What's the worst shooting you're ever seen at the range?

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Many years ago, at a state owned public range, I'm shooting 44 mag @ 25 yards on the provided target hangers. There were hangers at about 15, 25, and 50 yards. A state cop shows up, sets up a portable target frame at about 6 or 8 feet in front of the bench. Puts 3 or 4 mags through what I assume was his service weapon without putting a single hole in the target. Packs up and leaves. Scary.
 
The worst shooting I ever see is from the evidence left behind -- hits on the bottom of the legs of the plate racks (3+ ft low) and the hits on the top "eye brow" of the splatter guards (4+ feet high) this is all from only 10 yards away :eek:

I worry this level of incompetence will get things shutdown.
 
After firing a few shots, they noticed they were shooting off to one side . . . so they took the rifle, wedged the barrel between legs of the shooting bench, and endeavored to bend it to the correct side in order to bring point of impact to the center of the crosshairs. :what:

OK...you win. I've never seen anything quite like that! :eek:
 
I've had students in our NRA basic pistol class who miss the 2x3 foot cardboard backing at 9 feet. By the end of the class, most of them are keeping most of their shots on the 9" paper plate at that range.

I was coaching an older gent with a brand new custom 1911. When the command to load and lock was given, he turned the gun sideways to rack the slide and pointed it directly at my stomach. I corrected him, but he knew everything and ignored me. On the line, his new toy was so tight it would not always go into battery. He was smacking the back of the slide with his off hand. I told him that was one way to deal with such a malfunction, but to take his finger off the trigger when he did so. I got the look again, and the next time it happened he put a 230 grain bullet through the roof of the indoor range, directly towards down town Cheyenne.
 
Years ago on a Police Department I worked on at the time we shot the shotguns we carried our cars for qualification and refamilization. We were shooting on B-27 targets which are life size shiloutte humanoid shape. Very hard not to get at least a few hits on. Course of fire was 5 rounds at close range and 15 yards. One of the officers shot the course and didn't score a single hit.

We were shooting on our indoor shooting range that had plywood panels in the ceiling to catch stray rounds. Well it look like a blizzard downrange from all of the pieces of plywood he had blasted.
 
I can tell you that, decades ago and before I knew anything about eye dominance, my targets were about the worst I had ever seen.

I bought my first handgun and headed to the range. I didn't have any shooting buddies back then and had never even fired a handgun. One range rule is that targets have to be out at least 15 yards and I could not even hit the paper (I think it was about a 2'x3'x silhouette. I was frustrated beyond belief because, in my mind's eye, I was spot on! Even on a rest, they were not on the paper.

After my third trip to the range, a friendly range officer noticed my frustration. I asked him to shoot a few rounds to see if it was my gun or me. He landed all of his rounds in a nice 3/4 inch circle. After observing me for about 30 seconds, he was able to tell me I was cross dominant and I was able to quickly adjust.

I am still no great accuracy shooter but have improved significantly with lots of practice. I have people approach me all of the time asking for pointers. Since I have had very little formal training I hesitate to give a lot of advice but for those having severe accuracy issues, I start with eye dominance.

You never know why the guy next to you is shooting the way he is.
 
I had an eye-opening experience at an indoor range. It was fairly new, twelve lanes, had about a 20-foot ceiling, painted white, with steel trusses and sheet steel decking.

I happened to look up, and the ENTIRE ceiling was peppered with small black dots - the trusses, the decking, even the light fixtures. Not just thousands, but probably tens of thousands of bullet impacts. The crazy thing was, they were nearly evenly spaced over the entire ceiling, not just along the lanes.

I was thinking an AD might happen once a week, but that place looked like a combination of shotguns and machine guns had been at it for a while...
 
A few weeks ago, there were some guys shooting a semi-auto rifle at the pistol berm at a local range I attend. The target had to be at the 7 yard line. They would empty a magazine and then shoot another as fast as they could. Dirt flew everywhere but I don't see how they could have hit anything. There would be a short pause after a while (I assume to reload magazines) and then they would begin anew. I don't know how many rounds they shot but it had to be a lot. The range owner and I could see the dirt flying from where we were standing at the clubhouse and we were both puzzled by this. Maybe they just liked the noise or watching dirt fly but it sure must have been expensive.
 
The worst I ever saw was a guy shooting an 18 inch Rem 870 at 15 yards.

He fired 7 rounds of #00 buck and didn't get a single pellet on target. When he reloaded, I stepped forward a bit to watch. He'd point the shotgun in the direction of the FBI "Q" target, grit his teeth, close both eyes tightly, turn his head to the right and press the trigger. No hits.

When he was empty, I offered him my Remington 1100 to try. The first round missed. The rest of the magazine went dead center.

This guy was terrified of the really brutal recoil of light pump guns, but shot a gas semiauto quite well.
 
Worst I've seen...tie between the cop who pointed a loaded handgun at me (I was to his left on the line, he held it in his right hand and pointed it to his 9 o'clock while looking downrange, just total lack of muzzle awareness) and the regular guy who pointed a loaded rifle with safety off and hand on the grip at my head (he was kneeling on the line with a loaded rifle and swung the muzzle back to his 5 o'clock where I was standing a few feet away). I think I've been swept by other loaded guns but those two stood out to me for some particular reason...

Yesterday I was at an indoor range and as I was waiting for three guys to get off my lane, I was watching them shoot. They were shooting an AR-15 of some flavor at 7 yards. I wouldn't really care, but then I started counting between shots. It was easily 3-4 seconds.

I know we all start somewhere and I'm no competitor or fantastic shooter, but yikes it was hard to watch.

We often discuss good shooting on THR, but what's the worst shooting you've ever witnessed?

I don't get it.

What's so wrong with taking 3-4 seconds between shots? :confused:
 
Worst I've seen...tie between the cop who pointed a loaded handgun at me (I was to his left on the line, he held it in his right hand and pointed it to his 9 o'clock while looking downrange, just total lack of muzzle awareness) and the regular guy who pointed a loaded rifle with safety off and hand on the grip at my head (he was kneeling on the line with a loaded rifle and swung the muzzle back to his 5 o'clock where I was standing a few feet away). I think I've been swept by other loaded guns but those two stood out to me for some particular reason...



I don't get it.

What's so wrong with taking 3-4 seconds between shots? :confused:
I agree. I don't understand either. If I'm just trying to find out how accurate one of my guns is, 3-4 seconds between shots is totally reasonable. If I'm sighting in a scope, 3-4 seconds would be a very fast rate of fire.
 
I agree. I don't understand either. If I'm just trying to find out how accurate one of my guns is, 3-4 seconds between shots is totally reasonable. If I'm sighting in a scope, 3-4 seconds would be a very fast rate of fire.

Not only that, but as it happens, if you fire during your natural respiratory pause, and are breathing normally, there will be 3-5 seconds between shots. I'll assume OP isn't referring to somebody that on the ball, but...he could be...and somebody who really knows what they are doing might be taking 3-4 seconds between shots while shooting a rifle, even standing at a close target ("an MOA is an MOA").
 
We have a "Public" shooting weekend before the Deer season opener. I happened to be there when a couple 20ish guys and a girl showed up with a new slug shotgun. He obviously didn't know what to do but had his own way. He waited for the shooting to stop, went downrange with a pencil and was looking at the bare plywood backers while other guys were looking at their paper targets. He moved around and marked the wood. When he came back I asked if he needed a target as he didn't post one. He said "No, I don't need one. I'm going to shoot like the old hunters. They picked out a knot in the wood and used that for a target. I put a "X" on mine :uhoh: Ok I said. Good luck. He got into a contorted position to shoot and the recoil of the first 3" 12ga slug he shot jammed his thumb into his nose covering everything in blood. We helped him get cleaned up and offered him advice. But he shoved the bloody gun into the case and left. Oh well.:rolleyes:
 
I was shooting with a buddy a while back. His main gun is an XD40; my main gun is an M&P40 (not that it matters, just mentioning that we use different platforms). Each time we took turns with our gun on the target about 7 yards out, I was grouping within 1" and he was only getting 1/4-1/3 of his shots on paper. I taught him about trigger control, but he wasn't flinching. We worked on his stance and his grip a little; still no improvement. I took a turn with his gun and put 10 rounds into a ragged 1" hole. "Nope, it's not your gun :)". After another half hour of shooting with the same results, he exclaimed "Oh, I forgot to use the sights!". His groups got much better after that :D He's actually been shooting for probably 5+ years.
 
Worst shooting

A man with a brand new 12 ga pistol grip (no shoulder stock) shotgun shooting slugs. He was bringing the breech very close to his face . When he fired, the breech hit him very hard in the face. We tried to convince him to hold it away from his face with no success. After the forth shot he left with a badly bruised face. No one had any idea where he hit, we were all watching the beating he took.
 
Some stupid woman coming from the pistol range to the rifle range to warm up and fire some practice rounds and practice her mag changes.....................................
WHILE I WAS DIRECTLY DOWN RANGE ON A COLD RIFLE RANGE WEARING A BLAZE ORANGE COAT!

Needless to say, I was not the most polite to her, her husband or their range master.....
SASMFSOB..........
 
Yesterday I was at an indoor range and as I was waiting for three guys to get off my lane, I was watching them shoot. They were shooting an AR-15 of some flavor at 7 yards. I wouldn't really care, but then I started counting between shots. It was easily 3-4 seconds.

I would take that over blasting a 30 round mag at the same distance, not hitting anything.

Worst I have seen is during qualifying for CHL, people ejected...

Not like it's that hard to listen to range commands and be safe at 3-15 yards but it happens more than you would think.

Might be a few minutes between shots for my kid but I don't run a timer with her either.

#1 safe
#2 fun
#3 accuracy
#4 repeat and try to swap #2 with #3.

When that becomes boring she can add speed to see how it effects only #2 and #3. I never admonish safety.

Worst accident, a master class shooter shooting himself in the butt, getting his finger on the trigger before the muzzle was clear of the holster, in a match. Why RO's stand to the side vs behind "good" shooters.

In short "slow" is not equal to "bad" in my book.
 
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I've seen a lot of bad shooting at the range, but I think the most recent one was a guy shooting a .308 AR with a red dot, and using a bipod on the table in front of the lane (indoor range). He was two lanes over from me, shooting at a large (10" maybe) white bullseye, and missing the paper quite a bit. He wasn't blasting away, but taking his time. We were both shooting at 15 yards, and as I was shooting (a 6" round shoot-n-see pasted on a silhouette since the center was chewed out of the cardboard backer), I noticed a shot on the upper-left white part of my silhouette.

From the guy with the rifle. With a red dot. Rested on a bipod. At 15 yards. From two lanes over.

Another time, I had an idiot lighting up my target with a weapon light on an AR. He couldn't shoot too well either, but kept the shots off my target.

I didn't mention the ARs to denigrate AR shooters, by the way. I'm just baffled that anyone could shoot one so poorly.
 
I’ve only seen really horrible shooting twice. One was qualifying for my CCW. One of the individuals had gone through a 50 round box of ammo and was in the shop buying another box. There were only two or three holes in the full size silhouette target at 15 feet.

The other instance was me. I had just bought a Mini30, mounted a scope and zeroed it at home with a laser bore sight. At 50 yards, and maybe 10 3 shot groups and adjustments, not a single hole in the target. Removed the scope and no problem shooting a 4” group with the lousy peep sight.
 
Guy shows up on the 50 yard pistol range with a Barrett AR with an acog on it, puts a milk jug full of water on the 50 yard berm, fires a full mag slow fire, and never scratches the jug. Another guy shows up with a sig x5, tells me all about how accurate it is, then puts up a full size silhouette at 7 yards and proceeds to shoot an 18 inch slow fire group. These are the two that stick in my mind.
 
I don't get it.

What's so wrong with taking 3-4 seconds between shots? :confused:
Nothing. I do it all the time when shooting a handgun at 30 yards or more.

I would take that over blasting a 30 round mag at the same distance, n
agreed

In short "slow" is not equal to "bad" in my book.
also agreed

I agree. I don't understand either. If I'm just trying to find out how accurate one of my guns is, 3-4 seconds between shots is totally reasonable. If I'm sighting in a scope, 3-4 seconds would be a very fast rate of fire.
Also agreed.

As I said, we all start somewhere. These kids weren't zeroing a scope or testing the accuracy of the rifle. Every time one of them shot they had to look back at their friends giggling like a school girl. This was the rate of fire they needed just to hit the target. Their groups were easily 8" in size at 7 yards. BUT, at least they were hitting their target, so kuddos to them for not just pulling the trigger fast.

Part of my reaction was undoubtedly caused by them not getting off the lane when their time was up, and my dollars were being spent. The RO actually yelled at them for having 6 people on one lane, but said nothing about time. :fire: That's when I went from standing at the door politily, to standing directly behind them, and tapping my wrist like I had a watch on when they turned around.

They were keeping the gun pointed down range, and were shooting at their skill level, and as other posters have illustrated, it could be a lot worse. It was just a little difficult to watch.
 
I agree. I don't understand either. If I'm just trying to find out how accurate one of my guns is, 3-4 seconds between shots is totally reasonable. If I'm sighting in a scope, 3-4 seconds would be a very fast rate of fire.

you accuracy test and sight in scoped rifles at 7 yards.
 
They were shooting an AR-15 of some flavor at 7 yards. I wouldn't really care, but then I started counting between shots. It was easily 3-4 seconds.

At least they weren't rapid firing, losing control of the muzzle, and hitting the cables and the range ceiling! Yes I saw that happen multiple times, mostly by "experienced shooters." :what:
 
460kodiak said:
Part of my reaction was undoubtedly caused by them not getting off the lane when their time was up, and my dollars were being spent. The RO actually yelled at them for having 6 people on one lane, but said nothing about time. That's when I went from standing at the door politily, to standing directly behind them, and tapping my wrist like I had a watch on when they turned around.

Why wouldn't you tell the range operator that you had paid for time and let them get the people off your lane, rather than standing there tapping your wrist?
 
Yesterday I was at an indoor range and as I was waiting for three guys to get off my lane, I was watching them shoot. They were shooting an AR-15 of some flavor at 7 yards. I wouldn't really care, but then I started counting between shots. It was easily 3-4 seconds.

I know we all start somewhere and I'm no competitor or fantastic shooter, but yikes it was hard to watch.

We often discuss good shooting on THR, but what's the worst shooting you've ever witnessed?
I've learned that I am way more OCD than my fellow range-shooters. It always amazes me that folks will grab a bench, rest the barrel on a bag, bang away a 12" group and call it good for dear season. The thing is, they will probably do just fine.

I sighted in a new upper yesterday, and spent 60 rounds tweaking it to the new M262 rounds I just got in. By tweaking, I mean I adjusted my POI down to the quarter-inch. I have been known to avoid coffee and take a Xanax before shooting just to keep any tremors at bay. I like, no, I NEED tight groups, and I need them clustered precisely to my POA. I envy the non-OCD world....
 
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