johnmcl
Member
I just got back from Scottsdale, AZ for a few days at a network security conference (ya, I know, Geek Central...) and took a break to visit the Scottsdale Gun Club.
In summary, I was very impressed. When I came through the door with my daughter, we were met with a greeting from a polite young guy. When he deduced we were from out of town he introduced us to George, the client manager. George gave us the tour of the facility.
George first showed us the showroom. This was a fully equipped gun store with a nice balance between pistol, rifle, and shotgun stuff. I was also impressed that within each line was a nice range of pricing. After looking at the show room we went into the training facilities. They have the FAST system there which is a video-driven training system. The training weapons are connected to an air supply which enables a recoil simulator. My daughter and I both tried shoot/no shoot scenarios with an AR and it was very realistic. (My apologies to the store clerk in the 7-11 video scenario....)
We then went into the "Titanium" membership area. It was cool enough that they use a retinal scanner for entrance into this high-end area. Through the doors was an old English style club room with big leather furniture and a plasma screen. The other end of the club room opened onto a six lane shooting space that's reserved for these members. They also offer a honking big bank style vault for on-site weapon storage, also retinal scanning for access control.
After visiting this room we went to the shooting lanes. There are 22 lanes that shoot to 75m. The lanes were ventilated, well-lit, and used an advanced target system. What was very nice was that George bought my daughter and I an hour's time on the range. He didn't have to do that, but it was very cool. We picked out a Glock to shoot from an array of 50 rental guns. They rent everything from 22 revolvers to full auto 308's.
In short, it was a real pleasure to visit a company that has its act together. SGC knows that customers are important and they seem to treat them that way. I told my wife she should be glad we don't live in Scottsdale as SGC is where I'd be all the time.
JFM
In summary, I was very impressed. When I came through the door with my daughter, we were met with a greeting from a polite young guy. When he deduced we were from out of town he introduced us to George, the client manager. George gave us the tour of the facility.
George first showed us the showroom. This was a fully equipped gun store with a nice balance between pistol, rifle, and shotgun stuff. I was also impressed that within each line was a nice range of pricing. After looking at the show room we went into the training facilities. They have the FAST system there which is a video-driven training system. The training weapons are connected to an air supply which enables a recoil simulator. My daughter and I both tried shoot/no shoot scenarios with an AR and it was very realistic. (My apologies to the store clerk in the 7-11 video scenario....)
We then went into the "Titanium" membership area. It was cool enough that they use a retinal scanner for entrance into this high-end area. Through the doors was an old English style club room with big leather furniture and a plasma screen. The other end of the club room opened onto a six lane shooting space that's reserved for these members. They also offer a honking big bank style vault for on-site weapon storage, also retinal scanning for access control.
After visiting this room we went to the shooting lanes. There are 22 lanes that shoot to 75m. The lanes were ventilated, well-lit, and used an advanced target system. What was very nice was that George bought my daughter and I an hour's time on the range. He didn't have to do that, but it was very cool. We picked out a Glock to shoot from an array of 50 rental guns. They rent everything from 22 revolvers to full auto 308's.
In short, it was a real pleasure to visit a company that has its act together. SGC knows that customers are important and they seem to treat them that way. I told my wife she should be glad we don't live in Scottsdale as SGC is where I'd be all the time.
JFM
