Saw Something at the Range I'd Never Seen Before...

The other day, I'm at the outdoor range with my dad. I've got my scoped 10/22 and he's got his Ruger P89. The range is pretty darn crowded. But we're happily blasting away with our Rugers, and there's this couple next to us. The woman looks like she's shooting a Glock, and the man is looking through a spotting scope. The woman can't shoot worth $%&*.

Man: What are you doing!?
Woman: I'm aiming for his head!

*blam* *blam* (bullets hit the ground 5 feet in front of the target)

To top it off, the woman was wearing a Glock hat and a tactical Browning vest. But, I can't totally blame the woman. According to my dad, it seems nobody's shown her how to shoot. It also seems like they spent all kinds of money on the neat toys thinking that will make them shoot better. Oh well. All me and my dad had were our eyeballs (and a scope, I guess) and we shot better than they did. :D

It isn't uncomon for folks to think that money will buy talent. The guy who spends a fortune on ballet lessons for his two-ton daughter, the guy who shells out for a race car and thinks he is ready for Indy, the guy who buys a big rifle and thinks he is the great African hunter, are all the same.

Jim

A spotting scope for a Glock?:confused: How far away was the target? Maybe she was trying to lob a 147 9mm with 3.2 grains of Tite Group into the target from 200 yards. That would explain falling five feet short!:rolleyes:

We were at the pistol range, so the distance was 25 yards.

The real question is why a new shooter was shooting at 25 yards to begin with. She should have started at 7 yards and worked her way back from there as she improved. At the very worst, she should not have been shooting at more than 15 yards.

She has a heckofa flinch. :what:

He is "visually impaired". :neener:

The real question is why a new shooter was shooting at 25 yards to begin with. She should have started at 7 yards and worked her way back from there as she improved. At the very worst, she should not have been shooting at more than 15 yards.

Good point. However, at this particular range, the shortest distance there is is 25 yards. But, there is an indoor range that's much more geared towards shooting handguns. Also, we're assuming that she's a new shooter. Maybe she wasn't, but she sure shot like a new shooter.

guy I know went and did the same thing in order to shoot with a local IDPA-type group. Dropped major coin on all the latest goodies from Wilson Combat. His pride and joy is a tricked out Wilson Combat 1911 with all the goodies.

It didn't help. We tape more of his misses than we do hits. And, it takes longer for him to do a tac-reload than most people take to clear the stage.

I think the proper terminology is "Gadget-itis". It afflicts mostly well-to-do gentlemen taking up a brand new 'expensive' hobby. They go to the store without any forethought and buy all the clerk's recommeded items and a bunch of other goodies because the price tag has more zeros on it. Most infected with this disease will be deluded in thinking others are going to be too impressed with all the gadget goodness to notice their lack of talent or skill.

It is a disease you can live with if there is proper education and the wife does a walletectomy before said afflicted leaves the house for whatever hobby store strikes his fancy.

Guy was looking for the best buy in rifle accuracy for $400.
Dealer suggested a $125 Mauser 98 and $275 practice ammo.
You can buy the stuff to get experience, but you cannot
buy experience at any price. Seems like a lot of people
think they can buy expertise by buying the model the
experts use.

guys show up at the range dressed like camo ninjas with their AK, or such, and can't hit the side of a barn. There are others that spend mega bucks on a pricy rifle with a zillion power scope and can't keep it on a paper plate at 100 yards.........Love to be shooting next to guys like these with my less than 100 buck Mosin Nagant and Enfield.......priceless.....chris3

I also saw someone else there with gloves and such. He was shooting an AK with a scope. I couldn't see how his accuracy was, but it looked like he was using Wolf or something similar.

He was wearing gloves and maybe some other crap. Oh, and he was holding the AK at both the trigger and holding onto the magazine.

I wear mechanix brand gloves when shooting in the winter (in other words below 50F) and if I am shooting full power ruger level .45 colt loads I wear fingerless gloves. But at least I can hit a barn...but only from the inside.

gadget-itis...good name for it and always interesting to watch.

A spotting scope for a Glock? How far away was the target?

I use 8X25 pocket binocs all the time at my indoor shooting range which is only 25 yards out and I have slightly better then 20/20 vision. Though a spotting scope might be a little much.

Happens all around. Bicyclists are probably near the top of the gear freak list. The fact that a sedentary old fart (me) wearing hush puppies and riding a 1985 Fuji can outpace them sort of says it all. Wish I could be as casual about shooting with the same results.

He was wearing gloves and maybe some other crap. Oh, and he was holding the AK at both the trigger and holding onto the magazine.

Sounds like a boxer stance. Good technique for fighting with a rifle.

Ripping on someone who spends money on their hobby is just as bad as ripping on someone who doesn't have the money. If this woman was a crappy shot with a cheap pistol, then you guys would be making fun of her for trying to shoot with a POS. Just because someone has money to spend doesn't mean they think money can buy skills, it just means they have money. They still need to learn like everyone else, they just have better toys to learn with. If someone is going to buy an expensive gun anyway, does it make sense for them to buy a cheapie to learn on first just to make you guys happy?

Sorry for the rant, but anytime someone on this board talks about someone having quality gear, all we see are snips of "I shoot better than these guys with my [fill in the blank with your selected POS]". I believe those about as much as I believe fish stories (except when the guy telling the story says he caught an 80 pound catfish with his shoelace, even though the guy next to him was using a $1,000 rod and the best lures money could buy, then I believe those). We all know you guys are the best shooters, bicyclists, drivers, motorcycle riders or whatever out there, even though you have to use stuff that is old, broken and barely works (yeah right).

Oh yeah, and there is a reason that you'll never see a professional shooter using certain low end firearms. There is a reason the best shooters use the BEST equipment, and a reason why it costs more. If you can afford it, I say more power to you.

I wear gloves when shooting (winter: insulated gloves, summer: just old bicycle gloves due to heat), and I grip around the magwel (or a similar area of the gun)l with my forward hand. I'm more accurate with that grip - I can keep it more steady, because my center of gravity doesn't get extended too much.

I'm no tactical ninja, and I'll not claim to be a great marksman, but I'm pretty decent. I just do what works... but then that's not what we're talking about here anyway, so I'll just STFU. :)

You haven't seen that before? I see it all the time.

I always offer help to those who look "very" unfamiliar on handling a firearm. Not only to save peoples' lives but also for an opportunity to make friends.

The real question is why a new shooter was shooting at 25 yards to begin with. She should have started at 7 yards and worked her way back from there as she improved. At the very worst, she should not have been shooting at more than 15 yards.

Really? I start new shooters at 25 meters (27 and a bit yards). Though that's with pistol caliber rifles, not pistols. Most can hit the target every time with irons (some people have trouble with scopes and end up getting a good group, but on the backstop :p).

OP: I feel that your mockery and arrogance have ultimately ruined what might
have otherwise been an amusingly anecdotal thread.

For the record, I don't care if you can or can't afford all the expensive stuff. If you're a pro, then fine. But it seems to me that they spent a lot of money on stuff that could have been better spent on training. In addition to the scope and the fashion accessories, there were also a few dozen magazines.

I apologize, since I was probably jumping to conclusions. And I would NOT look down on anyone shooting an inexpensive gun like a Hi-Point or a Rossi.

The more I shoot, the less time I have to notice all the "Tacti-hole" people burning through 30 round mags from their new AR's at 15 yards or spraying a 36" area with their pistols at 10 yds. It bothers me less everytime I see it. I figure it this way, at least they're having fun.

I rarely notice others at the range, I might take note of their firearms if they're something unusual, or something I've been lusting for. But these two were shouting at each other, so it was sorta hard not to take note.

It seems that a person should be able to use their equipment (of whatever quality or cost) to it's best potential. More power to the folks who have the ability to drop major dollars on their hobby.

I've seen similar situations to the one you described and I chalk it up to inexperience. Most folks do not start out shooting well, it has more to do with range time and developed skill than equipment. This is what allows some of us to shoot cheaper weapons well. If the opportunity presents itself, these situations are a great time to share knowledge (if they're willing to receive it).

Ryan

Shooting does not come naturally. It takes a lot of practice. Most people refuse to invest the time to get good at it. The majority of the people I see shooting can't keep their shots in the 7 ring. You see less of this at private ranges but quite a lot of it at public pistol ranges, in my experience.

Hey at least they are fellow gun owners and are out actually shooting.

I figure it this way, at least they're having fun.

You nailed it for me. If they are having fun and are not causing safety issues on the range, more power to them.

Maybe I'm also a little envious of some of the equipment that I see because I have kid in a private college and another not far away from college.

If I could afford to get all kinds of fancy gunsmithing done on my Blackhawk, I probably would. Right now, I am just glad that I can afford to shoot.

Mike

sounds like new shooters. Shouting , maybe they were wearing less than top of the line tacticool voice amplifier loud noise muffling suppressors.

Maybe you should have taken a minute and asked if you could help her sight it in.

At the indoor range recently, a guy was watching me and asking about my SiG and Kimber. He was an obvious newbie but it wasn't that long ago I was too. I was happy to talk to him.

He noticed my snapcaps and asked what they were. I let him shoot a couple magazines through the Kimber with some interspersed with ammo. It exposed a pretty bad flinch but it was getting better each time he went through one and me telling him to relax and squeeze the trigger slow and smooth. His accuracy improved a lot too.

A glock isn't the most expensive handgun out there, but the vest and hat were probably a little funny. Seems to me the people you saw at that range just needed some coaching or instruction. Our local range offers very affordable instruction. Doesn't hurt to suggest they start there.

I agree, they probably needed some guidance. But do keep in mind, I'm a 20 year old kid. I doubt they'd be very interested in my suggestions. And I really don't know anything about sighting in a pistol, so I don't know how much help I would have been.

I find that people who want help will ask for it. Some won't. The rest are incensed at the suggestion that they need help, however polite and true.

out actually shooting.

Bad practice is worse than none, IMO. But if it floats their boat, have at it.

If this was her first time shooting she should have started smaller 22 comes to mind. I see it happen all the time at my range, they buy there first gun usually a 45 or 40 or 9. they join the club than start banging away with the hand cannon. Shooting a larger caliber gun to start with develops all kinds of bad habits. Jerking the trigger, anticipating the recoil and healing the gun, and a whole host of other problems. The fact that the gun is a glock and is particularly light doesn't help either. Her husband probably bought the gun on the sher fact that is was small and light (and thinks glocks are the best:barf:) without her even picking it up. When my brother and I took our mother shooting we started with the 22 for a while then progressed to other things. Of the 12 different guns she shot she like the 1911 the best. Granted she shot the 45 with my reloads, they are all a little on the light side soo. You should have made small talk and let her shoot your 22. If she sees that she can hit the target at least it will improve moral. Hopefully they will go home and buy a 22. [/END RANT}

It's a "fashion statement". If you've lived with a woman for 30 yrs you'll understand they absolutely have to wear the appropriate garb to fit function they are attending. For example, I very comfortable wearing shorts and a dirty t-shirt to a classical concert, however my wife is decked out in her best outfit. I still haven't quite figured out why I have to take a shower and "clean-up" before I go.

For some, it's better to look good than to shoot good :scrutiny: Maybe, if you see them again & they're still not shooting well, be the good samaritan & show them the error in their ways...I know I'd appreciate it, they probably would too ;)