Home Defense Site - Bayonne, NJ

[JamesC 2]

Has anyone had any experience with this company? My girlfriend bought a groupon for a 6-gun, one hour shoot from them. I guess they use the Bayonne range and we're going this coming Saturday.

 

Thoughts?

[jonny.montana 48]

I know Eddie... He is a really cool guy and He knows what he is doing...

 

Great instructor... You will have a good time.

[Sixtytwo327 14]

I did this last year with a bunch of friends. It was fun, and it's a good intro for people with limited familiarity with guns.

[JamesC 2]

There were few details in the groupon - do you remember what the program actually was?

[Krdshrk 3,878]

Yeah there's not enough info there. I considered it, but then decided against it.

[JamesC 2]

Yeah there's not enough info there. I considered it, but then decided against it.

 

I'm just pumped that my girlfriend brought it up :-) This will either open her up to gunsports or solidify a dislike...

 

If anyone has more details, please share so I know what to expect.

[Sixtytwo327 14]

I checked my old e-mails; the one I did last year was run by Gun for Hire, sold through Living Social. A group of my friends ended up going to the Bayonne range; it's really for new shooters and non-firearm owners; we shot pretty much every action handgun and a rifle (single action revolver, semi-auto pistol, double action revolver, AR-15 /w 22 conversion, etc.). At the end we shot some slugs from a 12 ga. There was an instructor at every port; they gave basic tips and helped newcomers load and shoot the guns. It was very safe and we all had a good time. It's not the same company, so I can't say what the format of that deal will be, but it sounds similar.

 

Plus the people at Bayonne are all good people, so no worries there. I'm interested to hear how it turns out.

[JamesC 2]

Plus the people at Bayonne are all good people, so no worries there. I'm interested to hear how it turns out.

 

Thanks for the notes - I'll be sure to post about the experience once we've gone through it on Saturday. Many thanks.

[JamesC 2]

Just got back from the Home Defense Site shoot at the Bayonne PBA #7. It was a fairly decent introductory shoot where participants moved through 6 different ports shooting a variety of firearms. There were two different deals going on at once - one from Groupon and the other from Living Social. The biggest surprise was that all of the weapons were .22 caliber. Though the deal copy wasn't specific when referring to 6 different guns, I made the assumption that they would be in different calibers as well.

 

PROS

Good, low pressure environment for beginner shooters

One instructor/supervisor per gun port to control muzzles and reload for first time shooters and to challenge more experienced shooters

Targets were set very close (7-15ft) so even first time shooters were able to get some rounds on target

Instructors gave more experienced shooters challenges (e.g. shoot at a specific point on the target) that kept it fun for all levels

Even the shy women stepped up and shot the big bad 12ga

 

CONS

There was some confusion about the two different deals going simultaneously - some people had issue with how this was handled (GF and I had no issues)

Safety discipline (actual safety on firearms) was not mentioned or practiced on the range. I got strange looks when I set the safety after each string of fire

More shooters than could be accommodated at the ports were brought to the firing line - this cramped the space and could have been a safety issue if something bad had happened

 

Overall, GF and I had a good experience and it was a decent introduction for me to the Bayonne range and for Kate to shooting... without me being the bad guy if she didn't like it. Thanks to all that had commented originally.

[Ray Ray 3,566]

What was the instructor's name? Was he a bald guy?

[Smokin .50 1,907]

Sounds like an NRA First Steps style program. They use all sorts of .22's there as well. Just out of curiosity, how much was the groupon for using 6 guns?

[JamesC 2]

What was the instructor's name? Was he a bald guy?

 

There was no real main instructor - there were a couple people but most of the "in charge" people didn't give their names or if they did, I missed them. There was one helper named Rex and another named Anthony

 

 

Sounds like an NRA First Steps style program. They use all sorts of .22's there as well. Just out of curiosity, how much was the groupon for using 6 guns?

 

They wanted $60 for the one hour of shooting. 6 guns, total rounds were probably somewhere around 70rds plus 2 shotshells.

[Ray Ray 3,566]

Did you get any kind of certification? Maybe you can use this has paperwork for CCW in Arizona or Florida.

[JamesC 2]

Did you get any kind of certification? Maybe you can use this has paperwork for CCW in Arizona or Florida.

 

Ray - no certification or certificates - it operated as a fun gun shoot or something like that. I did take my UT CCW course back in MA... I should submit that now...