Who,rents guns, who goes to supervised ranges.

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olafhardtB

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I live in a fairly rural area. The only ranges I know of are unsupervised and often make shift. Besides that I am sort of agorophobic, somewhat anti-social and don't care to join any thing. I think a lot of the advice we give noobs is totally impossible hot air. At none of the places that I shoot, are there range officers or supervisors. No body rents guns or has a variety you or your wife can try out. The closest thing I see to training classes are a few CHP classes. When on the forums I read when somebody asks "What sort of gun should I get?" Or,"What shall I get my wife?" they are invariably told to go to a range and try a different guns out. I don't know of any place that does that or offers training. I often feel the noob would be better served by the advice: Get a double action 22 revolver and some cheap bullets. Go out and shoot it. Be careful where you point it. When you aren't ready to shoot keep your hands off the gun.
 
This is why it's important to have friends with lots of different kinds of guns. Last time I went with a small group, I set up a card table with over a dozen for people to try out.
 
My area got it's first range that rents guns about two years ago. It's 40 miles away, so I don't go much.

But I live in the woods, and can drive ten minutes out of town and blast away all I like.

The advice we give new folks to rent guns isn't bad advice, but it's not always a possibility.

When I bought my first handgun, I went to an LGS and talked to someone behind the counter. I told them what my purpose was, and my concerns, and he pointed out a few models that might fill my requirements. I made a decision, and went home with a 357 magnum.

Having friends who shoot is good, but ultimately new shooters and purchasers at the very least need to figure out what guns fit their hand.
 
Many urban and suburban indoor ranges rent guns. Some of them even rent full auto guns. Those same ranges offer different levels of training.

The outdoor ranges near me don't seem to have rental guns, but they do offer training to some degree as well.

I've been tempted to rent guns on more than one occasion just to check one off my list without having to purchase it. The only time I've actually rented a gun was years ago with a full auto M1A1 Thompson. Now that was fun. :D
 
I'm in TN and there are tons of ranges around here that rent guns. have been since the 1970s at least, maybe longer.


but you make a fair point. many people may not live near a range that rents guns.

i don't think "buy a 22" is good advice for everyone, e.g. someone who NEEDS a self defense gun and can only afford to buy one.

so what's reasonable advice for them? a few hours of travel? I'm pretty sure one fairly new female shooter here recently posted about traveling some ways to shoot a rifle for the first time.

friends? surely if you're that far out in the sticks, there's someone around who would do a bit of instruction for a new shooter (of course, the advice you get may be worse than the internet)
 
The closest range to my house is an indoor range - about 10 minutes away. They rent guns with a very good selection. $5 for as long as you want to shoot and $5 to rent any gun (except full autos - I think those are $50 to rent). You just have to buy any ammo shot in their guns from them (which is slightly above market price, but not too terribly high). That range is "supervised" via CCTV most of the time - occasionally there will be an actual person in there but most of the employees are on the sales floor.

Most of my shooting though is done at a local gun club that I'm a member of ($100 per year and I shoot there as much as I want). Except during competitions its unsupervised.

Generally though, if you look around, there ARE places to rent and shoot guns, and if someone is looking for a gun I would definitely suggest they go try them there.

I don't think the "get a double-action .22 revolver" advice is sound because:

a) a lot of people don't end up liking revolvers. I certainly don't - mostly due to not liking DA trigger pulls. The few revolvers I do have generally are only shot in SA.

b) a lot of people may only be able to afford one gun, and not only is a .22 LR not suitable for many tasks, but a DA revolver tends to be on the more expensive side of the scale (at least for something decent). They could get a more capable gun for less money.

In general - I think the average "noob" really should try out a couple different guns - either rentals are at least hold them at a shop and see how they feel in the hand.

My first handgun (I've been shooting long guns since childhood) I pretty much just mail ordered at random when I found something that looked decent. That was a Ruger P95. It was available in DAO, Manual Safety, and Decocker models. I didn't even know the difference at the time and just picked Manual Safety. Now 13 years later knowing the difference quite well, I really wish I'd have known to pick the Decocker model, but at least I didn't pick DAO. A visit to a range to try things out would have cleared up the confusion though.
 
More Americans now live in urban/suburban areas than rural ones. Advice geared for the former won't necessarily be helpful to the latter, and vice-versa.
 
I live in a fairly rural area. The only ranges I know of are unsupervised and often make shift.
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I live in a fairly rural area, too, and I know of about five ranges and shooting clubs CLOSER to my house that the primary one I belong to. :)

Not everybody lives where you live, and lives the way you live. Advice isn't tailored to you, or to anyone, unless they give enough information for us to do so.

Besides that I am sort of agorophobic, somewhat anti-social and don't care to join any thing.
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Well, that's you. That's not most people. Don't project your own flaws onto the "everyone" who might come here to post a question.

I think a lot of the advice we give noobs is totally impossible hot air.
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Totally impossible? Really?

At none of the places that I shoot, are there range officers or supervisors.
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Ok. That's where YOU are. Not many people live where you are. Why would we only give advice that's applicable to where YOU are?

No body rents guns or has a variety you or your wife can try out. The closest thing I see to training classes are a few CHP classes.
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Ok. That's where YOU are. Not many people live where you are. Why would we only give advice that's applicable to where YOU are? Your situation is not representative of very many other people's situations.

When on the forums I read when somebody asks "What sort of gun should I get?" Or,"What shall I get my wife?" they are invariably told to go to a range and try a different guns out. I don't know of any place that does that or offers training.
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Ok. That's where YOU are. Not many people live where you are. Why would we only give advice that's applicable to where YOU are? Your situation is not representative of very many other people's situations.

I often feel the noob would be better served by the advice: Get a double action 22 revolver and some cheap bullets. Go out and shoot it. Be careful where you point it. When you aren't ready to shoot keep your hands off the gun.
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Ok. If you think that's good advice, give someone that advice. It will undoubtedly not be the best advice MOST people could be given, but it's yours and you're free to give it if you think it's helpful.

Look, back in 2010, the census recorded that over 8 out of every 10 people lived in urban or urbanized areas while less than 2 out of that 10 lived in rural places. Why would we assume that folks who come here and ask for help live in some backwater so remote they can't find a rental range within a few hours' drive? That's a silly thing for us to assume.

If they TELL US they can't, that's a different story. But if they just say, "Hi, I'm interested in shooting and my wife wants to learn, too, how should I get started?" why would we instantly assume they're antisocial backwoodmen who won't be able to find a well-appointed range and some good folks to help them find a gun they like and get them started with good fundamentals?
 
Get a double action 22 revolver and some cheap bullets.
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Good .22 revolvers tend to be pretty expensive. Less good .22 revolvers have a tendency to be a bit difficult to shoot, or shoot well. A lot of people don't LIKE revolvers and getting them to drop a few hundred bucks on a gun they might have no interest in anyway, and might not like when they do get it, seems like the OPPOSITE of "good advice."

Further, someone's need or want might be for defensive arms. Telling them "buy a .22 revolver and then when you're good with that, THEN you can get something you could defend yourself with..." is at best a bit off-putting. Maybe even condescending. And, might keep an effective weapon out of someone's hands when they need it.

All because you THINK they PROBABLY live out in the sticks and can't find a rental range and someone to give them a little instruction? Seriously?

Go out and shoot it.
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How? Where? At what? Figure it out as best as you can and hope you stumble upon enough success to keep you interested or meet your needs?

Why would I give someone that piss poor advice when I could give someone BETTER advice that will help them get to a good place FASTER? Maybe they can't or won't take advantage of everything I suggest, but isn't good advice they can take part of better than bargain basement "best o'luck" advice that can only help them a little? Or might hurt?

Someone could ask on a different forum, "My son's really interested in learning to paint, how should I get him off on the right foot?"
Would we say, "Better buy him some crayola water colors at WalMart and have him just try to paint something. You probably don't live near a decent art supply store and won't be able to find a painting instructor to help him learn the skills..."??? How horrible would that be? There's so much to guns and shooting, so much variety of needs, goals, tools, and techniques, that the comparison could hardly be more apt.

Be careful where you point it. When you aren't ready to shoot keep your hands off the gun.
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So, that's a couple of the safety rules. Certainly not enough information to give them the full set of even the basic FOUR.

We [strike]can[/strike] MUST do so much better than this...
 
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I'll go to the local class 3 range every now and then to shoot full auto. They do it for cost of ammo ( which is about double what I normally pay ) . Other than that I just find a wide open stretch of desert if I can. I know some really good secluded shooting spots. Ranges suck. No tin cans allowed.
 
There is an indoor range within 3 minutes of my house. Don't like it. (Poor lighting and ventilation system.) Dropped my membership at a private outdoor range about 15 minutes from my house and prefer to go where it is not supervised which is about an hour drive.

I believe a 22 is the caliber to learn to shoot. Where you go from there is up to you.
 
Well since there are no ranges renting guns by you there must not be any ranges that do so...
 
22-rimfire said:
I believe a 22 is the caliber to learn to shoot. Where you go from there is up to you.
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I hear this a lot. I'm not saying it's bad advice -- I actually think there are definite benefits to this approach. But when I was in the Army, we didn't learn on a .22. We were given training with the weapons we were to be issued. (M9, 1911, M16, M2, M60, M203)

If someone has an immediate need for a defensive weapon, it may be better to invest the cost of the trainer .22 into training with the weapon they're going to use for self defense. Many beginner's classes do start out shooting rimfire, but it's not necessary for a rimfire to be one's first purchase IMO. A good beginner's class will also often provide the opportunity to shoot a variety of handguns, which will help when it comes time to buy.
 
I've never even seen an indoor range, except on TV. To my knowledge, the closest range to me that rents guns is about 3 1/2 hours away. I've never been to it, just heard people talk about it. The closest shooing club that I know of is a good half hour past there, their are admittedly likely some in a relatively large town that's only a little over 2 hours away.


If I were to tell the average person that lives in my area to rent a gun at a gun range, I'd bet a 100 dollar bill they'd look at me funny and say something to the effect of "I didn't know their were places that do that!"

Ok. That's where YOU are. Not many people live where you are. Why would we only give advice that's applicable to where YOU are?
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We generally give advise based on our life experiences, the advise you'd give my neighbors would likely be extremely impractical. The quoted question above could be asked of everyone here.

I think that was the point of the OP.
 
I used to belong to a nice club, but let my membership lapse when my work hours made it impossible to go to the range during open shooting nights.

Now I go to a commercial range in the town in which I used to live. It's VERY expensive, but unlike the range that's near my job, it's supervised. They actually have somebody watch the range full time. I like that better than the other place where they babble with their ne'er do well pals while three guys on the range wrestle over a loaded Remington 870 while jabbering at each other in Serbo-Croatian.
 
We generally give advise based on our life experiences, the advise you'd give my neighbors would likely be extremely impractical. The quoted question above could be asked of everyone here.

I think that was the point of the OP.
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Well it might have been his point, but what he actually said was:

I think a lot of the advice we give noobs is totally impossible hot air.
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If 81% of the population lives in or near population centers where ranges and training are to be expected (and obviously a great many of the rest of us rural folks have those things available, too) why would we be upbraided for giving generically good advice that's applicable to more than 8/10 people?

This is the second thread this week which olafhardB has started to argue against the common advice our community has tended to give new shooters. Things like, trying a variety of guns at a rental range before you buy one and seeking out some safety and skill training instead of trying to figure it all out on your own.

He has said these things are impossible, hot air, and (in the other thread), actually scaring away new shooters! Some find that assertion a bit askew.
 
BLB68 said:
I hear this a lot. I'm not saying it's bad advice -- I actually think there are definite benefits to this approach. But when I was in the Army, we didn't learn on a .22. We were given training with the weapons we were to be issued. (M9, 1911, M16, M2, M60, M203)

If someone has an immediate need for a defensive weapon, it may be better to invest the cost of the trainer .22 into training with the weapon they're going to use for self defense. Many beginner's classes do start out shooting rimfire, but it's not necessary for a rimfire to be one's first purchase IMO. A good beginner's class will also often provide the opportunity to shoot a variety of handguns, which will help when it comes time to buy.
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Not saying you're wrong. There are so many scenarios that may or may not fit an individual's situation. Yes, if you are buying a firearm purely for self defense, I would not get a 22LR first. But I used a 22 revolver for years as a primary home defense gun. I did have center fires, I was just more confident hitting what I was hopefully wanting to hit with the 22. My primary home defense handgun now is a 3" Ruger GP-100 with 38spl+P's. But I still have 22's laying around and often loaded.

I think a new shooter needs a helping hand at first. Basics need to be addressed as well as safety issues. You can do that with a friend in the mountains or go to a range where they have instructors. You pay for this of course in most cases. Some may not want to pay. The down side of "learning from a friend" is they may teach you their bad habits. But with time, you develop your own style and build confidence.
 
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http://www.montgomeryindoorshooting.com/pricing/
http://hoovertacticalfirearms.com/
http://www.pistolandpawn.com/wp/gun-rentals/
http://www.robertsgunrack.com/
http://www.locknloadtactical.com/content/

not to pick nits, but quick google search shows indoor ranges with rentals in mobile, enterprise, montgomery, birmingham and huntsville. can you be in the heart of dixie and still be 3 hours from one of those cities? i shoot matches in birmingham and it only takes me 5 hours to get there from northern middle TN
 
If 81% of the population lives in or near population centers where ranges and training are to be expected (and obviously a great many of the rest of us rural folks have those things available, too) why would we be upbraided for giving generically good advice that's applicable to more than 8/10 people?
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I wasn't trying to imply that the advise shouldn't be given, I was just trying to communicate that the advise is frequently impractical. I would also be very surprised to learn that 80+% of people here live within an hour of a range that provides training and gun rentals. I know that's not what you said, but that is who we are talking about, people here. An hour is about as far as I'd consider practical, but that's just me.
This is the great thing about a place like this, and giving advise based on our own life experience. You can get several different approaches to the same issue. But in this case more times than not the people telling folks to go find one shoot, seem to condem (to strong a word, but can't think of a better one) the people that try to reccomend auctual guns.

This is the second thread this week which olafhardB has started to argue against the common advice our community has tended to give new shooters. Things like, trying a variety of guns at a rental range before you buy one and seeking out some safety and skill training instead of trying to figure it all out on your own.
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I'm aware of the other thread, while I disagree with much of what was said (in both) I do understand his frustration in this one, I think. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe I shouldn't.

He has said these things are impossible, hot air, and (in the other thread), actually scaring away new shooters! Some find that assertion a bit askew.
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Yeah, I'd be in the "find that assertion a bit askew" category. That's putting it nicer than I would have to be honest.
 
not to pick nits, but quick google search shows indoor ranges with rentals in mobile, enterprise, montgomery, birmingham and huntsville. can you be in the heart of dixie and still be 3 hours from one of those cities? i shoot matches in birmingham and it only takes me 5 hours to get there from northern middle TN
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I was unaware their was one in Mobile, that'd be the closest one and a little over 2 hours away, I stand corrected. But that's still at least double the distance I'd drive to rent a gun just to try it out.
 
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By the same token, city dwellers don't usually have anywhere to shoot where they can do anything other than shoot paper or steel targets on a square range.

The two closest indoor ranges to me are about 5 miles 16 minutes and about 7 miles 20 minutes, the 7 miles one is where I took a membership, for buying my gun there the price for a year membership was reduced to $50 which gets me free range time, free use of all the rental guns, and 10% off on ammo. Plus I like the people.

The two outdoor ranges are about 14 miles 20 minutes and 15 miles 30 minutes. The 14 miles one does not rent guns and has the insane rule that you have to check in at the office but your gun has to stay in the car in the parking lot which is not visible from the office. But they do rent out classrooms and ranges for private classes put on by whoever wants to rent them, in which case the check-in requirement disappears, that's where I did the rifle class last Sunday and also the original handgun class I took last year. The 15 miles one is the most expensive of the four and styles itself as upscale with a restaurant on the property, that's where I went to try my SD ammo, I did not like the atmosphere.

Ya pays yer money and takes yer choice...
 
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