At the moment, I feel blessed to have a great range near where I live. The facilities are basic, but that's just fine with me - and the ranges themselves are generously sized, allowing me to shoot while moving if I so desire. The longest rifle range is just 200 yards, but if I feel the need to shoot farther than that, another nearby range offers 1000 yard shooting.
While the personnel at these ranges are extremely safety-conscious, and I don't want to give any other impression, they are unlikely to "get in your business" unless you give them a reason to. In addition, the range rules relate to safety and not damaging range property - basic stuff I would expect to find at any range.
I'm in California at the moment, and wow, do these people have it bad. After slogging through traffic for over two hours, I made it to the "Oak Tree Gun Club," which offers an impressive array of facilities, including a restaurant (My grilled ham and cheese sandwich was excellent). The name is not hypothetical - the setting was idyllic.
The shotgun ranges were quite large, and microphones at each firing station enabled shooters to say "Pull" to a machine which would then launch clays for them. Fancy! While the pistol ranges were more basic, there were a variety of steel targets that entertained me for several hours as I waited for some friends to slog their way through traffic.
There was a large selection of rental firearms - one of the largest I've seen outside a place like Scottsdale Gun Club - although one of the two firearms I examined was in need of some qualified gunsmithing, and the other was well on its way to that same point.
So, what was so bad about this range? It sounds pretty good, right?
Before I go any further, I should say that my interactions with range personnel (Rangemaster and RSOs) were as follows:
- Being reminded by the rangemaster to not shoot at the closest row of steel targets with rimfire, when I had not done so even once in nearly an hour of continuous shooting on that range.
- Being politely reminded to slide my eye pro down onto my face. I truly appreciated this, because I like my eyes, and want to keep them.
- Being told (also politely) that I couldn't fire "any more" steel cased ammo. I had yet to fire any, but I did have a box of steel cased .45 with a few rounds left in it that I had intended to shoot at some point. I did read the range rules carefully, but failed to understand that the "no steel case" rule did not only apply to the steel target pistol range.
I generally avoid breaking range rules, even if I don't like them, but especially when I'm the guest of someone who I like and respect and is a regular patron of the "gun club."
I want to point out these interactions so as not to give the impression that I was reprimanded, cajoled, yelled at, etc. for some gross safety violation, and that this post is just sour grapes. Also, I want to highlight the fact that almost all of the personnel who were out and about on the range were polite and professional.
I did, however, witness a few questionable actions, have issues with some rules, and safety concerns about their firearms and ammunition.
First, the rangemaster. He would constantly interrupt conversations between people at the range, ostensibly to correct behavior or to remind them of the rules, when in fact no violations of the rules had been made or were apparent. This occurred to the point of annoyance. It also seemed to occur most often when groups including one or more women were speaking to one another.
Second, the rules. They were legion, but the ones that irked me most include a ban on steel-cased ammo and that picking up your own brass was against range rules.
My brass is my property. I paid for it, and I intend to keep it. For the purposes of yesterday's trip, I was willing to sacrifice any brass I fired. However, this alone would prevent me from ever returning.
In an ironic twist, the "pro shop" sold, among other things, reloading supplies and components. Exactly what am I supposed to reload with? Factory new brass? I didn't see used brass for sale, but that would be hilarious. Oh, boy! I get to pay for my own brass TWICE!
Banning steel cased ammo, regardless of bullet construction, is just plain silly. I do suppose that it would be a pain for them to sort out the steel cases, since they're keeping everything that's fired on the range. However, that would make these mutually correcting issues - fix one, and the other goes away.
Finally, their firearms and ammunition. I'm well aware that rental firearms see heavy use - and abuse - and cannot be kept in like-new condition. However, it's not a stretch to imagine that they would be kept in serviceable condition. Also, the store-brand reloaded ammunition they sell - which is, by the way, priced the same as brand new ammunition anywhere else - was made to no standards whatsoever.
Fully half of the .357 Magnum rounds I tried would not seat in any chamber of the rental S&W 686+. The ammunition components were clearly selected for the lowest possible production cost. Powder charges varied significantly. I don't mind being required to shoot range-bought ammo in range-owned firearms, but I do not like being sold poor quality, unsafe ammunition. Given their hyper-vigilance regarding safety, I found this very odd.
The range personnel behind the counter were responsive to these issues, and, like the vast majority of personnel outside, friendly, polite, and professional. Although I think the locals have it bad, they hold a different opinion. The range was busy all day, and they're clearly not going to be hurting without my presence and money.
However, I won't be going back at any point in the future, and I can't wait to get back to "my" range.
Last year, Sig Sauer's P250 lost the ATF handgun tender because of significant reliability issues. Sig's response was to improve the pistol - no, wait, their response was to appeal to the GAO, saying in part that the ATF put too much of an emphasis on reliability. The GAO promptly smacked Sig's claim down in a pretty embarrassing manner.
Fast forward to this year, where Sig's big contract with the Dutch police for the P250 was pretty much the only thing the company had to crow about. Frankly, I was surprised that the P250 had won anything. Now, it turns out that my suspicions weren't misplaced. The Dutch have rejected the P250 for unspecified issues that would place police officers in danger. To put it mildly, they don't seem happy with Sig or the P250:
On the basis of the results of these tests I no longer find it responsible to continue with this pistol. There is no longer enough confidence in the quality of the pistol, nor in the capacity of the manufacturer to improve the quality or safeguard it. All this brings a risk to the safety of police officers on the street.
Sig wins again.
As yet another major firearm manufacturer announces a "groundbreaking, game-changing" product that is anything but, I have to ask - when will we see something that's truly innovative?
Every new firearm that's been announced for the last few years - heck, probably more - has been presented to the consumer as if it is nothing short of revolutionary - in fact, that word is often used to describe the new product of the month. Almost invariably, though, this "revolutionary" firearm is simply an amalgamation of previous designs packaged in a new shell with a fancy name.
The Nano does not change any games, despite Beretta's claims to the contrary. Its major design feature, the removable frame insert, is very similar to what we saw a few years ago in the Sig P250, which is in fact licensed from Steyr in the case of the P250 (Kudos to Steyr for being the originator of this design, even if nothing has really come of it). Even if being able to change grip sizes without changing serial numbers is mildly interesting, Sig has discovered that people prefer their handguns actually function before they think about whether or not they would like to have two grip sizes or change between different calibers.
In the long gun market, we have items like the Benelli Vinci, described as, you guessed it, a "revolution" in shotgun technology. It's basically the Benelli operating system in an easier-to-manufacture package, with the side benefit of it being more suitable for rapid disassembly. Its most promising technology is the concept of a quick-change tubular magazine that could be manufactured in several lengths, but Benelli isn't interested in selling this to civilians.
The silver lining for me is that products like the P250 and the Vinci haven't done very well on the market. Unfortunately, at least in the case of the P250, this has more to do with a complete lack of reliability than the fact that the weapon wasn't worth buying in the first place.
It's my opinion - worth what you paid for it - that twenty-year-old - or perhaps even older - specimens of these companies' firearms are more reliable, durable, and useful than their newer designs. Sig P228, anyone? Benelli M1 Super 90?
I don't know when we can expect to see true innovation, with the potential for market success, from a firearm manufacturer, but I don't think it will come from any of the companies that seem to currently be led around by the nose by their P.T. Barnum-like marketing folks. We need another Browning, another Stoner, another Glock. Not another Beretta Nano.