My poor wife has to work for a living. Anyway she is taking me along for a conference in San Diego. She will be in meetings for a day and a half. I'll have the time to kill. Any place you locals would suggest I swing by??

Hopefully Jim Dodd will see this. He lives in San Diego and if anyone would know where there are gun shops to prowl, it would be him.

Yeah, the race track at Del Mar! $$$$$$$$

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Yeah, the race track at Del Mar!

Every time I go to a track or casino I lose. So I think I'll save myself the pain and just say I went and put the $$$ in the other pocket and save it for my next project.

The only Gun store near San Diego worth a hoot is Duncan's Guns in San Marcos.

If I was you, I'd stop by Lyons & O'haver Taxidermy in La Mesa. In my opinion, they are one of the absolute best Taxidermists around. They do a lot of museum work, work for the San Diego Zoo, and Seaworld, not to mention African animals for people all over the world. Extremely nice people too. They have a big showroom, and will invite you in the back to see all the current work being done. Give them a look.

Jeff

PS. There is a gun store (California Guns) right next door to L&O, although their selection is small.

If you get to Duncans in San Marcos , Dave's Cal Custom in Fallbrook is has plenty of guns. Nice small shop.

Oops, I should have added Jeff Alexander to the mix of knowledgeable people in San Diego. Sorry Jeff, how the hell have you been? And don't tell me how frigging warm it is down there. I was skeet shooting today in 29 degree temperatures.

i didn't think they had guns in cali.

Hi Jeff and Chick!

Ramrod,

I would go to Duncan's Gunworks in San Marcos too, in fact I do go there too.

Southern California Gun on Convoy St. is closer, and will have one or two interesting things.

If you want to shoot there are a couple of indoor ranges in town too.

jim

Hi Chick and Jim-

I'd second the "Dave's Custom" in Fallbrook. Old' Marine that knows his stuff. Nice little mom and pop gunstore. He also has forgotten more about reloading than most of us will ever know. Has a lot of nice rifles on his shelves too -

Jeff

quote:

Southern California Gun on Convoy St. is closer, and will have one or two interesting things.

Very expensive, I have never seen anything even close to a deal there.

La Mesa Collectables is another shop he has some stuff one occasion.

Duncans is so so also, again don't expect any bargins.

If your looking for a big bore rifle, your not going to find it, thats for sure.

San Diego is what it is, I wouldn't call any of the shops down here really good. The once in a while I see something down here really interesting, its 20% overvalued at min. I know when I am home in CDA Idaho, Blacksheep have in stock what three stores in San Diego have, especially if you factor in reloading supplies.

Jeff, Dave in Fallbrook always has some good storys. I think he was incharge of the arsinal at camp pentalton at one time also told me He was a Sniper in Korea and Nam. Says He doesnt go big game hunting , cause it is no challenge shooting amimals. Has 11 of those remington M720 award rifles. He is a pretty good guy , he used to do all my FFL transfers and only charged the state fee. He has alot of Parts stashed away also.

Rick

I second Lyons and O'haver. Hughie and Mike are really nice people. Ask them about hunting in Zim during the revolution. Good stories.

The volume and quality of the work they do is outstanding.

Ask if Brenda Atwood's big tusks are still there (80lb each...).

Other than that there's not much to do in San Diego, well other than the beach, local mountains, SeaWorld, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, Balboa Park, museums, Old Town, Sea Port Village, theater, opera, ballet, S.D. Symphony, every kind of ethnic food you can imagine...

Have Fun;
Brett

Brett You left out sitting in traffic and being in the middle of a big rat race.

Brett,

Nobodies denying there is lots to do in San Diego, but great gun stores is not one of the high points.

About once a month I make the rounds of them down here, occasionally I run across interesting stuff, usually its a waste of the best part of a Saturday. There are exceptions of course, but this is definately not the rule.

Another place to add to your list is Turners, I like the Clairmont Mesa store and the manager Mike is a decent guy.

There was a shop on Fletcher Parkway in La Mesa that had some nice stuff. Nice gunsmith (that in itself is unusual).
Good luck!

If you're into long range or tactical, check out Precision Arms in Escondido. Lots of high end stuff that caters to the USMC sniper teams. It's like a candy store for tactical guys.

The Pala 1000 yard range is nearby as well (right across from the Pala Indian casino) where you might want to hang out and chat with the guys.

In Oceanside, there is an indoor shooting range (and gun shop):

Iron Sights Indoor Shooting Range that is nice and clean.

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There was a shop on Fletcher Parkway in La Mesa that had some nice stuff. Nice gunsmith (that in itself is unusual).

Thats La Mesa collectables. Ask for Rick.

CaneCorso, I was unaware of the Pala Range can you give an address or phone number? And yes Oceanside is a good range, with a good selection of rental guns.

I thought the Pala range was shut down. If not do you have a phone number?

GSP7 & schromf,

I didn't mean to sound defensive. Can't agree more that the traffic and congestion is terrible. I think the lack of gun stores probably go along with that...

My favorite used to be Weisers. Dwane Webb is now at Duncans for those that used to know him.

Brett

Dwane Webb? or Duane Wiebe? Who is Dwane Webb?

Thanks guys. I will have to do a little thinning. Only have one day to myself. Then the wife and I will get to see all the normal stuff like the zoo etc.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett:
GSP7 & schromf,

I didn't mean to sound defensive. Can't agree more that the traffic and congestion is terrible. I think the lack of gun stores probably go along with that...

My favorite used to be Weisers. Dwane Webb is now at Duncans for those that used to know him.

Brett

No offense taken. I spend about 1/2 my time in San Diego for work and it has a lot of pluses and some minuses. Traffic is one issue that doesn't really bother me, I don't drive the freeways to work, and it takes me 10-12 minutes max to drive to work on a bad day.

And I really wish there was a great gunstore down here, but alas thats not to be. I don't mind the actual small selection of firearms, those I can find if I look and I am willing to drive a bit. What sucks though is no reloading supplies though, I have yet to find a store with anything more than a mediocre selection. When up north I have White Elephant, Blacksheep and Sportsman Warehouse, all three have excellent selection of supplies, bullets, dies, brass and powders. I am not saying I always find everythig I am looking for, I posted in another thread today none carry 9.3 or .423 caliber stuff, but 17 through 45 cal in the standard stuff is stocked. I am used to dropping in and having a selection of Speer, Barnes, Hornady, Nosler with even some Norma stuff. If your in Spokane Wa. ever, drop your wife at the mall and walk across the parking lot to Sportsman Warehouse, my wife usually comes looking for me, as I can spend hours just in the reloading section. Southern Cal needs one of those, or a Cabelas or Bass Pro Shop, I would spend a lot more time and money if they did.

schromf. Sportsmans Warehouse kicks ass there in Meridian.

It would be Great if they put a sportsmans warehouse in in So Cal. I doubt they will. I wonder what their marketing research would come up with for a location in Ca. Plus the Ca gun laws would make it very difficult for them to sell guns. It would turn into a Golf, skateboard and surf shop, maybe jaccuzees to make money. Sad but probably true.

quote:

Originally posted by GSP7:
I thought the Pala range was shut down. If not do you have a phone number?

It's not closed, but I don't think they have a phone out there.

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If I was you, I'd stop by Lyons & O'haver Taxidermy in La Mesa

Thanks Jeff and all the others that suggested stopping in. Went to San Diego this weekend. Hey even drove 30 miles up into a snow storm. LOL

Back to the topic. I went to Lyon's and O'Haver on Friday. Talked to O'Havers daughter and the wife of Lyon's son. Told her I was in from Houston and had been told I needed to stop and look around. She said feel free and turned on the lights so I could see the finished heads. Then after about 10 minutes a older gentleman walked up and introduced himself as Mike. I told him I was from Houston in the area had a trip to Namibia in the works and was looking to get some mounting ideas for my Taxidermist in Houston. He took me in the back 3 rooms and spent the next 2 hrs showing me around talking about Taxidermy, the various mounts, my upcoming trip to Namibia. Suggestions on how to mount each head to get the best view etc. After tho two hours I felt guilty and said I needed to let him get back to work. He said that was OK he was Mike O'Haver and he was the boss and worked when he wanted to. Told him thanks and that I was sorry my wife was in class and missed it. He said bring her back Sat Morning.

So we returned Sat morning. Mike left a wildcat he was sewing the leg on and proceeded to give my wife the same 2 hr tour.

It was such a pleasure to spend time with him. His Daughter and Son-in-law were just as friendly. It is not often this day and age that you will find someone that will give you that type of attention leave his money making activity and spend almost 4 hrs with a couple that he knows will not be in a position to send him work. All his comments were tell your man this never a suggestion to have us send him the work.

Any of you hunters in the area that haven't used or checked them out I would highly suggest it would be worth your time.

www.lyonsandohaver.com

Do all this other stuff AFTER.. you have spent the day on the Midway Air Craft Carrier. It is down town, and well worth the time.

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Do all this other stuff AFTER.. you have spent the day on the Midway Air Craft Carrier. It is down town, and well worth the time

Did Midway the afternoon after the second trip to O'Hare's. I agree that was well worth doing as well.