Spring Guns and Ammo

[Greg_TX]

I just got an email from them which said that they have opened 12 more firing lanes in another bulding on site.

What are the target distances? Still 25 yds. max?

 

[Rainman]

The only thing I've been told was that some nimrod loaded up an AR with tracers and dumped them all downrange pretty quickly, catching the backstop on fire before anyone noticed or had a chance to stop him. Yeah, I figure they'll be checking ammo a lot more, too.

Wow, range nightmare fer sure!

We check, and will redouble our efforts in the rifle range. The availability of surplus ammo on the net comes with a price for range owners.. Not only steel core/jacket shows up, but AP and API as well. Even with all the signs, you still need to keep an eye out for the knothead that feels that since he paid a range fee, he can shoot his 40 watt plasma rifle in the facility and will do his best to sneak it in.

I respect a range that does hands on inspections in the name of safety.

 

[alexrex20]

I shoot there from time to time. I will say that they seem to have made a real effort to try to get shooters on the range smoothly. The folks that work there seem very nice. The store itself is fairly small. For whatever reason, they only seem to ever have about 4 1911's on display. (Maybe just better margins on other guns?)

Are you going to the right store?

I was just there yesterday and they had probably 30+ 1911s on display. Maybe you were looking at the showcase for the rental guns?

Anyway, I like this place. The staff is friendly and everyone I've talked to knew their guns. I've probably been in there over several dozen times to check out their used guns, and to use the range. I think they have the nicest indoor range in all of Houston. No offense to Shiloh, but it doesn't compare to SGA. Also, SGA just added another 12 lanes so now they have 27 total.

 

[alexrex20]

I live down the street so it's easy for me to quickly stop by to check out their used trade-in guns. Currently they have a nice Sig STX, Ed Brown Kobra Carry, and a Nighthawk Custom (not sure which model as I have no interest in Nighthawks), as well as several other nice used 1911s. The store is small-ish but it's well organized and they have more in-stock accessories than any other private gun store I've been to.

I haven't checked any of the Google reviews which spurred this thread, but I can't say a single bad thing about SGA.

The bonus is that they employ lots of cute young girls to work the registers.

 

[alexrex20]

And while we're on the topic, let me throw in a free plug for Ryan's Houston Gun Forum. It's a few miles from SGA and worth the drive especially if you drove in a ways just to get to SGA. He has a lot of obscure, hard-to-find old/antique weapons, and also some KILLER prices on his online store - Houston Gun Sales.

 

[benenglish]

And while we're on the topic, let me throw in a free plug for Ryan's...

I'd like to see a thread started on that topic. Since Ryan's isn't a range, though, this wouldn't be the right sub-forum.

 

[308nato]

What are the target distances? Still 25 yds. max?

It didn't say just that it was for training, shooting clubs and to cover any over flow to cut down on waiting time.

 

[Dreamliner787]

+1 for the pretty girls at the counter, glad someone finaly brought up that detail.

 

[benenglish]

What are the target distances? Still 25 yds. max?

The additional 12 lanes are 15 yards, just enough to do a CHL class. That range is limited to handguns and .22 rimfire rifles. (I think they probably meant "any rimfire", but I'm quoting directly.)

As as aside, I had a real "WTF?" moment there yesterday. On the right-side range, the one where full-auto is allowed and the range where they send you when you rent their slidefire rifle, I heard a range officer tell a patron "No rapid fire." How can you have "no rapid fire" and full auto/slidefire at the same time? I'm confused...

 

[Glockster69]

As as aside, I had a real "WTF?" moment there yesterday. On the right-side range, the one where full-auto is allowed and the range where they send you when you rent their slidefire rifle, I heard a range officer tell a patron "No rapid fire." How can you have "no rapid fire" and full auto/slidefire at the same time? I'm confused...

....or

Why would you have an RO not informed on the business operations?

 

[scap99]

....or

Why would you have an RO not informed on the business operations?

Perhaps that one single shooter was unqualified for rapid fire.


Tapatalk sent it.

 

[benenglish]

Perhaps that one single shooter was unqualified for rapid fire.

Perhaps, but then a better correction would be "You're not hitting your target. You need to slow down and stop the rapid fire until you are." instead of just barking a generic "No rapid fire!" at the guy.

This looks to me like a communication problem in style, substance or both. It's either between management and the RO or between the RO and the customer. No matter what it turns out to be, I was surprised. From my observations (and I've been in there a lot), SGA seems pretty committed to creating a good customer experience and this little incident was out of character.

 

[Dreamliner787]

How did they define "rapid fire"?

 

[Texasjack]

I went to SGA today and shot a bit. The range wasn't particularly busy (no wait) but was pretty noisy because there were several ARs shooting. Anyway, I'm punching out my target with my .45 and something caught my attention. I turned around and the range officer - who was bored I guess - was kicking my .45 brass into the pile of floor brass in the corner as it flew back from my pistol. I reload and this was a box of WWB, so I was none to happy about that. Probably lost 50 rounds to this kid playing soccer with my brass! I said something to him, but I don't know if he heard me. He did move away though.

 

[TundraWookiee]

What's interesting is the high standard deviation in ratings. People seem to either love or hate the place.

Keep in mind that the majority of people only take the time to fill out reviews when they get upset or pissed off about something. Then there is a smaller number of people that had such a wonderful experience that it was worth commenting on.

 

[benenglish]

How did they define "rapid fire"?

I've never heard or overheard a conversation nor seen a sign that formally defined "rapid fire" at SGA. In the case I cited, though, the guy fired about 20 rounds from what sounded like a semi-auto .22LR at a rate roughly equal to "pulling the trigger as fast as any normal human being possibly can".

 

[robbo1965]

I love going to SGA. Had my handgun repaired in a reasonable amount of time there by their gunsmith. On the plus side is that they are only about smile from the house. I don't like Shiloh because it seems small to me.

 

[Enkidu]

I have been going to Spring Guns and ammo to shoot for 18 months:
Good place to shoot; good lighting; good ventilation; good air conditioning
Weekdays; never had to wait for a lane:

HOWEVER:

NOT a good place to purchase a gun if you have a problem or need customer service.
Just bought my first and last gun from them: SIg 226 XL5 Short ($2500) with ported barrel; after getting the gun home and cleaning I noticed that it did not have the recoil dampening assembly shown in the instruction book; instead it had the standard recoil rod with a spring:

I took the gun back and asked them to investigate; they ran me around in circles for 6 weeks finally concluding that that I needed to ship the gun back to Germany for the correct part to be fabricated:

This seemed ridiculous:

I called Sig and spoke to a gunsmith in their custom works unit who told me that the ported 226 XL5 short does not require a recoil buffer assembly and if I did need one the part could be shipped tom me without returning the entire gun to Sig.

Spring Guns and ammo did not return numerous telephone calls and should have easily resolved this issue. It took me 15 minutes to do so for myself:

From now on I buy everything from Carters Country:

 

[Gramps]

Hate to hear that Enkidu. And sure hate to see that as your first post on TGT. But welcome anyway and I hope you stay around.

 

[40Arpent]

From now on I buy everything from Carters Country:

If SGA was as bad as you say, you just replaced them with an even worse retailer.