[sven]

Just got back from my first trip to the newly reopened "Reed's Indoor Range" just off Highway 101 near San Jose. There are 20 lanes. Northern Cali folks are encouraged to check this place out... very nice folks and a great facility!

Prices are $10/hour per lane, $15/hour with two people. Gun rental fees range from $8-15/hour. Hours are 10AM -> 9PM weekdays, and almost as long on Saturday and Sunday. Call them at:

(408) 970-9870

...for directions and info (just off San Tomas Expressway, visible from 101).

The lanes were about half occupied during the lunch hour, and there were about 6-8 people swarming around the store when I left. Very nice to see that there are other shooters in the Bay Area who haven't moved out of Kali.

The showroom floor is VERY well stocked. Mags, grips, cases, range bags, cleaning supplies, safes, knives, ammo, shirts, jackets... I actually was talking to a guy at Reed's main store yesterday (when I picked up my gun), and he was jokingly complaining that the owner has been raiding their stock for the range. It shows - never seen a range so decked out.

Reed's prices may be higher than other places, but I don't mind supporting a local, privately owned place. I will be buying my ammo elsewhere, however. $8.99 for 50 Winchester White 115 grains is TOO high, even for me. =)

Eric (more on him below) told me that they are going to have a Gunsite instructor visiting regularly for training! SWEET. I'LL BE THERE.

This was my first trip to this range with my brand new gun (my first gun - a G17), although I have been to several other ranges before with friends. The lighting was very nice on the range - better than I have seen in other places.

I had even more fun that I had expected, and I had high expectations! My grouping at 7 yards was mostly within a 6" area, but the group was about 4-5 inches low.

Some guy with a 1911 next to me had torn a solid 4" hole torn dead in the
middle of his target at 15 yards (yeah, yeah... bring it on you 1911 elitists), which was a little hard to look over at, esp. compared to my target, but... oh well.. .you gotta start somewhere, and I love my Glock.

The salesguy at the range - Eric - was really nice and had helpful
advice - I've actually never dealt with somebody as nice as him in Range environment. There seem to be a lot of attitudes in this sport!

Paul - another guy from the Reed's store down on Alum Rock - was also there, helping guys out with holsters and stuff.

Eric is a a Glock armorer, which is a nice bonus... he even field
stripped, inspected and lubed the gun before i took it out for my first shots, which made me feel better about things. Anyhow, regarding the grouping, he told me I am anticipating recoil and pushing the gun down. I know this is what I am doing, I caught myself doing it a couple times. Recoil ain't bad at ALL, so there is no reason for me to do this - just newbie fear, i guess.

Eric sold me some snap-caps to mix in with my ammo
'blindly' during training... the idea being that when i hit the fake
round, if I have pushed the gun down i will see it (you're
busted!)... if that happens, Eric says I should unload the gun, dry
fire 10 times holding still, and then continue. I've read about this in TFL, and look forward to seeing if it works.

On one or two shots, I didn't flinch at all and actually saw the
muzzle blast very clearly and... surprise, surprise, right in the
middle those rounds went. Some of my flinching was because the guy
right next to me was firing very loud .357 out of a short barrel...
pretty hard to focus as a newbie with that going on. i could
literally feel the pressure wave hit me each time he shot.


50 rounds spent.

Range rental: $10

Ammo cost: $10 ( i got ripped off (need to buy online, but also need to get
Advantage Arms .22LR conversion))

Memories: priceless

oh yeah, at one point a hot shell jumped back and almost went down my
shirt... i think i'll start wearing a billed cap at the range, to
prevent this from actually happening. i've heard that some people have squeezed off extra 'accidental' rounds when this happens, just because it freaks them out. i was a little surprised, i admit... but not THAT surprised!

VERY PSYCHED.

Thanks be to Oleg Volk for rekindling my interest in this sport! He's The Man!

Any Bay Area shootists who wish to get together for a TFL rally, contact me. I'm eager to train with those better than me, which is pretty much anyone at this point.

Shoot em well,

-sven