Range Ventilation Upgrade!
May 9th
As many of you now know, we have been doing a ventilation system upgrade to our indoor 100 yard rifle range. When we purchased the old building, we made a decision to improve the Pistol Range ventilation system before we initially opened the facility.
So, before the “First Shots” were fired here (back in April), we had changed the original re-circulation system to an industry leading replacement system. That ventilation system is “Gun Range Specific.” We replace every cubic inch of air on our indoor pistol range every 90 seconds! The air is filtered and blown into the atmosphere and new air is brought in.
We also made the decision not to replace the rifle range ventilation system until later. We had people beating down the door begging us to get our doors open. We listened!
Our indoor 100 yard rifle range got some great use in the late summer and all of fall. It was (and will be again soon!) a great resource to hunters. As you know, there are many of you hunters here in CO. There are not a lot of places where you can quickly site in / confirm zero on your hunting rifles though. That being said, some people complained that the ventilation system in our indoor 100 yard rifle range was not up to the same standards as that of our indoor pistol range.
Then, mid January, we made a decision to close our indoor 100 yard rifle range in order to upgrade the ventilation system. We did not feel the ventilation system that the rifle range was using was up to the BluCore Shooting Center standards. We value safety and cleanliness. Those are not just words to us…we practice what we preach!
So, we closed down the rifle range. After a far more complex process than we originally anticipated, we recently got our building permit to proceed with the last phase of this rifle range ventilation upgrade. Starting today…contractors are on site upgrading the rifle range ventilation system.
When the rifle range re-opens, we’ll be replacing every cubic inch of air on that range every 90 seconds! There is a lot of air on that range. It will be expensive, especially when it’s either cold / hot outside. We feel that it is worth investing the money up front as well as spending the money each month in order to provide a safe clean firearms experience!
There are not a lot of places where you can get firearms retail, ranges and training in one facility. Of those places, not many can compete with our selection of tactical AR’s and self-defense / concealed carry firearms. There are even fewer that bring this much combat proven firearms instruction under one roof. The icing on the cake is our 100 yard indoor rifle range. There are definitely not too many of those around that are open to the public! (not to mention our gun rental program…)
Again, all we are trying to do is “re-define the firearms experience!” That’s one reason we call this place a “shooting center” instead of a “gun range” or “gun shop.”
We appreciate everyone’s patience as we finish this rifle range ventilation upgrade. We’ll have more information later. Again, we’ll speak w/ our contractors today and hopefully get a realistic timeline on a re-open date!
Locking the slide to the rear
May 8th
Seeing how it is still Ladies Night at the BluCore Shooting Center, we thought it would be appropriate to discuss a very common problem that ladies encounter when using their semi-automatic pistols….namely: locking the slide to the rear.
In our Pistol Fundamentals Course and Women’s Pistol Fundamentals Courses (both are exactly the same, one is for women only) we cover this issue and many more. For some ladies it is just too difficult to lock that slide to the rear.
When loading and making ready, we teach a very simple and effective method. We also teach a very simple method to press check the pistol. The same holds true for clearing and “safe’ing” the pistol. Here is our verbiage: “remove the source, clear the chamber, lock the slide to the rear, inspect the chamber”
For many, locking the slide to the rear is the most difficult part. We’ve even seen a few guys struggle with this one. To us, it’s very important to be able to clear your pistol, or any firearm for that matter, safely. There are too many people that get injured or worse cleaning a gun they thought was “un-loaded!” To that end, we’ve come up w/ a very simple method for you ladies.
When loading and making ready, we manipulate the gun into our “work-space.” We load it in front of our face and use our peripheral vision. We do not look at the mag well because we do not want to loose situational awareness. We also do our loading almost exactly how we do a combat reload. This is in the interest of “economy of motion” …in other words “fewer, more repeatable moving parts.” We manipulate the hands, the arms and the gun keeping the rest of the body still and in a shooting posture.
When it’s time to un-load or “clear and safe” that firearm, a lot of these fundamentals apply. If possible, we’d like to maintain a good “economy of motion” but never at the expense of safety. So the focus in clearing your firearm is to clear the firearm. As we like to say, there may come a time when you are in a rush to load your gun, but there will never be a time where you are in a rush to clear and safe your gun!
For that reason, when necessary, we tell our students to manipulate their body around the gun to clear and safe. Here are the steps:
1. Bring the gun into your workspace
2. Remove the source (a slight re-gripp helps you access the mag release, we use the support hand to help reposition the gun in the strong hand)
3. Clear the chamber (rack the slide a couple of times)
4. Lock the Slide to the rear: keeping the gun facing down range, move your body over to the left side of the gun. While doing so, re-grip the gun in order to give your thumb better leverage for pressing up on the slid lock / release lever. Then, push the slide to the rear w/ the left hand. Once it gets all the way to the rear, press the slide lock up. We’ve already re-gripped w/ the right hand and enabled that thumb to gain additional leverage over the gun.
5. Inspect the chamber: see an empty chamber not a dark space!
This simple procedure will make it a lot easier for some of you who struggle locking the slide to the rear. It allows the shooter to maximize his or her leverage over the gun. It does slightly violate the “economy of motion” rule, but it does so in the interest of safety. Remember, you may someday be in a hurry to “load and make ready”…but you should never be in a hurry to “clear and safe!”
Ladies’ Night at the Range!
May 8th
As you all know, it is once again Ladies’ Night at the BluCore Shooting Center! On Tuesday nights from 5-8pm, we waive all lane fees for the ladies.
It is a great chance for you ladies to come by and try something new. It is also a great chance for our lady members to bring by a girl friend who might not normally shoot or enjoy shooting.
Tonight, Dawn Brown, the newest member of “Team-BluCore” will be walking the line helping all you lady shooters that need a hand. Wether you need help locking the slide to the rear, loading the gun or just a review on the pistol fundamentals….Dawn is here for you! As many of you may know, Dawn has been a great customer of ours for awhile. She has also been through a bunch of our firearms training classes. She is more than capable of helping you ladies out….and she can probably out-shoot quite a few of you guys!
Dawn is a great addition to our team. We encourage our lady customers to take advantage of her skills and knowledge while she walks the line. We saw a need to provide a range instructor on ladies night….Dawn has filled that gap for us!
This is just another example of how we are constantly striving to “redefine the indoor firearms experience!” It’s also another example of why we are the most female friendly range in Denver! Not only do we have ladies night, but we now offer some free instruction on ladies night. We also have women only classes!
Busy week ahead!
May 7th
It’s once again time for our weekly update. Before we discuss the very busy (and exciting) week ahead of us, we’d like to thank all of our amazing customers for coming in to see us last week. We appreciate everyone’s continued patience as we are in the middle of a remodel project (and other projects).
This week, we’ll still be working on our remodel project upstairs. We have moved the doorway to the basement stairwell in order to make it easier for our customers to go right to the range. In the coming weeks, we’ll be re-doing the floor in both our retail area and range area. This will not affect our hours this week, but will next week (more to follow on that). All of this is being done in an effort to improve the facility as well as the “firearms experience!”
Also, on a facility update: WE FINALLY GOT OUR PERMIT to begin the final phase of our rifle range ventilation upgrade! It took WAY LONGER than we could have possibly anticipated. But, we have our permit now and can begin this phase of installing the ductwork and other equipment. This brings us 1 more step closer to re-opening our indoor 100 yard rifle range! We appreciate all of your patience in the matter….
On a training note, we’ll have a couple of great training opportunities this week:
Today, on Monday night, we have our Alumni Night from 6-8pm. This event is a great opportunity to get together and test the drills from either our Tactical Pistol (or Tactical AR if we have enough interest) or just do other timed drill for practice. Alumni Night is one of our more popular Firearms Training events because it’s just so much fun and so flexible.
Tuesday, as always, will be Ladies’ Night. From 5-8pm, we’ll be waiving all lane fees for all you lady shooters that come down and see us. Ladies night, along w/ our women only classes, have gotten really popular lately. We always have a great time no ladies night!
On Wednesday night, we’ll be giving away (at random) free movie passes to a private screening of the new “Battleship” movie! Due to our military and of course Navy ties, a local promotion company gave us free passes to hand out to our customers at random. It looks like a great movie & we are happy to help promote it!
Thursday night, we’ll be teaching our AR Fundamentals Class from 6-9pm. This is really a great class and teaches (and reviews) the fundamentals of shooting an AR-15 (or other semi-automatic / magazine fed rifle). There is time spent in the classroom covering these fundamentals and then a significant period of time spent on our range. Most of the drills are done at either the 5 or 7 yard line. It’s one of our more popular classes….for good reason!
There is no training scheduled for Friday, Saturday or Sunday. So we won’t have any Firearms Training events impact normal range use.
As you can see, we have yet another busy week ahead of us. As always, we thank you all for your support. Please bear w/ us through the remodeling project and final phase of our rifle ventilation upgrade. We are just trying to improve our facility a little bit at a time and constantly striving to “re-define the firearms experience!”
There are lots of Denver gun ranges, Denver gun stores and places to get firearms training in Denver. There are not that many places that do it all….in one convenient facility! That’s why we call it a “shooting center.” It’s much more than a range, shop or training place…it’s firearms ranges, retail and training…in 1 facility!
Pistol Training
May 4th
After another Pistol Fundamentals Class last night, we decided that today would be a good day to do a quick blog post about pistol shooting.
Again, there are a myriad of instructors teaching their own version of the pistol fundamentals. We do not claim to know it all. Not only do our customers train a bunch of different places, but so do we! We do not pretend to know it all and we are constantly striving to improve. We want to improve not only our own skills, but to also improve our curriculum. By improving our own skills and our curriculum, we can improve the finished product that all of our students get at the end of each and every class. Wether taking the Pistol Fundamentals, Tactical Pistol, Low Light Pistol or even our Concealed Carry Pistol.
When you take classes from anyone…always ask the question “what is your back-ground?” The answer to this question is very telling. It also dictates the type of instruction you’ll be receiving. Another good question is “what are the objectives of this course?” In other words, why exactly am I here.
We combine a wide variety of backgrounds here at the BluCore Shooting Center. Our training curriculum is combat proven. Our methods and techniques have been proven, by us, in combat. All of our instructors, regardless of their background, teach the same combat proven curriculum. We have Army Rangers, Navy SEALs and competitive shooters teaching our classes. They all teach the same curriculum. Of course, they all have different instructor “styles.” But the skills they teach and the drills they do are standardized across the board.
The objectives of our classes are clearly stated prior to taking the class. We want to make our students better shooters. We also want to give them repeatable talking points and drills they can use to then improve themselves. Our primary objective is to make our students more prepared to use a pistol, (or other firearm) for self-defense. It may be unlikely that they will need to, but it’s better to prepared for it than not be. It is NOT one of our objectives to make our students better competitive shooters. Although there is much you can apply from the competitive shooter world, a lot of it is a game. Self-defense firearms training is not a game…..
Our Pistol Fundamentals class is the building block or first step to other pistol training here at the BluCore Shooting Center. We review the fundamentals in all other pistol courses of instruction. We build upon and improve the understanding of these fundamentals throughout every phase.
We believe that the fundamentals must be simple. This is so they can be repeated (often because of muscle memory and perfect practice) under stressful situations. We also believe that “the best do the basics better.” The best shooters don’t actually do things differently, they just do the same things better. It’s a better understanding and execution of the fundamentals that makes them successful.
We have a few “verbal cues” or “talking points” that we impart on our students when we teach these classes. We do this so they can train on their own. They are “verbal check-lists” that can be used in your own practice.
To oversimplify, shooting a pistol is as simple as:
1. Align the sites
2. Squeeze the trigger
3. Maintain site alignment while squeezing the trigger (keep the gun still while squeezing trigger)
We can all align the sites. We can all squeeze the trigger (some better than others of course). Where we all struggle is in the maintaining of site alignment, or keeping the gun still while we squeeze the trigger. The grip, stance, posture and other points of performance are all to help us keep that gun still while we squeeze that trigger.
Most great pistol shooters can not necessarily hold the gun more steady than others. They just do a good job of holding that gun steady during those last crucial moments of the trigger squeeze.
Grip is important for trigger squeeze. Stance & posture, along w/ grip is important for good recoil management. Good recoil management is crucial for quick follow up shots. All of the fundamentals are intertwined…..
To learn more about these Pistol Fundamentals and to take your personal training to the next level, we encourage you to take a hard look at our Pistol Fundamentals Course! It’s combat proven, consistent and will make you a better shooter in a very short period of time!
BluCore Shooting Center Open House!
May 3rd
The BluCore Shooting Center will having an Open House to celebrate our first full year of operations on Saturday, June 30th from 9am – 8pm!…… We’ll provide more details in the coming weeks.
We’ll have free food (most likely BBQ), refreshments, great door prizes and vendors on site.
The onsite vendors will be announced later. Some of them will also be giving away prizes. There will be a good mix of firearms & firearms related accessories vendors on site. Once the vendor list solidifies, we’ll announce it as well as the prizes they’ll be giving away. We are hoping to even set aside some lanes to allow our great customers to shoot some cool guns!
This Open House is not only a celebration for us, but a show of our deep gratitude and appreciation to our amazing customers. With out you, this whole thing would not be possible.
We are doing what we can on a daily basis to “re-define the firearms experience.” We consider ourselves a shooting center because we are much more than a gun range, gun store or place to get firearms training. We provide the best indoor gun range in Denver, the best gun rental program in Denver, an amazing selection of tactical, self-defense and concealed carry firearms and by far the most combat proven instruction! The best part….we do all of this in 1 convenient location!
So come see us, as a show of appreciation, for free food, great door prizes (announced later) and a chance to talk w/ our great vendors! It’s on June 30th….Save the date!
Group Private Events!
May 2nd
Just had another great Group Private Event w/ a local company! We always enjoy doing events such as these. On top of our normal training schedule, we offer these classes / experiences.
In one instance, we set up and taught our Pistol Fundamentals Class to a group of local ladies. They did not have time to come in and take our Pistol Fundamentals class on our schedule. So, we made a special event just for them. It was our full version Women’s Pistol Fundamentals. We even opened early, at 9am, in order to accommodate their schedule.
The other instance, today, we did a Firearms Experience for a local company. This condensed version of our Pistol Fundamentals course is less in-depth as far as classroom material and more focused on provided an all encompassing experience.
Both events were lots of fun. We always enjoy setting up special group firearms training / events of this nature. If anyone has any interest in setting up a similar event, let us know. Wether you’d like to take one of our Pistol Classes, Rifle Classes or Firearms Experiences!
On this day….
May 2nd
One year ago, Navy SEALs carried out a daring mission deep inside of Pakistan. They succeeded in killing public enemy #1, Osama Bin Laden. Once again, “Brave men stood ready in the night to visit violence on OUR behalf.” (George Orwell)
Rather than celebrate the success of our brothers-in-arms or attempting to draw attention to ourselves, we’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that SEALs, SPEC-OPs and the Military are in harms way, every day. Not only do these brave men & women risk it all on the battlefield, they do the same and often pay the ultimate price in training.
Organizations like the Navy SEAL Foundation are there to help w/ the families and loved ones left behind when these brave men pay the ultimate price.
So, on this day, let’s all remember these heros and the great organizations that are in place when they pay the ultimate price, in training or in battle. There are lots of organizations doing great work for these fallen and injured heros…..
New Resource for Women Shooters!
May 1st
The NRA recently launched a new resource for women called NRAWomen.tv. This great resource is for women of all ages who are interested in shooting sports, self defense and our Second Amendment Rights!
We’d like to take this opportunity, it is Ladies’ Night after all, to recommend this great new resource to all of our great women customers! The website, FaceBook fan page, Google + page, Twitter feed and even Pintrest page are all online and ready for your “like” “follow” or even “pin!” (currently appears the website is having issues…..)
We pride ourselves in being Denver’s most female friendly gun range! Our Ladies’ Night and women only shooting classes have gotten more popular each month!
As a favor to the NRA, we’d love some feedback from our great female customers on this new NRA Resource! Hope to see a few friendly female faces at the BluCore Shooting Center tonight!
Ladies Night tonight from 5-8pm!
May 1st
As it is every Tuesday, tonight is Ladies’ Night! From 5-8pm we’ll be waiving all lane fees for all ladies. It’s a great chance for you ladies to come in and try something new w/out paying the normal lane fees. It’s also a great chance for our lady members to bring in a friend who may not normally shoot! Our weekly Ladies Night at the Gun Range has gotten increasingly popular…and for good reason!
We thought that it was important to write about this in greater detail to balance out the last post, which was slightly negative….but necessary!
Because we are Denver’s most women friendly range, shop and training facility, we also want to take the opportunity to introduce/promote a new resource for women of all ages that are interested in the shooting sports. It’s called: NRAWomen.tv!
Here are the links:
WWW.NRAWOMEN.TV
Welcome to the NRA Women’s Network Video Link: http://nrawomen.tv/#/home/video/22
NRAW Facebook: http://facebook.com/nrawomen
NRAW Twitter: http://twitter.com/nrawomen
NRAW Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/nrawomen/
NRAW Google+: https://plus.google.com/111943482743634766584/posts
Because tonight is ladies’ night, we thought it would be good of us to promote this new resource for you women that are into shooting, shooting sports, and 2nd Amendment issues!
We pride ourselves as being the most women friendly range here in Denver! We offer a place for ladies to come and use, purchase or get training with firearms!
