What about The Range

In this episode, Robert Wareham of Mountain West Firearms shares an in-depth update on the company’s ambitious plan to bring a state-of-the-art indoor shooting range to Western North Carolina. Robert explains how the original vision for Mountain West was never limited to retail— the goal was always to create a complete experience where shooters could train, practice, and learn in a modern, comfortable, and safe environment.

Listeners get an inside look at the business realities behind the project, from finding the perfect location near I-40 and U.S. 74A, to performing geotechnical studies, developing concept designs, and structuring an $8 million investment plan through private equity offerings. Robert details the painstaking due diligence process, legal requirements for SEC-compliant private offerings, and the efforts to include both large and community-based investors.

However, just as plans were coming together, Mountain West Firearms received notice of a competing offer on the property that forced an impossible decision. The seller shared contract terms with the new bidder, effectively undercutting Mountain West’s option. Unable to commit $125,000 in non-refundable earnest money on short notice, Robert and his team had to walk away from the site—losing months of work and investment in the process.

Despite the setback, Robert emphasizes that this is far from the end of the project. Mountain West Firearms remains fully committed to building a world-class range that serves everyone—from beginners to seasoned shooters, from men and women to families and law enforcement. He discusses what’s next, including exploring new sites along U.S. 74A, Hendersonville Road, or possibly outside Buncombe County to better serve the region.

The episode closes on an optimistic note: Mountain West Firearms isn’t going anywhere. The retail store continues to thrive, partnerships with major firearm brands are growing, and the dream of a high-quality, accessible indoor range for Western North Carolina is still very much alive.

Key Themes:

• Business and investment challenges in launching a firearms facility
• The importance of safe, inclusive range environments
• Commitment to community and education
• Overcoming setbacks in pursuit of a long-term vision

Episode Transcript

Introduction (00:02):
You're tuned in to the Mountain West Firearms
Podcast, where honest talk andexpert insight meet the world of
shooting, training, andresponsible firearm ownership.
Let's dive in.

Robert Wareham (00:14):
Hi, everybody.
Robert Wareham again withMountain West Firearms with
another podcast episode.
Today I want to kind of bringeverybody in our uh audience up
to date on the progress of ourindoor shooting range.
Many of you have come by thestore over the last several
months, and we shared with youour plans long-term to put it in

(00:37):
indoor shooting range.
In fact, uh it was never ourintention to just open a
standalone retail store.
But in April, when um ourbuilding at uh 1484 Charlotte
Highway became available in thewake of Helene, we looked at it
as an opportunity to at leastintroduce ourselves to the
community and to uh get oursystems in place and tested.

(01:01):
And it's been very valuablefrom that standpoint.
I mean, we uh we haveestablished uh dealerships with
many of the largest distributorsin the firearms um uh wholesale
marketplace.
We've also become dealers withsome of the top uh firearms
manufacturers, Sons of Liberty,uh Henry Rifles, uh, and others

(01:25):
have made us dealers.
We're also dealers for Gulco umholsters as well as Urban
Carry.
Uh and uh and every day itseems like we almost sign up uh
some new manufacturer to providetheir product to the community.
One of the challenges we've hadexp we have experienced, and
we've shared this with folks,we're limited in the number of

(01:48):
firearms we can actually keep ininventory uh at the store
because um the the building wasnot designed to be a firearm
store, and of course it's gotwindows, it has um a large
roll-up door uh which could bevulnerable to uh a vehicle

(02:08):
ramming.
Not that I want to give anybodyany ideas.
We have done what we can toreinforce the building.
We've put bars on the windowsthat are at ground level, uh, we
put straps across the uh panesin the roll-up drawer.
Uh but and every night uh weremove every firearm from the
display cases and all thefirearms from the wall, and we

(02:29):
put them inside um a hardenedroom inside the building that we
call the vault.
Uh and we have two uh rollingshelf units, and and so we take
and we remove everything fromthe wall, we put it on these
shelves, and we roll them inthere, uh, and that door has
been reinforced and and deadboltlocks put on it.
So at the very least, anyattempted intrusion and burglary

(02:53):
would be met with a substantialdelay.
And of course, we have ampleclosed circuit cameras and alarm
systems that would notify lawenforcement.
We don't want any of ourfirearms landing in the hands of
criminals.
And so for that reason, wevoluntarily limit the number of
firearms that we have in stockto those which we can take down

(03:16):
and store every night.
So that's sort of the storythere.
But back to the status of therange.
About oh, it's almost uh a yearand a half ago now, uh, when we
first started thinking ofopening a firearm store, um, we
also looked at the concept of itbeing a range.
In fact, my wife Jennifer, whenshe originally suggested we we

(03:40):
open up a firearm store, and Ijust started looking for a
retail space, she says, no, Ithink we need to do, you know,
we need to do the successfulones, all have indoor ranges
with them.
And so we went down to um uhWest Palm Beach, Florida, where
the National Shooting SportsFoundation was having their
retailer and range expo thatthey have every summer in West

(04:04):
Palm Beach, and that is a anexpo just for firearms retailers
and range owners.
Well, uh suffice it to say, itwas an eye-opening experience.
The opportunity that exists inthe uh indoor range, uh private
range marketplace uh isphenomenal, and we immediately
made the decision that this issomething we needed to bring to

(04:26):
North Carolina.
Uh there have been uh indoorranges in in uh western North
Carolina, and uh suffice it tosay they've they've filled a
need, but uh things have reacheda point where uh many people
say they're crowded or some havegone out of business.
Uh we're looking at making oneuh really a truly modern

(04:47):
contemporary range with uhfirst-class uh digital range
equipment, uh uh airconditioning equipment that
makes it so that when you fireyour weapon, not even the gases
from your own weapon come backinto your nostrils.
And then that that uh that airis taken and pulled out of the
building, run through a HEPAfilters so that it's not put out

(05:10):
into the environment.
The cost of putting in a range,the between the range equipment
and the HVAC air handlingequipment, uh uh it it's about
the same.
I mean, uh you spend as much onventilation as you do on the
modern range equipment uh thatyou use to move targets back and
forth, and many of the modernum target systems uh can give

(05:35):
you shoot-no-shoot scenarios,they can flip a target, they can
do things.
Uh and so it's just veryexciting time.
The other thing that we uhnoticed is that there's large
segments of the market that areunderserved.
Uh, and the feedback that youget and what you hear when you
do market surveys is that uhwomen especially need to feel

(05:57):
comfortable uh and notthreatened coming into a range
environment.
And in fact, your averageconsumer uh does not want to be
treated in a condescendingfashion by people who consider
themselves experts uh infirearms and and question why,
you know, uh a new shooter is iscoming to the range.

(06:18):
That's the whole point of therange, is to make people better
uh handlers of their firearm andsafer handlers of their
firearm.
So anyway, we made the decisionto move forward.
We started looking for a site,and we found what we believe to
be an absolutely ideal locationin about November of last year.

(06:38):
And that location was down uhnear the intersection of
Interstate 40 and uh U.S.
74A, what we know is CharlotteHighway, the very highway that
our store is located on now.
And so right there at thatprime location at that
intersection, uh there was 1.6acres that had been on s on sale
for over ten years.

(07:00):
Um and so we went in.
We initially started just bymaking an offer on it, but it
readily became clear that weneeded more time to perform our
due diligence to make sure thatthe uh the site could
accommodate a building, uh, thatuh it was a permissible use for
the building.
So we converted the purchasecontract into an option to

(07:22):
purchase at agreed upon price.
And to be fair with the seller,we said, look, we may not sol
sell, uh we may not close onthis for you know four, five,
six, eight months even.
But to compensate you fairlyfor um the delay in closing, we
would agree to increase thepurchase price by about $5,200

(07:47):
for every month that passed by.
And that represented, frankly,uh about a uh uh 5% return uh on
um the purchase price of $1.25million.
So we put up $20,000 in earnestmoney.
Uh we followed that withgeotech studies and site
planning.
We got some initial conceptdrawings, which many of you who

(08:10):
have visited the store haveseen.
And uh we were very excitedabout this.
Now, of course, to take on aproject of this size, uh the
budget is about eight milliondollars, to tell you the truth,
between purchasing the propertyand building a building and
doing all of the other thingsyou have to do, um you know, i
it was gonna take about $8million.

(08:31):
And so when you go out to raiseprivate equity capital in the
United States, you're allowed tomake if if you're not gonna
make it a public offering, youcan do a private offering, but
you have to register it with theSecurities and Exchange
Commission under both uh NorthCarolina law and federal law,
and basically it's referred toit as an exempt offering.

(08:54):
And you have to have thesedocuments prepared by attorneys,
and we have a very fineattorney downtown that has been
working on these over the year,and uh we had them all ready to
go, and and frankly, we had someuh uh interest by certain
investors, and you know, not allof them work out.
Some you decide that probablyaren't going to be the right

(09:18):
partner for you in this venturefor a variety of reasons, but we
were really on the verge.
We had uh uh the privateplacement memorandum, which uh
is required to have an exemptprivate offering.
We had one of them prepared.
We were uh in the process ofgetting the second one done,
which was going to allow forcommunity investors, uh uh,

(09:41):
which would be smaller dollardenomination investors to come
in and own a part of the rangeitself, uh sort of as a founding
member, if you will, with somemember pre membership privileges
going along with that.
Well, suffice it to say, juston the verge of having all of

(10:01):
this ready to go, so that wecould start an equity campaign
in the fourth quarter of 2025, Ireceived a notice from the
selling broker through myattorney that they had received
a competitive offer.
And under the terms of ouroption, if a bona fide competing

(10:24):
offer came in, um then we had10 days in which to exercise our
option.
And to exercise that option, wehad to post an additional
$125,000 in non-refundableearnest money.
And um and then we had to closewithin 30 days after exercising

(10:51):
the option.
So essentially we were giventhe notice two days before Jen
and I were supposed to leave ona little vacation to celebrate
our 25th wedding anniversary.
We received a notice that theyhad received what they
considered to be a bona fideoffer that they were going to
accept.

(11:12):
And they attached a copy of theoffer to the notice, and it
didn't take very long to realizethat the selling broker had uh
provided a copy of our option tothe competing buyer and all of
its financial terms, and thatthe competing buyer had
calculated not just our basepurchase price, but also the

(11:36):
added uh $5,250 per month, andhad proposed to go under
contract immediately to purchasethis land and to close on it by
mid-November.
And in fact, they hadcalculated what our purchase
price would have been inNovember of 2025, and that was

(11:58):
their offered price for theproperty.
So clearly um they were tryingto put us in a position where
the owner would say, Well, I'llI'll take this because I get all
my money now.
In fact, if you think about it,the owner, the seller, uh got
the full benefit of the bargainthat I offered him, including

(12:21):
the escalated purchase price,got the benefit of the geotech
study that I paid to have done,uh, all of that benefit, and um
deprived this community andMountain West Firearms of the
opportunity to build on thatsite.
Because I simply could not putup $125,000 that was

(12:45):
non-refundable in hopes that wewould be able to raise the
remaining million dollars or souh in just a short 30-day
period.
So many of you have seen thephotos, many of you have seen
the plot map.
When you came into the office,it showed that we were going to
be on this parcel at 303 Gash'sCreek Road.

(13:06):
I'm very sorry to inform youthat that is no longer the case.
Um we did not exercise theoption, we lost our option on
that property.
So, does that mean we're givingup?
Absolutely not.
We still believe that WesternNorth Carolina desperately needs
a modern, well-lit, comfortablefacility where men and women

(13:33):
and youths and competitiveshooters and casual shooters can
come and become more proficientwith the use of firearms, can
get good training, can have agood retail store, and so we are
currently looking for anotherlocation.
Certainly, if any of youlistening to this know of a
location that you think wouldwork, um, we would be happy to

(13:55):
hear about that.
Uh it would be a locationpreferably somewhere along uh,
you know, U.S.
74A, or it would be a locationuh potentially in the Fletcher
area, um, somewhere alongHendersonville Road or around
the airport.
We've had some people suggestuh that it probably would be
wise to put um this facilityoutside of Buncombe County and

(14:20):
certainly outside of the city ofAsheville, and so that's
something that we're looking atuh quite carefully as well.
So I just wanted to communicateto you through uh this podcast
that nothing has changed.
Uh Mountain West Firearms ishere to stay.
Uh we will continue to operateuh out of our retail location,

(14:42):
and um hopefully we can get thatuh location to be profitable
sooner, uh, and then we will atthe same time pursue uh
simultaneously identification ofa new location for our uh
range, which um we hope to opensometime in the next 18 to 24

(15:04):
months.
So that's the status of therange project at the moment.
I know I've taken down thenames of many of you who've said
you were interested.
We'll be communicating with youseparately by email uh to see
what your interests are and tokeep you informed as to what's
going on with regard to theprogress.
So we want to share that withyou.
We consider you folks to bepart of our family, part of our

(15:24):
community.
This is a project to benefitWestern North Carolina that we
take very seriously, and weintend to proceed with it.
I'm Robert Wareham, and that'sit for today from Mountain West
Firearms.
We'll see you next time.

Introduction (15:40):
Thanks for listening to the Mountain West
Firearms Podcast, where skillmeets responsibility.
Subscribe for straight talk andexpert insight, and we'll see
you on the next one.