Mobile Tactics – A Mobile Three Lane Gun Range – At the USCCA Concealed Carry Expo

I regret not being able to attend the NRA annual meeting this week. I attended the NRA annual meeting for the first and only time in Houston in 2013. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot, as I noted in my 10 (yes, 10) blog posts on the meetings. I now know alot more people involved in gun culture, and so I regret not being able to attend this year all the more. Not to mention the fact that it is in Louisville and I love alcohol, especially whiskey.

Another thing I will miss at the NRA meeting this year is something I saw a couple of weeks ago at the USCCA’s Concealed Carry Expo, the Mobile Tactics trailer/mobile shooting range.

I am told that Sig Sauer is the first manufacturer to rent it, and that they are going to wrap it in their branding, take it to Louisville, and park it outside the expo center. If you see it there, let me know.

According to their website, “Mobile Tactics provides a portable, self-contained, live firearms training facility at your location.”

Owned by Mike Kristoff of Sticky Holsters, the Mobile Tactics trailer is available for rent to gun manufacturers, marketing teams, and others. The Marco Island Police Department, for example, used it for their officers’ required shooting qualification.

Steve Fischer, the USCCA’s Director of Education and Training, was very helpful in getting me into the trailer both to observe and to shoot.

The trailer is armor plated and sound insulated, and the trap can take up to a .30-06 at 3,600 FPS. In their literature they claim to have a HEPA filtered ventilation system, meeting NIOSHA standards. All I can say is that there was none of the foul smell I associate with indoor shooting ranges, with three of us firing simultaneously.

Having a live fire range inside the Georgia International Convention Center’s exhibition hall was cool, but also took a large number of people and considerable coordination to run safely and efficiently. The process went like this.

First, you bought tickets that entitled you to shoot five rounds from one gun of your choosing. Tickets were $5 each of 6 for $25. (I shot two guns courtesy of the USCCA.)

Second, you picked your gun by taking a pre-printed sheet of paper from the manufacturer’s table. Seven companies made (some but not all of) their guns available to shoot: Bond Arms, FN, Glock, Heizer Defense, Kahr, Springfield Armory, and Walther.

Third, a nice man at the end of the row of gun manufacturer’s tables gave you hearing and eye protection.

Fourth, you received a safety briefing, turned over your gun choice slip, and got in line.

Fifth, while you waited in line, they pulled the gun you chose and loaded the magazine with Black Hills Ammunition.

There was also an opportunity to get some brief instruction on the USCCA’s preferred point shooting method using a SIRT training pistol.

Sixth, when you entered the trailer, the gun you chose and a loaded magazine were waiting in one of the three lanes.

One of two range safety officers reviewed the procedure for making the gun ready, firing, and then making the gun safe.

Seventh, fire away!

I have to give a nod to General Manager Phil Ludos, who explained the Mobile Tactics business to me and graciously answered my questions, while Operations Manager Eric Rice monitored the activity inside the range to make sure everything was functioning properly.

Although I enjoy the seminars and exhibitions at events like these, it was a fun little get away to send some rounds down range and then easily get right back to the show.

As I will discuss in my next post, I chose to shoot two guns I had never seen nor held before, which was another fun part of the Mobile Tactics trailer at the Concealed Carry Expo.