Things You Don't Want to See at the Range

[Kodiaz]

A bunch of guys with New York accents renting automatic weapons(yeah I decided against shooting that day)


A guy with a gun from the case constantly pointing it at my belly(sir free liposuction sounds great but that beautiful Kimber .45 is not the method I would like)


People using those hostage targets only to find out they are so bad they put their bullets in the hostage's head.

 

[Berek]

I love watching ppl use the hostage targets and wasting the hostage. Tends to knock 'em down a peg when they realize that they can't hide it.

The problems I have at the range I use (which is also the range I teach Hunter Education at) is:
1) Shoot a round of trap, go into the clubhouse and drink. Then go shoot another round. Repeat.

2) When we teach classes, the range is reserved on Saturdays from 4pm on. I have had members rant because they're paid members and that supercedes any reservations we've made with the club.



Just my little rant... there's more, but I'm gonna keep it simple.

 

[lawson]

first, a few annoyances:

the Glock Guy - i have encountered this guy in a few different incarnations. the most recent was at the range. he sits at the bench next to me and begins shooting his shiny new glock. nothing really wrong with this, but as we're examining targets, he starts talking my ear off about why his Glock is superior to my wheelguns, and begins listing specifics. to politely change the subject, i asked what other handguns he owned. he replied "none, just this glock".

the Full Auto Guy - this didn't really bother me as much as it bothered my elderly father. we were sighting in our deer rifles, and the full auto guy takes the bench next to us. my dad fudged a couple shots with his contender, and started to scowl at the full auto guy. i brought up the point if that if there was an evil full auto guy at the other end of the range, he had better not let it affect his accuracy. he chuckled, and proceeded to shoot a perfect group. after a while, he looked at the full auto guy, looked at me and said "gee, that kinda looks like fun".

the Armchair Guru - we all know this guy. the guy who can quote Jeff Cooper and Elmer Keith word for word, and will not stop talking about them, but can't hit the target to save his life.

and then there were the scares....


1. a kid walks up the the range front gate, by the RO desk, past the signs that say "ALL MUZZLES UP, ALL ACTIONS OPEN AND EMPTY", with his AK held in a low ready, magazine inserted, with his finger in the triggerguard. he was banned for life, and he was lucky that was all that happened.

2. an SUV starts driving down the access road to the 300 yard mark, WHILE THE LINE IS HOT. luckily, everyone noticed right away and stopped firing, and the rangemaster had some strong words for the driver.

 

[Hawken50]

The strangest thing I saw was a pretty girl who distracted everyone with her figure and her weird leaning-back stance. It was as if she was pointing the P22, then adjusting the level of her head rather than the pistol to get her sight picture.

my wife does that. i didn't want to discourage her by correcting her. took me five years to get her to the range that once. i'll save that for her second trip, in 2009.

 

[Eleven Mike]

Things you don't want to see on THR

Another thread that has been recycled eight million times.

 

[Cogster1]

People that read a thread and then take the time to tell the rest of us that's it 's been done already.

 

[bogie]

I don't wanna see kluckers, skins or wanabee nazis...

 

[Missashot]

People using those hostage targets only to find out they are so bad they put their bullets in the hostage's head.

I'm guilty of doing that. But only AFTER I have shot the bad guy all to pieces. Those targets aren't cheap, so I try to shoot at whatever part of it I can. But I assure you, I can hit the bad guy a LOT before I decide to shot up the hostage!
The range where Kramer Krazy and I go to is usually a very good place to shoot.
However every now and then, there will be a group come in. Usually there will be 5 or 6 of them. They will have only one gun and no skill between all of them. Then they start shooting all over the place and hitting targets in other lanes. Then they will talk about how great they shoot!
I usually just leave when someone shows up like that.

 

[scooterthegreat]

The problems I have at the range I use (which is also the range I teach Hunter Education at) is:
1) Shoot a round of trap, go into the clubhouse and drink. Then go shoot another round. Repeat.

It's even better when they do that while you are running a hunter ed field test... And in front of all the students, take an uncased gun out of the trunk, or open the case while it is still in the trunk and take the gun out. (In WI, the gun must be fully enclosed in a "real" case while in any vehicle)

 

[usp9]

What I hate to see are Cops in the Range because...

They are the most dangerous group to shoot with. The range I use has a large police presence and every time I see GROSS range safety violations. Arrogant, foul mouthed and dangerous is the norm. My pet peeve is when they start shooting at each others targets in other lanes.:banghead: I would rather shoot with a newbie than a cop. At least the newbie tries to be safe.


And I almost forgot...they never, never, ever pick up their brass.

 

[danurve]

You guys go to some scarry sounding ranges.
While I don't agree with some of the things going on at the club, and the guy who runs the clubs web-site can't even spell html, its a decent place to go.

 

[XDKingslayer]

Guys that bring AKs and ARs to the range clearly marked for .22 and pistols only. Spray 500 rounds of Wolf down the entire firing line. Never shoot at more than 25 yards with them. Don't hit crap. Then complain when you tell them to leave the PISTOL range and go to the empty rifle range where they belong...

 

[MikeH]

1. SWAT/Delta/SEAL-wannabes who dress the part and got full attitude to match, but never bothered to use what they're holding properly.

2. People who think they are above making newbie mistakes and don't care about sweeping everyone because "oh, it's not loaded."

 

[Mizzle187]

ATF agents! Well that could be a good or a bad thing depending on the person!

 

[1Longbow]

I was an RO at a gun club in the midwestand ,aside from the other examples here,it seems that the sight in before deer season was always something to behold. Like the guy with the pump action deer rifle that had a live round stuck in the chamber,and proceeded to grab the forearm and pound the butt of the gun on the shooting bench. Or the guy that showed up with his girl friend and proceeded to walk down the range to hang a target while the line was hot,and then complained that he just paid for membership for the day and only had a short amount of time to shoot.He was given his money back and told to go else where. And of couse the guy shooting next to you ,telling you that he has some really HOT loads,and pops them off,and says"man that really kicks,I can hardly open the bolt"---time to take a break!--1Longbow

 

[Just_a_dude_with_a_gun]

When I got to a public range, there things that I'd rather not see, such as blatant unsafe practices, but I'm more mindful of my own p's and q's to be honest.

One thing that irks me, is the guy who's always there, standing behind the shooters looking through the range window, commenting on how this guy or that's target "looks like swiss cheese, who taught him how to shoot, Helen Keller?". You know the guy. he's usually the one with "driving loafers" and a Kimber 1911, open carrying....

But I avoid all manor of moron by shooting almost exclusively on my own property with the people I learned to shoot from, and with, my brother and father.

 

[MrTwigg]

Darwin Award Winner here !

I was at my local private rifle & pistol range this weekend sighting in the new optics for a couple of my plinkers. I had the sight in part done and had several dozen 2X4 blocks up and was mowing them down at 100 yards when a head pops up from behind the berm ! "Hey ! Hey !" this guy calls out to me waving. I stop shooting - fortunately for him I was the only shooter there.

He actually climbs over the berm while I'm yelling at him to go around to the gate. He had a beer in his hand as he came down.

I left the firing line and came around to intercept this idiot. when he got about fifteen feet away I told him in my Drill Sargent voice to stop right there and tell me what he wanted. I noticed the pungent stench of marijuana easily. Great. :banghead: Just my luck to have some drunk stoner come sauntering out into my line of fire. Never mind the eight foot high chain link fence with the locked gates and the big warning signs stating “DANGER FIRING RANGE !” and “DO NOT CLIMB ON BERM !”

He started babbling about how he is into recycling and wanted to pick up the spent brass, and then go into the clubhouse to take all the brass from inside. I told him the contact information for the club officers is posted on the clubhouse door. “Dude it’s locked.” He tells me like I'm the one who does not understand. I reminded him the information was clearly posted on the OUTSIDE of the door and that I was not going to let him into the clubhouse as he obviously was not a member.

Now he takes a look over at my stuff and his eyes just about bugged out of his head. He started to go around me and I immediately placed all 6'7" and 300 lb of myself directly in front of him and calmly asked “Is there anything else I can help you with before I open the gate and let you out.”
“Dude you got some cool guns ! Can I see ‘em ?” He had stopped and was finishing his beer. “No “dude” you can’t, you’re drinking and it’s time for you to go.” I firmly stated while pointing to the gate. “Go up there and I’ll unlock the gate so you can leave.” He left without further comment. I got his license plate # and reported him to the club and the police.

All I can say is some people are just too stupid to believe.

Thankfully, most of the time I have the whole place to myself !

 

[kjeff50cal]

ATF agents! Well that could be a good or a bad thing depending on the person!

I do not like wantabe BATFE agents. They see you with "an Evil Black Rifle" (even if it is a nice brown wood stocked SKS) and asking about the barrel length "that does not look legal" and does that AK/AR/FAL have 'Da Switch? :banghead:

Lonely Ex-LEO Range Officers. If you are the only one on the range. He wants to tell his war stories while you are tring not to make the target you are shooting look like it was hit by 00 buckshot.

 

[jim frank]

Heh. With all the horror stories, I am SO glad I shoot out in the hills on BLM land. No range, no other shooters. I was out with my FAL a couple of months ago when a dufus on a dirt bike came zipping past my truck, proceeded to drive downrange to take a close look at my targets, and when he realized that they were indeed targets, proceeded to leave the area rapidly, giving me dirty looks over his shoulder the whole time.

I just held the FAL pointed up in the air so he'd see a nice 'evil black rifle' silhouette, and shook my head.

 

[skypirate7]

How about this one... a girl at the range scratched her head with the muzzle-end of her pistol.

 

[Detritus]

And of couse the guy shooting next to you ,telling you that he has some really HOT loads,and pops them off,and says"man that really kicks,I can hardly open the bolt"---time to take a break!--

8 years ago i met the worst case of this i'd ever seen, he had put together a tool kit for his range bag for, and worked up a "speed technique" for.. replacing the extractor on his Rem 700! due to having broken (in his own words) 5 in one year! all from greviously "hot" handloads.

at least once out of every 5 rounds he'd have to get up and pound a stuck case out with a cleaning rod

 

[MarshallDodge]

People you don't want to see at the range

A buddy and I went to an outdoor range to sight in our Varmint rifles. We had just pulled up (parking was directly behind the benches) and were still in the vehicle putting in our earplugs when an old Thunderbird with six people in it start doing donuts in the gravel parking lot.
They park next to us, the passenger door pops open, and the passenger is having problems loading his 30-30 because he is stoned. I look out my window and the gun is pointed directly at me. I rolled down the window and asked him politely to point the gun downrange. He apologized and took the gun to one of the benches.
The driver, also stoned, got out and staggered to another bench with a blackpowder revolver.
The back door opens and out jumps a mom and her three kids, all of them under eight years old, and no hearing protection. She was really nice but I could not believe she let her kids be in this environment. I gave her and the kids earplugs and she sat them down at one of the spectator benches.
The guy with the black powder pistol starts shooting and everytime he fires he lets the gun recoil 180 degrees so that the muzzle is pointing at the mom and kids. She has no idea what is happening so I walked over and gave him some tips on how to hold and shoot his gun. He started shooting a lot better for someone that was stoned
Later on they all left without anyone getting hurt, thank God.

 

[Berek]

It's even better when they do that while you are running a hunter ed field test... And in front of all the students, take an uncased gun out of the trunk, or open the case while it is still in the trunk and take the gun out. (In WI, the gun must be fully enclosed in a "real" case while in any vehicle)

Trouble is, it was. Until 2004 after we (the instructors) raised our concerns to the club officers for the 5th year, this was a common thing every Saturday & Sunday. The club agreed with us and now they can only drink non-alcoholic drinks if they plan to shoot. Anyone caught drinking before shooting is immediately banned.

Here, they have to be transported locked as well. They also follow the tradition of, after shooting a perfect set, shooting their hat. I have no problem with this except once when someone threw their hat into the air to shoot it, the wind caught it and swung it behind the firing line and he pivoted to shoot it. He then shot it 3 more times while it was on the ground behind the safety line.

 

[ChickenHawk]

It's the antithesis of the "Attractive young woman in the low-cut shirt doing the hot-brass dance."

About a month ago my wife and I showed up at the range just as a guy was coming out with his GF limping and leaning on him for balance.

She had obviously been shot in the leg.

They drove off in his car. The RO told me she did the hot brass dance with finger on trigger and shot herself. (I say, "Thank heaven she didn't shoot someone else!")

They refused all treatment and refused an ambulance. Looked like normal folks. I can't decide if something was fishy, or if they were concerned about the cost of the ambulance ride. The range called the cops, of course (they showed up while I was still there and photographed the lane where this happened for some reason).

That's the most non-shooting excitement I've ever had at the range, and I showed up after the fact!

Cheers,
ChickenHawk

 

[Creeping Incrementalism]

At the USI range in Concord, CA...

Worst thing I've ever seen is the range officer announce the beginning of a shooting period while people were down range, a little slow in checking their targets during the ceasefire. Luckily all the shooters saw what the range officer didn't and stayed behind the safety line until the range officer noticed about thirty seconds later. At least he said "sorry". I don't think the people downrange heard the end of the ceasefire being called, because they didn't run back or wave their hands around or anything.

A few years back they made everyone start proving to a range officer that they knew how to load, unlead, and make safe their firearm, after having too many benches shot up.

I've seen people thrown out for rapid fire, and a cop for walking in with a loaded gun.

One time I somehow lost track and fired about 2-3 shots from a 7mm scoped rifle at the target next to me. That target's shooter had a Mini-14 using iron sights. He didn't seem to know what he was doing--his bullets were striking the target mostly low and outside the rings. He didn't seem to question the 2-3 slightly larger bullet holes close to the bullseye. Now I always either use a distintive target, or make some sort of mark on my target (such as "MINE" in huge letters), to prevent me and people next to me from making the same mistake.