I signed up for the Beta testing of a new facility in South Florida called Nexus Shooting. Located in Davie, the place was built from the ground up as a range & Gun Store and not a recovered/refurbished warehouse somewhere in the Import/Export sector of town. I think that the first impression you get just parking says it all.
I walked in the place and I went full cartoonish as my jaw dropped straight to the ground; wall to wall covered in guns (and that is not an expression), natural light coming from skylights combined with artificial lights made possible to see just about everything without being forced to take out your tack light or feeling like you were under interrogation at Guantanamo because of the spotlights. This was not your storage of old uniforms, banged up ammo boxes and rack with old bumperstickers. However it is not a gun Boutique either, far from it. You find racks of much-needed accessories tall enough to be easy to find but not too tall that blocks the view. If the idea was to shock you with order and easiness to buy what you need (or don’t need but you gonna pounce the crap of that credit card) they did it with spades.

But a store is only as good as its personnel. Here they kick it several levels into the Good-os-phere: Be ready to meet FRIENDLY and HELPFUL people the moment you walk in the door. Customer service is first and foremost with this bunch: Neither pushy salespeople nor silent-type morose morons and I like that. And very important: dressed like professionals: not one wife-beater T-shirt or ultra tight polo shirt to show off the tats and muscles. Shirts and slacks including the lovely and helpful ladies.

I walked around a bit waiting for my friend Sal to finish with some customers and one of the crew introduced himself as Mike (Beware: Half the personnel is named either Mike or Chris. I have no idea if this is a requirement or just coincidental) who gave me a tour of the range facilities which led to another Jaw Falling moment with their soon to be working electronic target range in which you get to shoot at a self-healing screen with your gun and real boolits at targets you select from a database…oh yes, they had them iPads or equivalents at every lane and you can even compete with other people in the range or in my case, keep the darn scores hidden from public shame. Did I mention that the targets can move? The possibilities are endless on this side of the location as I was told that they can upload just about any image you want and just kill it. I didn’t even think about asking permission to take a pic of this area so shocked I was.

The “regular” part of the range was also top of the line.

Yes! There is light! I love being able to see the targets and not having to force my tired eyes. They must have one kick ass AC System because I did not feel like I was choking behind a bus nor I was sweating like being interrogated by the wife. And the lane had this doohickey:

The doohickey lets you set the distance of the target and will allow you to program the behavior of said target to make it more challenging for you to shoot it and who knows what else. Sweet!

And here is a nice pic of the shooting positions:
The baffles are made of steel and kevlar for safety. Notice the grilled floor where the ejected brass disappears and you do not feel like walking on ball bearings. But reloaders do not need to grumble: I was told that another doohickey will be available for you to collect your brass.

I almost forgot: Nexus is the reason (I suspect) why nobody can find ammo south of the Mason-Dixon line…they bought it all! This is just a wee bit example:
Yes, those are bricks of .22LR, harder to find than honesty in Congress.

This post is getting way too long and I am not even halfway describing all the stuff I saw. Suffice to say the place has my 100% recommendation for you to go shoot and enjoy the heck out of yourself, friend and family. Damn I did forget to say that these guys & gals are all safety and take it seriously with Safety Officers present at all times.

There is a bunch of other little details that I am not including here and that impressed the hell out of me (soundproofing being one and the swipe-the-hand-to open-the-door thingies) and I know I did not see all of the place. I want to thank Salvatore Franzese for the invite and owner Chris Longsworth and the rest of the staff for the kind attention they had towards me and all the visitors. Problem is that they will have to get an injunction to keep me away from Nexus shooting. 🙂

PS: Again me with the Tavor and that is Mike in the background who was my guide. I think there is about four feet worth of guns vertically missing from the pic…walls and walls.

PS2: The First South Florida Gun Bloggers Shoot will be held here as soon as they are 100% running.