24 foot cabin cruiser).

I could go on for a long time, but I'm sure you get the jist of it. Over 200,000 square feet of fun.

THe whole reason I went was to confirm the shooting range and they have one so it was a good trip.

I can feel my wallet getting lighter as I talk!

MTW

 

[countertop]

Good review.

I've been to a few Bass Pro Outlets. For the most part, I've found them to be disappointing, especially when compared to a Cabelas. However, the one at Pigeon Forge, TN can go head to head with Cabelas, and I am sure they've got others out there that are equalle (or perhaps nearly) as impressive.

Indoor shooting range sounds great!

 

[ScottsGT]

I just visited the Bass Pro Shop in Myrtle Beach SC this week. All they had in reloading was a few small shotgun items. I guess they are marketing to tourists, not local.

 

[bender]

I visited the new Bass Pro in San Antonio today. I agree with most of what MostToys has said.

First off, I had to drive around the parking lot for about 10 minutes before being able to grab a space.

Only place I headed once inside, was upstairs to the guns. saw the indoor range (not finished as MostToys commented).

I'm a big fan of Sportsmans Warehouse, so basically what I did was walk around the gun stuff and compare prices. BP is considerably more expensive than SW. For example, a Glock 21 at SW is $549, at BP is $599. RCBS shellholders at SW are $5.99, at BP $7.99.

 

[cedjunior]

The indoor ranger at the BPS here in DFW costs $8 an hour. They're prices are a little high, but they have a lot of overhead (indoor trout pond is an example). As far as the pistol selection goes, the BPS here in DFW didn't even carry pistols till about 2 years ago, and since then have slowly built up a better supply. They even have a DE .50AE for sale.

 

[GEM]

I wuz there 2. Haha. Anway - I had to park in the dirt. Lots of rifles for the sportsman crowd. Big revolvers for the sportsman - Unless I missed it, I didn't see CCW type revolvers or smaller semiauto pistols. I also didn't see a handgun ammo section - but I might have missed it. Prices are not that great compared to local competitors. I didn't see fighting rifles either - did anyone? Mostly great white hunter stuff.

I heard the range has 4 lanes - not that great either if it becomes popular. But I didn't see it.

I like Cabela's better to browse. They are too expensive for guns also. Academy, local stores, the gun show and Sportsman's Warehouse will get most of my bucks.