History of Belleville Shooting Range
The Belleville Indoor Shooting Range has been in existence at 209 N. Illinois Street in Belleville Illinois
since 1979. Prior to 2003, the business had been known as “The Cop Shop” and primarily served as a
qualification range and uniform shop to law enforcement and security officers.
In 2003, St. Louis businessman and police officer Steven King purchased BSR. King immediately improved
the business by diversifying and expanding the merchandise. He began stocking top-selling handgun and
long gun brands and added optics, clothing, hunting accessories and competition gear. King also worked
to make the range and shop more inviting by making long-needed improvements, such as installing new
lighting to brighten the range, putting up new signage to let passersby know the range is open to the public,
expanding the hours of operation, reconfiguring the retail floor and purchasing several new display counters.
After these immediate improvements, King began a full-scale remodeling and upgrading of the range. The
range is an 8-bay heated/air-conditioned 25-yard indoor shooting range capable of accommodating most
handguns, rifles and shotguns. Since 2003, a new backstop has been constructed, a better ventilation
system has been installed, an observation area was added and the overall appearance improved with new
lighting and painting. BSR currently has over 200 firearms, ranging from 22-caliber handguns to fully-
automatic machine guns, available to rent and use on the range.
The historic building housing BSR contains 17,500 square feet and is an excellent setting for almost any
imaginable real-life defensive or offensive firearms simulation. The facility has 5000 square feet in open
second-floor space, suitable for room clearing, simunitions training, defensive tactics and role-playing. The
basement is also 5000 square feet and has ample positions of cover to facilitate superior night simulation
training. Double wide doors from the indoor range to a wide alleyway would allow vehicle rescue
simulations. The two-story building provides an approximately 30-foot rappelling surface. A classroom with
a capacity of 18 students is an ideal location for lecture-style teaching. In addition to standard police
qualifications, the range is a perfect place for no-light/low-light specialized training. With a wide range of
IDPA props available, almost any real-life simulation can be practiced with live ammunition, as well as
simunitions and air-soft.
BSR focuses on training everyone from expert marksmen to beginners. They offer one-on-one lessons for
beginners, teach NRA-certified safety courses and provide conceal-carry classes. Police departments,
security firms and private detectives select BSR as the place to qualify their officers. BSR is also the training
facility for many local youth organizations such as Boy and Girl Scouts, ROTC and 4H Club. BSR hosts a
monthly IDPA-sanctioned competition and a weekly IDPA-like match. International shooting champion Rob
Leatham selected BSR as one of the sites for his exclusive training seminars in 2007.
By nurturing all of these facets of the business, King has grown the business in four years from $300,000
annually to a multi-million dollar enterprise.
BSR strives to be a top-notch facility, by focusing on quality and safety. Owner Steven King and his
employees offer superior customer service. King works continuously to grow and improve each of BSR’s
three components: the retail store, the training academy and the range. At BSR you can buy, learn and
shoot.
In 2007, BSR hosted an IBA certification course under the instruction of Deputy Director Thomas Bermudez.
BSR was proud to lend its superior facilities to such a stellar and professional organization. King and his
staff continually seek to learn by partnering with the best.
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