RSS FeedThere’s A New Sheriff In Town
See that nondescript building building in the above photo? That’s where we’ve been spending the occasional Saturday afternoon for the last six months with our rifle, Agnes. After finally getting the required training to legally own a firearm in DC last August, we made it all of three months before we pulled the trigger (ha!) and purchased that Henry lever action 22 we’d always wanted.
Right around Thanksgiving we took our newly purchased Golden Boy (or Gal, as the case may be) out for her first few hundred rounds. We decided on Silver Eagle Group (SEG) because it was just a few miles away from the Leesburg Outlets which was the only way we were able to convince Mrs Columbo to come out that way with us.
SEG (located at 44620 Guilford Drive, Ashburn, VA 20147) might be the most expensive gun range in the DC area, but it is very well ventilated, stocks all you need for your target practice, and perhaps best of all has pretty strict range officers (the rest off the staff is much more laid back). Those strict range officers are what you want when you’re standing with 10 or 20 people all armed with various calibers of firearms. SEG has both 25 and 50 yard ranges, and you can purchase or rent everything you need for your afternoon of shooting.
We’ve also been out to the NRA Headquarters which has a rifle range in the parking garage under their building (located at 11250 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, VA 22030). We really wanted to get a photo of the entrance as it’s kind of surreal to enter a parking garage in Northern Virgina and look at a long line of armed individuals waiting to enter. The NRA has 15 booths for shooting on their 50 yard range. Cheaper than SEG, the NRA range was just as well ventilated but not as nice (staff) or strict (range officers). You do have to take an (open book) quiz the first time you head out, at which point you are given a range card for return visits.
We know we’re in the minority as a shooter with our one complaint about these ranges, but here it goes: as a person shooting a 22 rifle it can be a little distracting to stand next to people firing 50 caliber BMG’s, shotguns, and other high powered firearms. We’re not suggesting these popular guns shouldn’t be allowed, but do wish there were a better way of assigning booths by caliber of firearm, rather than the seemingly random way they do now. You can come out of the ranges feeling shell shocked after standing next to a shooter packing the same firepower as your average Call of Duty character.
But they no doubt wonder what we’re doing in there with our little squirrel shooter. And it’s a small price to pay to spend a few quality hours with our beloved Agnes.
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Comments
Anything higher and a 22 is just friggin loud.
Regarding carry across lines, as I remember, your purpose has to be for legit reasons like practice or sport. And logically it has to be unloaded, but if you took a DC approved firearms class this would have been covered. Other places don’t have the same hangups as DC does about guns, so the MD friends who introduced us to shooting, while we were vacationing in VA, had us drive over to WV to a free range. That’s about 3 states there.
Anyway, when we got to the open air range in WV there was a guy there with a banana clipped gun and a pistol. Whenever he shot off that AK-47 looking thing I ducked, even though I was behind him. Scary, friggin, loud. Then I was given ear protection and all was well.
Just don’t start thinking of yourself as an actual sheriff in DC and keep the shooting at overpopulated animals and targets. That’ll get you keep you out of trouble.
the sole handgun dealer in DC closed. don’t think that affects shotguns though.
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Just curious – is there any restriction on bringing a gun across the state border into VA from DC? I thought crossing state lines with a firearm is a no-no?