Nassau County Rifle & Pistol — Local services in Town of Hempstead

PART ONE In the early afternoon of June 17th 2023, I had one of the worst experiences I've ever had at any range when I came to this range in Uniondale this day. Previous to this date I had frequented this particular spot a few times, probably around 5 or more visits. But those times I either went by myself or just me and my wife. Those times we went we had little to no problems, we paid for our hour, I think we may have even purchase a basic silhouette or two and enjoyed shooting. We also brought our own targets that we ordered from a company called Action Target. During those times in the years of 2020-2022 we never really had any serious problems when we went and used our own ammunition, our own guns, and usually our own targets. However, on June 17th I decided to invite some more companions to come with us shooting; it was one of my best friends and coworker along with two other females who was with us in a group of a total of 5 of us who paid for the hour and we were placed in a range room together. Not even 3 minutes into us preparing, opening our bags, putting on our holsters and all our safety equipment (for our eyes, ears etc) loading our magazines with training ammo (all our firearms were safe, clear and empty) and setting up our targets, we were already Interrupted by I guess, the workers who are there to watch shooters fire rounds in each stall. One was a older gentleman with what I believe may have been a West Indian accent I think, the first thing he did was walk in and tell all of us to put weapons down before we even got our targets up, then He looked at me and my male friend and spoke to us asking us if we were all together, we both Answered him, 'yes we are and we all paid.' Then he looked almost with a confused glare and stood silent looking at all 5 of us left to right for about 7 to 9 seconds, making us feel awkward as if we did something wrong. So I asked him during the 10th second of silence, if there was a problem, and he said Nothing and asked who had pistols and my friend, my wife and I answered him and I added that the other two females with us are not shooting pistols, we only have rifles for them. I think he then quickly looked at each table where we placed the firearms for each stall and then walked out. So me and my male friend looked at each other, sort of shrugged and continued to load up our weapons and to put up our targets for all 5 of us. Me and my other male friend are experienced shooters, I was with my wife my wife's sister and my male friend's wife, 3 females, 2 in which have never shot a firearm a day in their life. Thus, me, my male friend, and even my wife, were sort of making sure everything was safe and secure especially for the other 2 females who were with us and told them only to aim their guns down range at all times while handling and only put their figure on the trigger when they're going to shoot and to obey our commands at all times when whether they are holding a firearm or not. So we finally set up a target for each of us and we began to shoot following the rules of the range (at least we thought, honestly). So as the two female novice were shooting, me and my friend paid them close attention for their first time and did not fire any rounds while they fired so that we can make sure they were doing things securely. Within another 3-4 minutes, the same man with the West Indian accent returned again and approached me and my male friend, asking us if we are firearm instructors holding a class at the moment. We both chuckled and told him no, we're just gun enthusiast, we are not firearm instructors, we do not hold any sort of license or occupation in that type of field, we just wanted his wife and my wife's sister to shoot for the first time in safety. #SEE PART TWO CONTINUED IN...

First and foremost I rarely find the time to write reviews, But in this case, I felt it was necessary to not only just leave a review but post this as a warning for potential customers. The staff is insulting and unprofessional. When I first walked into the range, I was rushed and spoken down to " Hurry up I don't get paid overtime" and proceeded to fling the protective goggles at me. If Nassau County set out to hire the worst employees in Long Island, they succeeded by a landslide! Nassau County's Average Property Tax is $11,232 a year the people of the county pay good money to live in this county and the county parks and recreation should but on a better performance when entertaining its residents as guests. The facility shouldn't be boiling hot in the summer and Freezing in the winter. It wouldn't be right to complain and not leave with a suggestion so I will.

1. Update the facility ( it looks and feels like a public pool building).
2. HIre professional and accommodating staff.
3. Install AC Unit and Heating Unit to regulate temperature for the season we are in.
4. Get rid of the middle school vending machines and serve better refreshments to members. (Maybe more people will join)
5. Go over the Range Rules with everyone clear and thoroughly before they enter the shooting range.
6. By implementing suggestion #5 it will avoid the staff having to wait for you to do something wrong and aggressively correct you.

Bottomline, this place needs, a lot of help, and in my opinion, the way it is now is trash because trash manages it. The people of Nassau County...

Just came out of the range, despite the negative reviews ive been reading i had to expierience it for myself. Glad I did, the checkin process went smooth the front clerk came right up as I entered at 8:03am. He was polite and even escorted me to my lane as i mentioned it was my first time. As others mentioned place utilizes a cable system for adjusting yardage for your targets. It has a pulley with a crank its not that bad, i actually lke it better because you could adjust to your distance needs based on your training scenario, example if you know your home hallway is 8yards , you could manually eyeball the distance and adjust accordingly..there are markings along the wall..the purse clips that held the target was fine, i did bend the top of my target paper to add some thickness for the clip incase , i went through two sheets and it never moved despite my adjusting different distances...the temperature is comfortable, it was 38 degree outwide and inside had to be 70+. had to take off my carhartt work jacket and shoot in tshirt...overall pleasant time and would go again, hopefully same...