Worst experience at the range: Equipment version

First time I took out my little rossi single shot 20 gage a cheap winchester hull got stuck on the first shot and I didn't have any thing to pop it out with, I got it home poped it out with a cleaning rod and found that the base was expanded.
I was rather disappointed as the main reason for that trip was to try out that gun

Two bad ones, first was the very first time I pulled the trigger on my new to me Stg 58. I was new to the fal gas system and sent the gas piston and retention block downrange due to having it not rotated to the correct location. Scared me and pissed me off that my new rifle was now an anemic straight pull bolt gun. Took two days to find the piston(in a puddle) and three weeks for a new plug. But it shot fine after that. And I learned a new lesson.
Second was VERY scary. Out shooting the 50AE automag and my buddy's uncle trades me a mag of my ammo for a cylinder full in his 454 casull. I shoot his gun and fall in love, then hand him the automag. Round two goes off like mt St Helens and splits the barrel from port at muzzle to chamber and engulfed his hand in a huge fireball. He was unhurt but said "wow, that kicks a lot for an auto" then looked at the swollen slide and just set it down. It was sad and I was out a thousand dollar pistol.

My friend shot himself in the leg and I had to drive him 50 miles to the hospital while he almost bled out in my car. No cell phones back then.

I've posted mine here before. Universal M1 carbine kaboomed on me. Apparently fired out of battery. Busted lip, nose, and shrapnel around my shooting glasses.

It happened a couple weeks ago when my brand new Bersa Thunder 380's slide tore itself apart after firing a grand total of 60 rounds through the virgin gun. It was locked up completely, and is at a warranty repair center now.

I bought the gun as a carry piece. To say my confidence was shattered is an understatement, and when it gets back I'll probably sell it off and buy a Ruger LC9s Pro.

Nothing really drastic has ever happened to me at the range, luckily. This is the worst experience I can remember, and only my pride was hurt.

I was shooting an action-style traditional military rifle match with a Mosin M44 carbine. A handy tool for the job, most targets in these matches are less than 20 meters away so speed is more important than accuracy. And with an M44 I can blast away with cheap surplus ammo without having to worry about wearing out a more refined rifle and wasting reloadable cases. I always load Mosins using stripper clips, and thought I knew how it should be done to avoid the dreaded rimlock. I had just bought a large lot of Chinese surplus 7.62x54R and decided to shoot the match with it without testing first, instead of Czech "Silvertip" I had used before without problems. Bad idea! In the match I got rimlocks with EVERY load, and reload, at every stage. I wasn't happy and my squad wasn't happy, because some stages were scored collectively... Afterwards I found that however you try it, it's almost impossible to load this particular rifle with Chinese ammo using stripper clips without having a rimlock. The diameter of the rim is smaller, which allows the cartridges to flop in the clip and the rims jump over each other. Lesson learned: feed this rifle with Czech stuff only.

A friend wanted me to shoot his rifle he lent me. Nice hard case with locks but I forgot the key at home. Good thing I always bring several guns to shoot. I've seen a few times where some have gone to the range and forgot ammo.

Walkalong said: Drove 45 minutes to the range with only one firearm, a rifle, with no bolt.

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I sympathize. I drove 30 minutes to the range with my Shiloh Sharps - gun and assorted equipment/cleaning items needed for shooting open sight black powder cartridge rifles. Unloaded and set up everything then went back to the car for the ammo - forgot it!

My other range failure was shooting my Uberti Walker. Between the barrel/cylinder clearance and the primers falling into and jamming the action it took 30 minutes to fire 12 rounds (this had been getting progressively worse for a few months, I was emptying the loaded cylinders so I could send the gun to be Goonerized - where it is right now). Plus I had 4 misfires with the new Winchester percussion caps I bought. The 30 year old Remington caps I had worked fine but I ran out.

I remember my first time shooting a .44 mag, I bought a super Blackhawk and shot .44 spl loads that were very fun, until I decided to load some 300 gr xtps and I shot a bit high. So high in fact I hit the chain holding up the steel target and ended up dropping the target. I went to the manager and offered to pay for the chain and he said don't worry about it we have extra for just the sort of occasion.

Took my FNP-45 to the range to practice. It had been on my nightstand with a loaded magazine and a spare nearby for about three months which was way to long for my own practice philosophy.

Both mags failed to feed repeatedly and I had to put the gun away. Not the type of behavior you want from a gun you are depending on to defend your home. Replaced all my mag springs and it was better, but still not 100% reliable. Got rid of it and bought an HK-45.

Drove 30 minutes to a local indoor range wanting to have some fun with my new Coonan .357 mag and was so excited that I forgot the ammo at home and the gun store was fresh out of .357 mag ammo..........what a bummer.

I was shooting some "value" Winchester birdshot bought from Walmart out of a Remington 870 Express. For some reason, the spent shell would not exit the chamber no matter how hard I tried to pump the action. Finally had to have a range master bring a cleaning rod and smash the action to the back of the receiver from the muzzle. It happened on two separate occasions at two different ranges. I got rid of that particular shotgun soon after.

Got to the range 35 Miles from my house, and discovered the cleaned and lubed bolt for my '03A3 was on my workbench at home.

ChCx2744 said:

I was shooting some "value" Winchester birdshot bought from Walmart out of a Remington 870 Express. For some reason, the spent shell would not exit the chamber no matter how hard I tried to pump the action. Finally had to have a range master bring a cleaning rod and smash the action to the back of the receiver from the muzzle. It happened on two separate occasions at two different ranges. I got rid of that particular shotgun soon after.

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It was more than likely the shell and not the gun if you read my post up above you will see I has a similar problem with that winchester bulk ammo,
and so do alot of people the hull and base material is really thin and the base tends to expand alot or even split in alot of cases and get very very stuck.
but luckily it's a easy fix just buy the cheap federal bulk packs they tend to be a buck less for the same 100 count and the hull is of useable quality

my friend brought his Chinese copy of an 870. "Just as good, half the price". First shot , it essentially field stripped itself into the range floor. He stood there holding the stock only, while pieces skidded down range.

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That there's funny, is what that is... My personal was the drunk-monkey Century Arms L1A1 that grouped a swell 8" at 100 yds. Of course, at least it did go bang every time my son or I pulled the trigger...

Beautiful summer day, what better than a nice ride on the bike and bit of shooting. Put the 442 and ammo in the saddle bag on the Road King and take the 15 mile ride to the club. Get there, open the gate relock it, ride down to the outdoor pistol range. Thinking wow, what a great day, gonna have some fun shooting. Open up the bag take the box with gun out, wait a minute, where did I put my ear muffs? Oh, thats right...left in the trunk of the car. No problem, indoor range has boxes of em. Go inside to pistol range, nope, no muffs or ear plugs. Don't know where they were stored but I couldn't find them. Load stuff back up and head home. I guess my bad experience was a lot better than a gun blowing up.
Worst failure not at the range, discharged muzzle loader after an unsuccessful day of deer hunting. Fired at a dead tree, bullet popped out and bounced off the tree followed by two burning T7 pellets. Learned not to use oil in muzzleloaders.

Took family and friends and about a dozen guns to the range for an all day shoot. We stopped for lunch, so I locked everything in the car. After eating went back and found my car keys sitting on the seat, inside the locked car. Club range, 18 miles outside of town. It took us a couple of hours to finally get inside. I was so very close to just breaking a window!

I had a trigger pin walk out on one of my ARs. I had no idea what happened while at the range but just couldn't get the rifle to shoot anymore. Brought it home, tore it down, and discovered that the J-hook on the bottom of the hammer had broken, allowing the trigger pin to move freely.

Mosin m44 that I tried to fancy up with a scout scope mounted on the rear sight base. Mount stunk and I must have fired 60 rounds chasing zero. It would stay on just long enough to get where I wanted, then 3 shots later I'd be a foot off again. It didn't help that I was trying to use a Bushnell 3200 handgun scope (20" eye relief mounted about 16" away) so my cheek weld wasn't ideal.