- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Ben Avery Shooting Range
Category: Active Life Gun/Rifle Ranges Gun/Rifle Ranges [Edit]
4044 W Black Canyon BlvdPhoenix, AZ 85086
(623) 582-8313
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
11 reviews for Ben Avery Shooting Range
11 reviews in English
-
Review from Greg G.
Phoenix, AZ
I know a lot of people that go way out in the desert to shoot. With BASF so close, so cheap, so safe, & so nice, why would you go out to a remote location?
A mere $7.00 a day (children free) gets you access to the single largest publicly funded and publicly accessable shooting range in the WORLD! Most other ranges of this size and this diverse are military only.
Take advantage of this national treasure and go! The people are super nice and the firing line is well regulated. Supplies are cheep and there are some great classes.
============================
Updated Review
============================
I went there last Saturday. It was the first cool Saturday after a long hot summer and deer season approaches. As you might imagine - it was PACKED and we had to wait about 45 minutes to get a table to shoot from. there were other unused areas (small bore, silhouette, etc) that could have handled the overflow with ease, but for reasons unknown they kept them closed.
I still maintain that the old men working here are very thorough in their job. They are safety conscious and don't mind helping novice shooters - and they do it all with a very friendly, warm, and congenial demeanor. The lady in the booth where you pay is extremely nice too. However the young lady at that runs the range from the officers box is an absolute beeee-yotch!
She was gruff, kurt, short, hot headed, rude and makes me reconsider the whole Ben Avery Experience. If there is anything I hate it's when you are trying to walk the tight rope and be on your best behavior and some one jumps your @$$ for minor minor infractions and treats you like a life long hardened criminal. Seriously I think she needs to find a way of dealing with the stress of her job and not venting it out on every one at the range.
The last time I went, the rifles didn't have to be in a case, if yours wasn't they had a loaner for you to use and it was no problem. I arrived this time sans case and they lady that took my $7.00 said the same thing she said last time "No problem. Take your gun to the Range Officer and she'll give you one." When I showed up the Female R.O. jumped me six ways to Sunday about the case. If they are having internal communication issues, that's their problem and I should never be the wiser.
I still like the range and it is still one of my favorite things in all of the valley, but the next time I go, I hope she treats me better. I'll turn the other cheek once - next time it involves paperwork and a letter to her superior. -
Review from Fred F.
1/17/2012
There are three ways to get in some target practice around here:
1. Go out into the desert. The advantage is that it's cheap. The disadvantages are that you have to go pretty far out to do it safely/legally and there's the risk of getting caught in crossfire from a few drunks that had the same idea.
2. Go to a private, indoor range. The advantages are that you can go year round, you can rent guns and they're pretty safe. The disadvantages are that it can be pricey and crowded.
3. Go to Ben Avery.
Ben Avery has the best of everything. It's cheap ($7 all day and includes the firearms range, skeet and archery range). It's safe - there are always enough monitors to make sure no one is doing something dangerous. OK, it's outside so 3pm in August is probably going to be uncomfortable but it opens at 7am.
The people watching alone is worth $7. I've found there are four categories:
1. People with their kids.
2. Couples on what seems like a date (I'll never figure out why a guy wants to teach his g/f how to shoot - it's something that may come back to haunt him someday).
3. Guys in camo with $5,000 worth of weapons and you just know they have a rocket launcher hidden away in their survivalist cave somewhere.
4. Me.
Eye and ear protection is required here and you'll be glad you brought them. There's a metal shade cover and a concrete floor - it's noisy! There was a guy firing an AK-47 next to me and the spent cartridges kept hitting me. I asked him nicely if he could step back a bit and he did. I've found it's always a good idea to be nice to anyone holding a loaded AK-47.
Overall - the best use of your tax dollars that I can think of. -
Review from Edward D.
8/26/2011
I really like this place! Plenty of room, very organized. And is willing to help you out. Price is very acceptable @ $7.00 a day. They have ear plugs, targets and beverages to purchase at a reasonable price. If it's your first time there is a 10 min video they want you to watch. It's diffidently a great place to go, just have to watch out for dumb A$$ like myself. I tend to have a major brain freeze. But the workers there are nice enough to let me know what I did wrong in a polite way. Give me time! I promise I won't shoot anyone! I'll get better.
-
Review from Jessica P.
Phoenix, AZ
12/19/2010 1 Check-in Here
Shooting, the safe way, for $7 for a day??? Sign me up.
I like the set up. I like that it's outside, I like that it's lit at night, and I like how it's run with a strict hand.
Prevents me from being shot, and I appreciate that.
I went on a Wednesday evening at about 6. While waiting for everybody to get done with their set up, I was looking around at some of the other people there.
Most people there were your standard t-shirt and jeans, and most likely boots type of guy. Sprinkled in there were some flippy young girls being taught by their uncle or something how to shoot.
Then there was the dude in a suit. I swear, he was wearing a fricken suit! But it was SO big on this smallish guy... real drapey on him... and I turned to the guys I was with and said, "is that a hit man or a wannabe hitman?"
We couldn't decide. lol We figured he was too obvious to be an actual hitman.
Otherwise, the staff were friendly and helpful.
The drive is easy, right off I-17, but at night it's fucking dark. It's like you're headed to the Wayne Mansion or something. -
Review from Brian B.
Glendale, AZ
6/28/2010
Good and bad.
First the good: They have a great skeet, trap and sporting clays range and the range officers were very nice and helpful on me and my buddy's first time trying sporting clays. Several officers noticed he was having problems hitting clays as he's used to shooting scoped rifles. They all stopped by and offered their help in a non-threatening and polite manner and even used their own credits to not waste ours' during the instruction.
Their small bore range is very nice and of the matches I have been to have had great experiences. Went to Winter Ranger one year and was very impressed on how that was set up.
Now the bad: the public range. The range officers always seem to be cranky and also generally not friendly. I can kind of see why because the other bad is because of some of the shooters there. They are unfamiliar with their weapons or downright don't care. There are some dangerous people on that range. I have been swept with the muzzles of both loaded and unloaded gun NUMEROUS times. Sometimes the officers see, but usually not. I tend to see them more concerned about some very minor violation or making their own rules up. And as I said, just seem to be downright cranky. From what I understand they are all volunteers but that is no excuse. If you can't check your attitude at the door and don't enjoy what you are doing, don't do it.
I used to like the public range for sighting in rifles and scopes, but now skip it due to the dangerous shooters and the poor attitude of the range masters. But the skeet and small bore areas are good to go! -
Review from Sean C.
12/27/2010
Ben Avery, a 1600+ acre shooting range in desert Arizona outside of Phoenix, appears to be one of the more popular destinations on a Sunday afternoon, and among the highest that do not involve any kind of alcohol or controlled chemical substances. For the susprisingly low price of $7/shooter (targets around $1 or less) and the cost of one's own ammo, weapon, ear and eye protection, and after watching a five minute safety video, one too can let out one's aggression and/or boredom with lethal force in a legal fashion.
Call me a city slicker (an ironic descripton since I am more often derided as a dweller of suburbia) but, despite firing off about ten chambers worth of a family-owned .38 Special, and since talking is almost impossible over the sounds of gunfire during the shooting rounds, by far the most interesting thing here was the people watching. Besides a general feeling of having stumbled upon a casting call for extras for Red Dawn:
- The goth woman accompanied by the long haired hippie toting what appeared to be an assualt shotgun that I would have expected illegal and whose choice of target was simply a wooden board with no sheet that didn't stand a chance
- The jolly older man with a .44 magnum who joked about using it as an anti road-rage deterrent from a moving vehicle
- The hardcore sniper shooting at a target 500 yards away who needed to use a scope to see the results of his firing
- Blonde, blue-eyed All-American children that couldn't have been over 10 firing pistols with a smile (and hopefully the gravity of the situation)
- The ultimate hipster toting his rifle in a guitar case
- The announcer who continuously reminded people over loudspeaker to stay away from the firearm tables during the ceasefire break which, after about the ten-thousandth time, must get old for them
- Walter Sobchak (... not really on this one, but I was holding out hope)
I'll admit I don't have much experience with these facilities, but for an outdoor range with many other ranges to cater to competitive shooting, especially in ideal outdoor weather, Ben Avery seemed like a good place to spend a few hours for those averse to physical exercise (recoil-induced wrist-stretching notwithstanding) and for some father-son bonding. I'd implore you to be safe - but the friendly NRA-approved range master will remind you of that at least five times during the course of a normal visit. -
Review from Robert P.
Phoenix, AZ
5/27/2010
Ben avery is always a great place to go shooting, it does get busy on the weekend when all the 9-5ers come out to shoot. If i can i go during the week heck i was their yesterday 5/26/10. Its a bit of a drive but they open at 7am during the summer months so you can be out shooting while its not 100.
If its your first visit you'll have to watch the safty video, its only a few minutes long.
I guess the worst thing about this place is the morons who can't follow range commands. -
Review from maggie r.
Glendale, AZ
5/12/2008 1 photo
Well, this is a weird review to write. Up until this weekend, I had never even used a shotgun and now here I am the first to review the Ben Avery Shooting Range. Who knew? My husband recently acquired not one, but two guns - a shotgun and a pistol - much to my dismay. But, they were here to stay, so I decided to be proactive and learn how to use them.
The shooting range is on the way to Pleasant, right off the Carefree Highway. I had passed by the place a hundred times on my way to the lake but had never stopped. There are 2 parts to the range, the target practice and the clay target area, a minute up the road. We first stopped at the target practice area where $5 will cover your daily shooter fee. This area is the more popular of the two and is VERY loud. Earplugs are necessary and noise canceling headphones couldn't hurt. We didn't end up staying at this area because we had come for clay shooting and I can't say I was disappointed to get out of there.
$25 will get you a round of 100 sporting clays. Each platform has two sporting clay machines that either shoot them high, low or doubles. At first I was apprehensive, but by the end I was loading the gun and actually enjoying myself. I ended up shooting 2 out of 10 sporting clays and I have to say I was pretty proud of myself at 20% for my first time.
Sunblock, earplugs and water are necessary - lots of water, it is in the middle of the desert and the sun is a killer. The staff is friendly and helpful; one employee even stopped by our area and offered us water.
I can't say this is a new hobby of mine, but I'll be back every now and then to freshen up and practice. -
Review from Jennifer W.
Scottsdale, AZ
Updated - 4/4/2009
On the first and third Thursdays of the month, Ben Avery offers lessons for women. You get to take three classes for free (skeet, trap and sport). And by free, I mean COMPLETELY FREE. They give you a box of rounds, shotgun rental, clays, ear/eye protection and awesome instructors. After your first 3 lessons, you can continue to join the class, but you have to buy your own clays and rounds.
Fred the range master (in charge of the program) is awesome and so is LeRoy (he's in charge of the first-time visitors). And the ladies from Desert Rose that instruct the return visitors are so helpful.
Make sure you sign up in advance for the classes though. Space is limited.Listed in: Stress Relief
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
1/11/2009
I've been to Ben Avery a couple of times. Once for skeet, twice for pistol + AR shooting and the… Read more »
-
-
Review from Samantha C.
Cave Creek, AZ
4/2/2010 2 photos
Love the outdoor range, you can appreciate the beauty of the desert while shooting til' your hearts content.
Quick and easy check in, they don't take your drivers license or make you fill out paperwork. Some people might think that's risky but honestly if you're planning to harm someone in a gun range signing some papers and handing over your I.D. isn't going to stop you.
Every fifteen minutes they give a one minute warning. After that there is a gun check and everyone is allowed out to look at or change targets. They tell you when you're allowed to shoot or not because they can't let people just walk out and change targets when other people are still shooting, everyone has to go at the same time. I don't see this as a hassle, just common sense.
Very professional, friendly, and helpful staff. Prices are more than reasonable. They have an array of snack and soda machines near the check in window in case you need an extra bottle of water or pack of starbursts.
I would suggest putting your earplugs in before getting out of the car if loud noises bother you, the parking lot is right behind the range. -
Review from Travis B.
2/24/2010
i took a sunday off to take a handgun safety course this past weekend and this place is huge! there are ranges for not only pistols, but high powered rifles, shotguns, and even bows and arrows. it's all outside and very safe, as gun ushers were constantly alert and around to make sure everyone was following the proper etiquette. i did feel a bit out of place without camo, a trucker cap, and my "Go Palin" bumper sticker...but luckily i have a heavy duty southern accent, so i guess i was OK.
i hear it's cheaper than the indoor ranges closer to phoenix, but you pay for it in gas driving all the way out there. ...i don't want know you name, i just want BANG BANG BANG.Listed in: Kick some Butt
