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Old April 11, 2002, 04:39 PM   #1
sven
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Location: Palo Alto, California
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Range Review: Reed's Indoor Range, Bay Area, CA (two thumbs UP)

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
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Old April 11, 2002, 07:00 PM   #2
Old Sourdough
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Good report Sven! I've been there but haven't shot yet, and you're right; it will be very popular with the Silicon Valley guys. I'll probably see you there, I'll be the old fat guy trying to see the holes in the WHITE area of my target!
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Old April 14, 2002, 05:42 PM   #3
SteveC
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Location: Bay Area, CA
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Thanks for the review

Thanks for the review. There are no ranges in Berkeley/Oakland for lunchtime practice, so I envy you (on the other hand, there's always East Oakland...)
Target Masters in Milpitas is closer to home (and has more convenient hours for me), but I may swing by Reeds to check it out.

Do they allow double-taps and rapid fire on their range?

If someone wants to setup a TFL night at Reed's, just post it, I'm game. Sadly, I'm not a particularly good or experienced shooter, but I'm willing to bring my toys and we can all try each other's guns :-)

Steve
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Old April 14, 2002, 07:43 PM   #4
sven
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sounds great

SteveC:

Suggest a night and I will be there!

-sven (steve)
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Old April 25, 2002, 10:57 PM   #5
kcrowder
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The Reed family has been supporting the shooting sports for over 40 years. Jim Reed has done a great deal of work to make the new range a good place to visit. This is a business and family that deserves our support.
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Old May 13, 2002, 01:42 PM   #6
Psycho
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Thanks for the review!

I’ve been trying to find time to come back, now that it is operated by Reed’s (I used to shoot there back when it was still National) and wanted to know what its like under new management.
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Old May 18, 2002, 06:17 PM   #7
AAshooter
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Reed's indoor range is a good improvement. The attitude of the place is great. They do not really support gun sales out of the range but are building what I tend to think of as a pro-shop. They have some nice lines of accessories.

Eric I believe is the manager. I believe he (as well as others) came from Siegels (spelling??). He has a pretty realistic mindset regarding the range and is pretty customer focussed.

He did mention that if you come in and rent a gun to try and then end up purchasing it through Reed's they will apply the rental fee and lane rental to the price of the firearm.
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Old June 5, 2002, 11:08 AM   #8
GunGeek
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Quote:
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.
I'd be interested in a TFL rally. Haven't been to Reed's yet, but then again I work at Target Masters so the price is right .

If you get some people together let me know.
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Old June 27, 2002, 06:57 PM   #9
sven
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We are having a gathering this coming Monday at Reed's if anyone is interested, see my other thread:

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/...hreadid=119249
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Old July 17, 2002, 05:27 AM   #10
kahr Carrier
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The manager Eric and a couple of the guys did use to work at Siegles until they went out of business. The Reeds indoor range has quite a large selection of holsters and a big selection of knives . It is a lot nicer now then when it was National. It is a nice alternative to Target masters. If your in the Berkley /Oakland area you might want to try the Optimist range in San Leandro for a place to shoot during lunch . They have a indoor range for pistol and outdoor range for pistol and rifle.
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