Have you ever taken someone to the range, and made your guest nervous/uncomfortable?

[DigitalWarrior]

OK, a bit about me. I am a former Marine, and kind of into guns. I was a fair shot as a marine and have now what decayed into what I would call "barely proficient".

I decide to take two good friends to the range. One is former Navy and the other an LEO. It is a 25yd indoor. I pull out my favorite working gun, the Kimber 1911 w./laser grips and put the target at 25 yards. With aimed fire, I place all rounds in the torso of the Target, in 30 seconds or so. The LEO has his target out at the same distance. He took 2 minutes and dropped half his rounds off the target.

They knew I was into civil rights, specifically the KABA! variety. The LEO said WOW at my shots and the other said he is kinda nervous about my mad skillz and political activism. The word "gun nut" was used. I responded that I was nervous that the LEO might need to take an accurate shot one day.

I know I need to improve my 6 inch "communities" (they cannot be called "groups" at that distance).

 

[Standing Wolf]

The word "gun nut" was used.

I always consider it a compliment.

Seriously: I've never been an intimidatingly good shot, but it used to bother my ex-wife that range trips sometimes lasted two and three and four hours. One or two newbies I've had the pleasure of introducing to shooting seemed confounded by my concentration.

I know I need to improve my 6 inch "communities" (they cannot be called "groups" at that distance).

I created some communities on paper this evening myself.

 

[palerider1]

i wont take anyone to the range i would be uncomfortable with. the range is a place of concentration and relaxation. when i take my older kids there i concentrate on teaching them proper gun safety and marksmanship skills. i would only go there with someone i felt could go and enjoy it. i'm taking my wife sunday....cant wait!!!

 

[Pilgrim]

It gets more fun when you are a peace officer and the other officers are nervous about your ability to put all your shots in the ten ring.

Pilgrim

 

[Vex]

In the police academy, I was made extremely nervous by one of the other cadets. We were on the range, the range was "hot" (fully loaded, one in the pipe) getting ready to go on lunch, and the cadet i speak of takes his weapon out of his holster, sweeps the loaded weapon toward half the class, and places the loaded weapon into a case with the barrel end pointing toward the insructor table. Talk about an idiot.

Needless to say he didn't pass the academy.

 

[cracked butt]

Took some coworkers to the range a couple of years ago and brought along a bunch of reactive targets to shoot- pumpkins and milkjugs of water.

we set a milkjug out at 200 yards and a guy was shooting at it with his 30-06 and missed it. I told him I could hit it with an iron sighted rifle easily. He said nooooo, we can barely see it, how can you hit it? I told him I'll even do it without a benchrest and will hit 3 out of 5 shots. He laughed at me. We took 4 more milkjugs down to the 200 yard berm and walked back. I got out my 03A3, slung up, loaded the magazine, and proceeded to hit 5 out of 5. He asked what kind of rifle it was and told him and that it was an old war rifle. He said that he didn't think they would be that accurate, I told him they needed to be somewhat accurate in case an enemy soldier stuck his head up out of a trench or foxhole. He looked at a milk carton and shivered a little.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Scared?

I think some folks don't realize that with practice you can make things look easy. I demonstrated 'indexing' to a friend... taking note of a 'target' in the room, and drawing on it (non-gun) with my eyes closed. He asked me to do it with multiple targets so I looked at him and two friends, closed my eyes, drew my finger (not a weapon) and with eyes closed point shot each of them by saying BANG when I thought I was on target. That rattled all three of them... apparently I didn't 'miss' anyone.

Similarly I have had exceedingly good days at the range with newbies, as well as a few bad ones. Competition makes me better.

Like pissing off my cousin Beth, outshooting her SKS with a rifle I'd never handled (marlin 1894 44 mag) in an impromptu shoot at at 100 yards against bowling pins, golf balls and snuff cans full of talc. I think she was surprised.

Or matching my brother's accuracy with a 22 rifle with a 22 pistol.

Or rattling my dad's cage the first time he saw me zap a pop can 8 out of 9 shots, 7 of them before it stopped moving/hit the ground with a 22 target pistol. (Think I was 14).

 

[Ryder]

I made some stranger at the range uncomfortable recently.

I thought I was trying to make a joke but it came out wrong or maybe some people just can't see humor in the truth? I don't know, but anyways, he started it by telling me "That's a nice pattern". I actually asked him to repeat himsself. Then came my reply: "That's not a pattern... It's a group... Yours is a pattern!". I tried to make it sound like Crocodile Dundee's famous "That's not a knife... This is a knife!" line.

Poor guy. I need some serious work on my people skillz. Shoulda just said thank you.

 

[lucky_fool]

So the LEO actually said "wow" at your ability to put 8 shots in a torso at 25 yards inside 30 seconds using a laser? And he couldn't do it in two minutes? He should be nervous - every day on the street, not at the range with you.

 

[DigitalWarrior]

Unfortunately yes, he said that. I am concerned for him too. I offered to teach him the tiny bit I know (Those who can't do... teach). He declined.

Though I was not using the laser at 25 yards. I used the laser after that event, when I brought the target to 10 yards. I do two body, one head three times as fast as I can manage. Most time during my practice is hitting fist sized groups as fast as I can at that distance. I figure if I need it, it will be at that distance, and speed counts more than almost everything else.

DW

 

[Mulliga]

That LEO probably doesn't shoot enough. 6" at 25 yards is nothing special (heck, even I can scrape that together occasionally ).

I have brought people to the range and impressed them with my skills, but only because they were total beginners. It doesn't take much practice to be able to shoot 1" group at 7 yards, but if you've never shot a gun before, it's impressive I suppose.

 

[DirtyBrad]

We took my two friends to the skeet field one day and the pistol range the next.

At the skeet field, Bob, who's had zero experience with guns loved it and shot extremely well, getting 15 or better at least half the time. Harry, who's never handled a gun, but was very excited about it, seemed less comfortable and broke just a couple of birds each round.

The next day was the complete opposite. Bob, who had excelled at skeet, shot very poorly and was never at all comfortable. He couldn't wait to leave. Harry did much better and couldn't get enough.

 

[scubie02]

I've had people be impressed at the range before, including some LEO friends, but never had them be nervous because of it. Maybe envious!

Now dating, if you even own guns (and God forbid if you have a CCW and actually CARRY!) can be pretty dicey...

 

[rero360]

first day of BRM in basic my senior drill SGT saw my target and said something along the lines of "Holy sh*t stevens, looks like we found something your good at." he was pretty impressed, my groups were about the size of a penny. then my other dill SGT said something about being a born killer or something,

 

[chopinbloc]

Have you ever taken someone to the range, and made your guest nervous/uncomfortable?

not the way that you did and i'm not proud of this, but...

few years ago i took my then girlfriend to the desert to shoot. things were fine until she took her ears off behind me and i didn't notice. i ripped off about a ten or fifteen round string from the mini-14 and when i turned around i discovered she was a bit upset. well, more than a bit, she was crying i felt pretty bad but i didn't stay with her long after that either. i don't need a woman that's hulk hogan, but a little fortitude sure is nice - and enough common sense to cover one's ears to prevent damage rather than just breaking down over it.

 

[Kevlarman]

I was at an indoor range a few years ago with my GF, and at 10 yards (and 20 seconds) put all shots from my Glock 30 into the X-ring.

To my right was some guy with (I think) a Ruger P95. He also had a girl with him, and was rapid firing, even though range rules prohibit it. We both pull our targets in, and he compliments me on my tight group. He then tells me that he is a police officer, and that grouping doesn't mean squat if I can't shoot under stress.

I look at his target, with the shots peppered all over the place, smile and nod.

I'm sure he impressed his girlfriend though! :banghead:

 

[trueblue1776]

I thought you sucked until I realized that you said YARDS, a six inch group at 25 yards is a clean kill in my book. I'm not a fantastic shot but a stop is a bullseye to me.

 

[gripper]

I've made a couple of loacal cops nervous, not at the range (they've never seen me shoot) ,but one or two of them went to the same gym as me for a while,when a few old friends and I had a semi-formal "fightclub" going on in the boxing room(mixed tool box skills for H2H along with conditioning).Seeing as I am engaged in ongoing legal and personal hassles with their chief,I can see them getting carried away during a "routine stop" on me at some point in the future. I guess too many supplements make some people insecure. when a scrawny middle aged mutt such as myself dogs them out.
Hey, I'm a leg breaker not a b@ll breaker

 

[Otony]

A few years back we were at the Los Altos Rod & Gun Club shooting my Super Blackhawk at 50 yards. This fellow next to us was shooting one of those "new in the wrap" Lee-Enfields and not doing doodly squat with it. My free hand groups were all about 5" or 6", so not great at all. His were about two FEET using a rest, and some were off the paper!

He got so disgusted with me he started to show a little attitude, as if I was the fault somehow. I suggested he just needed more practice, as it was a new rifle to him. That pissed him off even more, so he practically shoves the thing at me, and says something to the effect of "here you give it a try and see".

Sorry to say, it WAS an accurate rifle. I write was, as when he saw my groups, he grabbed the rifle and just slammed it into the trunk of his car with an audible crunch. We hunkered down to wait for what came next, but he just left in a spray of gravel, with the range master yelling "slow down".

So yeah, I guess you could say I made him nervous!

 

[Pilgrim]

To my right was some guy with (I think) a Ruger P95. He also had a girl with him, and was rapid firing, even though range rules prohibit it. We both pull our targets in, and he compliments me on my tight group. He then tells me that he is a police officer, and that grouping doesn't mean squat if I can't shoot under stress.

He is suggesting he gets better with stress?

Pilgrim

 

[Kevlarman]

He is suggesting he gets better with stress?

Pilgrim

I guess so! Or maybe because he's a cop it means that he automatically gets +5 weapon accuracy when under the influence of adrenaline.

 

[gripper]

Thatcop sounds like a pantload to me.But hey, a lot of them are. Not all;not even most.I just think toom many people in "public trust" positions develpoe a "I was SELECTED" type of attitude,i.e.special. When one of us mere mortalsis 1)Not in awe of them, and 1)Demonstrates an ability to potentially make their life interesting given the right stimulus,they get insecure. Then they compensate by telling you how little your tight groups would matter("under stress").

 

[GoBrush]

I shoot with lots of people and we all try hard to introduce more people to safe enjoyment of the shooting sports. On occasion we will take a fairly good sized group to the desert after we have shot clay pigeons and hand guns a couple of us whip out the AR15's some of the new guys get the deer in the head lights look but are always very curious. When they see how acurate they are they start taking turns and find out how well they shoot, how cheap ammo is, how little they kick, how fun they are to shoot. Its funny cause the big black scary gun turns out to be every ones favorite. Its really fun to watch this transition.

 

[dm1333]

Never made anybody at the range nervous but ....

The other day I was at work (a Coast Guard station) in the shop working on the trigger of my MN M38. The door to the shop was closed and when one of the younger guys walked by he saw me in the window "talking to myself" and slamming the butt of the gun on the bench. He immediately told the OOD who came out to investigate. Turns out I was talking to the station dog when he walked by and slamming the butt of the cocked gun on the bench to make sure it wouldn't fire when dropped. Sure freaked him out for a bit though.

 

[OrvilleYertleson]

I have scared a couple people in much the same fashion. Once with a LEO friend who wanted to show me how to shoot, and other times with friends who wanted to tag along.

Sad thing is, despite the compliments I get when at the range with regular people, I still get my butt handed to me when I go to matches.

The way I see it simply hitting a target at 25 yards isn't a matter of 'mad skillz' so much as basic competency.