Call me Ahab

posted by Caleb on Apr 28

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a Bowling Pin Shoot at Marion County Fish and Game Association. Two of my friends are members there, and invited me along to the pin shoot in the effort to get me to join the range as well, and also because holy hell pin shooting is wicked fun.

As you can see from their website, MCF&G offers a lot of different shooting options, including pistol, rimfire, trap, muzzle loading, and even an airgun league. In addition to just having the range itself, they also have a variety of regular competitions, such as the bowling pin shoot that I went to. Like the pin shoot, they have a regular steel match one Friday a month, NRA bullseye matches, muzzleloading matches, weekly trap, and a host of other matches and activities.

At the pin shoot, I got to meet a good cross-section of the range regulars (while getting my ass handed to me), and they were a good group of guys. Everyone was interested in having fun, as well as being very welcoming of the “new guys”. The “safe” area to the side of the pin shooting area was nice, as people were talking about pin shooting, different guns, etc.

The one thing that impressed me was the level of concern for safety as well and how they went about enforcing it. During the pin shoot, I accidentally handled my firearm at the line when I shouldn’t have, but instead of having some range nazi come screaming up my backside, the RSOs assumed that I’m a semi-unretarded adult and just reminded me of the safe handling rules. As such, I was duly chastised. But the commitment to safety coupled with the courtesy with which it was enforced really impressed me.

The only strike to MCF&G would be that they don’t allow high-powered rifles, but then again I’ve yet to find a range in the Indy/Metro area that does allow that; other than the odious Don’s Guns. Here’s Marion County Fish & Game Association breaks down on my review list:

• Location: Not a bad location, it’s only a little bit further from my house than Eagle Creek, and since it’s “members only” the access is limited and gated. The range itself is located in a bit of backcountry woods which makes it very easy to forget that you’re 10 minutes from a major metro area.
• Range: This is obviously where MCF&G shines - their range is large with a wide variety of different guns that are supported. Again, their only knock is that no high-powered rifles are allowed, so it would get 4 stars instead of 5.
• Staff & Members: One of the best parts of this range is found in the staff and members. Everyone I encountered was courteous, friendly, and generally helpful and pleasant. Unlike a lot of ranges I’ve been to, I never once got the feeling that myself or my friends were “outsiders”. For the welcoming and open atmosphere provided by the guys at the range alone I would recommend it to a lot of people.
• Intangibles: At Marion County Fish and Game, I really felt like I was at a range populated by “gun guys” No one was waving guns around and acting stupid, everyone was responsible, safe and friendly. In short, it was everything I want in a range experience.

Bottom line: I’ll definitely be going back to Marion County Fish & Game Association; at the very least to shoot steel and pins on a monthly basis and I’m going to investigate possibly purchasing a membership as well. I firmly believe in supporting the sport locally, and I think that joining an area club would be a responsible thing to do.

posted by Caleb on Feb 18

I went shooting with my friend Greg this last weekend, initially we were planning on going to an outdoor range, but our plans changed and we ended up at Popguns Family Indoor Shooting Range.

I’ve been to Popguns a lot actually, when I was still working for Hyatt, it was where I did most of my shooting.  They’ve recently completed a remodeling of their interior space, which did a lot to open the area up and give customers more room to move around.  The best part about Popguns is that it provides an indoor shooting range alternative to Don’s Guns.

• Location: One of the negatives about Popguns is the location, located off of 10th St and Post Rd.; it’s not exactly in what I’d call a great area.  The flea market right next door can make parking on weekends kind of dodgy.  On the flip side, some of the most regular customers at Popguns are cops, so there’s often one or more police cars parked out front of the shop; as well as some of employees/proprietors being reserve deputies.
• Selection: Popguns focuses mainly on the law enforcement/concealed carry market, so their selection outside of semi-autos and small CCW wheelguns isn’t too great.  But, if you’re looking for a good carry gun, be it a semi-auto handgun or a small wheelgun, Popguns is a great stop.
• Pricing: Not too bad, actually.  Definitely lower prices than you’d find for a comparable gun at Gander Mountain.  They often have great deals on premium defensive ammo, when I was there this weekend they had 500 round cases of .40 S&W Ranger SXT for $350; or a 50 round box of 9mm Hydra-Shok for $30.
• Range: Popgun’s range is a 50 foot indoor range, for pistols only.  They also have a “No Steel/Aluminum cased” ammo policy, which is a drag for me since I get great deals on Wolf Ammo and run it all the time in my 9mm and .45 ACPs.  It’s a pretty straight forward indoor range, well heated in the winter and cool in the summer, the only place they get a bad mark is that the target carriers are prone to malfunction.
• Staff: The guys at Popguns are pretty knowledgeable, especially in terms of carry guns and gear.  They do have a little bit of a Glock fetish, but hey, no one’s perfect.  They’re a little salty with people sometimes, but I imagine that has a lot to do with their location, and the kind of…clientèle that is unfortunately attracted.
• Intangibles: I like the way Popguns is laid out, the wood floors and sort of rustic interior make me feel like I’m in a gun shop.  Sure, the range may get crowded on weekends and the wait time can be long, but when it’s -2 degrees outside I really don’t want to shoot outdoors.

Bottom Line: The location hurts Popguns, but other than that it’s a solid bet.  Nothing spectacular or mind-blowing, just solid.  The C+/B- student if you will allow the comparison.

posted by Caleb on Jan 28

This is the first installment in what will be a continuing series on Indianapolis area gun shops and ranges.  A pretty decent number of my readers are from around here, and I’ve had more than a couple of emails from people asking me which range I go to, where do I buy my guns, etc.   So I figured I’d go around town, check out the few places I hadn’t been, as well as refresh my memory on some of the places I have been.

I’ll start off the series with a review of Indianapolis most notorious gun shop, Don’s Guns.  If you’re from here, you’ve probably seen maybe one or two of Don’s disturbing TV commercials, which have been described as “Col. Sanders with an Uzi” by more than one or two people.

In case you hadn’t guessed, Don’s is not going to get a positive review from me, in fact he’s not even going to get a link to his website.  In addition to being kind of creepy and weird, Don’s Guns fails pretty much all the objective grading criteria I’ve set up as well.

• Location: Don’s is in a bad location.  It’s located on the corner of 38th St. and Lafayette Rd, which if this were a comic book would probably referred to as “Crime Alley”, and I would half expect to see Batman busting criminal heads.  While relatively easy to get to from the interstate, the area that Don’s is in does not inspire confidence.
• Selection: This is the one area where Don’s does shine; in that his selection of firearms for sale is actually one of the largest in the state, and most likely large enough to back up his claim of largest showroom in Indiana.  The problem though is that his selection, although large, is not terribly diverse.
• Pricing: Unfortunately for the above, Don’s fails at pricing, because in addition to having the largest showroom, he has also has some of the highest prices I’ve ever seen.  To put it succinctly, I am likely to get a better deal by going to a big box store like Gander Mountain than I would at Don’s.
• Range: Don’s Guns does have a fifty foot indoor range, which they claim is safe for rifles up to .50 BMG, as well as properly ventilated enough to fire blackpowder indoors.  In my visits to Don’s, I have not seen fit to test either of these claims, as the overall condition of their range at the time did not lend me the greatest feeling of confidence.
• Staff: The staff isn’t exactly what I’d call creme of the crop; as incidents like this linkare somewhat common at Don’s.  If you click the link, you’ll read about an ND that occurred at Don’s, where two of the employees failed to check to see if an AK47 clone was unloaded before working on it.  That’s a stupid, dangerous mistake.  On a personal note, I distinctly remember being muzzle swept numerous times during my visits to Don’s.  Sadly, it wasn’t a negligent customer playing around, rather it was store employees not being mindful of their surroundings.
• Intangibles: It’s hard to put a finger on this last bit, hence the “intangibles” title.  When you walk into Don’s, you get an undeniably skeezy feel about the place, there is a certain vibe of unprofessional behavior and a lack of proper safety.

I can’t in good conscience recommend Don’s Guns to anyone.  It’s the kind of gun shop that people like Paul Helmke are proud to tout as “irresponsible gun dealers”.  Don’s has had more guns sold there linked to crime than any other gun shop in Indiana.  I don’t understand why the BATFE hassles good guys like Red’s Trading Post, and leaves places like Don’s Guns alone.

Bottom Line: Don’t go to Don’s.  Bad location, high prices, and an unsafe staff more than outweigh the benefit of a large selection.

Next time:Now that we’ve gotten the worst of the worst out of the way, our next installment of the Indy Gun Shop Series will cover one of the good guys.  In the next installment, we’ll be looking at Plainfield Shooting Supplies.