Scary ranges!

Not really a range but a lot of guys around here just go out to the farm to shoot. No back stop, no rules, no nothing.

There is a shooting area in the desert near Calico Ghost Town outside Barstow, Ca.

It’s also popular with off roaders/Jeepers who challenge the rugged canyons that lead back to the mining areas East of the tourist areas. Roads from graded RV friendly ones to axle-busting winch-only trails are all over these hills.

Shooters who have a clue shoot away from the roads and use the many canyons and mountainsides as safe backstops.

One day I had the family in the RZR and we left an open area filled with other day riders near the ghost town and took a road that went back over to where our camp was. As I crested a small hill I saw a bunch of metal target stands set up right on the road I was on and three guys with rifles pointed in our direction. They pointed their guns down and looked utterly shocked that a vehicle would be driving on that road, despite the miles of dirt roads all over the area. I was utterly shocked that three people could be that stupid. They never looked over the little rise to see what was there.

I rolled up, let them know about thirty other people were riding atvs right on the other side of the 8’ hill they were shooting at and they should probably move their targets to the other side of the road and use the mountain as a backstop.

Rule 4: Know your target, your backstop and what lies beyond.

Stay safe.

Over the years, my wife and I have accumulated a considerable amount of friends that ride motorcycle. These folks are from all around the country. We annually get together at someone's house/town for a small "rally". Few years back it was at a friends house in Illinois. He said "Bring you guns! I have a range in my front yard!" So I, and many others brought a few handguns to shoot to pass the time. Off to the side of his house he had taken his tractor with a loader and scooped out a small berm. It was behind a few bushes and kinda outta sight. About 15 minutes into the first range session while checking out targets, I hear voices and look up to see many of our wives standing on top of what I thought was the berm. No, it was his front yard, that was level with the top of the small 4' high berm. Of course, when I said something, I was the "Karen".

I dont like my club range......
You're looking at our 100yd berm.
Just to the right is the pioneer city arena where the Labor day rodeo is held. You can see the announcers booth and another outbuilding. The grand stands are adjacent to the range. The trees in the background are on the Wabash River. We post signs but have had more than one emergency cease-fire.

The only thing scary about some of the ranges here are the people using them. But these stories of limited/no backstops would scare me to death...I can't imagine having to live with killing someone over a range outing.

Detroit.

Many offical type ranges are pretty scary if you get to looking. If they have ceilings, walls, benches, etc, its usually pretty obvious.

We have a very nice little range just down the road, which is where i usully shoot, but a lot of people just shoot out in the yard, fields, etc.

Just driving down the highway, you can often see all sorts of sketchy stuff, especially this time of year. Best not to dwell on it.

A while back I spent a few days at a friend's deer camp in northern rural Wisconsin. Nearby is a public range. Posted minimal rules , no enforcement. Backstop consists of a variety of small berms.
As I approach the firing line I observe a guy bench resting and sighting in his deer rifle, him being the only other person in sight. He is shooting at a sheet of cardboard that is propped up about 100 yards out on a small earthen berm , maybe the size of a Volkswagen. After about 5 rounds the shooter yells "Where am I hittin' ?" Up pops his buddy from behind the little berm - brushing the dirt from his head he cheerfully points at a grouping that is high right and says "Right here - off by maybe a half a foot!"
Shooter tweaks the scope and yells "OK - Get down , I'm gonna try again!" .

Yikes.

My brother is a gifted, dedicated gunsmith. He HAD a fifty foot function range near his gunsmithing business. Two customers paid for repair of their 357 Ruger. My brother stepped outside his building to see one customer standing next to his makeshift pistol target as his friend was shooting at that target. He asked, "Am I close?" That ended that!

Pretty much any public range. I don't go to them anymore.

The matches I shoot are at private ranges (open to the public) and even then you've got to watch people you don't know are competent.

I mostly shoot at home where its plenty safe.

I'll echo the many sentiments of "it's not the range, but the people using them". I ran ranges in the military and was a competitive high power and pistol shooter for many years so am used to very regulated ranges. There are two ranges much closer but have very little oversight, poor facilities and are usually crowded due to their proximity to the Fox cities here. I drive 45 min north to a very nice range which is segregated into 4 separate shooting areas. Each with their own parking, all covered, all clean, all with good benches and I usually only run into one or two other shooters when I show up early in the mornings. The other range, I get strange looks when I yell "Range is Hot/Cold" whenever the flag is raised or lowered...as if no one is used to verbalization while shooting. I also carry empty chamber flags...and use them unlike most. I'll see rifles with closed bolts/locked levers and guys fiddling with their firearms up and down the firing line at the other ranges when it goes cold. No thanks....

I'll bite. How about a range where you shoot over a busy highway?

I belonged to a club that was in an originally very rural area that became very built up in the 90's. The "new" people (city people moving into the country is never generally a good thing, for the original inhabitants anyway) were increasingly and constantly bitching to local government about the range. Luckily, there was a law on the books at the state level, that the clubs existing when the law was passed couldnt be closed down, but the club was still in a panic someone would let a round go someplace other than the berms and they would be open to lawsuits.

They put up baffles on each of the ranges that would only allow the rounds to get from the shooting positions to the berm. Looked like hell, and if you shot from field positions, you were basically screwed, but they did work. They had plenty of holes in them on the firing line side of them too.

And this wasnt one of those ranges where you could do anything you liked. They were already pretty strict, rules-wise, had limits on the number of rounds in the guns, a number randomly present but often overbearing RO's constantly hovering, and members had to pass a safety course to join, and in some cases, show they could actually shoot, in order to shoot handguns at ranges beyond 25 yards.

Yet, with all that, still.... the target frames were constantly shot up, the ceilings in all the sheds had daylight coming through numerous holes, as did some of the framed walls in the sheds that had them, divots out of the block walls and concrete floors, and holes in the wood benches. Really makes you wonder sometimes.

Old gun shop used to have an indoor 21 yard range attached. It was armored with rubber panels for sound dampening and also to reduce ricochets. Once a year they'd pull up all the rubber to clean stuck bullets out, and buddy let me tell you. In the walls, in the ceilings, above the light fixtures, it was incredible. The worst/best one I can remember was a bullet shot almost dead vertical into the floor, about three feet in front of one of the center lanes. I don't know how that shot was possible, short of them jumping up on the shooting bench, reaching their arm straight out and firing with their wrist bent straight down. Whoever did it musta been double-jointed to go with his terrible aim, because there was no angle you could have taken from behind the firing line to make that shot.

trackskippy said:

I belonged to a club that was in an originally very rural area that became very built up in the 90's. The "new" people (city people moving into the country is never generally a good thing, for the original inhabitants anyway) were increasingly and constantly bitching to local government about the range.

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This happened to my brother in law. We go there to shoot clay birds and the new neighbors would always complain about the noise. They complained about a brush pile he was created from trimming his trees. They wanted him to cut up the branches, wrap them and take them to some place to be disposed. He told them that he'd get rid of the pile. That night he had a bonfire that could be seen from space. This is sarcasm but I'd like to think the neighbors thought of it that way.

CryptKeeper5 said:

I'll echo the many sentiments of "it's not the range, but the people using them". I ran ranges in the military and was a competitive high power and pistol shooter for many years so am used to very regulated ranges.

I get strange looks when I yell "Range is Hot/Cold" whenever the flag is raised or lowered...as if no one is used to verbalization while shooting. I also carry empty chamber flags...and use them unlike most. I'll see rifles with closed bolts/locked levers and guys fiddling with their firearms up and down the firing line at the other ranges when it goes cold. No thanks....

Click to expand...

Agree wholeheartedly!!! In many instances it is not the location that are scary but the armed idiots with disregard for general safety rules. Those are the ones that Need Private Ranges with no one else present. Seeing as I work as an RO at a very well regulated range that has 100+ shooting benches I see daily some very unsafe people with little concern for anyone else on the range. We see people flagging the entire firing line all the time and when confronted many times they become indignant. So then I point out to them that the person they just pointed their gun at does not know them and would they like to go explain to that person that their gun was Unloaded and would they get upset if that person turned and drew down on them.

People constantly bitch and complain about the restrictive rules or Over Bearing RO's but in fact those rules are in place to keep everyone safe from each other. If you don't like the rules and don't trust the idiots then please go buy land and make your own private range. As also pointed out here, many of those are no safer. There are just no rules!

The ranges here are no different. Bullet holes in the shed roof outside, walls, ceiling, and floor indoors.
The closest one I know was when the indoor range billed a customer for replacement of the stall shelf he had shot.
The worst action I have seen was the guy on lane #2 who liked the look of the target only about halfway out lane #4.
Bang, and the wall got a new divot. Unfortunately nobody on staff was looking.
I don't know if they have bothered to replace the down range CCTV I saw go up in a cloud of smoke and come down in a shower of nuts and bolts.

We were shooting a round of skeet, one Saturday morning.

I was on Station 3, getting ready and barely heard " DON'T SHOOT, DON'T SHOOT "

I catch some movement in my peripheral and look up.

There is a parachute school, at a small airport, half mile down the road. A plane had dumped 16 jumpers. On the trip down, the wind had switched directions and they all landed out front of the skeet ranges.

They hit the ground running.

I was shooting shotgun trying to pattern the gun, as I was ready to release a load of buckshot something looked strange so I safe'd the gun and put it down. The target had four legs. A deer had wandered onto the range and was grazing between the target and backstop. It was obvious that the deer was used to grazing on this range as it did not flinch when someone else shot their target. We had to safe the range and chase off the deer.

Ranges tending rural, it is not unusual to have to clear the range of wildlife.
We have had to chase deer and turkeys away, also cattle and dirt bikers.

Have a club/private range or use the back 40. The tree line at top is just over 2000 yds from shooting spot.

Waveski said:

A while back I spent a few days at a friend's deer camp in northern rural Wisconsin. Nearby is a public range. Posted minimal rules , no enforcement. Backstop consists of a variety of small berms.
As I approach the firing line I observe a guy bench resting and sighting in his deer rifle, him being the only other person in sight. He is shooting at a sheet of cardboard that is propped up about 100 yards out on a small earthen berm , maybe the size of a Volkswagen. After about 5 rounds the shooter yells "Where am I hittin' ?" Up pops his buddy from behind the little berm - brushing the dirt from his head he cheerfully points at a grouping that is high right and says "Right here - off by maybe a half a foot!"
Shooter tweaks the scope and yells "OK - Get down , I'm gonna try again!" .

Yikes.

Click to expand...

An argument for compulsory neutering.

The public range I use has two berms, the man made one and the one God made...


It's free and unmonitored, so there are some occasional idiots. Amazingly I don't think there has ever been an injury. I go at "inconvenient times" so I can avoid most people.