Silver Eagle Group Shooting Range — Local services in Ashburn

I've been going to SEG for about a year now, Others have commented on how great the range and shop is, but I wanted to say something about the classes. I've taken four two-week classes there on defensive pistol, shotgun, and rifle. If you are in this area and you're looking for training, this is the best it gets. In fact, if you can take a class with Brandon, this is the best it gets anywhere, I don't care where you live. If I lived next to Kyle Lamb's VTAC training facility and Larry Vickers was my best friend, I'd still fly up here to train with Brandon. He's one of the best teachers I've seen in any field, and he knows his stuff when it comes to teaching you how to about how to use various weapons and to get into both the physical and mental condition you need to be in to take care of yourself and your family. You never, ever feel like his ego is more important than his desire to make you a better, more skilled shooter, and that goes a long way when you're starting out. And for advanced folks he can push the best to be even better. He knows how to adjust his expectations to the student, and he sets up a safe but cutting edge environment. When you have 10 inexperienced shooters holding deadly weapons, it's important that the teacher is someone you can trust. Brandon is that kind of teacher. Why he doesn't have his own school somewhere is beyond me. Forget the YouTube wannabes or the other local bozos who care more about their greatly exaggerated war stories and political hobbyhorses than teaching you. Brandon is the real deal. There are other great teachers there too. Dan is awesome, and really knows his stuff.

But here's the downside and why only four stars. If you get into a class with Steve, the manager and owner's son, just politely drop and sign up for one with Brandon or Dan. You never get the sense that he wants to be there, which is probably true. He treats the students in the class like he's doing them a favor gracing them with his presence, and he just makes the entire environment feel less safe, less informative, and frankly less enjoyable. I've never seen him actually demonstrate a single principle he's critiquing everyone else on, but he definitely always has an opinion on what everyone is doing wrong. Great, sometimes knowing what's wrong is the best motivator but if that's all you got then you need to really think about whether you're in the right business. A little humility goes a long way, and someone who can show some humility actually makes you feel like he knows what he's talking about. especially given the severity of the lessons he's teaching. When you take a class with Brendan or Dan, you develop a sense of camaraderie with your classmates, you see improvement, and you know what to do next to get better. You feel like you're working toward becoming better at something that might save your life. With Steve, you feel like you're in trouble with your 3rd grade principal for yelling in the cafeteria. And that's even before you...

great place to shoot, the new location is much better. the only thing i don't like is they sweep up your spent cartridges so quick. i understand thats your job but please wait until I'm done shooting. I collect my spent brass and was a little annoyed. but the Range Officers are great. I was trying to sight in my rifle and the guy next to me was shooting to far up and his brass was tin-king off my barrel and optic, i informed the R.O and he helped me out. thanks! (September 18, 2018)

PART 2 First of all, thank you to Ariel the range officer on the 50 yard range last weekend. went here to shoot some tula 7.62 out of my ruger american ranch and test out some 9mm, 380, and 44 magsubsonic ammo for fun. had a fantastic time. the couple next to me were gun renters and had little idea on what they were doing. they first rented a scar-L and were shooting ok, he had a double feed where he still had a round in and racked the bolt again. i told him to take the magazine out and rack it to clear the jam and he said he had already tried that ( he hadn't ) so Ariel helped out. the shooter handed the scar to his wife and she proceeded to shoot also. She shot about 5 rounds and the last 2 hit the ceiling downrange, in when Ariel had told her to hand the rifle off to her husband. her husband proceeded to shoot the last 40 rounds of 7.62x51 federal and left the range. he came back with a glock 19 and 50 rounds of federal 115gr fmj. when he got on the range he started to load the glock magazine BACKWARDS I tapped him on the shoulder and showed him the correct way to load the magazine and rack the slide back. He shot fine and handed the firearm to his wife. She was about to shoot it with her hand wrapped around the front of the gun while the husband frantically stopped her and showed her how he shot it. she shot about 5 and stopped for a little bit. at this point I was shooting my rifle and my Step dad was spotting and loading magazines when she started shooting again and racked the glock IN MY DIRECTION. Granted the bulletproof glass between the lanes would of stopped it ( hopefully) when Ariel and my step dad rushed in and stopped the lady. Needless to say she didn't shoot anymore that day. The husband shot the rest of the box and left. ( december 15th 2018 )

SUMMARY

GOOD Great state of the art range Great R.Os (Thanks Ariel!)

BAD Need to improve their gun renting strategies, (I.E one on one instruction and basic understanding of the rules)

MEH/PEEVES R.Os even though they are good, maybe stop trying to rake my brass away from me. ( yes I am a brass hoarder)

these reviews will change after more visits...

I did a lot of research on FFLs when I chose to change gun stores. I'd had a terrible experience where an employee at another gun store kept me for over 30 minutes, spewing politically divisive vitriol and ignorance.

I saw on SEG's website that they had a $45 transfer fee, so I decided to have two stripped lowers transferred there. The voicemail I received asked me to set up an appointment, which I've never done at any FFL before, but I figured, hey, if it means they're expecting me, then it should be quick, right?

I arrived at 1903 for a 1915 appointment. At approximately 1945, they began assisting me with the transfer. After three separate employees giving me three separate sets of instructions, I finally started filling out my paperwork. Delays included not being able to find my items, not being able to access the room where my items were stored, phone calls with other customers, and etc... Why my items weren't sitting there waiting for the 1915 appointment is beyond me.

At the conclusion of the interaction, after significant delays at every stage, I was informed that I would not be paying the $45 advertised on their website, which was the reason I chose this particular FFL, but I would be paying $150. The employee advised me that the stripped lowers I bought are "NFA items."

If someone from the SEG could please explain to me how a stripped lower is an NFA item, I'd love to hear it. While you're at it, please explain to me what the difference in filing the paperwork for an "NFA item" is versus a regular FFL transfer, to warrant a $105 difference.

In the end, the cost of paying their absurd transfer fee completely negated the good deal I got on the lowers, and when I informed the representative of this, he said "that's why it's always better to buy them from us." That, I trust, is the crux of the issue. Gotta keep up the profit margins.

To say I am extremely disappointed is a vast understatement. I shoot regularly at SEG and it's the closest range to my house. Unfortunately, after they disrespected my time in such an egregious manner and took the opportunity to price gouge me worse than any other gun store ever has, I will be taking my business elsewhere. Unfortunately for SEG, there are PLENTY of ranges / FFLs in NoVA.

Edit 03/30/2023: in response to this review, SEG reached out and rectified this issue. A refund for the difference between the incorrect charge and the correct charge had been processed. I'm therefore promoting this from...