Kramer Krazy
Member
Yeah.....I almost got kicked out of the indoor shooting range that I went to on Saturday.......
My little sister was coming going to my parent's in Columbia, SC, and through emails, I found out that she doesn't recall ever shooting a gun, before. She said she may have shot one of my BB guns 23 years, or so, ago, but she doesn't recall ever shooting. My wife and I were going to go to the local shooting range, Shooters Choice, since my mother and grandmother volunteered to watch our 7-month old daughter.
We went to the range and signed their little rules and regs sheet and gave them our driver's licenses, as they require. The guy noted that my sister was from Texas and tried to flirt with her, and I'd assumed he checked out that my wife and I were from two hours away (mistake #1). The guy was standing there, watched me just sign the sheet and hand it to him, without actually reading it (mistake #2). I have only been in that range, once, since 1993 or 1994, and never really thought about anything being different than Rex's Indoor Shooting Range in Hendersonville, NC, the range we usually frequent (mistake #3).
We get into the range, take two lanes, and my wife preceeds to shoot in one lane, as I teach my sister all about the "4 rules", operation of the Ruger MK II, safety features of the gun, and other things. Interesting tid-bit, it was about 95 degrees in there, as their a/c was broken. I was spending most of my time coaching my sister and was not shooting much myself. When my sister was getting a little more comfortable with the little Ruger, the heat was getting to my wife, so she went into an air conditioned area and I took over her lane.
I shot 10 rounds out of my wife's S&W 5903, because the magazine was already loaded, and I switched to a B-27 silloutette target and pulled out my little Bersa Thunder 380. I am used to practicing multiple, rapid shots, so making sure my sister was reloading (as not to frighten her), I loaded only five rounds and did a rapid fire of all five at the chest of the B-27 at 7 yards. It was a nice 6"-7" group in the 9 and 10 rings. I put the gun down, checked on my sister, and then loaded another five rounds into the little Bersa. When my sister was between shots, I let the five rounds fly through the head of the B-27 with a rapid fire (about another 7" group plastering the head). I get just enough time to drop the mag out of the gun, when the guy who was flirting with my sister comes over to me with a really pissed off look on his face and pulls me out of the range and into the lobby area.
It is at this time he jumps all over me for doing the rapid firing, and that I wasn't supposed to do that because I'd signed the rules and regs sheet and they had one smallish sign posted that stated that I was supposed to wait a second between each shot fired. I apologized very sincerely, told him I didn't realize it, and that I used to be able to do rapid fire when I was last there. He proceeded to tell me that they NEVER allowed rapid fire, but when I told him I hadn't been there since 1993, he shut up and then stated that they allow double-taps, but not rapid fire. He told me that they usually would kick me out of the range, but since my sister was there visiting, he'd let me stay. I thanked him for being forgiving and went back into the range.
Once back in my lane, I loaded two more mags of five, blew out the "X" on the B-27 and then started to get pissed at his attitude. Sure, rules are rules, and I broke them, but earlier, as my wife and sister confirmed, someone else was rapid firing further down the range. I don't know if they were warned or escorted out, also, but they were doing 10-15 rounds, as my wife recalled. Also, the guys right next to me were shooting at a B-27 at 7 yards, too, but they were missing the paper completely, whereas I was still doing 6"-7" groups with rapid fire. As I started to think of the guy's attitude, the more ticked I got, and with the sweltering heat in the range, I decided to pack up and leave, as my sister and wife were not having fun with the heat, and I was just didn't like the guy's attitude.
Anyway.......yeppers, almost got thrown out of the range. I assumed too many things, the main one being that I didn't read their new rules, and am too used to shooting rapid fire at my regular range. I'll probably still go to Shooter's Choice in the future, but I'll pay attention, next time. It isn't the best range I've ever been to, and I'm a little "on edge" when there......there are bullet holes directly overhead in the lane, and HUGE chunks are shot out of the rafters downrange, plus, they had a person (I think it was an employee) accidentally shoot himself in the head with a Desert Eagle 50AE a few years ago. Seeing all of those bullet holes, just makes me a little uneasy......and I can understand their restrictions on rapid fire if their regular customers are anything like the two guys in the lane next to me.
My little sister was coming going to my parent's in Columbia, SC, and through emails, I found out that she doesn't recall ever shooting a gun, before. She said she may have shot one of my BB guns 23 years, or so, ago, but she doesn't recall ever shooting. My wife and I were going to go to the local shooting range, Shooters Choice, since my mother and grandmother volunteered to watch our 7-month old daughter.
We went to the range and signed their little rules and regs sheet and gave them our driver's licenses, as they require. The guy noted that my sister was from Texas and tried to flirt with her, and I'd assumed he checked out that my wife and I were from two hours away (mistake #1). The guy was standing there, watched me just sign the sheet and hand it to him, without actually reading it (mistake #2). I have only been in that range, once, since 1993 or 1994, and never really thought about anything being different than Rex's Indoor Shooting Range in Hendersonville, NC, the range we usually frequent (mistake #3).
We get into the range, take two lanes, and my wife preceeds to shoot in one lane, as I teach my sister all about the "4 rules", operation of the Ruger MK II, safety features of the gun, and other things. Interesting tid-bit, it was about 95 degrees in there, as their a/c was broken. I was spending most of my time coaching my sister and was not shooting much myself. When my sister was getting a little more comfortable with the little Ruger, the heat was getting to my wife, so she went into an air conditioned area and I took over her lane.
I shot 10 rounds out of my wife's S&W 5903, because the magazine was already loaded, and I switched to a B-27 silloutette target and pulled out my little Bersa Thunder 380. I am used to practicing multiple, rapid shots, so making sure my sister was reloading (as not to frighten her), I loaded only five rounds and did a rapid fire of all five at the chest of the B-27 at 7 yards. It was a nice 6"-7" group in the 9 and 10 rings. I put the gun down, checked on my sister, and then loaded another five rounds into the little Bersa. When my sister was between shots, I let the five rounds fly through the head of the B-27 with a rapid fire (about another 7" group plastering the head). I get just enough time to drop the mag out of the gun, when the guy who was flirting with my sister comes over to me with a really pissed off look on his face and pulls me out of the range and into the lobby area.
It is at this time he jumps all over me for doing the rapid firing, and that I wasn't supposed to do that because I'd signed the rules and regs sheet and they had one smallish sign posted that stated that I was supposed to wait a second between each shot fired. I apologized very sincerely, told him I didn't realize it, and that I used to be able to do rapid fire when I was last there. He proceeded to tell me that they NEVER allowed rapid fire, but when I told him I hadn't been there since 1993, he shut up and then stated that they allow double-taps, but not rapid fire. He told me that they usually would kick me out of the range, but since my sister was there visiting, he'd let me stay. I thanked him for being forgiving and went back into the range.
Once back in my lane, I loaded two more mags of five, blew out the "X" on the B-27 and then started to get pissed at his attitude. Sure, rules are rules, and I broke them, but earlier, as my wife and sister confirmed, someone else was rapid firing further down the range. I don't know if they were warned or escorted out, also, but they were doing 10-15 rounds, as my wife recalled. Also, the guys right next to me were shooting at a B-27 at 7 yards, too, but they were missing the paper completely, whereas I was still doing 6"-7" groups with rapid fire. As I started to think of the guy's attitude, the more ticked I got, and with the sweltering heat in the range, I decided to pack up and leave, as my sister and wife were not having fun with the heat, and I was just didn't like the guy's attitude.
Anyway.......yeppers, almost got thrown out of the range. I assumed too many things, the main one being that I didn't read their new rules, and am too used to shooting rapid fire at my regular range. I'll probably still go to Shooter's Choice in the future, but I'll pay attention, next time. It isn't the best range I've ever been to, and I'm a little "on edge" when there......there are bullet holes directly overhead in the lane, and HUGE chunks are shot out of the rafters downrange, plus, they had a person (I think it was an employee) accidentally shoot himself in the head with a Desert Eagle 50AE a few years ago. Seeing all of those bullet holes, just makes me a little uneasy......and I can understand their restrictions on rapid fire if their regular customers are anything like the two guys in the lane next to me.