Very short summary: DO NOT GO UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. Ultra Expensive. Ultra Black Lung.

Long Version: I’m out more money than I care to admit and 2 days later I’m still coughing from the case of black/smoker’s lung I was given while in there. But I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s go back to the beginning.

Safe Shot

We’re up in Tahoe, so it is 30-45 minutes to get to Reno, then another 45 minutes to get out to the Washoe County Range near Pyramid Lake. That is quite a long round trip, so when we heard that an indoor range was going to open in Reno, we were quite excited. Low and behold, SafeShot Indoor Range appears on scene in South Reno, an excellent location for us to visit on a regular basis. So this past weekend we went to try it out for the first time.

The first thing you have to do is “check-in”. In this process you have to sign a little waver (standard liability disclaimer) and give then your name, address, and driver’s license. This is a little displeasing, but John and I were willing to accept it as a small price to pay. The real problem is that the check-in process was extremely slow. Waiting for other people and getting our own stuff done took at least 20 minutes.

The real shocker comes when you see their prices, which is something you won’t find on their website and for good reason it turns out. Range fee’s are $15, and that is palatable, but nothing else is. For a 30 round bag of 9mm it is $20; $25 for 40cal; $25 for .223, $35 for 7.62×39 – just to name a few prices. Oh, while we’re on the topic of prices, standard paper targets are $2 each! Give me a freaking break! But at least you can bring in your own targets. That leads me back to the ammo, you can’t bring in your own, PERIOD.

This range only got permission to exist, because it is “green” and lead free, and if the county finds even a single lead round, they can be closed down (or so we were told). I can accept that and their not wanting outside ammo because you can’t be sure, but their prices are outrageous. The cashier admitted to us that they are charging us the same for 30 rounds, that you can go buy 50 elsewhere because they “have to make money too”. I can accept a 10% even possibly a 25% markup, but nearly 100% markup? That is insane.

I went and found the manufacturer’s own web store to check their prices. The .223 costs are of course “full price” here on the website, but still cheaper than what Safe Shot sells them for. Granted .223 is expensive, so I can give them concession that being a not “bad” deal. But let’s go look at 9mm and find that is $3-4 cheaper directly from the manufacturer. Now Safe Shot is buying in bulk, at wholesaler prices, not web store retail costs. So they are making that difference I point out, then a significant sum more.

Part of the range, after we were done. You can see some of the smoke.

Even if they reduce the costs, we won’t be going back due to the black lung. In short, the ventilation is TERRIBLE (or the opposite of sucks (Editor’s note: blows), because if it actually sucked it would be working properly). At the most, there were 4 shooters on the range (of 10 lanes) including John and myself. According to the employee there, that was “busier than normal” as an excuse as to why it was so smokey. I never worked in a coal mine nor have I smoked but I am a fairly experienced shooter, I guess my lungs are a little more fragile than some but that was NOT COOL. The smoke was bad enough to mildly obscure the target at 25 yards, at many points in time. Of course, as soon as we got outside of the range, we started coughing (this was Saturday). As of Monday morning, I’m still coughing sporadically because of the crap. John is doing a bit better than I, though as he put it on Saturday after blowing his nose, it “looked like [he] snorted a lump of charcoal”.

In the end, Safe Shot Indoor Range in Reno is simply not worth visiting. They have gun rentals, which is nice, and other amenities like a store (which we didn’t investigate), but those positives don’t make up for the downsides. The cost is simply too much, even for casual use. Between John and myself the cost was nearly $300. My portion alone (which consisted of 2 targets, range fees, 2 30 round bags of 9mm and 3 30 round bags of .223) was just a slight over $150 (don’t forget tax). We figured that I could have done the exact same for $70 or less at the Washoe County Range, including gas and MSRP ammo (not even bulk purchase). Plus I don’t like paying for an hour at the range and days of coughing.

So please, save yourself the suffering and empty wallet, don’t go to Safe Shot Indoor Range.

Today, lets take a look at “A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing … So You Wanna Write About Handguns“. This guy knows his stuff about guns, so I’ll just pull out a few bits for you all to enjoy:

Silencers aren’t real.

Really? I beg to differ. They do exist, maybe silencer is a bad term, but its what alot of people call them. A rock 65mm in size isn’t a pebble, you’ll probably call it that. Go get a ruler!

Suppressors are illegal for public citizens.

Oh really? You mean I can’t order this suppressor for my P99 from CarlWalther.com. I better go tell my boss too, because he has a couple. Oh, and don’t forget all thoes guys at the gun shows that I see selling P22 w/ suppressor bundles. I’ll make sure to reference the blog. Guys at gun shows obviously don’t know anything about the law. Oh, and don’t forget the BATF who you send the paper work to when buying a silencer. WELCOME TO A CLASS 3 STATE!

Full metal jacket means the slug is encased in metal and doesn’t expand when it hits the target.

Well first off, slugs tend to be made out of lead, or other such fun METALS. So your telling me that FMJ is metal…in metal…. How does this differ? “A full metal jacket bullet (or FMJ) is a bullet encased in a copper alloy such as gilding metal, cupronickel, or a steel alloy shell.” -FMJ on WP. Also as a note, FMJ’s will still expand when they hit a target, it just depends on WHAT kind of target. If your shooting a soft target (see also: human), they wont expand (much). Though if you happen to be shooting at a hard target (see also: several inches of steel plating on an M1A1) I’m pretty sure your FMJ ammo is going to go SPLAT like a bug. Then again no one is willing to lend me a M1A1 or a 50cal to test this theory.

Cocking a handgun involves chambering a round in a semi-auto, and/or pulling the hammer back.

Last time I checked cocking had very little to do with chambering a round and alot more to do with the hammer being pulled back (or firing pin for those of us w/ new fangled guns). Or it could have something to do with the Antonov AN-22, not sure.

Semi-automatics can jam. If a gun isn’t clean, it can jam a lot.

Lets re-write this sentence to be un-stupid. “All guns can jam. If a gun isn’t clean, it can jam a lot.” Seriously. Granted a semi-auto is much more likely to jam if unclean (just don’t tell the Glock owners I said that), but it is possible to jam any gun.

Loading clips is time consuming and hard on the fingers. The spring inside a clip is powerful, and it takes some force and some time to get the bullets in there.

A brand new clip, at full cap… yes is hard to load. But otherwise… WRONG. If you soften up your spring a bit by loading a clip to the max and let it sit there for a while, the spring will soften enough to make the process much easier. Also, if you practice just a little bit (read: goto the range once or twice) you’ll get purdy good at loading your clips. Also – which clip it is makes a difference. For example my 15 round clip for my P99, very easy to load 14 rounds. My P11′s 10 round clip on the other hand has taken several portions of my tumb, several times (bastard is SHARP).

Guns and bullets are heavy. Sticking a 9mm in your front pocket is not a smart idea for many reasons, one of which is it will pull down your pants.

This is wrong on just so many levels. First off, lets take a look at a 5 shot Scandium revolver. Um, can you say “barely there“? Yes, if you grab your Glock 17 and load it with 17+1, its going to be a bit hefty. You can still put it in your pocket – WEAR A BELT. More importantly DONT put it in your pocket unless you WANT to shoot yourself in the leg, or the family jewels.

Someone unfamiliar with semi-autos wouldn’t be able to fire one, at least not quickly.

Of course not, because every gun laying around is unloaded with the safety on. Oh wait… Glocks don’t have safety’s, neither do alot of guns. Oh, wait, I forgot that most guns ARE loaded. Oh, and that entire “pulling the slide back” thing, isn’t much for stopping a newb w/ a gun. If you’ve watched any semi violent movie in the last 20 years, you can probably operate a firearm. So just remember, your 10 year old kids (who’s never touched a “real” gun) won’t be able to pick up your loaded Glock and kill someone – its just not possible… Right…..

Aiming isn’t easy.

I’m sorry, did I miss something here? Last I checked the process of aiming a firearm was to point it in the general direction of where you want to shoot. Thats really, really not that hard. The first time I picked up a handgun, without any training, I was able to put 30 of 30 rounds into an upper torso sized target at 21feet. (CCW ^_^) Kids play games these days, alot of people are better trained for operating guns than they realize. Aiming accurately at long distances may be hard, but I can give most anyone a gun and have them hit a person sized target at 20 feet (its actually really hard not to hit the target at that range)

Teflon coated, or cop-killer bullets, aren’t real.

Teflon coated, I’ll give the guy. Lets just not tell him about AP rounds. I mean, we’ve already hurt his feelings badly enough for one day.

Always treat every gun you encounter as loaded.

Probably the single best piece of advise this guy wrote – and the single MOST IMPORTANT. And where do we put important information class? At the TOP of the webpage.

I’m most irritated at the bulk ammo though. A while back I bought a box of 1000rnds of American Eagle – or something similar. Cost me 200$. I know thats not “Cheap” but its not bad….. Well that was until I saw the same 1000rnd box for sale for 125$ at the show… Grrr… Too bad I don’t need any more ammo right now. Maybe when the “Big Show” comes around I’ll get some more.

All this, and just a “little” more expensive (read: alot) all for you and yours saftey!

I’ll admit, the thing is purdy darned small. Its not as small as the P-3AT but for a 9mm its really nice. I went to the range right afterwards (With a new case of cheap 9mm). I have to say I really like the balance and shape of the gun. Also, it doesn’t hurt so damned much like the P-3AT. I put 50 rounds through before I started to feel it in my hand. This probably isn’t as bad for “vetran” shooters – but I’m not – I haven’t been shooting for years and years. It shot fairly good for me, for the first time. My aim generaly isn’t that amazing – but I was still impressed with its initiall accuracy.

Of course there is a belt clip for the gun, along with some other cool accessories. Also since the P-11 doesn’t have a threaded barrel, or a high cap mag…. its not an assault weapon in california. Yay!!! Of course I’ll have to buy a 12 round mag so the P-11 is also an assault weapon – because I can. Oh, and mentioning California… the CA certified for sale page doesn’t even list Kel-Tec’s. Makes ya wonder.

I guess I should take the gun home tonight and clean it again. This is only odd because I thought of all the times I get dirt in the trigger was at the range, and not on my normal carry routine. Maybe its DEATH LEAD from thoes blazer rounds. They are made of pure death after all (I challenge anyone to proove me wrong).

Oh and the Blazers seem to blow a rather large cloud of black smoke out with every shot. I’m not sure why, I’ve never noticed it before. Previously it was probably due to the wind – but it really sucked for Goupil who was down wind of me.

It was off to MI3 latter. Movie was so so, should have bailed on the plot. Then again I think all action movies should be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Why? Because he says “FUCK PLOT” and just blows shit up. Look at Bad Boys 2, he said “see, here’s a big hill. there are lots of houses that are all meth labs and were going to drive a hummer though em and BLOW THEM UP” and it was awesome. Anyways, I did see a 1911 and a Beretta 92 which made Mr Goupil EXTREMLY happy as he is a big fan of the Beretta’s. Then again I have to admit I wouldn’t mind one myself… right after the Walther P99C, Glock 26, Glock 36 and a Kel-Tec. (Priorities!)