Things To Do: Maryland Small Arms Range

The other weekend I took a trip to the Maryland Small Arms Range (MSAR).

It was my first time going and I'd been wanting to go to that shooting range since one of my twitter friends/high school classmates mentioned that they had Ladies Night on Mondays. They offer FREE entrance, usually a $15 fee, for unaccompanied ladies on Mondays, you just have to pay for the gun, ammo, and the particulars (safety glasses, earplugs, targets.

I threw on some casual clothing and headed to the place. The address says it's located in Upper Marlboro (MD), but I would consider the area Clinton. It definitely was a little confusing to find but we finally made it. When we arrived, it was evident that everyone else had the same idea as us so we had to wait for about 30 minutes. The crowd was very diverse. There were a few couples, some rednecks, some thugs, some weapon-aficionados, but everyone was there with the same purpose to do a little shooting. The time we had to wait gave us a chance to explore the facility.

Come to find out, the shooting range was only a small element of the MSAR. When you walk in, it's like a mini-warehouse of guns, knives, clothing and protective gear, and everything weapons-related you could imagine. They displayed all of the guns they had available for rent. While I was investing online, I made my mind up that I wanted a Reuger just because it was old-school and classy looking, hey I'm a girly girl so I was all about shooting something small and cute. The guy at the desk dashed my hopes and dreams by saying he wouldn't recommend it for a first-time, hey he would know better than me, so we switched to a Sig Sauer 380. He gave me red headphones to match my top, so that made me feel a little better about not having the gun I wanted.

When we got into the actual area where the shooting takes places, I thought I was going to go deaf or have a heart attack. Depite having on these serious headphones, I could hear every single shot fired and couldn't help but jump. My ex loaded the gun, we put up a target and got to shooting. My aim was a little off as shown by my marks/mismarks on the target but it I don't think I did too bad for a first-timer.

All in all, we had a great time. I came out with my ears ringing a little but we had fun and I look forward to going again.

Sidebar: The photo above is me. I had planned on doing an infamous Charlie's Angels pose when I got in there but the feeling of holding an actual loaded gun, kept me from doing so. Maybe next time.