Range Rove: A hunt for a shooters paradise.

Yesterday (Sunday) I decided that instead of going shooting at the same old range I had been going to since my arrival in Maryland, that I would spend the day scoping out the area to see what was available for the would be shooter. My friend Brigid had blogged about various kinds of shoots which got me interested. Up till now all my shooting was me alone or with a friend or three in the woods, or canoeing down rivers either hunting or plinking. I also spent a large amount of time in the fields picking off groundhogs and other varmints. In the Military I did a lot of volunteer shooting as my rating was not an arms intensive one, however our small facilities and commands never had enough Marine guards so us Spooks would be organized into volunteer defense (NEGDEF) Teams which would hold off would be attackers until the Gunships arrived.

Anyhooo I started my trek at 9am. I used the Internet to locate as many places in my area that looked promising and used my GPS system to plot my course for the day. I purposely avoided anyplace that was inside the DC Beltway due to extreme aversion to the traffic. Not surprisingly most of the hits I got lay in the DC/Baltimore Corridor (I also didn't bother with places inside the lesser known Baltimore Beltway either).

My first stop was Atlantic Guns, in Rockville. I believe this is strictly a gun and ammo sales shop as it is tucked away in a tiny storefront with no room for any kind of indoor range. Unfortunately I would not be able to look around as it was closed on Sundays. It's hours were M-W 9-6, Thu-Sat 9-8.

Next Up was the Gilbert Indoor Range. Situated on a cul de sac on Rothgeb Dr in Rockville. A nicely located convenient place for me, I had my hopes high going in. The place was fairly new construction and looked great from the outside. Hours are M-F 12-9, Saturday 10-7, and Sunday 12-6. I got there a bit before they opened so I sat in the car making notes to post in this blog about my journey. The place opened a bit early which is surprising for this area, most of the time you are waiting for places to open a little late.

The facility was pretty nice and I was surprised that they had both pistol and rifle lanes. Though to me it seemed kind of silly to have a 75 foot rifle range. I mean 25 yards with a long gun...there is not much challenge there. The place used to sell guns but new Montgomery County rules had changed and they were debating on what to do about it. Still they had some interesting weapons on display to drool over. I got a nasty surprise here though. Montgomery County is one of the more GFW filled counties in Maryland and that is saying something (Gun Fearing Wussies) The county had enacted what is in effect a gun ban without actually banning guns...you aren't allowed to transport ammo. You can carry the gun apparently but you are not permitted to have it loaded or to transport ammo, thus to use this range, you are required to buy all ammo on site. My next shock was sticker shock. To use the facility you had to be a member, no big surprise there, but the annual membership was freaking $300 per individual or $60 a month or $1000 for 5 years. I know I have not been involved in Maryland's shooting arena but yeesh, this seems a bit excessive. Between the high cost of membership and Montgomery County's little rule about Ammo and having to purchase it all on site, I don't think this will be my choice of places to shoot.

Third up on my list was a place called Beam Hit LLC located in Columbia Maryland. This was a bust as they no longer were in existence.

4th on the travel Itinerary was the Associated Gun Clubs of Baltimore Inc. Located near Patapsco Vally park in Marriottsville. This was a beautiful outdoor range where I met several friendly and helpful people. The only downside was that there was no one present on Sunday who could tell me the details about membership/usage fees but It was NOT in Montgomery County and was free of that stupid Ammo restriction. There are a couple of caveats to using the range, one is that I would probably have to join a "sanctioned" local gun club but they had the information available for several such clubs, the second little gotcha is that It may be required that you belong to the NRA. I used to support the NRA but over the years it seemed to me that they had been caving in on too many issues and were allowing too many firearms restrictions go by without putting up a fight, as if they had become part of the political process....even so, if it is required I may actually join up to use this range. This range has trap shooting (which I used to love), rifle, pistol and black powder ranges. The one real drawback is that it is a bit of a drive, 30 to 40 miles I would say.

My next stop was BassPro which is a nice place to get some discount merchandise WalMart style shopping, though they had pretty much none of the staples I wanted to pick up. I wanted some really good 9mm self defense rounds (I have great .357 rounds but wanted something for in the P226) which BP did not have in stock. I also wanted a good holster/mag holder combo for the Sig but again BP didn't have any. (Would LOVE to know what the rig Bruce Willis wore in his last Die Hard Movie was, it is exactly what I was looking for) If anyone should read this who has any suggestions for carry rigs for the Sig P226 I would like to hear them. I hate buying holsters off the net, I like to be able to see them and try them before committing. I did pick up A new cleaning kit and mat, and a new Gerber knife.

My last stop was to my reliable and economically friendly "On Target". Located just outside the back gate of Ft. Meade on rt 175. It is a no frills indoor pistol range but hey, it is affordable and I can bring my own ammo. They also sell some weapons though the selection is not large, ammo and accessories.

All in all it was about an 8 hour day of driving and looking and I covered roughly 140 miles.
Maryland is not as bad as CA or NY or Illinois but it is not all that much better either. I seriously hate hate hate living in a GFW county but this is where M had her house (and a really nice one it is too) and this is where she wants to live for now, so I persevere.

Another Bonus is I found out about an upcoming Arms and Militaria show In Fredrick Maryland September 13-14 at 289 Willowdale Drive, Fredrick Maryland 21702. The hours of the show are 9-5 on Sat and 9-3 on Sunday. There used to be several gunshows in Montgomery County but they have all been banned by the county now. So it is a nice surprise to find out about a reletivly close out of county show without having to go to Virgina. Marylanders can't buy handguns in Virginia.