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Does anyone have any experience with a shooting range called House of Guns near Almeda and Beltway 8 in Houston?

My wife works right around the corner from there and i showed up friday with time to kill before picking her up. I decided to go check it out and maybe squeeze off a few rounds. I've driven by it many times but hadn't had the time to check it out before now. I pulled in and it looked like a complete dump (literally). I heard a few folks shooting and there were 5-6 cars but there was also a massive amount of just trash and junk laying around. I decided it wasn't really the kinda place I wanted to hang out and went on my way.

Was I off base here or does anyone else have any experience with this place?

I've seen abandoned gas stations that looked more inviting....

The place is called Bailey's House of Guns. You're right. It does look like a dump. Lots of opinions on this board about it. Few odd rules, like no shooting at seven yards with anything bigger than a .38, I think, and you can only load one round at a time with rifles and shotguns. There's nowhere to practice drawing and firing there. They have a lot of spots to shoot at 100 yards. Oh, and you have to shoot your non-scoped rifles at 25 yards under a cage so you can't accidentally shoot over the berm.

I did enjoy the clay target range though. They've got four good throwers out there with benches and tables close to some trees to provide some shade.

arod757 wrote:The place is called Bailey's House of Guns. You're right. It does look like a dump. Lots of opinions on this board about it. Few odd rules, like no shooting at seven yards with anything bigger than a .38, I think, and you can only load one round at a time with rifles and shotguns. There's nowhere to practice drawing and firing there. They have a lot of spots to shoot at 100 yards. Oh, and you have to shoot your non-scoped rifles at 25 yards under a cage so you can't accidentally shoot over the berm.

I did enjoy the clay target range though. They've got four good throwers out there with benches and tables close to some trees to provide some shade.

Yep, that's it... Bailey's House of Guns.

You made the right choice to drive on.

I shot pistols there once and it was incredibly frustrating. All the targets were at 25 yards and you had to wait for this guy to go down and change your targets for you. The cease fire lasted about 20 - 25 minutes while this one guy went down and changed everyone's targets. I also wasn't crazy about them having to staple my receipt to my clothing so that they could tell that I had paid to shoot there.

I have a post further down the page, with my impressions of the place. In a nutshell, I'll never go back there. You can see the details of my visit below.

http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... 10&t=14595

Bailey's is to shooting ranges as Ebonics is to English.

Been there twice will not go again.

Avoid Bailey’s like the plague.
My experiences were inside, dealing with that snake oils saleslady of an owner.
I took three weapons in there for some minor gunsmithing, I talked to them about what I needed and included written instructions on what to do.
Making a very long story short, I ended up spending money with a different gunsmith fixing the issues caused by Baileys, who did NOTHING right.

nuparadigm wrote:Bailey's is to shooting ranges as Ebonics is to English.

Well said!

Is this the place that staples your reciept to your shirt? That by itself is enough to make me not shoot there.

Thank you for the update.

Having bought some reloading supplies there a few years ago, I was aware they head a range - and have been <unflattering adjective> enough to refer people there when they asked about public ranges in the area. Will not do that again.

They staple your receipt to your clothing? Oh well... most membership clubs ask their members to wear their member ID tag at the range, but somehow that seems different...

Interesting - my father used to know Bill (deceased) Bailey himself, as well as his wife - personally. I remember going there many times but we NEVER shot there, only went there as a last resort to buy reloading supplies. I haven't been back in ages, because I remember what a dump the place was. My father has long since passed as well, so I have no reason to go back.

I can't believe all the people trashing Bailys house of guns on this board. I started shooting at Bailys 40+ years ago, before there was a store. We would have to go knock on the door at the Bailys house to get permission to shoot. Since Old man Baily has died, the place has become more run down. They still sell quality firearms at a fair price and have a good gunsmithing shop. They have repaired some poor gunsmithing that I had done at Carters Country. They have been supplying area law enforcement for a long time and last I heard offered CHL classes.
They have a 100 yard rifle range as well as 7, 15, & 25 yard pistol ranges and a skeet range. They also have a tactical range where you can practice drawing and rapid pistol fire. (I think you have to be law enforcement or accompanied by a CHL instructor for the tactical range) They do have some pretty restrictive rules, but with all the lawyers running around looking for a lawsuit, who can blame them. These rules I believe make for a safer range, good for teaching younger shooters.
This place is special to me as it is where my father first taught me to shoot as an 8 or 9 year old. I can still remember sitting on that little stool and pulling the trigger on that old winchester 30-30 as my father taught me proper firearm handling. I can also remember taking my son and daughter there and teaching them to shoot a deer rifle for the first time. These are special memories indeed.

Memories are, indeed, very special and precious. Probably all of us have them in connection with shooting places of our youth. I know that I do.

I believe that when the subject of Bailey's comes up, most of us aren't in the position on having first caressed a trigger there. We come to our criticism of the establishment in honest comparison of Bailey's to wherever it is that we now practice our avocation. As I indicated in the 6th post from the top, my experience with Bailey's is that it is a extremely parochial environment that has appeal to those who are either not bothered by or are in need of being treated like stupid children.

As to the gunsmithing capabilities of Bailey's staff, the only comment I've seen (favorable or negative) is the favorable one immediately above this post. Bottom line: there's nothing wrong with shooting at Bailey's if that is what one likes.

I have been activily involved wth firearms my whole life, well over 30 yrs of shooting ALOT, I shoot thousands of rounds a year in many different calibers. Baileys will never get another chance with me, I'll I-net order and wait for something for weeks before she gets another dime from :D

your milage may vary