Kiwi’s Custom Guns (KCG) in downtown Riverbank delivered with the opening of their indoor shooting range this summer. KCG Owner and Founder Lyndon Yates and KCG VP Pete DeMattos made a goal a reality when they had a soft opening of their new indoor gun range last month.
There are five lanes that are bit wider than a typical range lane, making room for the person firing, another individual or an instructor. The room is cool and has state of the art equipment including the ventilation system.
“We wanted to make sure that the HVAC was top notch being in the valley as hot as it gets,” noted DeMattos. “It is a pretty tremendous amount of air that’s flowing through this little space. We are small you know, we had to make the best out of the five lanes that we could get. We wanted it to be very comfortable.”
The range is rifle rated and the lanes are 25 yards allowing guests to shoot handguns or rifles with calibers ranging from a 22 to 50 BMG. The fully automated Action Target system allows guests to see their target on the screen with it at 25 yards to see where they shot. Guests do not have to bring the target back each time to see where their shot went with this feature.
“We got a lot of our regular customers come in and they gave it a shot and we got a lot of good feedback,” said DeMattos. “The next weekend word had spread a little bit and that weekend was little bit busier. Then last weekend was pretty crazy. It was packed in here and everybody kind of has the same thoughts like you come in, it is very comfortable in here.”
They will have a few rental guns for guests and the gear, like eye and ear protection, targets, and ammunition for purchase.
The Riverbank Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a ribbon cutting on Friday, Aug. 26 at 10 a.m. to celebrate the addition of the indoor gun range at Kiwi’s, 3332 Santa Fe St., downtown.
With the soft opening they have been able to work out some kinks and they are still testing the traffic to determine times for the range use as they plan to have classes as well. Currently, their normal business hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
DeMattos explained that Stanislaus County approved KCG to provide concealed carry permits which was another goal they are seeing come to fruition. They have a classroom where they plan to hold classes on proper techniques, firearm safety, and anything related to firearms and DeMattos added that they are really big on training. The classroom will also have a simulator system with a 12-foot screen that has live scenarios for guests to experience.
He said, “The whole thing about this is we wanted it to be a one stop shop. They could get all that training, come in here and shoot it and then come in and practice and then if something breaks or if they need something repaired, we can do that too. So, we want to be like the all-service facility and we’re not the biggest you know, we don’t have this great inventory like a lot of the big box stores but we want to promote families, we want to promote safety, safe handling of firearms; that for us is really key.”
The system has different options including games and specialty targets for members or more advanced individuals.
They are working on their memberships and want to make sure to provide enough value to their members.
The lane use is in hour increments and include one target as well as eye and ear protection if needed for $25 and $10 for an additional person in the same lane. People are allowed to bring in their own targets, glasses, ear protection, and ammunition. Every round will be inspected as armor piercing bullets are not allowed. There is a liability waiver that needs to be filled out prior to using the range that is good for 12 months.
The class schedule will be available soon as it is important to the family at KCG to give people the proper education and training.
“We are a small business,” remarked DeMattos. “It’s a family run operation. So that’s all we have is our reputation. It has been such a great experience. I mean, from the day we moved in here we’ve always operated down here with respect to the city and respect to our surrounding businesses.”
