gander mountain, fredericksburg VA

[ProShooter]

The only reason I know the story is that I just took the class about three weeks ago and the instructor told us all the story. He said he is trying to get the proper insurance to get GM to let him back in and teach. For those that are interested in getting their CC permit, the class is about 4 hours long and it didn't suck. The guy that teaches it is not the one that had the AD. You can get his info from GM. Not that I'm trying to endorse anyone here, just adding my two cents.

Wait, someone was teaching a firearms class WITHOUT insurance? Oh that's a brave soul. I understand that AD/ND's could happen to anyone. I do not personally know the instructor who this happened to but I have heard very good things otherwise about his program. I can tell you that some of us in the "instructor fold" tried to get some info on the ND so that we could all learn from it and details were very, very hard to come by. What I know of it came by the way of a FOIA request filed by another instructor. He shared the police report with me. (yes, a student in the class called the police afterwards to report the ND).

In my mind, there is absolutely no excuse to walk into a classroom and pull a handgun out and do that. I can tell you that when I'm doing a class, I check my guns before I leave the office and when I arrive at the class. Then my assistant checks them behind me. Then I ask at least 2 students in the class to check behind me. The guns sit on the table next to me with the actions locked open and if I take a break, my assistant holds them or they are secured in a locked case. If I come back and use one for a demo, I check it again, look, feel, and look to ensure its unloaded and safe to handle. Heck, most of the time I use an orange plastic watergun during some discussions. I can't even imagine the feeling of an instructor doing that or a student witnessing that.

As far as ND's go, I did hear from someone that a customer brought a loaded gun into a Gander Mountain somehere here locally and there was an ND while talking to the gunsmith. I'm not sure which store it was and I have not been able to confirm any details. Just got it through word of mouth from someone.

[zephyp]

Checking a gun is the first thing I learned and its the first thing I've taught Young. She gets irritated when I check a gun, hand it to her and make her check it again. But she still loves me

[ProShooter]

Checking a gun is the first thing I learned and its the first thing I've taught Young. She gets irritated when I check a gun, hand it to her and make her check it again. But she still loves me

That's a darn good habit. Let her get mad, it may save her life one day.

[zephyp]

I was getting ready to order a CVA Optima 209 from Cabelas and VAhunter (Henry) recommended I check out the CVA Optima Elite. I did and immediately changed my mind. I called around and GM in Fredericksburg told me they had several in stock so I made the drive down Monday.

Bottom line is I had an excellent experience. Treated very nice by the staff and one of the guys at the gun counter spent plenty of time with me making sure everything was just right. My first surprise was when I asked him what came with the combo. Said he didnt know and started hauling boxes out from the back room. I thought combo meant a scope maybe. NOT. An extra barrel. After I decided (.50 ML and a 30-06) and filled out the paper work I went to pick up some other items. About 5 minutes later he paged me back to the counter and showed me the .50 cal barrel. It looked like the front sight was supposed to have 2 fibers and one was missing. He told me he caught it while making a final inspection and in good conscious could not complete the sale unless he told me. I'm going to scope it anyway so no big deal. He was an older guy from Boston. Thin with a butch grey haircut and glasses (Richard). That store now has a new customer.

[MrRvo]

generally speaking, i try not to go in there i know alot of the people that work there but if i didnt id play hard ball trying to get any help, plus you can tell that the people working there really dont care a whole lot when as a customer you can walk around and find where people have stolen items from them and such laying all over the place, and if you take and turn it in to someone they either dont really care or act like your the one who stole it, im sorry but i dont know to many people dumb enough to steal and then turn in the empty package that they stole, plus ive noticed that pretty much all there guns are high except for the random occasion that you can find something for sale thats cheap because there not going to carry it any more, and i also asked there gunsmith one time if they had any special places they ordered from for parts because i had been looking for a couple hard to find items on the internet, and his statement was just that if i couldnt find it then he wouldnt be able to because all he did was search on yahoo for it. i was a little taken away when i heard that id at least expect that a retail stores gunsmith would have a place he ordered from all the time instead of just searching on yahoo. but i guess it is what it is on that part. but its a good thing they have most of there ammo out other wise i dont think id ever go there i would just order my ammo offline, they do carry a couple selections of ammo that "we" dont carry at dicks sporting goods. but sometimes i wonder if its worth the hassle. but on a good note, i can tell thm some place has something for cheaper ammo or gun wise and they just go ahead and match the price they dont bother to check anything or ask for any kind of add or anything i thought that was a little odd but, hey i didnt ask alot of questions. but i mean like i said if i didnt know people there and everything i believe id just make the tripp to basspro or the gander mtn down by greentop

[Reverenddel]

I'm kinda spoiled, I live in "Ammo Alley", we have a Bass Pro, Gander Mountain, and a Dick's Sporting Goods, along with Greentop Sporting Goods, about a couple miles of each other on I-95. I don't go to one particular store,I can get the bargains by going there, and shopping around.

If you feel lucky? There is a Wal-mart 5 miles up the road, but they normal have nothing.

Gander Mountain is WAY higher on AMMO! However, they do have some good sales on gear occassionally.