[thegoodfight]

at the gun range?

[Solo Flyer]

With my 45/70 Marlin Guide Gun with Garrett 415 grain Hammerheads,I was able to make 9 out of 10 bulls with its atrocious recoil at 100 yards.
Not strange ,but for me, unbelievable!

[bearmgc]

Someone got angry at his Ruger and gave me 2 boxes of Rem Corelocts, as he left in a huff. Didn't even give me a chance to say thanks. My Tikka loved em.

[myrockfight]

^^I think we are screwed on that one. This is The High Road.

I was at an indoor range over in Palm Beach County. I was shooting my Kimber CDP .45. On the second mag I had a round come back at me! It was kind of a shoddy place and the guy running the place was a jerk. So I just packed up my things and left without a word.

[rainbowbob]

Getting hit in the face by burning gunpowder from the muzzle-loader next to me - twice! the first time sort of took me by surprise. The second time kinda pissed me off. He finally discovered that the range provided a board he could set up to prevent any further powder burns.

[Thernlund]

I showed up and nobody was there. Just me and an RO. We actually stood around chatting for a bit with no ear protection on (as there was nobody shooting). It was kind of surreal. It was also rather eye opening to find out how loud it actually is in there even when nobody is shooting anything. Those air handlers sound like jet engines.


-T.

[yesit'sloaded]

Had my nongunnie friend smoke me with a borrowed No.5 Jungle carbine at 150 yard steel. The guy next to us was like "shoot this you'll like it" and my friend nailed that sucker on the first shot. It was probably the fifteenth shot he had ever fired out of a rifle.

[thegoodfight]

Had my nongunnie friend smoke me with a borrowed No.5 Jungle carbine at 150 yard steel. The guy next to us was like "shoot this you'll like it" and my friend nailed that sucker on the first shot. It was probably the fifteenth shot he had ever fired out of a rifle.

sounds like a natural...I shoot 34545454543x better with a rifle or shotgun than I do with a handgun...I'm starting to think I'd be better off with a long gun for SD.

[justin 561]

FTF Golden tiger 7.62x39. Out of over 6000-7000 rds, it was a first. With 9250 now fired, I have yet to run into one. I guess you have to expect it every now and again.

[Thernlund]

Here's another...

I'm in my bay shooting and having a grand time. The guy next to me is shooting a PPK. It was a good looking pistol, and I've always wanted one. So he stops to reload and I pop over and ask him about it. He happily discusses the gun with me, and very kindly offers a mag to me to put through it. Sweet! So I reach to take the mag and pistol, and the guy has no hands. Just prosthetics. Whoa!

I like to think I didn't make a funny face or do a double-take. It just caught me off guard. He was a really nice guy. I remember thinking later how damn cool that was. No hands? No problem! Nice!


-T.

[Bartkowski]

Not many strange things happen at the ranges I go too. The one will always have that one person who is miserable and doesn't look or talk to anyone. And also has a group of 10 or so asians that come and watch one man sure a mossberg 500 with only a pistol grip.

Thats about it.

[GlowinPontiac]

While shooting my .357 i hit an unseen rock in the berm and watched the flattened hollowpoint slowly tumbling back through the air until it landed less than 2 feet away from me. The copper jacket landed about 10 feet out in front of me. I still have that slug sitting on my reloading bench.

[Blackbeard]

I had some guy hand me a copy of the New Testament, right out of the blue. Kind of a red-state moment there.

[Baldy518]

I went to the club of which I am a member for some target shooting. The 25 yard pistol range was empty, the way I like it, so I can setup several targets and do some moving and shooting practice. I was almost done setting up to shoot and then 2 guys came over from the rifle range to see what I was up to. The one guy asked about one of my guns, and I showed him my Para Ordnance 1911. He pulled out his Springfield 1911 from his holster and said "That is like mine" BANG!!!!!!!!!
None of us had ear protection on. His gun was pointing down range (lucky for me), but I was only 3 feet away, so my ears hurt a little.
He did follow the one rule: Gun pointed in a safe direction, but he forgot the other rules.
By the way, this guy was the Rangemaster on Duty that day!!!
Now I try to go now when nobody is there at all.

[DWFan]

Not exactly strange, but...

Several years ago I took my wife to an indoor range. She was shooting a Ruger Single Six while I was talking with the RO. Several "gentlemen" walked in, each of them making comments about the "redhead with the gun". They went in and took up positions on either side of my wife and apparently were still making comments..this time loud enough for her to hear.
After a few minutes, she got fed up and came out and asked if she could borrow my revolver. She told me that she didn't know who said it, but one of them said "She isn't bad with that little pistol..wonder how she'd like to handle a real gun?"
(The "gentlemen" were all shooting 9mm semi-autos.)
The look on their faces was priceless when she walked back out with my 10" HV barrel Burris-scoped Dan Wesson SuperMag and fired six shots that you could cover with your hand.
No further comments were made.

[Sixtigers]

An older gent was showing his adult son and the son's wife/girlfriend "how to shoot", which I respect. This man and his wife were obviously gunnies, and had brought a nice little assortment of handguns.

Later, we noticed them very quickly loading up their belongings, a towel wrapped around the older fella's hand. He claimed he'd gotten a bad slide bite from a Ruger Mk.II -- "Just plain forgot about that thing kicking back." I offered the use of our first aid kit, which help was quickly declined. "A first aid kit ain't gonna help this much. Thanks anyway!"

They piled into their car and left.

Turns out he had ND'd through his hand while trying to clear a jam, the round passing completely through his hand, and since the gun was not pointed downrange, directly behind where my wife, daughter, and son were shooting. Missed 'em by about five feet, and this gentleman never said a word...Just up and left. The bullet hole is still in the range trailer.

...found the story out the next day at our local gun shop. That gentleman, immediately upon release from the hospital, sold that .22 to our local dealer. Apparently, he didn't have a problem showing off the bullet hole, or relaying the story. When we came in for ammo, she told us the story, and the wife and I just looked at each other. Pretty small town--figured it had to be the same guy. Went back to the range and found the blood spray and the bullet hole, then went home and hugged the kids.

On a side note, a friend at work bought that .22, and just recently sold it to me. Maybe it was just trying to get my attention, wanted to come home with me...

[nerfsrule2]

While firing my model 29 @the pistol range. (State Game Lands).. I had an older gentleman (Who was collecting brass) walk out into the field of fire. After a very loud cease fire was heard; the guy turns to me and says, "I don't mind you shootin', I used to deer hunt." To which I replied "I didn't know deer shot back":what:.... While shaking my head, picking up my stuff and leaving the pistol range......:cuss:

[damien]

I told this story before, I thought it was rare but other people said it has happened to them. A round bounced off the right wall next to me and right into my safety glasses and burnt my eyebrow where it got caught between the glasses and my head. That was weird, never happened again.

[bullseye308]

A few of us were at the range a while back and getting ready to go hot on the line. The first guy hollers "ready" then let a 10-22 rip and my wife starts catching hot brass in her cleavage. Got an eagle-shaped burn mark that was really cool for her pain. :)

[bullseye308]

Another... I was shooting 20ga slugs at a slab of concrete and watched a piece of a slug come straight back and imbed itself in my cheek. That was so cool till the pain hit. Won't be doing that again, but it was cool seeing it coming back.

[Snapping Twig]

Seen a few chronos getting blasted, met a lot of really nice people. Watched more then a few .45acp's go downrange with the sun behind them - fun to see. Saw the sonic wave from some small caliber large cartridge case round damn near all the way to the 80 yard line. Saw some bullets bounce back - scary and definitely time to fingd a new range, which I did.

Pretty mundane stuff thankfully.

[gunman42782]

I walked down to change my target (after firing several rounds) at 100 yards and a deer was laying down about 10 feet to the left. She jumped up and very casually trotted off. Now that was weird!

[BammaYankee]

I was alone and was posting new targets downrange when I got that creepy "someone is watching you" feeling. When I turned around there was a coyote not more than 15 feet from me just standing there looking at me. As soon as I made eye contact it just trotted off into the woods!

[Moonclip]

Seeing someone commit suicide:(

Seeing someone blow up a gun a few times, one an RG with standard pressure Winchester .38spl. I blew a Colt with standard pressure Remington.

Sticking a round in a barrel a few times with squib loads with .22lr or .22mag ammo.

Lots more but I'm tired and it's late for me to think.

[Madison_ultralight]

I was at an outdoor range putting some downrange with an old-old PPK and the thing started jamming up real bad. I got the gun used and it would never go through a whole mag without a mis-feed. The guy sitting next to me happened to be a gunsmith and saw I was having trouble so he asked to see the gun. He broke it down and worked some magic mojo. (I really didn't pay any attention as he was working 'cause I had had it in the shop before and they said there was nothing they could do; so I was thinking yeah, right.)
I put 50+ more rounds through it and it never hesitated. The guy wouldn't let me pay him but I got his card before he left. He lived a couple hours away and I never needed any work done before he died, but we emailed sometimes. I shoot it all the time and have never had a single mis-feed.

[redneck2]

He broke it down and worked some magic mojo. (I really didn't pay any attention as he was working 'cause I had had it in the shop before and they said there was nothing they could do; so I was thinking yeah, right.)
I put 50+ more rounds through it and it never hesitated.

The longer I live, the more I think most "gunsmiths" are really blacksmiths with a screwdriver instead of a hammer

[Avenger]

A black-powder guy was on the 25 yard range near me, apparently he'd been utterly unsuccessful at sighting in the rifle on the 100 and 50, so he stepped down. Whatever the original reason was, he was upset and over-controlling the rifle now, and frankly his muzzle was visibly wandering all over. The RO and a few others were trying to help by seeing if they could tell just where the shot was hitting, but there was just so much debris kicking up that it wasn't working. The guy was getting more and more frustrated, starting to lose his cool, and all the people watching weren't really helping. The RO was trying to calm the guy down while he loaded up.
He took his last shot, which utterly missed again, and finally lost it. He screamed as loud as he could, set the rifle down on the bench, grabbed his cleaning rod and WHIPPED it down the range just as hard as he could. It tumbled end over end several times, before punching into his target.
The RO calls a cease-fire, takes the guy aside, and explains a few things to him. Dunno what was said, but the guy came back and immediately began packing up. We went down-range to change targets while the RO watched the guy leave, and then he came down and joined us as we were standing around the target.
I'd love to be able to say that the cleaning rod had hit the bullseye, but it was actually just outside the 8 ring high and left. Still rather impressive.

[Win75]

I was working up some loads for my deer rifle on the 100 yard area at a public Conservation Dept. range when just as I was getting ready to fire a round, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I made my rifle safe and looked to my left where I saw a man and woman, with both arms loaded with plastic 2 liter bottles full of water, walking into the lane two down from me. About 50 yards downrange, they placed the bottles on the ground in a line and walked back about 25 yards. Now, they are 25 yards downrange on a 100 yard rifle range with me 15-20 yards to the right of them and they both pull out revolvers while the guy tells me, "Go ahead and shoot, it won't bother us, we are out of the way."

Well, it bothered the h*** out of me. I packed up my stuff and went home.

[shouldifail]

the strangest thing that has happened to me while at the range with MY guns would be when my nylon 22 started auto firing!!! YIKES.. after hundreds upon hundreds of cheap 22, the bolt had gotten severely gummed up. some cleaning fixed the problem.

the coolest strangest thing would either be the time i got to shoot a mag full of ammo through a FA mac 11 for helping a guy sight in....or the time an older gentleman had a mortar type cannon which he was kind enough to let me fire. He had built it himself, but it looked as nice as any cannon i have ever seen. truly a piece of FINE craftsmanship. this mortar lobbed a concrete filled tennis ball into the air with a hang time of 10-15 seconds and would come down EXACTLY 100 yards downrange.
made me feel like a kid!!

[pappy]

I don't know if this is all that 'strange' per-se, but after my lasik, I'm not shooting as good as I used to, or maybe I'm just getting old. :(

[Mr White]

I won a CMP Springfield match last Saturday. There were 17 shooters, some of them very good shooters.

It was a double match, Garand/Springfield. I shot my Garand in both, which is allowed. I shot pretty well in the Garand match, and shot about 10 points better in the Springfield match, 280/300. It was good enough for 1st.

[The Lone Haranguer]

Not really strange in this context, but I've received compliments on my shooting technique. One asked me if I were a police officer; another, apparently having seen my own technique and grouping, asked for advice on poor grouping with his rental Glock. I've also had people give me targets and even ammo.

[GEM]

There was a indoor range (since closed) that had a huge metal triangle thing that held the paper target. The way it was set up - the edge of the metal was almost touching the top of the B-27 head to get the paper in the clip.

I decided to shoot weak hand for practice and one handed also and go for a head shot. I must have hit the bottom edge of the triangle. The round let off sparks, zipped down through the target at an angle and bisected it. The remaining half caught fire on the edges.

The dude next to me asked what kind of round was that - the ultimate stopper - cuts you in half and sets on fire.

Other fun:

1. At an IDPA match have to shoot over a barrel and make a slide lock reload. I drop the mag and it drops straight into a hole into the barrel. The SO and I stop to laugh.

2. First time I heard a round go into a plastic barrel and whip around in it, sounding like a jet plane.

3. Saw an SKS go full auto on the range - luckily the shooter controlled it.

[psyopspec]

The first time I was on a military rifle range, one of the shooters cleanly killed a white tail doe with his M-16. The standing rule was 'You shoot at the targets, not at any wildlife ... but if some poor creature should happen to wander between you and the pop-up, game on.'

We butchered the deer and had venison that afternoon. Good times.

[CajunBass]

About the only "interesting" things I've ever seen at a ranger were the occasional "hot brass down the clevage" dance, with my wife being one of the dancers once. I'd warned her, but she didn't listen.

That and getting the chance to shoot a lot of guns I wouldn't have ever shot, including an MP-5, and a highly customized Model 29 once (Barrel cut to 2 1/2", magnaported, "N" frame grip removed, "K" frame grip installed, trigger job, I don't know what all else). Man those were fun guns.

Edited to correct typo pointed out by Mr. White, just below. :o But then my wife says anytime she goes anywhere with me, she's with a "hot bass." ;) :D

[Funderb]

shooting plate with steelcore.

bang-ping zzzzzzzzzzzeeer OUCH! #$%#$.

no damage at all, but a tiny steel chunk from 150 yds found its mark.

[pyle]

I had recently acquired a new side-mount scope for my older Winchester lever action 30-30. Planning to go deer hunting the next week - my brother-in-law and I went to the local outdoor police range. Since he was a fireman - he had special permission to shoot at the range.

This particular range had steel 3/8" rebar-like metal U frames that were cemented upside down. I guess the idea was to hang your target from the top bar - which we did. Since I had mounted the scope myself - I had no idea how far off it might be - so I decided to start shooting at 25 yards and move back as I developed a group. My very first shot hit the top rebar pipe about 16 inches above my target. Metal sparks flew everywhere. When we took a look to see what had happened - my shot had blown the top rebar pipe completely in half. Needless to say I was quite embarrased and too shaky to sight in my rifle after that. Not to mention my brother-in-law wasn't happy with me for messing up that range target holder. It wasn't a good day. :( But fortunatly - we were the only people there.

[Ltlabner]

Was in the booth at a local range and a piece of brass from my M&P 40c bounced off the booth wall and right down the back of my shirt. Burned my neck pretty good. Unfortunatley I had an undershirt on and the brass worked its way down into the top of my butt crack! Not plesant. I was able to rip the back of shirt and undershirt out of my shorts and the casing dropped out thank God.

Its not like thats never happened before, but its the first time it happened to me. The guy a few lanes down got a big chuckle as I danced around tring to pull my shirt tails out with one hand while keeping my weapon pointed downrange with the other.

[Old Grump]

Rapid fire with 45 and my target falls to the right after my 2nd shot and I call for an alibi. I had shot the target leg off. They laughed and gave me the alibi just so they could all watch me to see what I shot next

Couple of months later at the same range a guy shows up to everybody's displeasure and I find out from my team captain that this guy is a an equipment queen. Its not his fault that he is a bad shooter its his equipment. So today he shows up on the range with a tricked up 45 just back from the custom maker and allows as how he is going to show the rest of us how to shoot. After 5 rounds of 50 yd slow fire he looks through his scope lets out a string of profanity and throws his brand new tricked up custom 45 out about 20 yards. The range master immediately yells "free target" and within seconds that gun is nothing but shrapnel, only the barrel still looked original. He closed his box, walked off the range and we never saw him again.

About 2 years later same range in El Paso shooting a regional championship match. The newly retired Police Chief of Albuquerque is down there shooting a colt 45 revolver and doing pretty good against all of us pistol shooters. Last string of the day his buddy puts his gun down, pulls a bugle from his bag and stands behind the chief and when the targets face for the last string of RF he starts to blow long and hard. The chief keeps shooting, the rest of us stopped to watch. Last shot fired the chief puts his gun down turns around and cold cocks his buddy. Worse yet we didn't get an alibi because the chief had fired his shots off and there was no reason for us not to shoot ours so he was up a string on us. New range rule posted after that on the line, "No bugle playing when the firing line is hot". Its been 35 years since I have been there but I still like to think that sign is still there puzzling the dickens out of people.

[jrfoxx]

Since I had mounted the scope myself - I had no idea how far off it might be - so I decided to start shooting at 25 yards and move back as I developed a group. My very first shot hit the top rebar pipe about 16 inches above my target

I know the feeling. A while back, I built a portable trget stand out of 1/2" PVC pipe.Cheap, handy, breaks down easy for transport. Well, I kid you not, EVERY single time I have used that stand to sight in a gun I got for the first time, even at 20-25yds, the first rounds has hit the freakin' thing! The top and 2 side pieces have been replaced a bunch of times now. I bring spare parts when I go to sight in a new gun because I got tired of my range trip ending early from a blasted target stand. I just cannot figure out how it managed to always hit the tiny 1/2" pipe, as opposed to the MUCH, MUCH more statistically likely "anywhere else". When I find that Murphy guy, I'm gonna kick him square in the nards.Twice.

:D

[rainbowbob]

I built a portable target stand out of 1/2" PVC pipe. Cheap, handy, breaks down easy for transport...

Off-thread, but...I need one of those! Does anyone have a link for a design plan? I suppose I could just fake it and stick something together.

[EDIT]
Nevermind...I googled and found several references.

[xsquidgator]

This is one that's easy and has worked well for me for a few years. The parts that get shot once or twice a year are cheap 1x2" wood or PVC pipe. I keep a couple of spares with me when I go to the range so that it's not game over if the stand gets shot. (Once a Range Officer shot it for me by accident - PVC pipe does not hold up well to .40 cal slugs!)

Materials Needed:
-(optional) one 1"x2" board four or five feet long, this will be the horizontal cross member on top. Drill a 1/4" hole though it at each end, and put a long, like 3-4" long, 1/4" bolt through the hole, and tighten a nut down on it. You'll have exposed thread.
- (vertical members)two about 1" diameter lengths of PVC pipe, each cut to the same length. Drill a 1/4" hole through and through each about 6-12" from one of the ends. Put a 1/4" bolt through the hole, put a nut on the other side and tighten it down.
-Two pieces of steel rebar
- One big piece of cardboard to act as the backstop, replace every month or two as needed
-about 4 or so little spring clamps. Big binder clips would work too

assemble when you get to the range:
1) pound rebar pieces into the ground
2) stick a vertical member over the top of each piece of rebar. the bolt holds it up
3) use the spring clamps to clamp the cardboard to the sides. Since it's based on rebar pounded into the ground, I've found it can stand up to some pretty brisk winds
4) if desired, stick the horizontal member across the top. You don't absolutely need this as you can just clamp the cardboard to the sides and it'll work too.

Here is a sketch:
http://wagneth.googlepages.com/targetstand003.jpg

[Mr White]

About the only "interesting" things I've ever seen at a ranger were the occasional "hot bass down the clevage" dance, with my wife being one of the dancers once. I'd warned her, but she didn't listen.
I've had hot brass down many parts of my body, but hot bass? I'd be curious to know just how that happens at a shooting range.... or maybe I don't want to know. :D

[JackBurtonJr]

My second-most funniest story from Okinawa happened on a Marine range back in '73. I don't remember specifically which range were were shooting on.

I worked in a Navy personnel office on Torii Station Army Base and our department head decided that he wanted all of us clerical type people .45 qualified (maybe because he was concerned that chucking our typewriters at invading Viet Cong couldn't guarantee us a OSS).

I was in a lane to the immediate left of a young sailorette, one of the first non-medical WAVES assigned permanently on Okinawa. She had just started in working in our office a few days earlier and in WAVE boot camp they then didn't weapons qualify so it was her first time with any gun of any kind.

Being a female type sailor, her dungaree blouse buttoned from the reverse of the men's, so the opening gapped to the left instead of the right. While we were shooting rapid fire one of my ejected hot brass flew into the gap in her blouse, and then wedged deeply into her cleavage (she was VERY well endowed).

She was quite surprised, upset, and vocal... and waving a .45 around in one hand while she danced across the range grabbing at her chest with the other. I was the only one who knew what happened, and I was dying laughing while everyone else scattered until things got back under control. I think the range Gunny put his retirement papers in the next day. Just couldn't handle these new-fangled ideas about women on the firing line.

She eventually forgave me, and a few months ago we celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary, and are expecting our first grandchild in eight weeks. (She's since learned much better range manners, and I try not to give her any reason to regret going with me :-) )

[JackBurtonJr]

I told this story before, I thought it was rare but other people said it has happened to them. A round bounced off the right wall next to me and right into my safety glasses and burnt my eyebrow where it got caught between the glasses and my head. That was weird, never happened again.[

Happened to me... thought I was going to lose my eye at first. Good reason to wear a cap when indoor shooting

[JackBurtonJr]

While at a DNR outdoor range we watched a bunch of boyz from the hood bouncing their rounds off the dirt at 30 feet while shooting their glocks gansta style on the 100 yard range.

Didn't take too long to get them headed back where they came from.

[Rembrandt]

Shooting at our clubs 200 yard rifle range when over the top of the berm appeared three idiot mushroom hunters with bags of mushrooms in hand.....

[jhansman]

One day at the range, several of us blasting away, a badger waddles across the field of fire. He was well in front of the closest target and in no danger of being hit. We all just stopped shooting and gawked at him as he made his way across. Then, over the PA, the range master's voice says "Do not shoot the wildlife." We just busted up and waited for him to vacate.

She eventually forgave me, and a few months ago we celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary, and are expecting our first grandchild in eight weeks. (She's since learned much better range manners, and I try not to give her any reason to regret going with me :-) )
JackBurtonJr is online now Report Post

Excellent!

[K96771]

I had a similar animal experience. Our range has a strict "no shooting the wildlife" policy. In fact it's amazing how comfortable some have become. I've watched groundhogs go back and forth for hours in front of the 100 yard targets. They couldn't care less about all the lead flying over their heads. Another time, I was the first one at the range and found a fox sleeping in a pile of leaves near the benches. He didn't move until we got going and the first few rounds were fired. He levitated, landed on all fours, and trotted off into the woods.

[rondog]

Probably 40 years ago or more, when I was a kid, I went with my older brother to an outdoor shootin' hole in the country. There was a big dirt pile there for a backstop, some woods, and there was an oil drilling rig nearby, but not in our line of fire. We were talking with a guy that was there, and his son came running out of the woods, all anxious and eager to leave, "c'mon Dad, let's go! I'm ready to go!" We found out later that one of the guys on the drilling rig had been shot with a .22.:what: Coincidence? Hmmmm.....

[R.W.Dale]

At the sight in for a smallbore silhouette match a rabbit decided to visit the rams. What's strange is nobody shot it????

[CajunBass]

She eventually forgave me, and a few months ago we celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary, and are expecting our first grandchild in eight weeks. (She's since learned much better range manners, and I try not to give her any reason to regret going with me :-) )

I nominate this as the best story told so far. Congratulations JackBurtonJR.

[plinky]

At the public range, I was out at the 100yd stands changing targets when I saw a Groundhog about 30yd out in the trees. He was standing up looking around. I was younger so I had to stir him up. All I had on me was a compact 9mm and I fired a shot into the ground.

Unexpectedly, he began stomping right for me. At first I laughed but as he got within 6 feet I prepared to ventilate him. Can Groundhogs be rabid??? At three feet he ducked into his hole which I had been standing by, not 10 feet from the target stands. I don't suppose he ever saw me. Ninja Power!

[ProficientRifleman]

I went to a members only range a couple of weeks ago.

There was only me and another fellow on the range at the time. I would get a verbal and a visual with him every time I wanted to go downrange to check targets. He wasn't shooting much, maybe doing some barrel break-in, probably a round every five minutes or so.

I switched from rifle to pistol and fired two magazines full. I was loading a third when I noticed this fellow approaching me from down range! I yelled at him, "Hey, were you down range just now", thinking, how could anyone be so stupid! (?)

He replies that indeed he was and proceeded to dress me down about the range rules, actions open, no touchee while folks are down range, etc...

I let him have it back, telling him that he was the one at fault for going down range while the firing line was hot. I even told him to his face that I made sure he knew where I was at all times, getting a verbal and a visual before moving...."Didn't I? DIDN'T I...???"

He had nothing more to say. When I got home I called the association leadership and related my observation of the events. To their credit, the President of the association called me back two days later and told me th other fellow had admitted he was at fault.

Some people....other than me of course.

[Claymore1500]

"Moonclip", do you live in Ohio? I ask because there is an indoor range on the west side of the Cleveland area where a woman (I believe) paid for range time and I think, rented a gun, Just to shoot herself.

[hksw]

Are you talking about Stonewall?

[rainbowbob]

...She eventually forgave me, and a few months ago we celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary, and are expecting our first grandchild in eight weeks...

Awwww...Best range story for sure. Congratulations on the grandbaby! I hope you live close by - because a grandchild is about the best thing that can happen to a fellow.

[hksw]

At the public range, I was out at the 100yd stands changing targets when I saw a Groundhog about 30yd out in the trees. He was standing up looking around. I was younger so I had to stir him up. All I had on me was a compact 9mm and I fired a shot into the ground.

Unexpectedly, he began stomping right for me. At first I laughed but as he got within 6 feet I prepared to ventilate him. Can Groundhogs be rabid??? At three feet he ducked into his hole which I had been standing by, not 10 feet from the target stands. I don't suppose he ever saw me. Ninja Power!

Had a co-worker relate a very similar story to me years ago. He and his dad were walking in the woods and spot a groundhog a few tens of yards away. They start shooting at it with .22s (either two semis or a semi and a bolt). After the first round the hog starts coming towards them. They keep shooting, miss-miss-miss-miss-etc., and the hog keeps coming like it was in the Matrix (except this happened way before that movie came out). They're starting to get worried. Finally with the hog abou 5 feet away, they get it with the second to last round they had. They walk towards it and find the hole about 3 feet away directly in front of them the hog was headed for.

For me, I was spotting for another co-worker while varmint hunting at another co-worker's farm. We set up a target about 100 yds away so he can zero in is new AR (Colt 6601). The lighting was just right and I was in just the right position behind above slightly to the right that I could see the rounds go down range through my 7X50 binoculars. Unfortunately, the rounds were landing about 5 feet to the left right into a pile of irrigation pipes. It was a very expensive sighting-in day that day.

A few years later, I was at a private range I was a member of on the 25 yd pistol. A fellow member was also there shooting a slightly worked over 1911 practicing, for what shooting discipline I could not figure out by the way he was shooting. During a lull, we talk a little about what we had, I had either a Ruger MkII or a Browning Buckmark or a Bersa Mini or a Sig P226, can't remember exactly. I asked him if he would like to try out whatever I was shooting. He said no thanks, he needs to stick with his 1911 so he doesn't lose the feel of the trigger while he is practicing. His method of practice was a bit odd, I thought. He would use a two hand hold, start from 45° down, right foot slightly back, both arms straight. What was odd was he would raise the gun, fire one round, stop and put the gun down, wait about 5 minutes, set back up again, fire one round, wait 5 minutes, etc. He had seemed very tense while shooting which I took as him just being extremely focused. While reloading one time, from the corner of my eye I see him have an ND and send a round into the ground about 5' in front of him down range during raising the gun to fire at the target. He was shooting so slow and seemed so focused I could figure out how he could have let that happen.

[Moonclip]

Claymore I live in SoCal, I do not adveritize this fact on THR much due to non high road type posts against people that live here. It's an anti gun climate but I do manage to own over a 100 firearms.

Anyways range suicides are more common than you would think. Almost every indoor range I know has had at leats one. The reason many will not allow a gun rental w/o having a 2nd person with you.

It sucked when it happen as other customers were present.

[1911Tuner]

Two things come to mind. Once, we had a fawn, not long out of his spots romp and play on one end of the rifle range while I shot a .308 on the other end...about 40 yards away. Another guy was at the bench behind a .22-250.

He even approached me and invited me to play. He got to within 15 feet of me when his mama blew at him from the treeline...and he trotted off to join her. He stopped and looked back twice.

Another time...whilst answerin' nature's call...I almost planted my foot on a Copperhead that I estimated at 3 feet long and as almost as thick in the middle as my forearm. He struck, and his head passed under my foot. I defied the laws of physics as I launched myself backward off the foot that wasn't planted on the ground. By the time I was able to regain my balance and whip out my shootin' iron...he'd made good his escape. My heart didn't slow down for 30 minutes. His probably didn't either...

[Claymore1500]

"HKSW"
Yes I was talking about "stonewall" . I can remember the story some what but a little fuzzy on the details.

I have used that range a time or two, But don't really care for it, I prefer outdoors.

"Moonclip" I was not prying I was just curious, In fact in my opinion, I think that if more pro gunners would move to and get involved with the politics in Cal. the climate could be changed for the better.

In fact, if it weren't for $$$$, I would think about moving there, due to my other hobby "Motorcycle riding" I would love more than 6 months a year on the bike.

[Moonclip]

I didn't think you were prying, don't worry about it. The details of the shooting and others I've known of are "graphic" to say the least.

CA does have good riding weather though a bit hot, I rode my motorcycle 70-80 miles today.

I never understood how 1% motorcycle clubs such as the Hells Angels have chapters in certain Euro countries or like in Maine, must be hard to ride in such weather or you ride for a very limited part of the year!

Another indoor range story, I once saw a guy shooting a Talon 9x19, a KelTec ripoff at a range I once operated. The gun blew with standard pressure 9x19 Winchester USA ball.

He came out of range with a bloody nose and mumbling, I though maybe he just had a health issue. Guy took off quick though before I could call an ambulance.

He left gun and ammo on shooting bay. I locked up his gun and ammo and kept the receipt showing he bought the ammo at another store, I didn't want him saying later he was shooting our range reloads.

Around 12am I was just hanging out with a friend after hours at the range, guy came back with another shady looking guy wanting his gun back, I spoke with him thru the door and told him he needed to come back in morning as safe was on time lock(a lttle white lie but I was getting bad vibes)

He said he was ok but his nose was broken and 1-2 teeth missing, chunk of slide hit him in face!

Came back and I gave him gun, he called factory and they said they would just pay his medical bills! I wonder if he got a lawyer and sued Win and/or Talon. They are out of business now.

I saw their .380 KelTecish clone for sale used at $80 2 years ago, I passed:)

[TonyB]

2 weeks ago I was RO'ing someone at our IDPA league when he had a squibb ...after the 1st shot,the second didn't fire(or so I thought)and the gun (CZ75)wouldn't go into battery....thank God.Someone else said they heard a "pop"...I picked up the case and it was really black.So we checked the barrel...sure enough,part way up the barrel,there it was.Kind of scary,for both of us.

[hksw]

I recall the last time there was a suicide at Stonewall. I was tagging along with my sister and her boyfriend to a furniture store in Brecksville (looking at the Techline line of shelving). On the way home on Rt. 82, I notice a few police and an ambulance while passing Ken Mar Rd. where Stonewall is located and saw in the news later that day the story about the suicide.

[Rob87]

the gal next to us one day stripped off her skimp top to find one of my errant ejections. ha what a show, afterwards I actually asked her if they were real or mattel, she got a kick out of it and said " all natural" , which I replied only can tell by feel, She giggled and said, "you won't be finding out" Of course my wife didn't appreciate it, but boy I sure did, at least for a bit.
ha
What? She just...went topless right then and there?

I'm moving to Phoenix; Screw MA.

Seeing someone commit suicide
Dare I ask about this? I'm not sure if you'd be comfortable talking about it. :(

[Claymore1500]

I only know of the one incident, Like I said I don't go there often, The ventilation is poor, no one seems to police thier brass(it's all over the floor) There are usually too many people on the range. $8.00 per hour for that just turns me off.

[mtngunr]

You mean, aside from three seperate instances of folk walking downrange while I was shooting and explaining "don't worry, I've watched you shoot!", or watching a group of teenybopppers aiming scope/loaded rifles at their boyfriends while said boyfriends posted targets 10yds out?.....not much to report aside from seeing a deer get shot accidentally while galloping across the range with the terrified shooter immediately calling a game warden to come finish the critter for him......

[Gunner4h1r3]

On my first ship, USS Shreveport (LPD-12), we had a 9mm shoot and one of our AO's was on the line shooting. He forgot to button up his coveralls and a shell went down his coveralls. Stopped about where his belt buckle was. He shook his coveralls and the shell dropped downwards where his boxers opened up and landed on the tip of his member.

Got to give the kid props as he toughed it out though the entire course of fire.

Another fun story was when we convinced the CO to let the GM's and AO's throw concussion grenades and shoot the m-14, m-16's and mark 18's all on auto.

Ahh memories.

[DRYHUMOR]

Not strange, but kind of neat. Years ago one of the armory gunner's mates had a 1911 he had "modified". I watched him empty the magazine in about a second and half, at full auto. Kids, don't try this at home.

[mtngunr]

I've had that happen with an old/issue 1911A1 where the fp stuck in the fwd position....doesn't take anywhere close to 1.5secs, more like 0.5secs and you find youself just holding on and wondering where the other 6rds went while watching for light planes to come smoking/spiraling out of the sky.....

[bps3040]

I was with a friend sighting in my 30.06. I am shooting and a man with his son start shooting next to us. Well, they are shooting my target,lol, but low. We try to tell him , but he ignores us. So, everytime I shoot, he shoots right after. His son is telling him "wow, Dad another bullseye" I try telling him again..he will not listen. So, I am done, rifle is deadeye, I wait and he shoots....his son says"Dad, I do not see it"...which is when I shoot. His son tells him "He just shot your target" He turns to me and complains. I tell him I tried telling you. You were shooting my target..you are hitting way low and to the left. He was not happy.

[DRYHUMOR]

more like 0.5secs

Yep, prob was closer to .5 sec. could be time has befuddled my memory

[Regolith]

I was at the pistol range once with some people shooting .22's. The targets were steel plates, which invariably seemed to cause the .22 rounds to split into several pieces. One of the pieces must have struck a live round someone had left out near the targets and set it off, because there was a very large boom and a flash that startled everyone. Must have been a big bore pistol round.

[frostbiker]

My dad told me about his time at Benning in the Army. He used to volunteer for magazine loading duty and working the pits so he wouldn't have to road march with his platoon to the range. One morning, at oh-dark-thirty, as the sun was coming up, he and a couple of other privates notice a big buck downrange. They ask and get permission from the drill instructor to load up and try and shoot it. So there they were, proned out on the line trying and failing to drop the deer at 100 to 200 meters with M14's. The DI walks up, grabs the rifle from the man next to my dad and drops the deer with one shot off-hand. For their efforts, my dad and the others got to smell the cooking venison from the NCO club that night.

[HB]

I have posted this before but...

I try to get to the range real early an get out before everybody shows up. For the most part there pretty safe, but sometimes there are some real hillbillies that show up. On one occasion I was shooting a .22 at 50 yards but the people next to my started WALKING DOWNRANGE firing their handguns at a box about 25 yards out.
I stoped shooting and they turned around like they expected me to continue.... It seemed to be a mom (about 40) and her two sons (maybe 14 and 15). The mom and her 14 year old son also enjoyed THE SAME CIGARETTE together after they were finished.

On another occasion, an old beater Branco II pulled up and about 6 rather large bubbas and bubbettes rolled out and set up. The bubbas didn't really understand gun safety, nor did their daughter. They shot black powder revolvers, presuambly because they few felons:neener: As we were shooting, the daughter was shooting a BB gun at an empty pack of cigarettes perpendicular to us (facing down the road). All the sudden Daddy hillbilly yell's indicating that he had been shot. Turns out a BB had bounced off a log and hit him! I also overhead one of them joking how he accidently fired a gun in his house and it almost hit his son. I packed up and got the heck out of there.

A large group of mall ninjas showed up one time in a all black Hummer H1 but you guys know all about them types :evil:


You really got to keep your guard up at ranges like these.

HB

[theotherwaldo]

Probably my oddest moment was looking up from my spotting scope just as Air Force One banked over the range and headed for Houston.

[kentucky bucky]

A friend of mine had a .44mag Colt explode in his hand upon firing. He was using some "hot loads" some goof ball loaded up for him (and probably double charged) The weird thing is that the cylinder landed in my buddy's front shirt pocket!!!! He was not injured, only broken hearted about is Colt.

[TehK1w1]

A few months ago at my last job I had been working on a Savage 110. I had just finished rebarreling it for 35 Whelen (easy with a savage) and I walked over to the range to shoot it a couple times. I put a couple rounds through it to make sure it worked, and one of my coworkers came by to see if I had blown myself up. He shot it at the berm a couple times(it had no sights at the time), then as he was leaving out, of sheer curiosity I pointed the rifle at the 12x12" steel plate hanging by the berm that he used as a pistol target. Pulled the trigger...PING! I walked up to the plate (about 45 yards) and I had hit the top edge. My coworker came back up to me with a disbelieving look on his face, and inspected the plate. He kinda shook his head and left.
I did promise him I wouldn't shoot his plate again :D

[Spark20]

I was at the range hanging out, no specific shooting going on, just enjoying the sun, displaying my firearms in a line, when a man walks up with his dog... he is blind, says to me (idk how he knew I was there) "dont mind me son, Winchester here 'talking about his dog' loves the sound o' shootin..." now thats something you dont see everyday. I was going to ask him if he wanted to shoot, but I... nvm lol you get the point

[KI.W.]

Sorry, but nothing strange. Mayby it is strange. :rolleyes:

[XD Fan]

Saw a guy steal another guy's .357 once. Didn't realize that was what was going on until after the fact.

Had a serious looking hillbilly type had me his new custom-built .454 Casull and ask me if I wanted to shoot it. That was cool and weirdly accurate.

Great Thread. I have enjoyed this one.

[Grey_Mana]

Shooting skeet, my coworker shot & killed a crow that just happened to be in line behind the clay.

[Rugerlvr]

I was at the range Sunday and this stereotypically mulleted redneck-looking guy comes in and sets up a few stalls down from me. He proceeds to sit behind the firing line and open his rifle cases and swept the range. The range officer came up and "corrected" him, and he copped a major 'tude. I didn't hear all of the conversation, but the guy ended up by saying "Now if you tell me that again, we're going to have a problem."

Why when you're surrounded by people with guns do you cop a 'tude with the safety officers and start making veiled threats? How aggressively macho do you have to be?

Of course the gun he got out must have been some kind of belted magnum hunting rifle with a muzzle brake. And he's zeroing it on the pistol range at 15 yards! WTH is up with that? It was so unpleasant listening to to him shoot, (and feeling the heat from the muzzle brake,) that I left shortly thereafter.... and it's an outdoor range!

[Mil-Spec45]

It wasn't an actual range, but rather an old strip mining valley that people use for hunting and long range target practice...

I went with my brother and some of his friends. One friend was shooting his Bushy AR over a lake at the bottom of one valley. It was cloudy enough to use some tracers he bought, so loaded a clip full and tried "bump" firing at the lake. They, of course, ricocheted off the water because of the angle we were at and a couple went WAY up into the air...at which the kid throws his gun down, puts his hands over his head and starts running around like crazy screaming "HEADS UP, HEADS UP!!!" I watched the tracer as it landed harmlessly, oh, about 200 yards away from us. :rolleyes:

Same kid points the rifle right at us. I bring it to his attention and the convo goes something like:
him: "calm down I took the mag out"
me: "Yeah you took a loaded magazine out after firing a few rounds, meaning you still have one loaded in the chamber"
him: "nu-uh"
me: "check your bolt"
him: "...oh"
About a half hour later, same thing...points it right at us. I yell "Point that damn thing down!" and he angrily tells me not to worry, that the safty is on.

This same kid just got his CCW. Scary. I won't be around him during target practice again. He's the type that just seems anxious to kill someone.

[joop]

had something similar but not as scary as milspec's. basically we're shooting at the range testing out my friend's newly bought SKS when it jams. Of course, he decides to look down the barrel from the muzzle end, without putting the safety on or unloading the gun. Not a bright moment :-p

[rainbowbob]

...stereotypically mulleted redneck-looking guy...

Wait a minute! How do you get a sun-burned neck with a mullet? I thought the one good thing about a mullet was that it kept the sun off your neck. And what did his sound-system have to do with his hair-do - regardless of how typical it was?

I'm confused...:confused:

[Rugerlvr]

How do you get a sun-burned neck with a mullet?

I knew someone would take issue with my description, yet... It fits.

[CountGlockula]

The strangest thing was finding blood spots on the range floor...and it wasn't mine!

[Thernlund]

The strangest thing was finding blood spots on the range floor...and it wasn't mine!

Stuff like that is always a somewhat mind rattling.


-T.

[rainbowbob]

I knew someone would take issue with my description, yet... It fits.

Well, sure...it might be an accurate description of the fellow in question. But it risks alienating some of your readers without improving your story one bit.

Some guys have mullets. Some are bald. Some guys are from the South. Some are from Africa. Some guys are fat. Some are skinny. Some guys are dark-complected. Some are fair-skinned.

None of that makes much difference as to how they behaved at the range - unless you are implying that persons with mullets and red-necks are more likely to engage in objectionable behavior.

If that's what you were saying (and I'm not saying it is) - you might have an argument on your hands. And that kind of argument wouldn't be THR...would it?

So why go there?

[JackBurtonJr]

Not a "strange" moment but certainly one of my proudest.

I talked a guy from our church into bringing his two mid-teen sons to a "men's shooting competition" our church puts on every year.

The family had never shot gun before.

I took the boys to the pistol range and worked with them on basic firearms safety and shooting, and they took to it like it was candy. They took home some trophies that year, their first, for the competition.

Two years ago they finished Army boot camp together with the number 1 and 2 shooting scores for the training battalion, and now both are over in Afghanistan as part of the Army Rangers.

They were just home before they went overseas and came to church in their class a's. Two fine looking boys and I am really, really proud of the small piece I got to play in their development into men.

[Rugerlvr]

Some guys have mullets. Some are bald. Some guys are from the South. Some are from Africa. Some guys are fat. Some are skinny. Some guys are dark-complected. Some are fair-skinned.


And there are archetypes for every stereotype. This guy fit.

[Moonclip]

WARNING, some somewhat graphic material. Rob87, not much to say. An older Asian man rented a Glock 22 and fired about 148-149 rounds out of it. He was acting a bit strange, told the counter guy to keep the change when buying the ammo too. Most suicides seem to like to fire a few rounds at least before doing themselves in.

Well with the last round or so he fired it thru his temple, a thru and thru wound with a lot of blood and brain matter when he hit the floor but luckily the range lane partitions seemed to stop the fmj .40S&W range reload after it penetrated. Luckily also it didn't spray much, just a big bloody spot on the floor where he fell.

I was real upset the guy also endangered others and made others have to witness his gory death. I cleared out the range(made sure the few customers there were ok and they got free range passes) and the cops were called.

One of the guys in a nearby business tried to help the suicidal man and got blood ALL over himself but it was too late,doa on way to the hospital.

Cops were there maybe an hour, they took the rental Glock 22 as evidence. I asked if we could clean up and get back in business he said we had to wait for a hazmat team. We were not allowed to do it.

They showed up about 2 hours later, wearing moon suits, soaked up the blood with rags and cleaned everything up with a bleach solution and we were back in business. We were never charged by the city for this either.

Got the gun back later from the pd, it was in a box secured with tie downs. this is kind of nasty but the gun still had a tiny bit of brain matter on it when I got it back:(

If the mods want to remove this post I understand.

[Picard]

I think you described the story fairly well.

[abrink]

Well when i was 12 I'd shoot my 10/22 and my dad would shoot his 228. We used to play around and occasionally put a hole or 2 in each others targets. Well one day when i noticed my dad wasn't saying anything about the holes i was putting in his target i looked around the barrier and found an angry man looking right at me. I didn't say anything and walked into the "lobby" area and found my dad chatting with the rangemaster.

[Rob87]

That's a really sad story. :(

Just a thought: You might want to let people know the post is a little upsetting at the beginning of the post.

[Moonclip]

Good idea, did so. Why do so many of my weird range happening involve blood:(?

[XDKingslayer]

I watched a guy shoot his own rail mounted flashlight...

He was practicing rapid fire with his tac light mounted to his XD. He had one of those cheap, gun show lights that screw on instead of a locking bar that the better lights have.

I was watching him fire and a couple rounds into his 3rd mag and the mounting screws must have worked loose because his light went twirling down range. He obviously didn't notice it because he continued to fire and his next round happened to hit the tac light in mid air.

We all got a laugh out of it.

[CrackerJim]

Not real strange but amusing.

We were at the 200 yard range with 5 covered positions. The left 3 were occupied when a gentleman and friend set up his 50cal bolt rifle in the right most lane. This rifle had a recoil suppressor on the muzzle with the vanes angling back 45deg.

As he was setting up, a couple of young guys with their gals come in and start to set up in the remaining lane just next to the 50cal. I sidle up to one the guys and mention that he might want to set his box on the bench to "hold" it until the fellow to his right is done shooting.

No, he knew better, thanks anyway. They unpack their gear, setting targets etc out on the bench for the next cold range. At least they had their hearing protection on as it was already noisy.

The looks on their faces was priceless when the 50 went off, blowing much of their stuff off the bench and of course startling them and the gals. He gave me a weak smile as they picked up their stuff and sat back on the bench to wait for Mr. 50cal to get done.

Jim

[XD Fan]

abrink,

That is a funny story. Did you go apologize? Was he nice about it?

[ColinthePilot]

Strangest thing I see more and more is people just handing me their weapons and their ammo and not accepting anything in return. The last couple times I've been to the range, one guy handed me a Walther P22 (I insisted on using my own ammo since he was nice enough to let me shoot it through his gun), but didn't want any time on my SKS, which he admitted to having never fired. The next time, a comment on a man's Makarov lead to a magazine a piece for my friend and I, and a few hours of awesome discussion and shooting with the old vet that owned it; again, he wouldn't accept any trigger time on our gear in return. I just went out sunday and met a father/son group of LEO's. One was shooting his department issued Glock 23(?) in .40 with Crimson Trace sights, which he happily handed over with 3 full mags and said "bang away." Then his father showed up, showed me the 5 holes he has in his body from a single incident, the .40 JHP They pulled out of him which he wears on a necklace, and handed over his Sig P229DAK with all the goodies (fiber optic night sights, tac-light, etc) and a half mag of .357 Sig. These guys were already Sig collectors, so my new-to-me P6 didn't interest them too much. The father then asked if I was military, and thanked me for my service, to which I replied, "A man with that many bullet holes in him doesn't need to be thanking me for my service, sir."

[LJH]

Strangest thing, well my wife joined thr this week, that was pretty strange. Good but strange. :)

[Macpherson]

Here's another...

I'm in my bay shooting and having a grand time. The guy next to me is shooting a PPK. It was a good looking pistol, and I've always wanted one. So he stops to reload and I pop over and ask him about it. He happily discusses the gun with me, and very kindly offers a mag to me to put through it. Sweet! So I reach to take the mag and pistol, and the guy has no hands. Just prosthetics. Whoa!

I like to think I didn't make a funny face or do a double-take. It just caught me off guard. He was a really nice guy. I remember thinking later how damn cool that was. No hands? No problem! Nice!

-T.

Wow, that is awesome. Sounds like prime Oleg poster material.

[Zedicus]

Was out shooting with my brothers once and someone Called the cops over someone using Tannerite and the cop stopped where we were & asked if we had been detonating any "Bombs" or shooting a "Cannon" I had a hard time keeping from questioning the Officer's eyesight on that question.

Also found it hard to believe he got a squad car out there (BLM land with a dirt "trail" road that takes a 4wd to get out there) how he managed it with a Crown Vic I have no idea.

[tholiver]

A buddy and me were at our local indoor gunrange/gun club.
We rented a .357 Desert Eagle.
My buddy loads up and pulls the trigger.
Ejected hot brass casing goes straight up in the air and falls down in my buddies face, actually lands between his eyeball and the inside of his glasses!
He very quickly (but safely) sets the gun down whips off his glasses and the brass falls to the ground (all while he is issuing a series of curses).
Optimistically he loaded up and fired again....deja vu!
To this day all you have to do is say the words "Desert Eagle" and he gets this pinched sour look on his face!

[rondog]

I've had a .45 case behind my glasses too, no fun!

Took my grandson to a machinegun shoot, where we rented several guns. He wanted to shoot this one, I believe it was a WWI Maxim, but the owner wasn't renting it, he was just there to shoot. But, he let Cody run about 30 rounds through it anyway.

I was passing by my gun club range in the middle of the night a few days ago, needing a restroom stop real bad. I knew there were several porta-johns there, so I stopped in. Thought I'd pick up some brass with my flashlight while I was there. Heard a strange "chattering" noise, and spotted a pair of badgers about 30 feet away that had come out of their den to see what was going on. Decided I'd better just move along, don't want to mess with any badgers!

[KiltedClaymore]

I'm in my bay shooting and having a grand time. The guy next to me is shooting a PPK. It was a good looking pistol, and I've always wanted one. So he stops to reload and I pop over and ask him about it. He happily discusses the gun with me, and very kindly offers a mag to me to put through it. Sweet! So I reach to take the mag and pistol, and the guy has no hands. Just prosthetics. Whoa!

I like to think I didn't make a funny face or do a double-take. It just caught me off guard. He was a really nice guy. I remember thinking later how damn cool that was. No hands? No problem! Nice!


no hands? sounds like a new poster design for Oleg!

[1KPerDay]

I posted this in this thread (http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=272892) and inadvertently shut it down... hope it doesn't happen to yours. :D

Ahem:

One time, alone at the range one rainy afternoon, I was shooting my gold-plated, limited-edition, Calvin Coolidge Commemorative 10/22 at a 50-yard bullseye. After a few shots, I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked to the right and saw a bushy tail slip behind the shooting partition. "Funny…" I thought to myself. I shot one more round and heard the empty casing ping as it hit the concrete floor. Without moving my cheek off the stock, I moved my eyes to the right and saw a squirrel peek around the partition. After a moment, he swiftly ran out from behind the partition, picked up my empty .22 casing, and darted back behind the partition.

Well, this was unusual, at least in my experience. I made my rifle safe, quietly rose from the shooting bench, and walked slowly toward the partition. I peeked my head around the partition and saw the little fuzzball, seemingly squatting in anticipation of my next shot. His little paws were full of .22 casings, along with some other large pistol casings.

"What in the world…?" I thought, and must have let out a small gasp, as the squirrel jumped, looked up at me, and took off running downrange! Well, I had to see what he planned to do with those cartridge casings, so I leapt over the shooting bench and ran after him (as I said, there was nobody else at the range, and likely wouldn’t be due to the weather). The squirrel ran like mad but I was right on his heels. He darted this way and that, and dropped a couple Webley-Vickers .50-80 empties along the way, but quickly doubled back and retrieved them, evading me with the skill of an NFL running back. Then he ran straight as an arrow for the berm at the end of the 200-yard rifle range.

I was getting winded and a little wet from the light drizzle, but I slogged after him. He reached the berm about 20 yards ahead of me, and disappeared into a hole in the hill.

"Dadblastit!" I spat, as I arrived at the muddy berm. I bent down and looked into the tunnel… and that’s when I heard the sound of Elvis Presley singing "Love Me Tender." The music seemed… no, it couldn't be! It seemed to be coming out of the hole… :uhoh:

[rainbowbob]

I posted this in this thread and inadvertently shut it down... hope it doesn't happen to yours.

I checked the linked thread and it does not appear to me to have been locked. Perhaps it shut down as a result of mass confusion?

Elvis in a berm tunnel being provided with brass by a squirrel? Uhhh...just where ARE you going with that?

[franx1911a]

I was at my favorite local club range, and was downrange re-taping holes in my targets when I turned to head uprange, there was a very, very large black brahma bull with all his hardware looking me up and down... somehow the .380 in my belt was not very comforting. After a few minutes he just turned and walked away. I was afraid I was going to have to play rodeo clown dodging around the barrels on the bay...

[1KPerDay]

I checked the linked thread and it does not appear to me to have been locked. Perhaps it shut down as a result of mass confusion?
I figured it was a distinct lack of interest. :D

[Old Grump]

72 or 73 Black Canyon range, I guess its known as Ben Avery range now, South West Regional High power Rifle Championship matches and all the big guns are there including some of my heroes, Olympic team shooters and some writers that I read in Guns and Ammo and other magazines. Don't remember how many relays there were but it was a bunch and that was a big range. Heard a ruckus so I wandered over to see what the fuss was about and this middle aged gentleman was yelling at the range officials about some shooter using artificial support.

Down off the shooting line comes this woman about the same age as the yeller and she was red faced and rightly so as it turned out. She was about 5' and a little bit and probably close to 200 pounds, my apologies if she wasn't that heavy. She yanked up one side of her shooting jacket exposing a huge breast and asked him, (well she screamed at him), if that looked artificial to him. He packed up his gear and left the range, she continued shooting. I heard later they had been competing together for years but today she was shooting the pants off of him and he couldn't stand it. Not the biggest commotion I ever saw at a big match but one of the strangest.

[Ready2Defend]

I was at a range 30 miles out side of town and a Man walked up to me and said "my back hurts".

What? I thought. Then I realised he was a patient of mine (he recognized me before I recognized him).

He was shooting his MP-5 and let me shoot 2 mags through it. Full auto was great.:)

[Packman]

Down off the shooting line comes this woman about the same age as the yeller and she was red faced and rightly so as it turned out. She was about 5' and a little bit and probably close to 200 pounds, my apologies if she wasn't that heavy. She yanked up one side of her shooting jacket exposing a huge breast and asked him, (well she screamed at him), if that looked artificial to him. He packed up his gear and left the range, she continued shooting. I heard later they had been competing together for years but today she was shooting the pants off of him and he couldn't stand it. Not the biggest commotion I ever saw at a big match but one of the strangest.

Funniest thing I've heard all day, and I needed that one. Thanks Old Grump.

I got into a conversation one day with a guy who had no legs from the knees down. prosthetics, but he walked just as fast as me with only a slight limp. Nice guy, cool guns.

I was the last shooter out of the range down one day, and when I looked at the clock on the way out, I realized the RO had let me shoot an extra half hour past closing. Thanked him heartily for that.

I was the only shooter at the range for an hour and a half on my last visit. The RO came over and basically told me the rules didn't really apply since I was the only one there. Safety still did, obviously, but I was able to shoot forward of the benches, change targets whenever, etc. Very nice, appreciated that one too.

[Avenger]

Not actually on the range, but AT the range: I came out of an indoor range at the end of a session, and EVERY one of the 6 cars in the lot was a green late-90s Plymouth Grand Voyager.....just like mine. Very weird, fortunately I long ago memorized my plate number.....I didn't really want to go playing, "Does my key unlock this vehicle?" in the parking lot of a gun range!

[FM12]

Watching a fellow shooter's .45 ACP thumb safety break into two pieces while he was shooting.

[Treo]

Somebody brought a cow to work the other day

[Thernlund]

Somebody brought a cow to work the other day

I hope you work in a dairy. :scrutiny:


-T.

[Treo]

Nope, a power plant. One of the employees showed up W/ a cow on a trailer, proceeded to drive around W/ it for a half hour or so then left.

[Gun Wielding Maniac]

I was at a range in Colorado, watching some people shoot on the pistol range and standing next to my car, a good 100 meters to the rear of the pistol range. A .45 caliber bullet hit the backstop, bounced into the air... and landed on the hood of my car, making a fairly nasty dent.

Another time, I was at Knob Creek Gun Range. My stepfather and me went downrange to paste up some targets in between firing orders. A cease fire had been called and everyone was standing away from their weapons. We had to go down to the 200 yard line to put up the targets. On the way back, some black guys from Illinois pulled up their cars, grabbed their pistols and rifles and simply started shooting...

Of course, we screamed and shouted at them until they finally noticed that yes, there were people downrange. They promptly got in their cars and left. Sad part, no one in the lanes next to them said a word to these guys.:rolleyes:

[Mr.1973]

The strangest thing was.....

Nothing happened.

Forgot the ammo.

Bad day. Ammo is too expensive anyway.

Good thing I forgot it.

[RDak]

I hit the bullseye with all six revolver shots!! Very strange for me!

[Friendly, Don't Fire!]

I went to the range to shoot and there were other fellas there, and for once, no one stopped to shoot the breeze and talk my ear off all afternoon. It was fun to finally get some serious shooting in - unlike many other times when several guys come over and want to talk guns and all I want to do is make sure that load I just worked up is accurate! Some people have no consideration for others. Some want to just shoot and go home - instead of making a big party out of it.

Another time was, well STRANGE (is the only word I can think of to describe it). I was firing some loads for my 500 Magnum (4" barrel). There was a guy with his family at the other end of the benches. That guy would laugh hysterically after every shot I took. At first, I just looked over, then I got to just ignoring him - thinking whatever he's into is HIS BUSINESS.

When I had a migraine for a week afterward, with sore shoulders and chest, I then realized that I must've looked like I was having a car accident with every shot I was taking. Looking back on it, I guess this guy was simply having a grand time watching someone having whiplash with each (about 80) shot fired - which must have been somehow amusing---probably the reality of just how powerful that gun (weapon) REALLY IS!

[scrat]

Here's another...

I'm in my bay shooting and having a grand time. The guy next to me is shooting a PPK. It was a good looking pistol, and I've always wanted one. So he stops to reload and I pop over and ask him about it. He happily discusses the gun with me, and very kindly offers a mag to me to put through it. Sweet! So I reach to take the mag and pistol, and the guy has no hands. Just prosthetics. Whoa!

I like to think I didn't make a funny face or do a double-take. It just caught me off guard. He was a really nice guy. I remember thinking later how damn cool that was. No hands? No problem! Nice!

Wow that is so cool

[wilson]

I was watching my father-in-law shoot his hipoint, after a few shots the flash suppresser fell off. He didnt even notice just kept on shooting.:uhoh:

[VegasOPM]

I was shooting at the bench at my range (which I never do- we have private bermed ranges that I usually use) while the security/custodian came walking down the line with a steel magnet. He never called "cease fire", he would just wait until the next person on the line was reloading and THEN walk in front of them.:scrutiny: When a cease fire was finally called, he came behind the firing line and started telling me, and anyone who would listen about the Zionist Occupied Government.:uhoh:

I told him that I wasn't interested in talking politics or conspiracies with him and that I just wanted to shoot- to which he responded "I'd hate to have to kick you out of the club..." He was gone soon after that.

[TRX]

Shot in the head with a .44 Magnum pistol.

Shelby County Range in Memphis, Tennessee, in the mid '80s. I was working up some loads for a Desert Eagle. It would digest even cheap factory ammo fine, but it didn't like any reloads until they were way past the "maximum" recommendation in the powder guides.

I'd stovepiped a couple of rounds (I was only loading batches of 8, in various powders and weights), and then got a hangfire. I carefully set the gun down on the bench for the recommended 3-minute wait, and bent down to pick up some of the empties. The friend who was with me decided to pick the gun up, and it went off in his hand. A 240 grain Hornady went downrange, and the pistol went about four feet back into the side of the head, knocking me silly.

I'm just glad it was the pistol that got me, and not the bullet...

[Tom Servo]

I've seen more than a few unpleasant things over the years. Most have been echoed here to some extent.

One guy does spring to mind, because he was entertaining but harmless. His name was Rudy. We never knew what his deal was, but he may have been slightly mentally challenged.

He'd come in with an old Ruger auto and do the same routine every time:

Roll the target out to about 25 feet and fire. Every time he'd hit the 9 or 10 ring on a silhouette (which wasn't very often), he'd yell at the top of his lungs.
Then he'd bring it back to do some "point shooting." I know it was "point shooting," because he once interrupted me to point out the fact. This involved bringing the target back to about 7 feet and shooting one-handed. Every head shot elicited another whoop of joy.
Funny thing is, the guy never did anything unsafe, and he always cleaned up after himself dilligently. He seemed nice enough. He couldn't shoot very well, but he politely turned down advice, claiming he didn't need pointers because he was an "ace."

He was also very courteous to every one who worked there, so once you got used to him, it was just "one of those things."

He was a fixture at the local range for several years, then he came in one day wanting to sell the gun. The owner didn't want to buy it because, well, it was "Rudy's gun." (It was also in pretty rough shape)

Rudy was adamant, so the owner gave him a bit more than normal for it. I was there when they asked Rudy why he was parting with it, and his response was, "gentlemen, I have mastered this art. Other pursuits demand my attention."

I still wonder what he's doing these days. Whatever it is, it's probably pretty interesting :)

[Wolfeye]

I once had a common enough experience: I was plinking with a .22 rifle, had the uncanny impression, no, knowledge, that everything was lined up perfectly - sights, body, steel target. I pulled the trigger, and immediately after the shot I felt bullet fragments strike the collar I had pulled up around my throat.

The weirdest part was the feeling that I was spot-on with the aiming. It was like when you throw a dart and know it's a bull's eye before it even hits. The shot was only at around 20 yards, but it might as well have been 200 and I still could've confidently bet a year's pay that it was perfectly placed. That feeling hasn't happened since.

[Zedo]

Found a $20 bill in the grass at the gravel pit, from the drinking party the night before.

[Deus Machina]

I haven't been shooting long enough to get many, but the day of my CCL class was interesting.

One of the guys qualifying was in a wheelchair. Permanently or long-term temporarily, I don't know, but he seemed used to it. I let him go in front of me, just being polite like I would anyone, and turned away--and then reached up to hold my head because my eyeballs were rattling between their sockets and my glasses. He had a high-end .357 of some sort, and was shooting his deer rounds--as I found out later--at a target three yards away.

I asked him afterwards why he didn't use WWB or .38's in it for the qualification, and he said he just figured he'd shoot what he knew.



During the break while the renters rented and the owners stretched their legs, the officer that held the class saw me limping around looking through the cases. (I have a bum right knee--I gashed it open when I was little, and have a very vivid memory of cleaning it and literally seeing my own kneecap) I told him the rain was bothering me, and he told me to just wait until I was his age.

I replied, verbatim, "After this, I'll be licensed to carry a loaded gun while riding a motorcycle. I'm not planning on living that long." I think he left a bruise slapping me on the back. :D

[Splodge Of Doom]

It wasn't so much strange as embarrassing.

I'd only been shooting a couple of weeks, firing .22 CZs (not sure exactly what model - they're the club guns, anyhow). This week someone suggested I had a go with the club's Marlin .38 lever action.

Standard range practice in the club is to go in, load your mags while you wait for the RO, RO comes and checks the weapons, ear protection etc, and then you load and fire when ready. So in I go, and load the mag. Which just happens to be integral tube magazine attached to the rifle. Urk...


Everyone had a good laugh at my expence, and I'll never do that again ><

[hksw]

The weirdest part was the feeling that I was spot-on with the aiming. It was like when you throw a dart and know it's a bull's eye before it even hits. The shot was only at around 20 yards, but it might as well have been 200 and I still could've confidently bet a year's pay that it was perfectly placed. That feeling hasn't happened since.

I've had that odd feeling on very rare occassions. I recall one time I was shooting my IAI Javelina and on an extremely rare string where it did not jam, I was really in the groove and shot exactly where I wanted. I wish I had that ability all of the time.

[OOOXOOO]

I was at the local range sighting in a new scope when a guy sets up at the next bench. I'm trying to be as accurate as possible( I was new to using a scoped rifle)because I have little experience shooting past 100 yards. When the range goes cold he sets up a large bullseye target up at 10 yards. The range goes hot again and the guy pulls out some old bolt action rifle with a straight pull bolt(looks like a mil-surp). He procedes to sit down and bench the rifle. Then he lets fly with hundred rounds. He was shooting as fast as he could cycle the action. He never changed his target while I was there(around two hours) and he never slowed down. I must have watched him burn through a case of ammo easy. As I was leaving I noticed that he not only shot a seven inch hole in the center of the target he was still firing through the hole he made. At ten yards it looked like he was patterning 00 buck at 25 yards. I still chuckle when I think about that guy.

[rondog]

This happened yesterday. Proved to me that I'm an idiot, but a lucky idiot!

I'm a member of a gun club, with a 560 acre private range way out in the toolies. Grandson and I were delivering a pickup load of donated steel materials and wood, and were unloading the truck.

My carry pistol is a RIA Compact 1911, and it kept dragging my pants down while working, so I took it out and placed it on the bumper of my truck. Chevy Silverado, big chrome step bumper, with the rubber pad across the top.

We got done, jumped in the truck and took off. Drove around the place for awhile, down dirt roads, over cattle guards, a little bit of pasture, and ended up at one of the pistol ranges. Approx 1 to 1.5 miles of bouncing around.

We're looking around that pistol range, deciding if we wanted that one or another, and I suddenly remembered my 1911.

The blood drained from my face as I bolted for the back of the truck, and there she was! Completely covered with dust, scared out of her mind, but she was clinging onto that bumper for dear life!

Words cannot express how relieved I was. That's the most loyal gun I've ever seen, and she got a well-deserved solvent bath and CLP soaking last night!

I love that little pistol more than ever now.

[rugerman]

Several years ago I was at a public range when a group of 4 black guys showed up with a new in the box shotgun with a pistol grip and a large cardboard box for a target. the first guy loads the gun and holds it at arms length and shoots at the box with buck shot (I looked at the hulls after they left) and missed it completly at about 10 yards. His buddies all razzed him so then he handed it to one of them to shoot, this guy held it two handed with one hand on the forearm and the other at his waist, he missed to. First guy decides to try again but this time he aims real hard while holding the pistol grip about 3 inches from his face (forgot to tell you its a 12 ga) when he pulls the trigger he yells and drops the gun (yes he still missed) and grabs his face as blood gushed from his nose that was smeared all over his face. They grab the gun throw it back in the box and I heard him say "I'm going to take that damn gun back and get my money back, something is wrong with it I can't hit nuttin with it. I nearly musted a gut trying not to laugh, the guy next to me was laughing so hard that he was crying.

[DRZinn]

So you completely missed an opportunity to teach a new shooter what the sport/hobby is all about?

[WayneConrad]

This isn't really odd, but it stands out in my mind as one of the rootenest, tootenest, funnest times I've ever had at the range. It's easy for me to get real serious when I get to the range, but there's one gal in particular I know from the Annie Oaklies that took all the serious out of me one day. She volunteers as a RSO at the range. Nicest gal you'd ever want to know. One day she was shooting with one of her friends, and they were tacking balloons up on the target stand. I was doing something boring, like shooting paper, but what they were doing looked more interesting so I stood to watch. It turned out they were drawing from the hip and point shooting at balloons (it's a good range, even drawing from the holster allowed if you're safe). It wasn't long before they invited me in on their fun. I don't think I ever had a better time at the range than that. "No!" She kept saying. "You took the time to aim again. Quit that. Now again, and no aiming!" I don't know how I was able to shoot while she had me laughing so hard, but we popped a lot of balloons. Most fun I've ever had at the range, and most balloons killed.

All of the best times involved people, not hardware. The gun or the place didn't matter.

[Stevie-Ray]

I gotta nominate Old Grump's adventures for the story of the thread. Free target!:D That was great.:p

Strangest thing that ever happened to me was at a state range where it was verboten to rapid fire. The RO was complaining to us during a cease fire that ground hogs were screwing up the grounds big-time. About 5 minutes into the next hot session, I spotted one of the wily whistle pigs and called the RO over. He immediately called us together and had us take aim, and on his count of 3, we all emptied our weapons at the moving target about 50 yards away. All clean misses, though many were close. He called cold range and scampered through the gate toward the disappearing hog, his Beretta 92 in hand. We waited about 5 minutes, hearing a couple shots the whole time, and back he came with his 92 holstered. As he got within 10 yards or so he shook his head. Oh well, hogs 1, range boys 0. Then he told us rapid-fire was allowed. For ground hogs only, of course. I miss that range.

[TEXAS]

I was shooting at a 10" steel plate a 500 yards with a 500 my Linebaugh from a beach chair (folding chair with about 4" legs). I had a good spotter and hit 2 out of 10. While I was shooting a couple of mall ninjas started setting up there all balck Rem 308's with giant scopes. As I am making my 10th shot they ask my spotter what are yall shooting at? Just as he tells them the 500 yard plate my shot breaks, about one and a half seconds later the "ding" of a hit comes back. I didn't know that all of this was going on, so when I get up there are these two guys looking at me then my 51/2" revolver then at each other. They didn't say a word just packed up and drove away. My friend is laghing too hard to tell me what happend for a while.

[theken206]

idiot walked into my house and almost got a .45 jammed down his throat, my dad wasnt impressed and I was like you should have judo flipped his old ass down the steps for good measure if he wasnt 60+

[Ignition Override]

Wish I could tell you.
They only allow us to shoot at paper targets (or clay pigeons/skeet if you know how).

Joined it, hoping that I might run into one or more guys from my company, and sometimes have an acquaintance to shoot with, but never do.
It cost $500 to join (= 2500 rounds of Wolf x39).
Prefer shooting alone, down into a narrow, deep river in order to have fun.

[halfbreed808]

Farted so loud the guy next to me thought someone had a gatling gun.:D