Well decided to check them out last Sat. (scheduled to open Apr. 1st, Sat was the 5th).
Well someone's there, but no stock, not open. Be open Tuesday.
Gonna have reloading supplies?
Heck yeah!
Fair enough.
Go back today, open for bus. one customer buying a small sackful of bullets and powder, and primers to the tune of close to $400.
Ask "do you have powder"?
He says "yes, and bullets" ( i thought).
You got CFE223?
No.
H335?
Ithink so, i'll check.
OK I'll take 3 pounds.
So...while guy #2 goes to look, checkout counter dude says "whatcha loading"
223.
OK go ahead and pick out your bullets.
( I had already scoped the bullets and they had the Noslers i prefer...at $10 per 100 MORE than Bass Pro!)
So i say, "nah i got bullets"
Well the only way we sell powder is WITH bullets, i told you that. (my mistake, i misheard)

Oh, OK have a nice day.

Anyway you look at it he lost a Benjamin right there

If you haven't been, the only counter is what used to be the chack in counter for the range, obviously the range is unchanged.
The first two sets of doors (the old main entrance and the one north of it) are walled off from the new area.
So it's roughly 3/5ths of its former size.) .

I really don't wish them ill, but retail means selling things, anything.

Edmond hasn't changed their attitude at all.

Where is it at?

Kelly and Danforth, Edmond. Where Heartland Outdoors used to be .

Sweet!! I didn't realize it opened back up. It's just 2 miles from my house.

I just got back from there and also had a semi negative time there.  Went in and the guy at the counter was really nice and the store looked like it had potential in the future.  Went in to shoot in the range, while my girlfriend was shooting, a couple pieces of brass rolled into the next lane, i reload so i went over and picked up the 2 pieces of brass in the lane next to us, not more than 30 seconds later the guy behind the counter came in and told me i was only allowed to pick up my OWN brass.  I explained that it was my brass and it rolled over there and since we had the whole range to ourselves i didnt think it was a problem, he said it didnt matter if it wasnt in our lane it wasnt our brass. The prices were already pretty high to rent a lane but i didnt mind since it was convenient but i think ill just start driving out to El Reno to do my shooting.

Wait...what happened to Heartland Outdoors?

Heartland OD is no more, they were not making a profit and the money man in TX pulled the plug.  Inventory, range material and stuff was auctioned off.  I thought about taking a look there at the new place but since I live south OKC ER or Lexington is generally where I go.

that is SO 2013, literally.
on New Years Eve,as they were locking up the boss casually said (in effect) oh, by the way, we're out of business as i turn this key, don'y come back"
many many articles and threads about it.
J&K Bullet Casters re opened in the same physical location, as Safety First Range.

Message me when you go to lex if you want to come here to my place... got a new bench built if you want to try some benchrest away from gen pop

How'd I miss that?  Too much crap going on I guess....

I knw Heartlnad wouldn't make it merely by the inventory selection.

??? They told you that you weren't allowed to buy powder unless you bought bullets also??? WTF?  I was pretty happy someone took over where Heartland left off but now I'm starting to wonder.

How much did it cost to use the range?  When it was Heartland the range was a nice place to shoot, the equipment was all in good condition and I never had a single issue with brass Nazi's.  I've yet to check them out but if my experience is anything like that my first will be my last, which would suck because, aside from Heartland's crappy archery department, we really enjoyed shooting there.

Will do!

I just drove by around 1:30 and it looked pretty empty.  Heartland always had a packed parking lot when I drove by.  I figured they would require the purchase of bullets for a powder purchase, since that is the way they have been doing it at their Moore location.  I was also curious about how they would handle the brass issue since they also sell brass.  The Edmond location is close to my house, but I'm not going to spend any money there until I hear something positive about the brass issue.

Am I missing something, is selling powder only if you buy bullets normal practice for businesses or is it just this one?  What exactly is the purpose of refusing to sell one without the other?

i guess its normal for this business, but its the only case i've ever heard of anyone making the purchase of anything contingent on the purchase of another item.
anywhere,
ever.
it cost them my mooney yesterday, but it could've made me another $200 customer.

they obviously don't want to be a retail store, they probably don't buy good bullets (Nosler, Match Kings, etc.) or powder in bulk enough to get a deal.

its gonna be a very tough nut to crack, paying rent with the range only, unless they have some contracts lined up, or something like that.

i read the Wilshire Range might apply for a liquor license so their restaurant can serve alcohol .

i was hoping for better from this retail outlet vs. their Moore "store" where you had to go get someone from the foundry to wait on you, but oh well.

Poor ol Mitch, he just ain't a people person.  There are a few good gun shops in Oklahoma where they don't treat customers like idiots, I guess he's going to try and do business the old school gun shop way. He might as well have named the place Dong's Too.

they (J&K) were at a gun show right after acquing the business from William's. the guy was super friendly, encouraged me to stop in "any time you see a car there (crappy industrial building on the tracks), bang on the door".
anytime, day or nihgt, we'll take care of you.
i bought lots of pistol lead from them.

then it got to "call first" (well it IS a manufacturing plant, time away from the machines is product lost that can't be replaced)
then it was "do you have....?
how many you want?
(small amount)
no we don't have (say 250) but we DO have 2k. translation, go away son, ya bother me.

fast forward they open a "retail store" in the end of their building, with no one manning the store, sign says "go to "D"", the actual melting, manufacturing end.
so i do, get attitude for "coming down here, retail's up there".
well, we go to retail, i say i want some 150gr .308's, he says how many thousand?
now 1000 is a perfectly reasonable amount and i always buy at least that many, but i said "i want 100 to see how they shoot".
they shoot good, trust me.
do they shoot as good as Hornadys?
oh yeah, at least.
well Hornadys are crap in my LR308, i don't wanna be stuck with 1K of crap.

puff up..,, going downhill now, cut my losses, but...well can you tell me if they're Berry's?

whoa!  major mistake!

"we plate (not jacket ) our own bullets in house!

ok, back out, don't show fear, don't turn your back.
(and don't mention that box in the corner that says "Berry's Bullets on it)
i didn't see bif ingots of copper to be melted, but what do i know?

maybe it's me, probably is.

and we'll not even mention how they changed the casting for the 230gr .45 used in .45acp and it won't run in a (well at least one) F/A anymore, then denied it, we'll just keep that one to ourselves.

So sounds like J&K is a no go… which is fine, I never heard of them

not at all, just because I didn't mesh doesn't mean others can't.

if i'd bought the bullets with the powder in sufficient quantity everyone would have been happy.

why, there are people who don't like H&H!.

I used to buy bullets and powder from Mitch, both at the Moore store and gun shows.  This was before the powder was contingent on the bullets.  I have never had anything but good luck with their bullets, but haven't purchased any from them lately.  I just don't see how they are going to be able to stay in business with Edmond rent based almost solely on range revenue.  I was thinking about getting a membership if it was in the $250 range like Heartland, but not if they are going to argue over whose brass I'm picking up.  That was one good thing about Heartland.  They didn't care about the brass you picked up as long as you didn't try to take the whole 5 gallon bucket.  I will sit back and wait on some more reviews before handing over my money for a membership.

heck, wwe were shooting my buddy Josh's F/A at Heartland one night and they told us we COULD take the whole bucket as long as we had another bucket or brought one back.

Mitch was having trouble getting a log on (he is not a member here) to respond to some of the concerns in this thread so he asked if I would forward the below to you. Here is his response, in it's entirety. I have neither added nor deleted anything. BTW, some friends of mine and I were at Safety First shooting this morning. If you haven't been by, please do stop in. Whille it may be smaller than Heartland was (at least for now), there are a LOT of things coming in the near future. Even though I don't live in Edmond, I am happy to see that someone stepped up and filled the void that Heartland's closing left. The more gun businesses there are in our area, the better it is for all of us.

My name is Mitch Harrington and I am the owner of Safety 1st Gun Range/J&K Bullet Casters.  This post was brought to my attention so I thought I would respond to some of these concerns.

First, there is obviously a powder shortage right now.  In an effort to make sure our bullet customers have what they need to load our bullets, we made the decision to limit powder to the amount needed to load the bullets purchased at the same time.  Our customer base appreciates this and we will continue to do this for them.  Powder is a low profit margin item (less than 30%) and the ONLY reason we carry it is so our bullet customers have it available.  The problem is made worse when people buy up more powder than is needed.

Second, to the person I spoke to about picking up his own brass.  You are the only person we have had to ask to only pick up your own brass.  When you are two lanes over and IN the shooting stall to pick up brass, it isn't your brass.  We have ZERO problems with shooters picking up their own brass.  In fact, I encourage it.  Please leave brass that isn't yours on the ground.

There are always going to be people that need to inflate who they are by posting negative reviews of a business.  It is unfortunate and sad, but it is what it is.

We have had an awesome response to opening the range and look forward to serving the shooting community.   We have more retail inventory coming in daily and just had our ATF compliance interview.  We were told we will have our FFL in hand within three weeks.  We will have firearms for sale and rent within a few days after.


Mitch Harrington, Owner
Safety 1st Gun Range
1456 N. Kelly Rd
Edmond, OK 73003
(405) 285-9600

Like us on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/Safety1stGR

i have no comments to make on how they do business except to say he picked a bad time to go into the retail gun business at a proven bad location.
The gun business is now in a huge slump from a year ago.

I wasn't there so I have no idea what happened but I will say I can't count the times that my brass has taken a weird bounce and ended up two lanes away so it is definitely possible for him to have brass end up in the lane in question.  I'd sure hate to be accused of being a brass thief trying to pick up my brass that ended up in someone else's lane.  I've never had any kind of issue with brass at any range just because I'll gather other peoples brass that has landed in my lane for them and they do the same for me with my brass in their lanes.  If I'm the only one there I've always gone into the other lanes to pick up my brass and I sure wasn't stealing someone else's brass because I'm not a thief.  I don't know the OP who was the one who had the problem or whether he was gathering his own brass or not, but considering, despite Mr. Harrington's statement to the contrary, it is extremely possible for brass to end up two lanes away, it would be the business owners responsibility to prove an accusation of theft, even if it is just brass, before claiming such a thing.

nothing but a good experience for me....i just wish I could go more often. Gotta start using that membership!

Guys I am not to trying to start an argument here, BUT Mitch has NEVER been anything but cool to me.  IN FACT, I ordered 1000 bullets not 2 weeks ago and have received them in good fashion.  Maybe he was just having a bad day or something.  I'm telling you Mitch is a cool cat.  We have always BS'd and had a good experience together.  Sorry things went south for you.  AGAIN... Just my .02.

What is the membership fee?

Mitch Harrington and his dad are good people. I hope they make their new business fly but I am afraid it will be really tough for them.

I'm a bachelor for the weekend. Anybody want to meet up over there tomorrow and have some suppressed fun? I want to play with the M4gery, 9mm AR and the FN 5.7. I might even bring the Blackout.. It's a lot easier to zero them indoors and out of the wind and I've been wanting to check this place out.

I've been to the Moore location. I didn't care for the way I was treated. Mitch acted like I was wasting his time buying 1000 bullets and when I asked about powder, I was told that the powder was for customers who bought larger quantities of bullets. I looked at some .223 on the shelf and said that I thought they were priced a little high. The response was "if you're looking for a good deal, you're not going to find it here". I paid for my measly 1000 bullets and left. I won't be back or going to the Edmond location either.

I guess everyone can have a bad experience. I have always called or just ordered online.  Even the the nicest guys can come off a little grumpy sometimes. Your a good guy. I know you! I would give you an 9 out of 10 anytime. I respect your opinion, and would just suggest giving Mitch and JK Bullets another chance. I am sure he didn't intend to be course with you.

Yeah.....I'll stick to TCGC. Indoors IMO, is okay if you're a sister but nothing is better than the great outdoors and ringing steel at 200 yards without the snooty N. side, we live in a gated community so we're better than tho attitudes.  No offense you N siders.

And hey, my old man has almost gotten my new reloading table built. It should be getting installed into the gun room this week!! BOO-YAH!! I'm getting married in late Sept, getting me a step daughter AND I have the safe, reloading supplies, gun cases and reloading bench IN the 3rd bedroom all climate controlled n everything!!! It just don't get much better than this!!!  

I gotta practice my snootiness...just in case I come in contact with some of the little people on the south side.

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