Showing posts with label Coal Creek Armory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coal Creek Armory. Show all posts

Saturday, October 26, 2013

CCA = TCA

For local guys... it looks like they moved forward with the name change to go with the ownership change from a while back.

Coal Creek Armory is now Tactical Advantage Corp.

On a side note, I went to the range and shot my M&P9 (along my other pistols) a couple of weeks back. So it only took me about 10 months to get to the range after purchasing it. I shot it okay, but I was still better with my CZ 75 SP-01.



TAC Facebook page.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Coal Creek Armory

CCA has updated their website. (I guess tis the season for web designers to get to work.) It is much flashier, but I'm not sure it is an improvement. Of course, look at my site. I am not in a position to cast stones.


I saw on the FAQ that the Outpost is no longer open to the general public:
"The Coal Creek Armory Outpost is a training facility used for private courses and not open to the general public, as of October 2012."
So maybe we didn't need two gun shops/ranges within spitting distance of each other.

After navigating several links, I found this post about the new owners. The changes are probably a result of this new ownership. Makes sense to me.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Coal Creek Armory

I think the many posts in this thread sum up the variety of experiences at Coal Creek Armory. I am sure that some of us customers aren't very educated or experienced. I am also sure that some of the staff could be a little more patient, too. Glad I identified the problems, so we can move on.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Gun Sales Up

You've probably seen on other sites about the brisk sales of guns on Black Friday and just before Christmas, but I found this to be an interesting data point:
"January is typically a slow month for retailers, but it's the opposite in for gun stores. In fact, Coal Creek said January is their busiest month."
Via WBIR


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Frontier Firearms and CCA Outpost

I was out in Kingston last week, so I stopped by Frontier Firearms and the Coal Creek Armory Outpost location. This isn't meant to be an in depth review of either location - just some comments from a guy who stopped by each for a few minutes.

Frontier Firearms
I had only been to the old Frontier store once, but the new building is clearly an improvement. First of all, it is new - new things are shiny and that obviously has some appeal by itself. It is big - the retail space is much larger than CCA. It is too bad I didn't need a holster because they have a ton of them. There was also the usual assortment of knives, flashlights, cats, cleaning supplies, bags, etc. (Caught that did ya? There are a few cats that get the run of the place. You'll be looking in a display case and see a small furry one staring back at you.)

As for guns, they had a good selection of long guns. I didn't do a count, but it seems like they currently had fewer handguns than I remember seeing at the old store.

There were three guys working and I spoke to two of them. No one was on the range, but one of the guys was kind enough to light it up and demo the active targets. The range is definitely an upgrade from those at CCA and Gunny's. Both guys were helpful without being pushy. (On my first visit to the old store, they were very helpful in discussing options/pros/cons for a potential AR-15 purchase. They were very patient with my newbie - low speed, high drag - questions.)

I know of several instances of people who have driven the extra miles to get to Frontier due to the company's reputation for good customer service. In fact, my father-in-law skipped by Gunny's and CCA to make his last handgun purchase at Frontier.

Coal Creek Armory Outpost
The Outpost is a small shop. They have a small retail space that currently has some shelves for various gun accessories. They cannot sell guns yet from this location - they are still waiting on the paperwork to make it through the process. According to the guy that was minding the store, they were about two weeks away from getting the approval. (Maybe less now at the time of this post.) He was very friendly and probably would have been happy to chat had I stuck around longer.

The range reminded me of the Lovell Road CCA location, but the new lights make a difference as it seemed nice and bright. There were five or six lanes.

No cats were spotted at the Outpost. There isn't a lot to say since they aren't up to full speed yet.

My Thoughts
Before I share my thoughts... a couple of points of reference.

  • I'm all for competition. 
  • I'm too big of chicken to run my own shop, so I am no expert on running a small business.
  • I believe the goal of business is to make money.
I can only assume that CCA wants the entire Knoxville and surrounding area market for themselves. They are taking the fight to Frontier and must be leveraging the Knoxville store to support the Outpost operation. (I do like the Outpost name - makes lots of sense and fits perfectly.) I am guessing (complete speculation here!) that Frontier had to take on some debt and CCA thinks they could push them over the edge. If it were me, I would have expanded to an under served area like North Knoxville (Powell, Fountain City, Halls). It would build an even stronger foundation for expansions in contested areas. Opening a shop/range where there was none would also be good for the gun community, too. My biggest fear is that the expansion stretches CCA too much and the Outpost takes some of the Frontier business resulting in both businesses folding.

As with most things, time will tell.


Thursday, September 22, 2011

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Coal Creek Armory II

This makes no sense to me:
"SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! Coal Creek Armory is opening a new location 1 mile off I-40 on Gallaher Road in Kingston TN! The new location will offer everything our Knoxville store has including an indoor A/C & Heated range!"
So they are opening a store between Frontier Firearms and the interstate?

Via CCA's Facebook Page

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Gun Owners are Diverse

From the Missed Connections on Craigslist:
"coal creek armory - m4m - 25

You are a really handsome guy. I thought we had a small moment when I checked out before you today and we candidly spoke about what gun i was holding. Tell me what gun it was and what stall you were in. id like to hang out sometime if your interested."
I'll make a joke about just about anything, so please don't take this as bashing his sexuality, but I bet the gun conversation would have been fun. Also, I suggest referring to lane numbers and not stalls.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Shooting 9mm in a .40

The right way to shoot 9mm in .40 involves making some hardware changes.

The wrong way involves failures by multiple parties. I'm going to keep claiming to be a new shooter as long as people will let me get away with it. When this happened, I think it was my third time shooting pistols, so definitely qualifying as new. The first time shooting pistols was with a friend on his family farm. The second time was the Basic Hand Gun course at Coal Creek Armory. One of the goals of the course is to teach you "how to select proper ammunition." You probably see where this is going now that I've set the stage.

I was feeling good about what I learned in the course, so I convinced a buddy to go with me to CCA to rent some guns and a lane. I don't remember exactly what we were shooting initially - Beretta PX4 Storm, Kahr CW9, and maybe something else - all in 9mm. We finished up the box of ammo and decided to try the Glock 22.

We swapped guns and took our new box of ammo out to the lane. I started loading the magazine and took the first turn with the gun. After a string of failures to fire and feed, our trouble-shooting quickly revealed we were shooting 9mm instead of .40 S&W. I have visions of the bullet tumbling through and bouncing around the barrel.

Shame on the CCA employee who gave us the wrong ammo when we switched guns. I expect them to have some level of expertise and pay attention to details.

Shame on me for not checking the ammo. Ultimately I was the last safety as I loaded the magazine, but since I did not look at the box or closely at the rounds I failed, too. While I didn't have the experience to recognize the ammo by size, shape, or feel; I could have easily seen what was printed on the box.

No one got hurt and they didn't make us pay the rental fee. Lesson learned.

Friday, July 1, 2011

A Good Week

I bought the running shoes and actually ran more than once... 3 runs for about 3 miles on average. The last run was probably the easiest despite the heat.

I went to Coal Creek today and shot about 150 rounds of 9mm in the CZ. The only good thing I have to say about that is that no one got hurt. Even a little practice makes a lot of difference. I need to figure out how to get to the range more often.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Party at Coal Creek

My wife subscribes to the Daily Candy for Atlanta and a few other cities. The Daily Candy is a hipster newsletter with tidbits about local culture. The latest one for Atlanta included a new place to get a group together for a party.
Sandy Springs Gun Club and Range Does Parties
What: The state-of-the-art shooting range offers all-inclusive group packages ($50 per person, groups of ten) for special occasions (i.e., breakup therapy with the besties).
Why: Bang, bang.
Maybe Coal Creek Armory should start having birthday parties and corporate events.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Coal Creek Armory: Face Lift

I noticed the other day that they were painting at CCA and some things were shuffled around. Looks like they are getting a nip tuck.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Coal Creek Armory - Annual Pass Deal

It used to be on Half-off Depot, but one of my friends found the half price deal here. Get a one-year membership to Coal Creek Amory's indoor shooting range for $99.50.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Win a Glock from CCA

The Coal Creek team is at it again. They must have too many Glocks as they are giving another one away.
"TEXT the word "GLOCK" to 508-315-9971 and you will be entered automatically. Winner will be chosen at random on Sat March 26th.

You must be a TN resident to be eligible to win."
Via the CCA Facebook page.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

CCA Discounts via Text

From the CCA Facebook page:
"We at Coal Creek Armory have purchased software that allows us to send text messages to our customer base so that everyone can be notified of special promotions and giveaways we have going on.

Text "Fire" to: 508-315-9971 and you will be automatically added to any future messages.

I promise WE WILL NOT bombard your phones with meaningless mishmosh or sell your information to ANY outside source!"
If I don't win the GLOCK, then I may need a special discount.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Coal Creek Armory

I was out at CCA this week and renewed my range membership. They have a ton of pistols in stock right now. They are basically laying on top of each other in the display case. Also, don't bother leaving a guess for their "how many casings are in the fish tank" contest. I am very confident I nailed it - plus or minus a thousand.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Coal Creek Armory: Gun Prices Are Too Damn High!

Some sale items, plus they are giving away two Glocks. No details on the give-away. They say you need to go by. I was thinking about shooting tomorrow if I can get a kitchen pass, so maybe I can learn more.

Coal Creek Armory: Gun Prices Are Too Damn High!

Update - I guess I'm going to have to become a fan on their Facebook page. Apparently they are going to have more content there - including the details of the give-away. You have to guess how many casings are inside an aquarium.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Coal Creek Armory

With the recent posts on the CCA blog, I've started wondering if this is part of a plan to better engage customers. (They are looking for a new General Manager, too.)

I've been going to Coal Creek for over a year now. I took the Basic Handgun and my Carry Permit course there. I've been shooting on the range and even got the membership.

Generally, I'm pretty happy with them. I'll point out some of the bad experiences below, but other than the Lane 2 problem, these were things that happened quite some time ago. Coal Creek does seem to be trending in the right direction.

You occasionally get less than stellar customer service. It's strange, too, because the same person can be extremely nice one day and condescending the next. I know that those of us that are new to guns can ask some dumb questions and it can get tiring, but we are still the customer.

A friend inquired about transferring a gun from Buds and he got a very rude response about the rates they would charge if it was something they had in stock. I have no beef with the policy; they are out to make a buck, but the delivery was uncalled for.

When I took my Basic Handgun course, they changed the time, but didn't bother to tell the people that had signed up. We all had rushed there after work only to wait 30 minutes. We were told that we should have checked the website. Really? You couldn't have called?

And the target carrier on Lane 2 moves like a glacier. It's been this way for a long time and they should really get it fixed.

Oh, and did I mention I was a new shooter? One day we were shooting a rental Glock .40 and were given a box of 9mm for it. Nobody got hurt, but it could have been nasty.

I don't mean to focus too much on the negatives... I know several people that had good experiences - from making purchases to attending classes and I'm still planning on renewing my membership. It is always a good day when I can shoot a few rounds and swing by Bojangles for a cajun filet biscuit.