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Moving to Valdosta questions about the area?

1K views 23 replies 8 participants last post by  Adam5 
#1 ·
I am moving to Valdosta GA in Jan. My wife and I are looking at houses there. Does any one know if one county is more gun friendly than another there. I don't want to buy a home in a county where the LEO will not sign my ATF forms for SBRs. I collect assault rifles and I dont want to limit my future options like I did here in NC. Also anyone familiar with the local shops and dealers in the area. Any big shops? Any shops that cary military type assault rifles? Thanks fellas Colt
 
#2 ·
01coltcolt said:
I am moving to Valdosta GA in Jan. My wife and I are looking at houses there. Does any one know if one county is more gun friendly than another there. I don't want to buy a home in a county where the LEO will not sign my ATF forms for SBRs. I collect assault rifles and I dont want to limit my future options like I did here in NC. Also anyone familiar with the local shops and dealers in the area. Any big shops? Any shops that cary military type assault rifles? Thanks fellas Colt
I lived in Valdosta for two years, and I loved it there. I wish that I could get back down there, but family concerns keep me from doing so.

I never heard of any problems with the police or sheriff there being anti. All of my encounters with the cops there were very positive. I have a cousin by marriage that is fairly high up in the LCSO, and I never heard him mention any policies that would be anti there, and I used to go shoot at his place some.

Lowndes County is huge with four very distinct municipalities in it. Cook County would probably be pretty cool as would Berrien County. I don't know much about the other counties, but the Brooks County schools were know to be very bad.

Do yourself a favor and make sure that you visit the Texas Roadhouse often. :!: :!: :!: :!:

There is a shooting club just outside of Valdosta. If southbound on 75, get off at Exit 18 and take a right. IIRC, it will be just across the county line on the river on your right. I'll be happy to dig up the club info for you or you can go to the Georgia IPSC page and find it.
 
#3 ·
Carlton Outdoors on North Valdosta Road has a good selection of the evil black AR's, PTR-91's, an FS-2000, a couple of PS-90's, etc... The carry beretta, kahr, kimber, springfield armory, glock, steyr, and a whole case full of Sig Sauer pistols. Sometimes their prices are OK but most of the time they're kinda high. you can negotiate with them though. The employees are polite, helpful and somewhat knowlegable. They want $2600 for the FS-2000! :shock:

There's a little pawn shop on Ashley Street that advertises that they stock suppressors for Walter p-22's, and AR's. There's a bunch of pawn shops all over town. Their selection varies but is usually not very good.

You can ride up the road to Adel and visit Adel Pawn and Gift. Chad usually has a good selection of pistols and hunting rifles/shotguns. His prices ain't the greatest but you can haggle him down.

Real estate in Valdosta/Lowndes Co. is expensive (for S. GA)and the place is getting kinda crowded. Land in south Cook county is starting to go up ($5000/acre farmland) but nice and close to the interstate. Berrien county is also pretty good and cheaper real estate wise than Lowndes or Cook.

Welcome to the area!
 
#4 ·
CoolHand said:
Carlton Outdoors on North Valdosta Road has a good selection of AR's, PTR-91's, an FS-2000, a couple of PS-90's, etc... Sometimes their prices are OK but most of the time they're kinda high. The employees are polite, helpful and somewhat knowlegable. They want $2600 for the FS-2000! There's a little pawn shop on Ashley Street that advertises that they stock suppressors for Walter p-22's, and AR's. There's a bunch of pawn shops all over town. Their selection varies but is usually not very good.

You can ride up the road to Adel and visit Adel Pawn and Gift. Chad usually has a good selection of pistols and hunting rifles/shotguns. His prices ain't the greatest but you can haggle him down.

Real estate in Valdosta/Lowndes Co. is expensive (for S. GA)and the place is getting kinda crowded. Land in south Cook county is starting to go up ($5000/acre farmland) but nice and close to the interstate. Berrien county is also pretty good and cheaper real estate wise than Lowndes or Cook.

Welcome to the area!
You do raise one issue that I neglected to address, and that is gun shops in the area. It's been over eight years since I have been there; so, I can't really speak to the current selection there. There used to be a shop in the downtown Valdosta area, but I don't know if it is there or not now. There was also a shop in a strip mall across from the Valdosta Small (spelled that way on purpose), but I'm pretty sure it is gone now. When I was down for a visit this summer, I looked in the yellow pages and saw a place listed out on Beamis Road, but I never got the chance to make it out there.
 
#5 ·
The place downtown you're refering to was probably Carlton Outdoors. they used to be within rock throwing distance of the court house. Solo Archery is on Bemiss. They advertise that they sell archery supplies and guns but when I checked them out last year it was more like a lot of archery stuff and 1 or 2 guns. The place across from the mall is now a Best Buy. :roll:

The best place in S. Ga is Jerrys in Ambrose. He had XD .45s on sale 2 or 3 months ago for $399. It's about 1.5 hr drive from Valdosta though.

Supposedly there's a really nice shop in Thomasville but I haven't been there. They cater to the plantation hunting crowd. They advertise in Double Gun Journal.
 
#6 ·
I don't want to buy a home in a county where the LEO will not sign my ATF forms for SBRs.
I have no idea about the Valdosta area, I've always lived near the metro Atlanta area. But it seems that most people do not have problems getting a CLEO sign-off for anything, anywhere, in Georgia (even in the metro Atlanta area). I've heard rumors about certain CLEOs around Atlanta not signing but never any hard proof.

This is just speculation but I don't think you should have any problems down there but don't hold me to that because I don't live anywhere near there. 8)
 
#7 ·
legacy38 said:
CoolHand said:
Carlton Outdoors on North Valdosta Road has a good selection of AR's, PTR-91's, an FS-2000, a couple of PS-90's, etc... Sometimes their prices are OK but most of the time they're kinda high. The employees are polite, helpful and somewhat knowlegable. They want $2600 for the FS-2000! There's a little pawn shop on Ashley Street that advertises that they stock suppressors for Walter p-22's, and AR's. There's a bunch of pawn shops all over town. Their selection varies but is usually not very good.

You can ride up the road to Adel and visit Adel Pawn and Gift. Chad usually has a good selection of pistols and hunting rifles/shotguns. His prices ain't the greatest but you can haggle him down.

Real estate in Valdosta/Lowndes Co. is expensive (for S. GA)and the place is getting kinda crowded. Land in south Cook county is starting to go up ($5000/acre farmland) but nice and close to the interstate. Berrien county is also pretty good and cheaper real estate wise than Lowndes or Cook.

Welcome to the area!
You do raise one issue that I neglected to address, and that is gun shops in the area. It's been over eight years since I have been there; so, I can't really speak to the current selection there. There used to be a shop in the downtown Valdosta area, but I don't know if it is there or not now. There was also a shop in a strip mall across from the Valdosta Small (spelled that way on purpose), but I'm pretty sure it is gone now. When I was down for a visit this summer, I looked in the yellow pages and saw a place listed out on Beamis Road, but I never got the chance to make it out there.
Valdosta's "small"?

You haven't seen Statesboro's S'mall yet, then. S'mall has a double meaning in that case.

:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
#8 ·
ptsmith24 said:
legacy38 said:
CoolHand said:
Carlton Outdoors on North Valdosta Road has a good selection of AR's, PTR-91's, an FS-2000, a couple of PS-90's, etc... Sometimes their prices are OK but most of the time they're kinda high. The employees are polite, helpful and somewhat knowlegable. They want $2600 for the FS-2000! There's a little pawn shop on Ashley Street that advertises that they stock suppressors for Walter p-22's, and AR's. There's a bunch of pawn shops all over town. Their selection varies but is usually not very good.

You can ride up the road to Adel and visit Adel Pawn and Gift. Chad usually has a good selection of pistols and hunting rifles/shotguns. His prices ain't the greatest but you can haggle him down.

Real estate in Valdosta/Lowndes Co. is expensive (for S. GA)and the place is getting kinda crowded. Land in south Cook county is starting to go up ($5000/acre farmland) but nice and close to the interstate. Berrien county is also pretty good and cheaper real estate wise than Lowndes or Cook.

Welcome to the area!
You do raise one issue that I neglected to address, and that is gun shops in the area. It's been over eight years since I have been there; so, I can't really speak to the current selection there. There used to be a shop in the downtown Valdosta area, but I don't know if it is there or not now. There was also a shop in a strip mall across from the Valdosta Small (spelled that way on purpose), but I'm pretty sure it is gone now. When I was down for a visit this summer, I looked in the yellow pages and saw a place listed out on Beamis Road, but I never got the chance to make it out there.
Valdosta's "small"?

You haven't seen Statesboro's S'mall yet, then. S'mall has a double meaning in that case.

:lol: :lol: :lol:
I've been to it as well.
 
#11 ·
01coltcolt said:
I am currently stationed in Fayettville, NC. Uncle Sam has closed our base and I have orders to Moody AFB in GA. Report no later than 31 Jan 08.
If you are going to be at Moody you may really want to look in the Berrien County area as Moody is in the northern end of Lowndes County on the highway that runs between Valdosta and Nashville (GA).
 
#13 ·
01coltcolt said:
Please details why before I spend $200,000+
Real estate prices are likely to be cheaper in Berrien, and you'd be close to the base still.

I didn't ask if you have children. If schools are an issue for you and you are going to use the government schools, the Lowndes system would probably be the best choice. Keep in mind that Valdosta and Lowndes are two distinct school systems. There are several private schools in the area such as Valwood and some church based schools. EVERYTHING in Valdosta/Lowndes revolves around high school football!! EVERYTHING!! Valdosta has won 23 state championships coming out of the best region in Georgia high school football, but they have been down the past few years. Lowndes has won the state championship several times recently.

I don't know about your social activities (other than guns :) ), but there would be more to do in Valdosta than in Berrien County; so, that might be an issue for you and your family especially if you have children, but no matter where you live down there you'll have to go in Valdosta to do anything as there isn't any place of size within an hour and a half in any direction.
 
#14 ·
I have two little ones one in 1st grade and the other is 21 months..........The home I am buying is a place to live until I retire from the military in 4 1/2 years and I will probably punch it as a investment. Im going back to AZ to open a gun shop. I can't wait!
Thank you for the info its really important to meand my family! You guys are great! Keep it coming! Thanks Colt
 
#15 ·
01coltcolt said:
I have two little ones one in 1st grade and the other is 21 months..........Thank you for the info its really important to me!
Proud to be of help. Here are some links:

http://www.valdostacity.com/

http://www.lowndescounty.com/default.asp

http://www.lowndes.k12.ga.us/

http://wildcat.gocats.org/

http://www.valwood.org/

http://www.valdostadailytimes.com/

http://ga.localschooldirectory.com/scho ... cPath/3445 (scroll down for a list of private schools on this link)
 
#17 ·
http://www.valdostatourism.com/

Please forgive my enthusiasm. I envy you (in a good way) so much for getting to move down there. Keep in mind though that I grew up seven miles from nowhere. Valdosta was actually a big city to me when I first got there. I absolutely loved my time there, but most of that is centered around my time at VSU, and most of that was centered around people, many of which are gone from the area now due to graduation and retirements. It was also the first time in my life that I was truly out on my own, and it always has that "city on hill" thing for me. The only negatives about the place are the heat, and it can be a bit cliquish among the locals, and with the locals everything gets back to high school football.
 
#18 ·
legacy38 said:
ptsmith24 said:
legacy38 said:
CoolHand said:
Carlton Outdoors on North Valdosta Road has a good selection of AR's, PTR-91's, an FS-2000, a couple of PS-90's, etc... Sometimes their prices are OK but most of the time they're kinda high. The employees are polite, helpful and somewhat knowlegable. They want $2600 for the FS-2000! There's a little pawn shop on Ashley Street that advertises that they stock suppressors for Walter p-22's, and AR's. There's a bunch of pawn shops all over town. Their selection varies but is usually not very good.

You can ride up the road to Adel and visit Adel Pawn and Gift. Chad usually has a good selection of pistols and hunting rifles/shotguns. His prices ain't the greatest but you can haggle him down.

Real estate in Valdosta/Lowndes Co. is expensive (for S. GA)and the place is getting kinda crowded. Land in south Cook county is starting to go up ($5000/acre farmland) but nice and close to the interstate. Berrien county is also pretty good and cheaper real estate wise than Lowndes or Cook.

Welcome to the area!
You do raise one issue that I neglected to address, and that is gun shops in the area. It's been over eight years since I have been there; so, I can't really speak to the current selection there. There used to be a shop in the downtown Valdosta area, but I don't know if it is there or not now. There was also a shop in a strip mall across from the Valdosta Small (spelled that way on purpose), but I'm pretty sure it is gone now. When I was down for a visit this summer, I looked in the yellow pages and saw a place listed out on Beamis Road, but I never got the chance to make it out there.
Valdosta's "small"?

You haven't seen Statesboro's S'mall yet, then. S'mall has a double meaning in that case.

:lol: :lol: :lol:
I've been to it as well.
Oh ok. So, since I haven't been to Valdosta, which one is bigger?
 
#21 ·
hey Colt -- the fine state of Georgia fantastically welcomes you and your evil rifles ! :shock: :twisted: :twisted:

I knew Moody was getting a lot of folks due to the BRAC, are you an A-10 guy? damn best airplane ever designed. My favorite, hands down.

if you are a 'Hog dude, can you swipe me a GAU-8 for my SUV? Dont forget the ammo and all the hardware. I promise to play nice. :lol: :lol:

You will like south GA, shouldn't have a problem with class 3 stuff, closer to the beaches of FL than us up here in ATL, and the hurricanes don't destroy inland as much as FL gets pounded!
 
#22 ·
Yup, A10 Weapons Systems Tech.
Its a dirty bird with a big gun! I enjoy it I guess. I have a pretty hard , stressful job. Thank you guys and gals for the welcome and I am looking forward to it. Later Colt
Installing the GAU-8 30mm on the SUV is going to require a suspension upgrade!
 
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