One of my drivers says to me while he’s getting ready to leave, “Have you been to that new pistol range off Central?�
Feeling a bit out of sorts because I didn’t know there was a new pistol range anywhere in the Seattle area, I asked him as to exactly which range he was talking about. I narrowed it down to a place that I knew to be a newer gun shop I had checked out a few months ago, back but was unimpressed with.
I got off work and headed on down to the shop and lo and behold, there is a new indoor pistol range within 10 minutes of my house!
They are called Champion Arms Indoor Shooting Center at 18801 84th Ave S in Kent.
They don’t yet have a website, but I’ll put up a link to it as soon as they do.
There were still a couple hours left before they opened, so I didn’t spend too much time peeking about (a very bad thing to do at a gun shop). I went home and assembled my usual cast of firearms plus the newest member you’ll see tomorrow and took a nap before heading out.
I rolled in at 1100. The shop is nicer than I remember it, and although the folks working the counters looked as though they spent a bit too much time out the night before, they were friendly.
The range, while not quite as roomy behind the firing line as Wade’s in Bellevue, the place was clean, well built (read: Safe) and quite serviceable. They’ve got 25yds and 20 bays to shoot from. The usual caveats are in force there: no centerfire rifle or shot shells, but rimfire rifles and centerfire pistol caliber carbines are OK.
Champion has a policy that I would like to see posted at some of the other indoor ranges: They tell you how much they are going to charge you if you accidentally (read: stupidly) hit anything other than your target (ceiling baffels, target runners, walls, etc). They post it on a big sign behind the range counter and have an 8 1/2 x 11in sheet with the prices in every booth.
Hopefully, that will keep the dingleberries in line.
They are a bit cheaper than Wade’s with day long lane rentals for just under $11 after the governor adds her stipend and a yearly membership costing $250. They do have a few rental pistols, but seeing as how I had five guns with me already, I neglected to find out how much they cost.
I didn’t take photos yesterday, mostly because I can never remember to bring my damn camera. But no worries, I’ll be going back next weekend and blogging that.
The other good thing about yesterday’s experience was that in the three hours or so that I was there, three husband and wife sets, a family of four and a family of five stopped in and did some shooting.
Family trips to the range: life is good.
Doesn’t effect me personally (I reload)…but their ban on Wolf and Blazer is a tiny bit annoying.
They’re within about 15 minutes of my in-laws…may take my SIL there to teach her to shoot.
I’m hoping they build up thei stock of used/consignment rifles. That’s one of the best places to find milsurps.
The ban on Wolf is understandible, since they had that problem of splitting cases. If Wolf had any sense, they would see that since most ranges have picked up on the ban, they need to put out some sound engineering fixes that would tell the world that they are serious about quality control. Hell, they could get Microsoft to instruct them in THAT little detail.
The ban on Blazer is a little more subtle. Blazer aluminum hulls can split, but don’t usually. The hulls, when extracted, leave fine aluminum dust around, and over the months, this stuff would get into electrical things and cause havoc. The other thing is that the aluminum pollutes the brass, which can be sold in batch.
The rules are a small price to pay. As long as they don’t go the route of the indoor range I used to shoot at here in PDX, and ban ALL ammo except what they sold (most of which was junk), you’ll still be way ahead of the game.