Another Rave for Classic Pistol

[Cole]

Sunday afternoon, I took a group of people pistol shooting at my home range Classic Pistol in Southampton (Bucks).

There were nine of us altogether, and I had pre-arranged with the owners to rent one of the 5-lane bays for a couple of hours.

I brought all of my own guns, ammo, and targets . . . so they were not making anything other than lane times on the deal. You would have never known it the way the staff treated my friends . . . many of whom had never shot before. The team at Classic Pistol was friendly, helpful and never condescending with these folks. By being so friendly and approachable, they really helped make the first shooting experience for these folks a positive one.

The half of our group that had shot before were still pretty green, but they had a blast. I was sort of floating from lane to lane to keep things safe and make sure people were having fun.

Everyone left that day with a smile on their face, no extra holes, and they all said how much they'd love to do it again some time. A few I could see really getting the habit.

(Oh, I ended up buying a SIG 220 Stainless while I was there, so it wasn't a complete financial wash for them either.)

Classic Pistol is the greatest for helping me to share my shooting passion with my friends.

[dgg9]

Originally Posted by Cole

Sunday afternoon, I took a group of people pistol shooting at my home range Classic Pistol in Southampton (Bucks).

A shame there was no "planned range trip" post -- I was looking for a range trip to glom onto yesterday, and ended up at SPAG by myself. Well, maybe it was just as well -- I hadn't shot in a month and was embarrassingly rusty.

PS: CP's newbie-friendliness helped me out quite a bit too, back when I was getting started. My first-ever class was their one-day concealed carry class.

[Frenchy]

This may sound odd to many, but the first goal of most good gun clubs is not to make a fortune, but to have clients come back again. As was stated on a thread here, you have to buy bullets by the boatload to make any profit on them.

Most gun clubs charge the real cost of using time on a gun, some where around $2.00 per hour and after 200 or so rentals either sell the gun out, or exchange it out.
Figure at 200 hours, the gun probably has anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 rounds through it. And made a whopping $400 for its self! Don’t forget it needs cleaned every time it comes back, even a summary clean, then it needs to go to the smith once in a while to be sure a deeper clean and check is performed. That takes away some of the big $400 this gun already earned. SO lets say a Glock start value A$550, makes $400 then costs the club around $100 in cleanup time.. and sells at $300 either to a member or as an exchange gun.
-550 + 400 – 100 = 250 real value to the club, sells at 300 for a $50 profit!!! Err isn’t that about the profit they claim the make on a new gun?
Ohh and then there are other things that fall into play, costs of bullets if you buy there.. Rental fee for the lane… All of those are actually also brought down my negative sides.

Convenience of having your bullets at the club is offset by storage of them, Transport of the said bullets can be a pain also, large quantities rarely come in a car.. I remember at the GPGC, a member wanted some 7.62X39 about the only place there where any was at the Sportsman’s warehouse.. So off Tex went with his trusty 4X4 Ford Ranger and bought 3000 rounds, a bunch of .223 and some other things he saw there. Sold the 7.62 to the client who came in just minutes after he arrived.. A whopping $10 over what he had paid, but this brought him 3 clients for the day. I was impressed. Later that month, I had to borrow the 4X4 to move from my house to where I live now… This was back when the price of gas was right around $3.00 per gal. And I lived right by the sportsman’s warehouse; I might have traveled 20 more miles in all. So where was his profit?
Lets not forget the all important lane fee… Naturally, be it in lane fee or in membership fee, we pay dearly for our time at any club right?
Do we consider that the rent for this club or mortgage is free? How about liability insurance? The Maintenance and Cleaning? All in all, your local gun club is probably making nickels here and there, but they do add up. And the mentality of gun club owners is that if they can have people there all time of day, spending a nickel profit every 10 or so minutes, that makes a dime per day per user. They might be buying a pop, a snack, bullets, range time, buying a gun… FFL fees… each of the transactions bringing in a few dollars, and this way they survive.

In all, the only real profit the gun range shows is in the range fees and memberships if the range is fairly new or older but paid off. So seeing you brought you own guns, possibly your own ammo. You obviously stayed with your guests to make them comfy, and again brought the cost of the club down by monitoring the firing line so they would not have to have some one out there with them. It probably saved the gun club about as much as you would think they actually made.

Believe me, I have looked at the possibility of having a range, and all costs included, most ranges make very little, it is their love of guns and mainly of people that keeps them there.

The friendlier gun clubs that make you feel welcome and keep you coming back have the real secret to making money, and the best part is, they have the real secret of life, enjoying what they are doing and making OTHERS happy and safe….

Next time you want to give your local gun range a profit, do some thing small that is worth a fortune to them, take up a broom, pick up some brass… Wipe down a window with Windex, Get there early and help clean up the place. You will see how fast the favors come back in free range time. Better yet, if like me you enjoy cleaning the guns; suggest you could clean a few for them. If you do a good job, you will see a real smile on their faces.

Ok im finished now... Sorry, this has been yet an other long post

[Cole]

I was in Classic Pistol yesterday and again today. Apologize if this is old news, but I just learned that the place is under new management. John and Nick sold the place.

I've been going there for years and I've never seen the place so jam packed. There were more people working behind the counter, long waits for a lane, and loads of activity. Guess there's a little of that going on all over the place right now.

I noticed the new owner is putting more stuff on display in the pistol cases. The guys have told me that ARs have been flying out of stock.

In any case, I'm going to head back in the middle of the week to keep breaking in that STI Trojan 9mm.

[RGKSR]

Hi all!!

I'm the new ower of Classic Pistol.

Cole,

I'm glad everyone had a great time!

I'm a "gun person". I was involved with Guns & Things in Penndel for many years.

I'm looking for ways to improve the range and gun shop. We are offering more training classes for individuals just starting out. I've added more firearms to the inventory. We are also stocking Dillon presses and accessories and Power, Primers and Berrys Bullets for those reloader's out there.

RGKSR (Bob K.)

[phillyd2]

Originally Posted by RGKSR

Hi all!!

I'm the new ower of Classic Pistol.

Cole,

I'm glad everyone had a great time!

I'm a "gun person". I was involved with Guns & Things in Penndel for many years.

I'm looking for ways to improve the range and gun shop. We are offering more training classes for individuals just starting out. I've added more firearms to the inventory. We are also stocking Dillon presses and accessories and Power, Primers and Berrys Bullets for those reloader's out there.

RGKSR (Bob K.)

Welcome Bob!

I work about a mile from CP and stop by every so often during lunch. Good luck with the place now that you own it.

[wellcraft]

robert's a great guy and i'm happy he was able to buy out the old owners. i've known robert for many years and we met when he worked part time at guns & things in penndel. i'm impressed with what he's done so far at CP and now that the old regime has passed on i can start buying and shooting there regularly.

robert when i come shooting i'll bring your 93 up so you can visit with it for a while

[RGKSR]

Dave,

I sometimes joke about Classic being Guns & Things West!

We're getting ready for the Berrys Bullets order to arrive.

RGKSR (Bob K)

P.S. I'm glad you still enjoy the 93.

[Roscoe]

Great place, the people behind the counter are top shelf. Hope to see some of you PFOA guys there.....

[emulzhn]

As my first post, I would like to share that CP has always been one of my favorites. I believe the staff is A1 and think this is very important. I always wondered why so many range/ club staff were pr1cks... I guessed that they can afford to as so many of us wanted to practice such a fun priviledge. But after visiting numerous ranges I found a selected few where I will always be shooting and CP will be one of them.

keep it up CP...