FN509Fan
Ultimate Member
My wife and I typically shoot at MSAR but as a member of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program in Montgomery County, she was offered free range time at Gilbert's this past Sunday (which seemed a little contradictory to me but what the heck.) The parking lot was overflowing so she went in first while I gathered toys from the trunk. After 10 min or so, she hadn't come back out so I went in figuring she was registering. When I got in, she was still waiting to be served. Being Mr. Clueless I'll skip over what happened next and fill y'all in on that later. I was a little taken aback by the detailed examination of my ammo, but I had been warned by this forum to take boxed factory ammo w/brass as they won't let you shoot anything else. I had some expensive Norma 9's purchased for a ridiculous amount near the end of COVID before I had unboxed my reloading gear. I was willing to shoot it up since the primers have an extra crimp that broke more than one decapping pin so I figured I'd just leave the brass. I also had two partial boxes of 45 ACP with price tags in the single digits which they questioned. They were both hotter than I like to shoot in my S&W 625, so I've had them a loooonng time. The head stamps matched the boxes and the tarnish was aged enough that they let me shoot them.
The range is so much nicer than MSAR there is no comparison. The lanes seemed a bit unfinished, like there is a big window between the lanes that seems like it should hold a thick piece of plexiglass instead of being open. The kind of plex you see at banks to protect tellers. And the lane dividers seem to be missing noise reduction or appearance panels over the steel plate that is visible. My wife and I were sharing a lane, I was standing back and the dude to the right of us had a misfire. He started point the important end of his mini Glock in a direction that wasn't down range and I was happy to know that steel plate was there. I was about to shout something at him when I swear,... he looked down the business end of his Glock. It was only a quick look mind you and then he came to his senses, pointed back down range and cleared the dud. After that both my wife watched him while the other was shooting and didn't have any more awkward moments. I was going to mention the event to the staff on the way out but they were pretty busy and my wife was making a bee line toward the exit.
I thought we had a fairly pleasant time till we got back to the car and I asked her what she thought of the range and she started swearing like a sailor. She's well adept at her use of the F bomb and she was highly agitated. Apparently she was waiting to be served for about 10 min and "we" didn't get served until I walked in and we got served immediately, and the clerk was very chatty with me. She was one of only two women in the facility with about three dozen men including shooters and staff and she felt discriminated against. Who was I to argue? I'm fat, dumb and happy she enjoys going shooting. We probably won't go back, mostly because 99% of our ammo is hand loaded by yours truly.
The range is so much nicer than MSAR there is no comparison. The lanes seemed a bit unfinished, like there is a big window between the lanes that seems like it should hold a thick piece of plexiglass instead of being open. The kind of plex you see at banks to protect tellers. And the lane dividers seem to be missing noise reduction or appearance panels over the steel plate that is visible. My wife and I were sharing a lane, I was standing back and the dude to the right of us had a misfire. He started point the important end of his mini Glock in a direction that wasn't down range and I was happy to know that steel plate was there. I was about to shout something at him when I swear,... he looked down the business end of his Glock. It was only a quick look mind you and then he came to his senses, pointed back down range and cleared the dud. After that both my wife watched him while the other was shooting and didn't have any more awkward moments. I was going to mention the event to the staff on the way out but they were pretty busy and my wife was making a bee line toward the exit.
I thought we had a fairly pleasant time till we got back to the car and I asked her what she thought of the range and she started swearing like a sailor. She's well adept at her use of the F bomb and she was highly agitated. Apparently she was waiting to be served for about 10 min and "we" didn't get served until I walked in and we got served immediately, and the clerk was very chatty with me. She was one of only two women in the facility with about three dozen men including shooters and staff and she felt discriminated against. Who was I to argue? I'm fat, dumb and happy she enjoys going shooting. We probably won't go back, mostly because 99% of our ammo is hand loaded by yours truly.