West Coast Gun Stores?

[Tight_Wad]

Hi all

My wife and I will be spending 3-weeks visiting the west coast USA next summer. Specifically LA, San Diego, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Sacramento and Ft Worth.

Just wondered if any of you have any recommendations for 'must visit' gun stores or ranges? I intend to visit Cabela's Ft Worth TX. Any others you can think of but must be in the cities since we won't be driving much. I'll be looking to pick up some accessories but obviously not powder, firearms etc (unfortunately). Similarly I won't be taking my BP pistols/revolvers as this is essentially my retirement holiday and wifey won't want me on the range every day. Any target shooting (muzzle loading or cartridge) will have to be done with hired guns.

Member of the British NRA and associate of the American NRA.

Suggestions would be much appreciated.

Tight Wad :hatsoff:
England U.K

 

[Maynerd62411]

Sounds like Claude's neighborhood.
Enjoy your stay in the USA. :hatsoff:

 

[noworries]

I live next to Disneyland and there really isnt a decent shop around here anymore but the Bass Pro Shop in Vegas is a pretty cool store.....

 

[Slamfire]

Martin B. Redding in Culver City, Red Banner across the street, but they are just milsurps. Pony Express in Van Nuys, and Jack First's in Lancaster'd be about the best I can think of. :hmm:

 

[flm_shooter]

No great stores near me but a great club. Contact me when you're close and I'll drag you up for a day. Don't need your guns, we'll have plenty.

We're just north of L.A. Slightly saner. :youcrazy:

 

[Tight_Wad]

Fillmore Shooter

Thanks for your very kind offer which I'll bear in mind nearer the time. We've arranged car hire from LA to San Diego and if I can manage to pay you a call I certainly will.

Thanks all for your comments so far - much appreciated. Funny, in 2003 we were in NY and Boston MA. I keep visiting non-shooter friendly States! Gotta get my act together.

Happy Christmas all

Tight Wad :thumbsup:

 

[Gary]

There's only one gun store in the Land o' Rice a Roni & I haven't been in it for years. Mostly O/U or s/s shotguns and by Jan. 1, 2006, no handguns.

 

[Slamfire]

Oh yeah, I left out Pachmeyer's. Since they left downtown Los Angeles for Pasadena, I was only there one time. Kinda a high dollar place in a Galleria, of all places. :shocked2:

 

Can't think of the name of it, but in Vegas is a gunshop/range where ya can rent machine guns, an blast away, I think they even have trips to the desert to shoot. Bill

 

Martin B. Redding in Culver City, Red Banner across the street, but they are just milsurps. Pony Express in Van Nuys, and Jack First's in Lancaster'd be about the best I can think of. :hmm:

Martin B. Retting is open, and is a good shop for general and collector firearms.

Red Banner is closed ...

Pony Express is out of business for the last year and a half. Joe Elithorpe, the owner, was a friend of mine for many years.

Jack first has moved to one of the Dakotas.

Bill

 

[Slamfire]

Ah what a difference a decade makes. I imagine Augie's place is still in Pasadena though.

 

[bnail]

I live next to Disneyland and there really isnt a decent shop around here anymore but the Bass Pro Shop in Vegas is a pretty cool store.....

Hey NoWorries, what about the Flintlock over at Hobby City in Buena Park? I haven't been there since the early 90's, but it had a decent collection of muzzleloading related gear. A little touristy, but not too bad.

 

[Tight_Wad]

It's called The Gun Store and it's on 2900 E Tropicana, Vegas NV. I found it by accident whilst browsing the web and it's certainly on my to do list. Don't know about a machine gun though - 50 rounds in as many seconds sounds a little expensive to me. I fancy something a bit more sedate!

Tight Wad :hatsoff:

 

[hornetk4]

that hobby city place no longer has a gun store I
ve been there 4 or 5 times looking for it no one there even knows anything about whare it went

 

[hornetk4]

There is a place in between LA and San Deigo it's called the Shootist it's one of the biggest and best gun stores in riverside county . they call themselves purveyors of cowboy necessaries , they are a gun store slash meusium of guns and weponery . I picked up a pedersoli 12 ga sxs for 250.00 last year but it was a steal a lot of there stuff is pricey but they have a lot of very unique stuff if you have time it's worth checking out 951 698 7543 24910 washington ave murrieta ca 92584

 

[tzvia]

There's Kings Gun works in Glendale (near Burbank) and Military Historical Antiques (milsurps-and all kinds of military stuff -one of my stomping grounds) a few blocks away from Kings. Martin B. Retting as was already mentioned, in Culver City. Out in Simi Valley, there's Greta's Guns. Pickings are slim here in the L.A. area.

Lois

 

[HistoryBuff]

I have heard of a place called Front Sight that's supposed to be about 20 miles outside of Vegas. My boss told me it's the place to go. All kinds of classes like close range handgun, machinegun, tactics and so on. They supply the guns and ammo, you have the fun.

HistoryBuff

 

[Walks Alone]

Tight Wad - LAS VEGAS

Overall the gun shops in Vegas are pretty lacking for the size of a city it is now, especially since it is so pro gun here. Lots of police-military type shops here and many of them have indoor ranges. On opposite corners of the valley there is the Desert Sportsman (800 yard) and Boulder City (1000 yard) outdoor ranges, I belong to DS in Red Canyon but its private - BC is both member and open to the public for a fee.

So it will be easy to find shops if you want to look at or shoot "duty" firearms. For regular sporting arms maybe Bill's Buy and Sell on Fremont downtown is worth a stop, but high prices. The Gun Vault (Kelly Carn) on Sunset next to the airport is another possibility. And there is couple worthwhile out in Henderson if you get out that way. But the bottom line is I buy almost all my arms and supplies out of state and have them transfered in - better selection and much cheaper even with the shipping and TX fees.

For muzzle loading Ray's Beaver Bag (Ashby Ave) is about it, but he is very proud if you go by his prices though, and he could talk the ear off a tin mule. One local group (Spring Mountain Free Trappers) has 2-3 day weekend mini rendezvous and matches twice a month in the mountains just west of Vegas, so you might catch one of them if you're interested (they have a web site).

If you've never been to a Bass Pro Shops, the LV one is adjoining the Silverton Casino and probably worth a stop. It is very disappointing in the reloading and ML departments though, and their guns are pricy. We're on the desert so they have tons of wrong pattern camo clothing and boats for sale though. :rotf:

For the machine guns you've got two choices, either TGS (on Trop) you already know about and the LV Gun Range & Firearms Center (on Blue Diamond Hwy). TGS is about 3 miles east of The Strip, LVGR 3 miles west of it and both mid valley. My son went on one of the desert machine gun shoots and had a great time (but he's into that stuff).

Don't know anything personally about Front Sight that HistoryBuff mentioned, but its listed as a firearms training institute and here's their toll free: 800-987-7719.

Had a gunsmithing shop in costal Central CA and knew most of the rest out there then, but that was so many years ago I have no idea what is even still up and running out there now.

When it gets closer to travel time if you need any info for Sin City, just drop me a PT.

 

[bnail]

that hobby city place no longer has a gun store I
ve been there 4 or 5 times looking for it no one there even knows anything about whare it went

That's a shame, it was a rather large shop. it even had a colonial mural on the side of the store. When I was stationed at Pendleton, I'd make a monthly pilgrimage up there to troop and stomp with the Deleware Regiment. There were four shope in SoCal I used to frequent. The FrontLoader in Fontana; Muskets to Magnums just outside the AFB near Riverside; a little BP shop in Lemon Grove down in SD (forgot the name though); and lastly, the Flintlock up at Hobby City in Buena Park.
I'm sure that most of these places are gone now, but I'd a bet a dollar to a doughnut that the Flintlock would've still been around. :shake:

 

[flm_shooter]

Tight Wad - LAS VEGAS

Don't know anything personally about Front Sight that HistoryBuff mentioned, but its listed as a firearms training institute and here's their toll free: 800-987-7719.

Front Sight


The wife and I attended their 2-day defensive handgun course 3 years ago, on recomendation of a friend. Would highly suggest them :thumbsup: They were professional without being militaristic. In one weekend they took her from "guns are ok, i guess" to "when are we going out next?".

We had a wide variety of students, from a whire-haired Grandma to a Long Beach LEO.

The only downside was sitting through a sales pitch at lunch for the resort. :yakyak:

However, I doubt they have any muzzle loaders onsite, unless it is a mortar.