El Tejon
Member
Wednesday night I received a call from a colleague of mine who has been a gun buddy since I moved to Lafayette from Indy in '95. Apparently Wednesday night my gun club, Wildcat Valley Rifle and Pistol Club in Brookston, voted to freeze the shooting of .50 USMG weapons until the Safety Committee completed an "evaluation" of any potential hazards to the berms and backstops.
It seems the .50 USMG has become the "in thing" to shoot among the gun nuts here. Someone who did not own one was jealous of the others and complained to the club officers.
My club has no rule against it (heck guys shoot all kinds of big stuff--deer slugs, .416s, .460s, even found a .505 case out on the range once). However, the shooting of .50 USMG (which I know have been shot at the club since I joined in 1996) is now suddenly a "problem".
So, the club decided to prohibit shooting .50 USMG until a "study" can be done. Now here's the silly part (this is Indiana, you know there's a silly part), you can still shoot .416s, .375s, .338s or even a .505, just this specific caliber is prohibited.
The claimed safety hazard: bullets leaving the range, has never transpired with any sort of rifle to my knowledge. However, it has happened with pistol bullets (pin shooting match, bullets bouncing off table and ending up in field where detasseling was ongoing! Yikes). I fail to see how .50 bullets pose a greater hazard of leaving the range than a .308, especially since we shoot into river clay.
Anyone else having jealousy related problems with their gun club? *sigh*
It seems the .50 USMG has become the "in thing" to shoot among the gun nuts here. Someone who did not own one was jealous of the others and complained to the club officers.
My club has no rule against it (heck guys shoot all kinds of big stuff--deer slugs, .416s, .460s, even found a .505 case out on the range once). However, the shooting of .50 USMG (which I know have been shot at the club since I joined in 1996) is now suddenly a "problem".
So, the club decided to prohibit shooting .50 USMG until a "study" can be done. Now here's the silly part (this is Indiana, you know there's a silly part), you can still shoot .416s, .375s, .338s or even a .505, just this specific caliber is prohibited.
The claimed safety hazard: bullets leaving the range, has never transpired with any sort of rifle to my knowledge. However, it has happened with pistol bullets (pin shooting match, bullets bouncing off table and ending up in field where detasseling was ongoing! Yikes). I fail to see how .50 bullets pose a greater hazard of leaving the range than a .308, especially since we shoot into river clay.
Anyone else having jealousy related problems with their gun club? *sigh*