Trying a Handgun Before You Buy One in McKinney
You can rent a handgun here, shoot it in a lane, hand it back, and rent a different one twenty minutes later, all without any of the paperwork a purchase would involve. That is the whole point of renting. Buying a pistol on the strength of a gun counter conversation is how most people end up with a gun they never shoot.
TL;DR
Renting a handgun for use inside the building is a different legal event from buying one, so there is no Form 4473 and no background check attached to it. At The Range in McKinney, handgun rental is 21 and up unless you hold a Texas License to Carry; rifle rental is 18 and up, and every renter shows a government-issued photo ID.
Rental guns run on ammunition bought at our counter and never leave the property. The posted rental fee is $15 an hour for pistols and revolvers, on top of the lane fee. If you have never fired a gun before, an instructor comes into the lane with you.
Can You Rent a Handgun Without Buying One First?
Yes, and the paperwork gap is not a loophole. Federal rules treat a rental for temporary sporting use on the premises as a separate thing from a sale. 27 CFR 478.99 carves out "the loan or rental of a firearm to any person for temporary use for lawful sporting purposes" from the delivery restrictions that apply to sales, and the neighbouring section, 27 CFR 478.97, says that temporarily furnishing firearms to participants in "a skeet, trap, target, or similar shooting activity for use at the time and place such activity is held" does not, on its own, make that a firearms transaction carrying licensing and recordkeeping requirements.
Translated to the front counter: you sign our waiver, show ID, and take a gun to a lane. No transaction record follows you out the door, because nothing was transferred.
That legal shape is also why you can't leave with a rental gun. The exception depends on the gun staying where the shooting activity happens. Ours never go home with anybody, and there is no version of the rule where they do.
State law covers walking your own handgun in from the parking lot separately. Texas Penal Code Section 46.15(b)(3) states that Section 46.02 does not apply to a person "engaging in lawful hunting, fishing, or other sporting activity on the immediate premises where the activity is conducted, or is en route between the premises and the actor's residence, motor vehicle, or watercraft, if the weapon is a type commonly used in the activity." Cased, in from the car, straight to the counter. That is the protected path.
What We Check at the Counter Before a Rental Goes Out
Four things, and none of them take long. Age, identification, whether you have shot before, and what ammunition is going into the gun.
Handgun rental starts at 21. The one exception is a Texas License to Carry, which brings it down for holders. Rifle rental starts at 18.
Those numbers are not arbitrary: Texas Penal Code Section 46.02 makes it an offense to carry a handgun on or about your person when you are younger than 21, and you are not on your own property or in your own vehicle, and a License to Carry is what changes that picture for a younger adult. Federal rules point in the same direction, since a licensed dealer may not deliver a handgun to anyone the dealer has reason to believe is under 21.
Minors are a firmer line than people expect.
A parent can bring an eight-year-old in to shoot, sign the waiver, and stand right there, and we still cannot rent that child a gun. Section 46.06(a)(2) of the Penal Code makes it an offense to "sell, rent, lease, or give" a firearm to a child younger than 18, and a state jail felony where the firearm is a handgun. Family time on the lane, yes. A rental in a minor's hands, no.
Identification that actually works
A government-issued photo ID is the baseline. Visitors from other countries can rent with a valid passport from an allied country and a government-issued photo ID. Two documents people bring that we cannot accept:
- A hunting license. No background check is involved in getting one, and it is not recognized federally as identification.
- A Restricted Term License, following ATF policy on restricted-term holders.
If your driver's license is expired or sitting on the kitchen counter, the rental does not happen. Worth checking your wallet before the drive.
Ammunition comes from us
Every rental runs ammunition purchased at our counter, and personal ammunition never goes into a rental gun. We want to know exactly what is cycling through a firearm that other people will shoot next week. Bring whatever you like for your own guns, within the posted restrictions. Budget a box or two at the counter for the rentals, and read the range rules and FAQ on our site before you load anything.
Do You Have to Bring Someone With You?
Plenty of ranges enforce a buddy rule, where nobody rents a gun unless a second person is on the lane with them. It is a real and common safety policy, and it catches solo shooters off guard. The published rules here do not set a second-shooter requirement for rentals. You must be 18 or older to shoot unaccompanied, and handgun rental still starts at 21 without a License to Carry.
There is one condition that does put another person beside you. If this is your first time shooting, an instructor goes into the lane with you, and the training desk handles that side of it.
That is not a sales pitch bolted onto a rental. A first-timer holding an unfamiliar pistol is the exact situation the rental counter should not create by itself, and having someone standing there who has run a thousand of those first magazines makes the hour worth something.
Policies vary enough between ranges that it pays to call ahead anywhere you have not shot before. Ours is (972) 330-4415.
Building a Short List Worth Testing
Renting three guns at random burns an afternoon and teaches you very little, because you have no way to tell whether you shot the third one better or just warmed up. Pick a structure before you get here.
Start by writing down what the gun is for. Nightstand, concealed carry under a Texas summer shirt, and weekend target practice pull toward different sizes, and a pistol that is pleasant to shoot for two hundred rounds is usually not the one that vanishes under a T-shirt. If you have not narrowed it that far, our post on how to narrow the field before you get here works through the size and action decisions.

Then test one variable at a time. Two guns of the same size in different calibers tell you something about recoil. Two guns in the same caliber with different grip shapes tell you something about your hands. Four guns that differ in every dimension tell you almost nothing.
| What to check in the lane | How to check it | What a bad answer looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Grip fit | Take a firing grip, then look at your trigger finger | You have to shift your whole hand to reach the trigger |
| Slide manipulation | Rack it five times from a fresh grip | You need a table edge or a second try |
| Sight picture | Come up from low ready with your eyes closed, then open them | Sights are never where your eye lands |
| Recoil recovery | Two shots at speed, then check the target | The second hole is nowhere near the first |
| Controls | Drop and seat a magazine, work the safety or decocker | You break your grip to reach anything |
The slide test deserves its own sentence, because it sends more people back to the counter than recoil does. Grip strength varies, spring weights vary, and a gun you cannot load reliably on a cold morning is a gun you will not carry.
One more thing worth doing while everything is fresh: keep your targets. Write the model and the round count on the back with a pen from the counter. Three weeks later, when you are staring at the guns on the shop wall here, those pieces of paper are better evidence than your memory of how the day felt.
What an Afternoon of Testing Costs
Two charges stack: the lane, and each gun you take into it. Current pricing on our
indoor gun range McKinney page:
| Item | Rate |
|---|---|
| Lane fee | $25 per hour |
| Additional guest, 18 and up | $20 per hour |
| Additional guest, 17 and under | $15 per hour |
| Pistol or revolver rental | $15 per hour |
| Rifle rental | $25 per hour |
| Youth rifle | $15 |
| First responders and military | 20% off lane fees |
Ammunition is separate and, for rentals, comes from us. Tuesdays are the outlier worth knowing about: ladies get half off lane fees and free rentals every Tuesday, which turns a three-gun comparison into the cheapest research anyone does before a firearm purchase. No membership is needed to shoot or rent here, though people who end up testing across several visits often find that a membership pays for itself faster than they expected, because it drops the lane fee.
How to Run the Test So the Results Mean Something
Treat the hour like a controlled comparison, because that is what you are paying for. Same target distance for every gun. Same ammunition weight where the calibers allow it. Same number of rounds, ten or fifteen per gun, fired at the same pace.
Before the first shot with anything unfamiliar, have the range officer or your instructor walk you through that specific pistol. The National Shooting Sports Foundation puts it plainly in its rules of firearm safety: "Never handle any firearm without first having thoroughly familiarized yourself with the particular type of firearm you are using." A striker-fired pistol with no external safety, a hammer-fired gun with a decocker, and a revolver all behave differently under the same finger. Thirty seconds at the counter prevents the fumble that ruins your read on the gun.
Eye and ear protection is mandatory on our lanes, and we rent ear protection if you do not own any. The lanes here run 25 yards. For a handgun comparison, you want to be much closer than that, seven to ten yards, where the differences between guns show up as group size instead of as noise.
Shoot the guns in the same order twice if you have the time. Fatigue is real, and the gun you shoot last always feels worse than it is. Running the sequence back the other way separates the pistol you dislike from the hand you tired out.
Wash your hands before you eat anything afterward. Indoor ranges accumulate lead residue on surfaces and skin, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has published guidance on reducing that exposure at indoor firing ranges. It is a small habit that matters more the more often you come.
Picking a Time When the Lanes Are Quiet
Mid-August is a shift in North Texas. The McKinney ISD calendar starts the 2026-27 school year on August 13, which empties weekday mornings fast, and the North Zone dove opener lands on September 1 this year, running to November 8 in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Outdoor Annual.
Hunters start showing up in the last two weeks of August to get squared away, and lane availability tightens on the weekends before the opener.
If you want unhurried time with three rental guns, come Tuesday through Thursday in the morning. We are closed Mondays, open 10 AM to 7 PM Tuesday through Saturday, and noon to 6 PM on Sunday. Last Mag is called ten minutes before closing, so do not plan a careful comparison around a 6:45 arrival.
Anyone driving in from Allen, Princeton, Celina, Prosper, or Melissa should factor in the 380 and 75 crawl at the end of the workday. A 10 AM weekday session usually beats a 5 PM one by half an hour of actual trigger time.
From the Rental Counter to Your Own Gun Case
When the targets and your hands agree on a winner, the buying side is short. We can order or sell you the model you settled on, or you can run the transfer through our FFL if you found it elsewhere.
Bring the paper targets in. A range officer who watched you shoot three pistols has a useful opinion about which one you actually shot best, which is not always the one you liked most. Come test a few at The Range in McKinney, 415 Industrial Blvd. McKinney, TX 75069, or call (972) 330-4415 and tell us what you are trying to decide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do you need to rent a gun at a shooting range with gun rental in Texas?
A valid government-issued photo ID, a signed waiver, and the minimum age for that firearm type. Handgun rentals here are 21 and up unless you hold a Texas License to Carry; rifles are 18 and up, and rental ammunition is bought on site.
Can you rent a handgun at 18 in Texas?
Not without a Texas License to Carry. Handgun rental at our range starts at 21, matching the federal age floor for handgun delivery by a licensed dealer. An 18-year-old can rent a rifle, buy ammunition, and shoot unaccompanied on our lanes.
How much does it cost to rent a gun at a shooting range?
Here, a pistol or revolver rental runs fifteen dollars per hour and a rifle twenty-five, charged on top of the hourly lane fee. Ammunition is extra and must be bought at our counter for any rental gun.
Can you use your own ammo in a rental gun?
No. Every rental firearm runs on ammunition purchased at our counter. Personal ammunition that damages a rental gun makes the shooter responsible for the repair or replacement, and it ends rental privileges here permanently.
Do you need a second person with you to rent a gun?
Some ranges require it, so call ahead anywhere new. Our published rules do not require a second shooter, though you must be 18 to shoot unaccompanied. First-time shooters do need an instructor in the lane with them.
The Range in McKinney
415 Industrial Blvd., McKinney, TX 75069
Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m.–7 p.m. | Sunday 12 p.m.–6 p.m. | Closed Mondays
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