reliable gun stores near chicago

looking for a .45 but not sure which one like the H&K tactical ,Springfield TRP, Smith&Wesson sw1911pd

Just heard all sorts of ups and downs abot s&w
 
Heres my rundown on Illinois shops near Chicago

Rinks - 14363 Archer Avenue Lockport, IL 60441 (815) 838-1371

Range is $9.00 all day, small, dark, cold range but I love it, great staff, nice selection on New and Used firearms, lots of ammo

Mega Sports - 16001 S Lincoln Hwy Plainfield, IL 60586 (815) 439-4860

Range is around $20 I think all day, not sure, never shot there. Range is clean well lit, climate controlled. Loads of guns, mainly all new. Loads and loads of ammo.

Midwest Guns - 8565 Plainfield Road Lyons, IL 60534 (708) 447-4848

Range is $10 with ammo all day. Never been in the range. Great selection of ammo and new and used guns. Buddy (the dog) is there too, kind of an icon. Great staff.

Bass Pro - 709 Janes Ave, Bolingbrook, IL 60440 (630) 296-2700

No range at this one, no used guns, some ammo, mainly new guns only

Gander Mountain - 3301 Essington Road, Joliet, IL‎ (815) 254-2264‎

No range, decent selection of handguns, new and used, more into long guns there. Great staff, good selection on ammo.

SO if I didn't include some info on some of these ranges, that means I do not want to talk about those highlights of the business. If I had to send you somewhere I would say Rinks, i have bought every gun I own there, use their range all the time and buy all my ammo from there. Now if you want a particular gun, definately Mega sports. If you want to do some renting, looking, and shooting...Midwest works

Just my 2 cents, not here to start a fight with anyone, so disagree all you want, i wont respond.
 
I would go to Mega Sports in Plainfield, much larger selection and state of the art range , knowledgeable salespeople . Super store of guns.
 
JR Shooting Sports - 519 North Oakhurst Drive Aurora, Illinois 60502 Phone: 630-236-7788
Range is $20+ ammo All day. Range is clean well lit, climate controlled. Loads of guns, mainly new but a good selection of used. Ammo is $$$ but Guns are lower priced than Mega in general although not quite as large a selection.

PS I like Rinks also, (i was there tonight) the place is dirty and dark but for $9 what do ya want. The staff there are really friendly and helpful. Probably the smallest selection but they will order for ya.
 
There's also GAT guns in Dundee.

I think the range is $16/hr or similar, although when I go I've never been charged for more than 1 hr. (I pay up front and shoot until I'm ready to leave)

Decent selection of new and used firearms. Slightly expensive, but not too bad. I've bought 1 gun from them. Never had any issues with the staff.
 
I'd actually not advise JR because of how rudely I'm always treated by the staff. I had a conversation with someone there that literally went like this:
"So, that's your used selection down there? In that last cabinet?"
"yeah"
"So, you don't have any used .22's?"
"Did you see any?"
"not in that case"
"then, no."

I also witnessed them have a gentlemen empty 10 AR mags he had in his range bag before letting him use their range. So, this guy had to hand unload 300 rounds of .223 because they were afraid he might shoot them in their range.

I've never been too pleased with the Gander Mountain in Joliet, either. The salesmen have always been rather kurt with me and never really treated me with dignity. Their selection is great, but their used prices and service are horrendous.

There used to be a place on Ogden Ave. in Downers Grove, I can't recall the name of the store for sure, but I think it was called Midwest Gun and Reel. I suspect that the store in Lyons might be them relocated. I'm not sure if they're still on Ogden and it just happens to have a similar name, as I haven't been in that part of the world for a long time. But, those folks were ALWAYS great. They answered any questions, they were kind, they were helpful and they didn't treat me like sure. I do recall they had a dog their, too, but a lot of Gun Shops I've been in have dogs in 'em.

That's all I know up there.
 
I would do the following:

1.Make a list of what you want to look at.

2. Head on over to Megasports as they have the biggest selection I've seen. The people are helpful, the range is nice and they have plenty of rentals.

3. After seeing what you like head on over to Rinks and have them order it for you, Their prices are wayyyy better and they too are nice people.

Rinks range is a dump but as posted earlier the price is great.

Agreed too that JR's is NOT the place to go. Overprice and very short with me in my experiences
 
That place on Ogden is Midwest, they closed that site and are now in Lyons, yes, the staff moved there too, well most of em
 
Then I'd suggest Midwest Guns. That place always treated me well. The prices were ok, if I recall correctly. The selection was AMAZING. Like, seriously, the selection was on par with JR, at least when they were in Downers. They didn't have as large a store, but all their cabinets were chuck full, where are JR's cabinets are somewhat bare.
 
GAT in Dundee has a large selection of both guns and ammunition. Maxon's in Des Plaines has a much smaller facility and selection. Both have ranges. I've found the staff at both to be knowledgeable and friendly. Bass Pro in Gurnee has a range and a reasonable selection. Staff went out of their way to help me locate a handgun that I couldn't find anywhere else.
 
I've bought two guns from GAT. Salespeople were good for the most part but not overly enthusiastic. I was last in there looking at guns about a year ago. The prices seemed pretty high, but this was during the height of the Obamy gun scare. Decent range but I haven't been there in years.

Bought a .22 from JR about two years ago. The price was okay, but the salesman acted like I was a HUGE PITA to him. Almost turned me off of the sale. Walking in the door after the waiting period, I felt like a criminal. Never set foot in there again.

Bought a S&W M&P15 from the Gander in Geneva. Pretty straight forward (and $100 cheaper than Mega!!!!).

I feel like MegaSports is the Wal*Mart of gun shops. GAT is probably just a shade smaller, but feels more like a mom-n-pop shop.
 
If you want to fondle every gun on the planet to check fit and feel, Mega Sports. They have millions of dollars worth of inventory. Its pretty much the walmart for guns. Kinda pricey, but lots and lots of guns. Midwest is nice too, but much smaller than mega.
 
Northwest suburbs?

D&J guns, Lakemoor.
http://www.djguns.com/

Hands down, the best "mom n'pop" gun shop I found in Northern Illinois. (There was also a Gun Show in Lakemoor about once each two months or so, right up the street from D&J.) Not that great of a selection, but great people who would get you anything you want and would treat you like a real person and a customer.

Gun World in Bensenville wasn't bad either, but I believe they are now defunct. (I moved away six years ago)

GAT..If I remember correctly, it's a nice, fairly new two-story building out in the middle of nowhere (maybe not anymore). If that is the place, I went there once, and witnessed so much stupidity behind the counter that I never went back. Big place, had two of everything except for idiots...they had two dozen of those. Counter guys taking a pistol from the case, not checking or clearing it, handing it across the counter, or pointing it at a fellow employee and pulling the trigger ("huh-huh, dude, I shot your butt!"). Saw enough of that in less than five minutes that I was out of there, never to return.
Hope they've squared that away since then.
 
I realize this thread is old but I'll put my two cents worth in anyway for the benefit of someone who may find it in the future.

J&R Shooting Sports is the closest range to be but, unfortunately, I don't care for them. The way they treated me on a couple occasions bordered on rudeness. They also made me take out all my ammo because they won't (or didn't then) allow any ammo to be used on their range that was not made in the U.S.A. Oddly, all hand-loads are accepted. The reason they give for not allowing foreign ammo is that they claim it may have hard bullets which would damage their range. But you could have reloads with hard bullets and that's no problem (???). I am always very polite and courteous to people but the folks at J.R. made me feel like a criminal. Also, one one occasion, I was the only shooter on the range and they didn't bother to turn on their ventilation. I was dripping with sweat. At that time, they charged almost $20 per hour. The owner was very short when I discussed this with him. However, he did change to closely reflect the changes I suggested. One other thing: A man who works for another store, the name of which I won't mention, said he worked for J&R but he left because of the way they treated customers. I don't know if that's true but that's what he said. There was simply an unfriendly feel to J&R and I have talked to other shooters who got the same feeling.

On the plus side, the range is very clean and modern.

Mega Sports is a very good gun store. Their range is also very clean and modern but I haven't personally used it. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable and their gun selection was very good.

Midwest in Lyons is old and dingy but I like it. The only downside - at least as of the last time I was there - is that they wouldn't allow any ammo with lead in the primers. I guess that's because of their antiquated ventilation system so I can understand that. I went to this range about 45 years ago as a teenager and it hadn't changed a bit when I went again ten years ago. I could almost picture Al Capone's men practicing there. It has the old-fashioned cranks to put the targets out and wind them in. But the price is reasonable, the people are nice (with one exception) and I like it. The exception is that they apparently don't respond to emails. I wanted some work done on my 1911 and emailed them a question and they never bothered to respond. I tried again but still no response. No big deal. I guess they just didn't like email. But it would seem like they should at least acknowledge a customer's question.

BTW, Midwest did, as someone said, own the gun store on Ogden Ave. in Downers Grove but that has long since closed down, unfortunately.

I found this thread when I was searching for the name of a relatively new gun store/range that has a great reputation. I just can't remember the name. When I find their name, I'm heading over there.

(I found the name of the range I was searching for. It's Article II and they are in Lombard. I haven't been there yet but I have heard it's an excellent store/range._
 
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