To Mesa's Premier Shooting Range
A letter I sent to Caswell's Shooting Range, where I am a currently a member, on Monday, 23 February. Having received no response from the range, I'm posting the letter here. Needless to say I'm no longer likely to renew. --irb 05 March 2009

Hey guys,

First off, let me say that for the most part I enjoy shooting at, and buying from, Caswell's. I've enjoyed your classes, I've bought guns from you, use your lanes about once a week and have had your gunsmith look at one or two things over the past few months. I signed up for an Edge membership back in November and will probably renew it at the end of this year.

A couple things are causing me to wonder though, and I don't think it's fair to just complain to my friends about it without mentioning it to you. I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but Caswells' reputation of late has been taking something of a beating both among Valley shooters and online. I don't agree with the bulk of these sentiments, and I've always been quick to point out my good experiences when stories come up; but I've gotta say something about the consistently cancelled 1911 maintennance class because it's just made you, and me, look bad.

See, I had to take off early from work to get to the range in time, and a few of my coworkers are shooters as well. I've had a friendly argument going with them over what the best range in the Valley is and I'd mentioned the 1911 class I was looking forward to taking. I've been a revolver bigot for so long that semiauto pistols are, if not new to me, then something I'd like to understand better. So everyone knew I was going.

Today I got to tell them that the class was cancelled again, and nobody knew where the instructor was. Last month's class was also cancelled, which I had also signed up for but had to bow out of due to illness. Now everone here is saying "see, I told you so" and I'm a little put off about it. Supporting Mesa businesses is important to me and there's no reason why Caswell's can't be Arizona's, not just Mesa's, "premier indoor shooting range". When I signed up for membership, I frankly expected some preferential treatment. It's not cheap, you know.

My other complaint relates to that: my girlfriend shoots there and recently ended up waiting well past the time a lane had become available because, it seems, the guy behind the counter forgot she was there. That's just not cool. It's easy to get over something like that when it happens in isolation (everyone has an off day), but it seems that a lot of people have these stories and, well, I think you need to know about that.

We've both had terrific experiences at Caswell's, and hope to continue to do so in the future. I want you guys to succeed--I want Mesa to have the best damn range in the state. I think you can do it, and I hope I get to show up the naysayers again someday soon.

Thanks,

/i.
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