OnPoint opening a new range in N. Raleigh in Spring of 2020

That area and from what little information is given on the website ... another Triangle Shooting Academy type setup. While they have an existing building they are talking a major retrofit for a gun range with a lot of bells and whistles ... ie a lot of capital needed to open the doors. Sorry to say it but I can see their business model following TSA from target audience to membership structures to an indoor range were you’re gonna pay more for a very rigid shooting experience. It’s gonna be an expensive indoor range which is not my idea of fun.
 
Because eastern NC needs another range....sent from the shooting opportunity black hole of NC's south Central Piedmont
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Me.
Most north Raleigh residents will have two similar facilities within a 15 minute drive. Wonder why they didn't choose the south side of town and try to serve Cary/Apex? There's more money there than Capital Blvd. And don't start that Yankee/Liberal stuff, there's plenty of people on here from Cary, my Cary church has plenty of hunters and gun guys, and these days Raleigh votes more libtard than Cary.
 
That area and from what little information is given on the website ... another Triangle Shooting Academy type setup. While they have an existing building they are talking a major retrofit for a gun range with a lot of bells and whistles ... ie a lot of capital needed to open the doors. Sorry to say it but I can see their business model following TSA from target audience to membership structures to an indoor range were you’re gonna pay more for a very rigid shooting experience. It’s gonna be an expensive indoor range which is not my idea of fun.

Not another TSA... It's not a gun shop with a range, it's a range 1st. And it's not supposed to be just sitting in a booth shooting at paper. They're supposed to have more interactive stuff.

Don't know how expensive it will be but it's a huge investment, so I guess we'll see.

I think we should reserve judgement until they've at least opened...

TSA talked a big game and then brought nothing to the table... Huge disappointment.
 
Most north Raleigh residents will have two similar facilities within a 15 minute drive. Wonder why they didn't choose the south side of town and try to serve Cary/Apex? There's more money there than Capital Blvd. And don't start that Yankee/Liberal stuff, there's plenty of people on here from Cary, my Cary church has plenty of hunters and gun guys, and these days Raleigh votes more libtard than Cary.
Because of the Wake Co Firearms Education & Training Center owned by Wake Co. just West of Holly Springs is so budget friendly. It may not be open as much but for $15/year for Wake residents or $25/year non-residents you get access to a damn good range with ranges out to 100 yards maintained by the county where Wake residents pay $12/hr and non-residents $17/hr. It does not have all that fancy stuff like a leather sofa lounge or such but it is well maintained, clean and I feel way safer there than other public ranges.
 
My wife works for the company that they bought all their furniture from. She said its supposed to be a very different experience than TSA from what she has been able to tell me.
 
Because of the Wake Co Firearms Education & Training Center owned by Wake Co. just West of Holly Springs is so budget friendly. It may not be open as much but for $15/year for Wake residents or $25/year non-residents you get access to a damn good range with ranges out to 100 yards maintained by the county where Wake residents pay $12/hr and non-residents $17/hr. It does not have all that fancy stuff like a leather sofa lounge or such but it is well maintained, clean and I feel way safer there than other public ranges.

The Wake Range card is good for life.


I don't know how you feel safer there. The people that run it don't know anything about modern shooting sports or anything of the sorts. But it is cheap. I give it that.
 
Because of the Wake Co Firearms Education & Training Center owned by Wake Co. just West of Holly Springs is so budget friendly. It may not be open as much but for $15/year for Wake residents or $25/year non-residents you get access to a damn good range with ranges out to 100 yards maintained by the county where Wake residents pay $12/hr and non-residents $17/hr. It does not have all that fancy stuff like a leather sofa lounge or such but it is well maintained, clean and I feel way safer there than other public ranges.

Different strokes. Other than sighting in and the occasional match, Wake Co Range is worthless to me. If I can work on drills and interactive shooting, that's far more useful than wasting ammo putting holes in sheets of paper in a booth. Moving targets and such cost more but you get more out of it. I can accomplish as much or more in my living room dry firing a pistol as I can at Wake.

I'm hoping for a lot more from OnPoint...
 
Not another TSA... It's not a gun shop with a range, it's a range 1st. And it's not supposed to be just sitting in a booth shooting at paper. They're supposed to have more interactive stuff.

Don't know how expensive it will be but it's a huge investment, so I guess we'll see.

I think we should reserve judgement until they've at least opened...

TSA talked a big game and then brought nothing to the table... Huge disappointment.

Since you know the CEO and he is a shooter maybe he saw TSA’s faux pas and will try and steer away from them. To retrofit a furniture store with just the air handlers to meet OSHA spec is a big cost then the range backstop and safety features another ... I can see a major investment and as a business they’ll have to set pricing accordingly to cover as well as other business expenses from keeping the lights on to employees plus make a profit since the owner and investors don’t do this stuff out of the goodness of their hearts.

I hope you are right and your friend learned from TSA and has heard from you as well as other serious shooters what we as serious shooters feel sucks at other ranges (not just TSA) and tries to address them there.
 
Zoning may prevent any new ranges, TSA was built on land that was zoned accordingly and in commercial area.
If I ever hit the lottery, I'm opening up indoor and outdoor ranges all over the USA.
Going to model it like Frontline Defense and Gun for Hire.
Staff it with veterans and put people to work locally.
https://frontlinedefenseusa.com/ https://gunforhire.com/

Use empty walmart or Kmart locations if zoning is good.
 
Last edited:
Different strokes. Other than sighting in and the occasional match, Wake Co Range is worthless to me. If I can work on drills and interactive shooting, that's far more useful than wasting ammo putting holes in sheets of paper in a booth. Moving targets and such cost more but you get more out of it. I can accomplish as much or more in my living room dry firing a pistol as I can at Wake.

I'm hoping for a lot more from OnPoint...
I am with you on that. I really don’t like indoor ranges period. I’ll deal with it being a little hot or cold, a little rain don’t hurt (I don’t melt) and other variables that make shooting more realistic. I really like the acoustics or lack of an outdoor range exhibits ... they don’t exacerbate and even amplify muzzle report so I can actually wear just muffs (no extra plugs) unless something major rolls up.

As to “hoping” ... unless they actually build a pistol “pit” type bay (120ish° arc type backstop) I just see maybe a 45-50° arc if you use a multi-lane type setup with shooter in the middle. An indoor range is limited ... and creativity is key ... good thing about it is your friend is a shooter and knows other serious shooters so he’s ahead of the curve there.
 
Zoning may prevent any new ranges, TSA was built on land that was zoned accordingly and in commercial area.
If I ever hit the lottery, I'm opening up indoor and outdoor ranges all over the USA.
Going to model it like Frontline Defense and Gun for Hire.
Staff it with veterans and put people to work locally.
https://frontlinedefenseusa.com/ https://gunforhire.com/

Use empty walmart or Kmart locations if zoning is good.

When Paul was looking for land for Frontline I remember he went thru hell on zoning, ordinances and actual land availablity ... he really didn’t want Warren Co but as it worked out (State land basically being his neighbors) and such I think it actually worked out nicely and no snooty subdivision will be giving him problems. I my opinion Paul did it so right ... built it on his own terms one step at a time. The first members likely gave feedback and Paul listened and as it grew really became a place for real shooters. Granted it is a drive there and the club house ain’t fancy but that 1000 yard range along with his others to me is well worth the hour drive! Best of all initially Paul built that range in a personal budget and a boat load of sweat! I seem to remember he even said how many t-shirts he needed to sell to have the money to clear the first 300 yard range. He deserves all the success and rewards because HE did it his way with hard work!
 
Yes, Paul said the county was very easy to work with, he even had several buildings on his plans for any future use.
The drive is not bad at all, I'm near RDU, once on 401 it is smooth. I agree the facility is fabulous. Have my 1,000 badge. :)
Frontline defense, it's worth the trip. Look at Gun for Hire, he also started small in old car dealership building.
He has expanded to the property nextdoor, also a former car dealership, demolished it and built new building.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JT
I'd stick with Freedom Gun Club in Youngsville, but I used to work for the owners.
 
I want to mess with the simunitions training...i bet its stupid expensive
It ain’t cheap but and once you get over the conversion kit outlay the ammo is not to bad since you’re not going to fire massive amounts in training ...

Now to me the worst thing is the welts from getting popped on your wrist, shin or other unpadded area ... think paintball X5 or so :eek:. I will say it does make you think a hell of a lot more about what you’re doing since the pain level while not lethal has been known to bring to tears to even the toughest person.
 
I wish them nothing but good things. Location is a concern to me as it cannot be a "cheap" location in term of rent nor "social baggage based on political whimsy"
 
I wish them nothing but good things. Location is a concern to me as it cannot be a "cheap" location in term of rent nor "social baggage based on political whimsy"

Anywhere that pricey is going to be for monied folks, not for us regular peons.
 
Last edited:
Anywhere that pricey is going to be for monied folks, not for us regular peons.
True. From a basic Business 101 perspective I wonder who is the Customer. I accept the fact that there will always be those with more $ but life experience has taught me that the real money are no less thrifty than the poor and more consistently so as they don't rely on credit. If TSA didn't grow to the "Phase 2" level after 5 years, ...
 
You are right, they all have their pros and cons. TSA is really nice, and I get Senior Monday $10 pricing. But just 25 yards.

On my last trip to the county range, I tried to zero a new Eotech. I started on the 100 yard range at 50 yards but couldn’t find the paper. I wanted to move the target to 25 yards but they said I’d have to switch to the other bay because there’s a 50 yard minimum in the 100 yard range. So I had to wait for it to go hot to pack up. Move to Bay 3 when it’s hot. Wait for bay 3 to go cold so I could set up a target. Five shots later, I was ready to move back to the 100 yard range so I had to repeat the whole process. And the short grumpy RSO with the permanent scowl was there glaring at me the whole time.

The county range has the acoustics and air quality of a bad indoor range and the temperature control of an outdoor range. In the winter my hands get too cold to squeeze the trigger.

There is nothing good to say about PDHSC in Garner. Antiquated, dark, small, creepy, and too many people have been struck by splatter because they don’t clean out the backstops often enough. And pistol bays only.

Frontline is like Disney World for shooters. It’s incredible. But 90 minutes from my house.

I have access to some land in Chatham County where I deer hunt and shoot. But no target shooting during deer season. So come January, that’s where I’ll be.
 
Last edited:
You lost me at indoor range. Hate shooting indoors. I am far away but even if it was right across the street it would have to offer something really special for me to go.
 
The range will be located on Spring Forest Road adjacent to the BP Gas Station and Capital Blvd. North Raleigh.
From real estate pages....
Generally speaking, the area north of the I-40 Beltline is considered to be "North Raleigh".
This community is generally defined as being bordered by 540 to the north,
Glenwood Ave to the west, 440 to the south, and Capital Boulevard to the east.
 
The range will be located on Spring Forest Road adjacent to the BP Gas Station and Capital Blvd. North Raleigh.
From real estate pages....
Generally speaking, the area north of the I-40 Beltline is considered to be "North Raleigh".
This community is generally defined as being bordered by 540 to the north,
Glenwood Ave to the west, 440 to the south, and Capital Boulevard to the east.

Well those real estate pages are a joke. Technically Northeast Raleigh but nobody refers to that area as North Raleigh unless you are trying to pretend to be well-to-do... It's nothing like the Brier Creek area TSA is located in.

I used to live on Spring Forest back when I was a punk fresh out of high school about a half mile from their location. Lots of drug/criminal activity all around. Some of the crappiest apartments in the city around there. Capital Blvd from 440 to 540 and from Atlantic to 401 is not fancy digs regardless of being North of the center line... Basically, it's not anywhere you want to be hanging around after Home Depot closes...
 
Yup, Sheetz has one or two guards inside at Milbrook Green Rd.
fells like I'm Trump when I eat there. I work p/t at that Home Depot 21 years.
I stayed at the Monticito apts. in 1991 for three months, rough hood.
 
Last edited:
Ya'll know the neighborhood well. LOL

Still, seems like commercial lease rates don't dip that much because of the dingy atmosphere. Looked it up out of curiousity- Common rates in that area are 13-16 dollars a sq ft per year. A 5000 sq ft space would run $65,000 to $80,000 a year to lease ( bare walls ,no fit up, no utilities, maint, etc) add in the rest plus paying the help and advertising, etc. $$$$

That's a lotta lane rentals. Maybe they got the space cheap, who knows. I wish them luck with it- I just don't see the demand being great enough to make the math work.
 
Ya'll know the neighborhood well. LOL

Still, seems like commercial lease rates don't dip that much because of the dingy atmosphere. Looked it up out of curiousity- Common rates in that area are 13-16 dollars a sq ft per year. A 5000 sq ft space would run $65,000 to $80,000 a year to lease ( bare walls ,no fit up, no utilities, maint, etc) add in the rest plus paying the help and advertising, etc. $$$$

That's a lotta lane rentals. Maybe they got the space cheap, who knows. I wish them luck with it- I just don't see the demand being great enough to make the math work.


Scared money don't make money!
 
On my last trip to the county range, I tried to zero a new Eotech. I started on the 100 yard range at 50 yards but couldn’t find the paper. I wanted to move the target to 25 yards but they said I’d have to switch to the other bay because there’s a 50 yard minimum in the 100 yard range. So I had to wait for it to go hot to pack up. Move to Bay 3 when it’s hot. Wait for bay 3 to go cold so I could set up a target. Five shots later, I was ready to move back to the 100 yard range so I had to repeat the whole process. And the short grumpy RSO with the permanent scowl was there glaring at me the whole time.
Do you attempt to sight yours in at all before you go?

On everything I have that it’s possible to look through the barrel with the optic installed, I pick a neighbors exterior light, or a car, or something I can see fairly well...and line the barrel up so that the object is centered and put the dot on the same spot. Never had an issue getting on paper that way.

Matter of fact, did that with three uppers before going to work this morning...and hoping to take all three to the range on Friday.
 
Do you attempt to sight yours in at all before you go?

On everything I have that it’s possible to look through the barrel with the optic installed, I pick a neighbors exterior light, or a car, or something I can see fairly well...and line the barrel up so that the object is centered and put the dot on the same spot. Never had an issue getting on paper that way.

Matter of fact, did that with three uppers before going to work this morning...and hoping to take all three to the range on Friday.
That's good advice, BigWaylon. It was for an AR-15, so I couldn't open the breach. Maybe time to buy a bore sight.
 
That's good advice, BigWaylon. It was for an AR-15, so I couldn't open the breach. Maybe time to buy a bore sight.
Take the upper off the lower then remove the charging handle and BCG then look thru the rear of the upper receiver ... same result as remove the bolt from a bolt action rifle.
 
Last edited:
That's good advice, BigWaylon. It was for an AR-15, so I couldn't open the breach. Maybe time to buy a bore sight.
The three I did this morning were all AR-15s, using the method described below...
Take the upper off the lower then remove the charging handle and BCG then look thru the rear of the upper receiver ... same result as remove the bolt from a bolt action rifle.
 
Back
Top Bottom