Planning Your Visit to a Traditional Indoor Gun Range

One of the problems we face as shooters who want to expand on the dynamic type of defensive shooting skills that we learn when we take a class such as Combat Focus Shooting or some other intensive personal defense training is that we need to come back to the range and practice those skills. But when we come back to the indoor range to practice those skills were not part of that class anymore. We're not under that supervision of that instructor. Most importantly, we're not down range where we can execute those dynamic movements. So what we've got to learn to do is how to maximize the value of the training that we're going to get by being by ourselves as a regular customer operating under the range rules at the indoor range. Okay, so now we are no longer a student in that class, moving dynamically with a great deal of room, a great deal of ability to move athletically under the supervision of that instructor. Now, we're a single individual and we're going to have to do all of that work. We're going to have to practice those skills we just learned within the confines of an indoor shooting range booth, such as this one. So what we need to do is figure out, what is the way we're going to maximize the time we're gonna spend on this range, minimize the distractions, work within the range rules established by the owner and the operators and the range officers of that range, and still get the value we need to, to maintain our skills as we learn them from our dynamic shooting class. So let's start with the basics. Like anything else that we do in life before we come out to practice on the range, we want to plan that visit. Planning helps us reduce the amount of time or effort that we're going to waste. Remember, our training time is by necessity limited. We have other things going on in our lives. We've got a limited amount of time we can stay on the range. We've got a limited budget that we can invest in the training that we're going to do. So when we come back to practice those skills that we've learned, we want to plan out that visit to maximize that opportunity. One of the things we want to start with are the basics. Obviously, if you're already a known quantity at a range, if there's a place you're already going, you've already got a lot of these bases covered, but let's look at it from the perspective of maybe somebody who's just taken that class, and now they're coming back to that range or maybe a nearby range someplace else that they can go, and that's their first visit. This is where the planning is really going to become critical for that person. One of the first things that we might want to do, is before we even leave home, let's visit the range's website. Let's find out the obvious things. Hours, directions. Sometimes, what are the amenities available? If I'm going to drive a significant distance in order to visit a range to use the facilities, I might be able to plan a longer visit if I know that there's things like restroom facilities, food, beverages, a cup of coffee, something like that available if I need it. In a more primitive or remote setting that's going to affect the amount of time I'm going to be able to spend there. If the range operator has a website or a telephone number that we can get ahold of them, we want to go ahead and do that. Among some of the obvious questions we might have for the range officer or the range operator before our first visit to the facility is what kind of a facility are we going to. Here at Black Wing Shooting Center, It's a full service gun store, offers gunsmithing services, There's a lot of event things going on. There's access to food, beverages, other types of shooting on the outdoor ranges, the indoor ranges, rental guns. I mean, you name it. There's a great deal of things that we have available here, but not all rangers are going to be that way. Maybe we'll just start with the basics. Does that range sell ammunition or do I need to bring my own ammunition? And importantly, especially when dealing with an indoor range facility, are there rules concerning ammunition? For example, Black Wing Shooting Center requires that centerfire calibers be semi or full jacketed. So this unjacketed, lead, .38 Special round is not able to be fired here at Black Wing Shooting Center. We don't allow this to be used on the indoor ranges because it puts a significant amount of lead particulate in the air. We have a HEPA filtration system and the use of the unjacketed, lead ammunition causes the filters to clog up very, very rapidly. It becomes a very expensive proposition to keep operating that. So, we're going to limit the use of that type of ammunition. Many indoor ranges are going to limit your use of steel component ammunition, such as this, and where this becomes a real issue sometimes is this is oftentimes lower cost ammunition imported from a foreign manufacturer. Sometimes as much as half price what the domestically produced brass and copper jacketed ammunition is. The problem here is we've got a steel case and more significantly, we've got a steel projectile. In many indoor ranges, you're going to have, obviously, some form of backstop. A lot of armor plate is in use in indoor ranges for backstops. If this steel bullet is repeatedly impacting armor plate it's obviously going to dramatically shorten the usable life of that armor plate. So, many indoor ranges are going to limit your use of this type of ammunition. That's why of the essentials I consider in your range bag for your visit to your indoor range would be a small magnet. The ability to check ammunition, just to make sure that you don't have something that they're not gonna allow you to use when you visit the range. Obviously, if the range that we're visiting sells targets, we might want to look into the differences between the targets that we trained on and the targets that would be available for us to buy from the range. For example. Combat Focus Shooting program, we train on the balance of speed and precision target. Obviously, this is the target we would want to use while we were practicing, but perhaps this target isn't available at the range that we're going to visit. We could make use of a very similar target if the range already has something that is similar to the targets such as this SEB target which is the target from which the balance of speed and precision was designed, maybe something like this. As long as we've got these multiple aiming areas in order to do some of the drills that we learned in the class, we should be able to use just about any target. Even if we were limited to something like the classic FBI and police bad guy. As long as I've got a magic marker in my range bag to create a high center chest and some alternate aiming points, I can even get some good utilization out of this target. So I don't necessarily have to use that same target that I trained on, although that certainly would be the ideal situation. Something else that's important to us that we may want to consider before we head out to the range, is kind of inventorying the equipment that we're going to take. Make sure that we have everything that we need relative to the place that we're going to be and the resources that are available to us. Again, the whole idea, we want to maximize that experience of our visit to that range, to practice our defensive training. So let's take a look here at my range bag and show us some of the things that I bring and I consider to be important to anybody who's going to come and use an indoor range facility. First of all, obviously I've got my gear bag here, and I've organized the gear bag in a specific manner in order to be able to reach the things I need. I don't want to bring too many things at once. One of the distractions that we see with folks coming to the range is piling up a big bunch of guns and a big bunch of ammunition with no real plan of what they're going to do. So a little forethought, again, as part of our checklist before we're actually walking onto the range is going to help us out a lot. Let's take a look at what we've got here. Obviously, I'm going to need my hearing protection and eye protection. I've got my glasses on and I've got my hearing protection here in my range bag. One of the things we think is critical to somebody who's going to a range, whether it's on their own property, whether they're going to be by themselves, whether it's an outdoor range, indoor range, as part of a training class, student or instructor, would be a simple trauma kit like this one. Taking a look here, we've got a pressure bandage with a hemostatic agent. Quick clot combat gauze in order to stop bleeding of a penetration wound. And of course, I've got a tactical tourniquet here in order to stop the blood flow from a traumatic gunshot injury. One of the considerations on an indoor range facility such as were here at Black Wing, is there going to be other people around? While the facility is operating, the range officers are going to be on duty. There are both landline and mobile communications available to us. So, our trauma kit is put together in mind that we're going to have to immediately stop the bleeding if there was some kind of an incident on the range involving ourselves or another shooter, immediately stop the bleeding while help is summoned and help is only a few moments away in a facility like this. When you're planning a visit to a more remote site and outdoor range, maybe private property somewhere, you may rethink the trauma kit a little more extensively, but right now we plan for immediate action, knowing that help is only a few minutes away from us. Further, into the range bag, obviously, I can carry some spare magazines for my pistols. I've got my two pouch compartments here. I brought a couple of handguns in order to practice with. Again, I'm trying not to get too involved in shooting a bunch of guns for the pure joy of shooting guns. I'm a big fan of shooting guns, but we're talking about maximizing our training. So, I'm going to limit what I'm going to be doing on my visit to the range for that purpose. Also toward that purpose I've got my notebook with me, my notebook where I can log some of the things that I'm going to do. Some of the things that I want to train, and I've got my book right here that shows me some of the drills. I want to carry that with me as well to double check and make sure if I have any questions about performing a drill, that I have the answers there in front of me. Obviously, ammunition here in the range bag as well. I've got some writing utensils. I've got a couple of markers available to me. In case I use a target, I can make the target last longer by marking bullet holes that previously exist, or in the case of when we saw that bad guy target, it doesn't have any secondary aiming areas, but I can create secondary aiming areas, smaller precision targets with a simple circle with my marker. Inside the range bag, also, we have the magnet. We saw how handy that could come in earlier, helping me identify if some of the ammunition that I brought is gonna be a problem for me, help me identify that steel ammunition. Could also be handy If I were to drop a small object that I needed to reach, an extendable magnet. Inside my lid of my range bag I've got a couple of Band-Aids, and I've got a hand sanitizer sprayer right here. Now this is not to be confused with that trauma kit. These are for those everyday bumps and bruises. These things that that might occur to me, I, you know, might get bit by the slide if I'm not paying attention, if I'm not careful. So, I might need a Band-Aid there and I might need that hand sanitizer to clean my hands after I'm done shooting, but that's a completely separate issue from that trauma kit. So we've got a few basic items that we recommend that you bring for your visit to the indoor range Here, I just have a simple plastic bag, a little bit of gun lubricant, a rag, and a bore snake. If I do need to do something very basic about making a gun come back into functionality again, with a little bit of lubricant, I got a rag, wipe off my hands. And one other inclusion that we recommend a lot, especially when we're practicing our defensive trading will be something along the lines of an old hand towel, or it could be anything. It could be an old t-shirt, an old sweatshirt, something like this. What we have to remember about this, you'll see this in use later, is we want to get past the habit of pulling magazines out of the gun and setting them down because that's not what we did when we did it in the training class. So, as part of packing my range bag I'm going to bring something for my magazines to land on, so I'm not slamming my magazines into that concrete floor all the time, and that's where something like an old sweatshirt, an old towel can come in handy for you. So again, after you've made your preparations to visit the range, double check what you've packed, make sure that you've got what you need. If you need more ammo, make sure the range operator sells that ammunition. If you need a specific target, check and see if they're going to have that or bring some something that the range will allow you to create your own target with. Whatever it's going to be, make sure that you have the gear that you're going to need when you visit the indoor range.