![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynBoston Gun and Rifle, in Dorchester.
First things first, getting there. I drove. They're right near the Fields Corner red line station but that part of the T is under repairs, the process of getting there by T would take me more than an hour from my place, and every source I consulted said you're not allowed to bring firearms on the T even if you have them locked and secured. There may be some kind of very specific exception, I got the impression that under certain circumstances it was allowable, but I didn't stop to ask. They don't have a parking lot of their own; they recommended parking on the nearest cross block of Dorchester Avenue, which has free parking for two hours at a time. They also recommended VERY STRONGLY that I avoid the temptation of the nearest large parking lot because it's for a Target and other stores in a single shopping area and 'you will get towed the instant you leave the property', so I appreciate the heads up. There's actually a Bluebikes dock with room for about fifteen bikes across the street from them, so that's an option too, I guess.
The inside of the building was on the old and grubby side when I got there, but I had no real issue with that. It had the same feel as a number of places I've gone to in the past for indoor archery. Apparently the building used to be a bus station, which is probably why it didn't have its own parking lot any more. This being my first time there, and me being an inexperienced shooter, they said I had to take a marksmanship lesson with one of their instructors and pay in cash in advance. Given how awkward I felt trying out pistols at Mass Firearms for the first time in the months since my live-fire class I had no objection to this. They also required me to buy my ammo on site but they do that to everyone; it's how they ensure they keep their lead-free status. The marksmanship lesson plus the range time plus fifty rounds cost me $120, which I think was mostly the instructor fees. Other Mass-licensed shooters who bring their own guns have to pay $50 plus the price of however much ammo they use. The place is set up as a gun club, like a lot of ranges in Massachusetts. $250 first year, $150 other years, you get a discount if you go there for your licensing class. Members don't have to make appointments and can use the range as often as they like with their own guns; they don't rent guns out.
My instructor's name was Lucas and he was incredibly helpful. I took a live fire course along with my firearm safety class in order to qualify for my license, but that was back last June/July, and since that time I'd only fired a pistol once, to test out whether I wanted to buy that model or not. Lucas walked me through the process of disassembling the gun, cleaning the gun, oiling the gun appropriately, and putting everything back together. He also went over the appropriate way to carry one through the building when it was unloaded and not ready for use, because they want to be sure that people know on sight that you're not in a position to cause a potentially tragic accident. At the range itself he briefly tested the magazine that came with the gun and noted that it was unusually stiff- this is apparently pretty common with Smith and Wessons- so he introduced me to a gadget that does a lot of the 'push this part down and slide the round in this way' work for you. It reminded me of the rubber-and-rope contraptions we used to have in archery for bending both limbs of a bow far enough to string it without having to push one end against your foot and hope for the best. I may wind up getting one of those in future.
The range puts its targets on clips that you send out or bring back via overhead wires, so they may wind up moving a bit in air currents. There were some other target-type devices at the far end of the range- spinners, I think- but they weren't relevant to my experience yesterday. I know at least one person I saw online found the moving-on-wires aspect of the range annoying, but I was fine with it. Lucas walked me through the steps of using iron sights, since I don't have any other attachments for aiming purposes, and explained where my fingers and thumbs had to go, how I had to position my shoulders, how to SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY AND STEADILY squeeze the trigger, etc. He noted that there's a point in the trigger process where resistance to pressure goes up and a lot of people respond to that resistance by pulling faster, which screws up the shot, so when he noticed me doing that he corrected me on it. Same deal with reflexively flinching under certain circumstances. Definitely helpful.
I shot fifty rounds, and used three paper targets. The first two magazines' worth were done at ten yards, the others at fifteen. I won't say I did spectacularly but my groupings weren't horrible; I got several rounds in the center ring each time and most of the rest in the next ring out. I think all of my shots but one hit the target. Lucas said I was better at the aiming process than you'd usually expect for someone as new to the process as I was, which I can only attribute to my old archery habits. After each mag's worth of shots he brought the target back in and marked that set of holes with chalk so I could see how my performance changed from batch to batch. Later on he showed me their complete and utter newbie practice gun, which wasn't an actual firearm but a replica of one that put a laser dot on the target when you squeezed the trigger. He said it was what they used for teaching completely inexperienced newbies the basics of aiming before letting them pick up actual weapons for training purposes.
Overall it was a really good experience and I did feel more like I was back at one of the archery ranges in New Jersey, with the exception of not having to walk downrange and look for my arrow in the dirt ten yards past and to the left of my target (I can't tell you how many times I had to do that). I also have to say I appreciated the fact that this place was lead-free. I've had issues lately with itchy skin at the most inconvenient possible times and I had the option here of putting the gun down and scratching without having to worry about lead being involved, plus when I got home I wouldn't have to immediately throw my clothing into a separate wash from all my other laundry.
First things first, getting there. I drove. They're right near the Fields Corner red line station but that part of the T is under repairs, the process of getting there by T would take me more than an hour from my place, and every source I consulted said you're not allowed to bring firearms on the T even if you have them locked and secured. There may be some kind of very specific exception, I got the impression that under certain circumstances it was allowable, but I didn't stop to ask. They don't have a parking lot of their own; they recommended parking on the nearest cross block of Dorchester Avenue, which has free parking for two hours at a time. They also recommended VERY STRONGLY that I avoid the temptation of the nearest large parking lot because it's for a Target and other stores in a single shopping area and 'you will get towed the instant you leave the property', so I appreciate the heads up. There's actually a Bluebikes dock with room for about fifteen bikes across the street from them, so that's an option too, I guess.
The inside of the building was on the old and grubby side when I got there, but I had no real issue with that. It had the same feel as a number of places I've gone to in the past for indoor archery. Apparently the building used to be a bus station, which is probably why it didn't have its own parking lot any more. This being my first time there, and me being an inexperienced shooter, they said I had to take a marksmanship lesson with one of their instructors and pay in cash in advance. Given how awkward I felt trying out pistols at Mass Firearms for the first time in the months since my live-fire class I had no objection to this. They also required me to buy my ammo on site but they do that to everyone; it's how they ensure they keep their lead-free status. The marksmanship lesson plus the range time plus fifty rounds cost me $120, which I think was mostly the instructor fees. Other Mass-licensed shooters who bring their own guns have to pay $50 plus the price of however much ammo they use. The place is set up as a gun club, like a lot of ranges in Massachusetts. $250 first year, $150 other years, you get a discount if you go there for your licensing class. Members don't have to make appointments and can use the range as often as they like with their own guns; they don't rent guns out.
My instructor's name was Lucas and he was incredibly helpful. I took a live fire course along with my firearm safety class in order to qualify for my license, but that was back last June/July, and since that time I'd only fired a pistol once, to test out whether I wanted to buy that model or not. Lucas walked me through the process of disassembling the gun, cleaning the gun, oiling the gun appropriately, and putting everything back together. He also went over the appropriate way to carry one through the building when it was unloaded and not ready for use, because they want to be sure that people know on sight that you're not in a position to cause a potentially tragic accident. At the range itself he briefly tested the magazine that came with the gun and noted that it was unusually stiff- this is apparently pretty common with Smith and Wessons- so he introduced me to a gadget that does a lot of the 'push this part down and slide the round in this way' work for you. It reminded me of the rubber-and-rope contraptions we used to have in archery for bending both limbs of a bow far enough to string it without having to push one end against your foot and hope for the best. I may wind up getting one of those in future.
The range puts its targets on clips that you send out or bring back via overhead wires, so they may wind up moving a bit in air currents. There were some other target-type devices at the far end of the range- spinners, I think- but they weren't relevant to my experience yesterday. I know at least one person I saw online found the moving-on-wires aspect of the range annoying, but I was fine with it. Lucas walked me through the steps of using iron sights, since I don't have any other attachments for aiming purposes, and explained where my fingers and thumbs had to go, how I had to position my shoulders, how to SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY AND STEADILY squeeze the trigger, etc. He noted that there's a point in the trigger process where resistance to pressure goes up and a lot of people respond to that resistance by pulling faster, which screws up the shot, so when he noticed me doing that he corrected me on it. Same deal with reflexively flinching under certain circumstances. Definitely helpful.
I shot fifty rounds, and used three paper targets. The first two magazines' worth were done at ten yards, the others at fifteen. I won't say I did spectacularly but my groupings weren't horrible; I got several rounds in the center ring each time and most of the rest in the next ring out. I think all of my shots but one hit the target. Lucas said I was better at the aiming process than you'd usually expect for someone as new to the process as I was, which I can only attribute to my old archery habits. After each mag's worth of shots he brought the target back in and marked that set of holes with chalk so I could see how my performance changed from batch to batch. Later on he showed me their complete and utter newbie practice gun, which wasn't an actual firearm but a replica of one that put a laser dot on the target when you squeezed the trigger. He said it was what they used for teaching completely inexperienced newbies the basics of aiming before letting them pick up actual weapons for training purposes.
Overall it was a really good experience and I did feel more like I was back at one of the archery ranges in New Jersey, with the exception of not having to walk downrange and look for my arrow in the dirt ten yards past and to the left of my target (I can't tell you how many times I had to do that). I also have to say I appreciated the fact that this place was lead-free. I've had issues lately with itchy skin at the most inconvenient possible times and I had the option here of putting the gun down and scratching without having to worry about lead being involved, plus when I got home I wouldn't have to immediately throw my clothing into a separate wash from all my other laundry.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-16 03:56 am (UTC)I shoot a Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0, if I'm reading the box right.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-16 04:01 am (UTC)Thats not a bad gun. I believe its the one I rented when I did my CCW class last spring.
That class opened up a whole new Special Interest for me, and I only took it because a friend of my partner was trying to gather enough people so she didnt feel outnumbered. I'm usually at the range 3-4 times a month now, something about the focus that goes into target shooting gets me as close to a Zen Meditative state as I've ever gotten.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-16 05:10 am (UTC)I know what you mean about the Zen state. I realized somewhere around the second time I loaded the mag that I hadn't had a 'nothing else exists right now except this, and here' experience like that in years. Which was slightly disrupted at one point by 'why did it just go Chow Yun-Fat in here?' but that turned out to be some Cantonese speakers who had taken up a lane nearby rather than my brain being weird.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-16 03:45 pm (UTC)Exactly that. It was a bit surreal when i realized what had just happened, and then it started happening each time I finished off all the loaded magazines I'd brought with for each gun. And then I look down range and see the large ragged hole I've left in the middle of the target and go "oh...right". I mostly shoot suppressed .22lr right now and occasionally some unsuppressed 9mm, but my 9mm suppressor arrived a few weeks ago right before i had hernia surgery, so I'm looking forward to hitting the range with it and seeing how that goes.
There are no lead free ranges up here, so I have to take additional precausions. I keep de-lead wipes in my car for when I goto the outdoor range, and change cloths when I get home. When I goto the indoor range(which is what I've been doing most of this winter) they have de-lead soap there and I wash well before I leave, and then come home and shed my cloths and head for the shower.
*snerks* OK that was funny, and would be a bit trippy to suddenly hear on the range :-)
no subject
Date: 2025-04-16 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-04-16 04:03 pm (UTC)