The Shooting Shop at 221 Burlington St., Kingsley IA is now open for business. Owner and operator Bob Farmer fulfilled a long time dream of owning his own gun shop with an open house hosted Sept. 11, 2010.

The Shooting Shop deals with everything related to firearms. They offer retail sales of new and used firearms of all types. Bob will also entertain trades of guns or will take in guns for consignment sale.

Also offered are retail sales of firearm accessories like slings, scopes, cases, etc. The Shooting Shop also offers factory ammo sales, reloading equipment and supplies. Bob is also able to offer custom reloading of ammo to his customers. The custom reloading includes obsolete cartridges that are no longer offered by manufacturers.

Although The Shooting Shop specializes in all things firearms, Bob can get anything dealing with outdoor sports into the store. Archery equipment or hunting decoys are a couple of examples.  If you can name it The Shooting Shop can get it.

Along with sales of anything firearm related The Shooting Shop is also a full line gunsmithing shop.  The gunsmithing services offered range from simple repairs to complete restorations, and everything in between.  No job is too big or small.  If a job cannot be handled in house, Bob has contacts to be able to get the work done.

Bob may be new to the retail aspect of the industry but is far from new to firearms themselves.  He brings a lifetime of firearm and shooting experience to the opening of The Shooting Shop. Bob is also a trained professional gunsmith.

Bob’s formal gunsmith training came through the program offered by the American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) of Napa CA. AGI is well respected in the firearms industry and offers specific training in all aspects of gun repair and customizing. AGI’s training is conducted via video courses. Each course goes into great detail about a specific topic and also utilizes hands on experience by the student to complete.

About five years ago Bob was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa.  This eye disorder causes a person to lose all of their peripheral vision.  Due to this disorder Bob lost the job he currently had at Dean Foods in LeMars IA.  Not wanting to just sit around and do nothing Bob turned to the Iowa Department for the Blind for help.  The Department is based in DesMoines and has a state wide staff available to assist the blind and visually impaired to seek out employment opportunities.

At this time in his life Bob was tired of always working for someone else.  With the help of the Iowa Deptartment of the Blind he was able to fulfill a lifelong dream of owning his own business. Bob’s prior knowledge of firearms combined with formal gunsmith training makes The Shooting Shop a perfect fit.

The current location of The Shooting Shop is in a converted garage behind Bob’s home at 221 Burlington St., Kingsley IA. Formal hours of operation are not set at this time, but will include evenings and Saturdays. Bob is also open at any time by appointment. An appointment can be made by calling Bob directly at 712-251-1510.

For more info visit www.theshootingshopinkingsley.com