Author Archives: gwebs

Sonoran Desert Institute

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started in 2000

  • Distance-Learning
  • 1921 School of Gunsmithing opened in Scottsdale, Arizona
    – managed by the family of the founder of the Institute
  • 2001 approved by Arizona State Board
  • 2004 by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC)
  • 2012 acquired by Trade Training Company, LLC
  • 2014 introduced armorer courses
  • 2018 become an employee-owned company (ESOP)

Sonoran Desert Institute
1555 W. University Dr.
Ste. 103, Tempe, AZ 85281

800-336-8939

https://www.sdi.edu

Virginia International Raceway Shooting Sports

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1,300-acre property

opened in 1957 

Gun Ranges are for Driving Club members only and not open to the general public

  • 1957 opened one of the first permanent American road racing tracks
  • 3.27-mile race track 
  • 1959 the track fell under the control of the Civil Air Patrol
  • October 13, 1974 track was closed
  • 1998 bought
  • 2000 Reopened with Shooting Ranges
  • 2013 became a female owned racetrack
  • 8 ranges varying from 50 to 1,300 yards
  • Tactical Training Complex
  • live fire house
  • sniper tower
  • 2 National Skeet Shooting Association approved ranges
  • classrooms

Virginia International Raceway – Shooting Sports
1245 Pine Tree Road
Alton, VA 24520

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Academi

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opened in 1998

  • 1997 founded as Blackwater
  • May 15, 1998 Training center opened
    – 6,000-acres
    – cost $6.5 million
  • November 2006 acquired 80-acre facility in Mount Carroll, Illinois
    – called Impact Training Center
  • July 2008 Southwest’s facility in San Diego opened
  • 2009 renamed as Xe Services
  • 2011 acquired by private investors and renamed Academi
  • 2014 became a division of Constellis Group

Moyock, NC

 54 tactical ranges, five ballistic houses, multiple MOUT/scenario facilities, four ship-boarding simulators, two airfields and three drop-zones, a three-mile tactical driving track, 25 classrooms, multiple explosive training ranges, a private training center, accommodations for over 450 personnel and other training support activity centers

https://www.academi.com/pages/facilities/moyock-nc

ACADEMI Southwest’s facility

  • 61,000 sq. ft. warehouse facility
  • 25 yd. Indoor Firearms Range (12 stations), rated 7.62mm NATO, high/low light
  • 3 fully equipped climate controlled classrooms (Computer, projector, Wi-Fi)
  • Ship simulator (3 deck levels)
  • Non-Lethal Training Ammunition Shoot House (2500 sq. ft.)
  • Container Climbing/Rappel Tower

https://www.academi.com/pages/facilities/san-diego-ca

ACADEMI in Salem, Connecticut

  • A 12-lane indoor range for rifle, pistol, shotgun
    25-yard
  • Practical Lab
  • Firearms Training Simulator

https://www.academi.com/pages/facilities/salem-ct

Front Sight

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550-acres

opened in 1996

  • 1996 until 2002 –  on rented property near Bakersfield, California
  • 1998, purchased  a 550-acre property in Nye County Nevada
  • 6,000-square-foot classroom
  • 24 shooting ranges
  • 8 live-fire simulator ranges
  • shooting houses
  • 2006, Mark Wahlberg took rifle classes at Front Sight to prepare for the 2007 movie Shooter
  • March 2014 = 26 additional ranges

Quick look at one of the ‘Shoot Houses’ at Front Sight in Pahrump, Nevada

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nML6hhMiVw

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Sig Sauer Academy

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140 acres

opened in 1996

  • 1990 SIGARMS moved its headquarters from Herndon, Virginia to Exeter, New Hampshire
  • 1990 SIGARMS Academy was officially launched at the SIGARMS  HQ Building
    – Classes were continuously conducted at the factory as well as in the field throughout the United States
  • 1996 SIGARMS Academy bought the land in Epping, NH
    – built the first non-toxic, frangible indoor range
  • 2001 introduced civilian training
  • 2006 the Pro Shop was established
  • 2007 obtained their own FFL to sell SIGARMS firearms
  • 2007 SIGARMS Academy became SIG SAUER Academy
  • 2012 new SIG SAUER Academy Pro Shop

  • an hour from Boston, MA
  • 1000 yd range
  •  360 degree range
  •  indoor and outdoor ranges
  • tactical training areas
  • urban environments
  • a shoot house
  • a maritime training area
  • a force-on-force village
  • more than 100 courses available
  • 2012 pro shop opened

Smith & Wesson Gallery of Firearms History – Wood Museum

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1,600 guns (150 on display)

Created in 1995

Springfield, MA

  • 2,000 sq. feet
  • 15 cases
  • 1995 & 1998, Smith & Wesson donated the factory reference & prototype collection of
    1,462 firearms to create the Smith & Wesson Gallery of Firearms History
  • supplemented by donations from collectors
  • more than 400,000 Smith & Wesson documents
Smith & Wesson Gallery of Firearms History

https://bennicholson.com/guns/Wood-Museum-of-Springfield-History-Smith-&-Wesson-Gallery-of-Firearms-History.html