Independence Indoor Shooting — Attraction in Meridian

On June 26, my friend and I visited Independence Indoor Shooting Range in Boise. As usual, we checked in, signed our waivers, and headed to the range to shoot my personal firearms. After a while, we decided to rent a fully automatic rifle — something I’d never done before. My friend had in the past, but it had been years.

At the rental counter, we explored several options with the staff. While there, we noticed what appeared to be the teenage children of management or staff walking freely behind the gun counter. It felt very unprofessional and concerning to see minors walking in restricted areas around firearms and ammunition — especially in a facility that should be focused on safety and control.

After some discussion, we chose to rent a suppressed .300 Blackout AR. Back on the range, a range safety officer who was training another staff member gave us the basic safety rundown. Once they finished, the lead officer walked me through the rifle instructions. I’m familiar with AR platforms and followed protocol: inserted the mag, chambered a round, and attempted to fire — but all I heard was a click.

Following proper safety steps, I removed the magazine, engaged the safety, and informed the range officer. After multiple attempts to chamber a round, he broke the rifle down completely to inspect the barrel. That’s when we discovered a squib load — a bullet lodged in the barrel from a previous shooter. The casing had ejected, but the round never left the barrel. Had I fired again, it could have caused the weapon to explode in my hands or face.

Initially, my friend and I didn’t understand the severity, thinking maybe a cleaning rod had been left inside. Only after we directly asked did the range officer explain that, yes, it could have injured or killed me and destroyed the weapon. It was alarming.

They cleared the squib and gave us new ammo, stating it was a better fit for the rifle. We returned to the range and tried again. The gun fired 18 rounds from a 20-round magazine before jamming again. At that point, the experience felt completely off. To make matters worse, I had forgotten to put on my safety glasses before firing — an oversight on my part, but also something the range officer should have caught, as he looked me straight in the face during the pre-check. After a shot sent gas into my eye, I put the glasses on, but the damage was done — not physically, but in confidence and trust.

We left the range and asked for a refund. The staff member assumed we were just disappointed with the gun, but once we explained the squib load and multiple safety concerns, the manager processed the refund — though one employee still asked if we should pay for the ammo we had fired. There was no real apology, no ownership, and little acknowledgment of the seriousness of what had happened.

It felt like everyone was just going through the motions, avoiding the real issue. There was nonverbal gaslighting — minimizing what had occurred as if it wasn’t a major problem. I later spoke with a professional in firearms training — a retired law enforcement officer and military vet — who confirmed that this wasn’t just a minor error. It was a dangerous failure in safety and basic firearms handling.

I’ve been a loyal customer here for five years. I have grace for human error — I know they deal with thousands of weapons. But when those errors nearly result in injury or death, it crosses a line. Firearm safety is not a casual matter. It’s life or death.

If the owner would like to speak with me personally please reach out and we can...

Almost no sound absorption in their shooting range.

The walls are bare cinder block. There is no rubber on the floor anywhere, not even in the booths. The booths have no sound absorption, just hard walls. And I can see the smoke from the guns next to me since the booths are too shallow. Just what looks like angled fiber glass tiles on the ceiling.

I got permanent hearing damage in my left ear because they put me in the stall next to a guy with a muzzle brake. I told them I wanted to use my session later when he was gone, but they said use it now or lose it. They also put him in the middle lane. I should have walked away from the booth and gun rental fees and saved my ears.

Ear muffs and ear plugs combined are not enough. I hope all the loud deaf shooters go here and leave the outdoors ranges for me.

I doubt the owner cares about your ears. He knows what can happen, which is why he has you sign a waiver, though it does not warn you that muzzle brakes and echo chambers are louder than ear plugs can block. Every shooter I know who says hand guns are not loud also asks people to repeat themselves frequently.

Reply to the vendor reply: The place I went to was south of Overland and East of Wells, and looks the same on the inside and outside as the pictures others posted. I followed a link when invited to give a review after a recent purchase. It is your place.

From the pictures others posted, one person's gun extends far beyond the end of the booth, clearly in earshot of the other shooter. I state behind my claim that the booths need to be at least 2 feet deeper.

I did not feel the booth walls and so can't say for sure what material they are. But the walls of the range are clearly bare cinder block. That is consistent with how long each shot seemed to last. Seemed like 1/2 second per blast. Outdoors, shots should very short, 1/10 as long.

I did not complain about smoke. I just was concerned that if I can see a blast of smoke, I am likely inside the sound wave blast angle. As for the employee telling me to use it or lose it, he was a younger guy, and it was in the morning, when I and only one other person was on the range.

I saw two doctors, 2 audiologists, and was told the damage is to the nerves and not likely to heal. My left ear is 30 db worse than my right ear, which makes sounds seem to be coming from the right. My ears did not ring before using the range about a year ago, and they still ring to this day.

I just wish muzzle brakes were banned, and that warnings were more detailed instead of just "You take full responsibility for...

I’m gonna break this rating down into five categories that I feel are important at a firing range like this: professionalism of staff and range officers, cost, quality of range, availability of ammo and guns, and, finally, overall enjoyment of experience. The staff was extremely professional and friendly so this doesn’t really need to be addressed too much. The range coach was also friendly and even gives a ten minute warning before your hour is up (they limit time to an hour on the 100 yd range during busy times). He made sure to tell us that the equipment on the back of the room was available for everyone and even allowed us to take a target that someone had left earlier. Professionalism was awesome. The cost of the range was pretty expensive, in my opinion. My wife and I paid $25 + $20 for a total of $45 not including targets. In theory, this wouldn’t be bad but since we were limited to one hour, this was an extremely proud price for use of the range. The range was of high quality, though unlike some other indoor ranges, this one didn’t have much sound absorption for the high price of the range. This is made up by the 100 yd indoor range that you can’t find anywhere else in the area. The target machines could be set to exact distances which was certainly a plus. Their ammo and guns selections were immense and certainly were more stocked than most surrounding areas. Overall, we found some of the ammo we were looking for aside from .30-06 (not their fault). But they even had 20 gauge slugs which is not something you find regularly right now. Finally, the overall enjoyment was — okay. The whole process was smooth and I felt comfortable the entire time. The staff was nice and helpful. The range officers were NOT overbearing or rude, they were quite great. Moreover, the ammo selection was immense. However, the cost of range was pretty high and this may be attributed to its close proximity to Meridian or simply the lack of available ranges in the area but $45 per hour (during busy times) is more than I’d like to pay on a regular basis. This was compounded by lack of sound absorption in the range. I’d recommend this range if you were wanting to rent a wide variety of weapons or you wanted to become a member of a range (they have annual memberships) but for the average range-goer, it’s dependent upon which day you go and what...