Shooting Range Observations

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"More shooters than hunters''. Exactly it.

The AR's work predictably well. Fudd guns? Not so much. There's so many things wrong with them. Luckily, there's new bolt action rifles coming out that work fine, right out of the box. No voodoo nonsense with stocks or goofy mounts. Slap an optic on the .mil rail and you're good to go. Seeing tons of Ruger precision rifles out shooting just about everything. No mistake that they're AR-ish.

Why shouldn't AR's be more popular. Cheap. Easy. Works.
 
Sometimes I go to the local range that's 8 miles from my place and shoot just to be with other shooters.Once in a while,the ornery side of me comes out and I'll take my old rolling block to the range.Billed as the ugliest rifle in the county,it has a straight 1.060 Hart bull barrel that the previous owner cold blued and also made a mistake when he drilled and tapped for scope mounts because it has two sets of holes,one at 12 and the other at around 3 o'clock on the barrel.I grafted an old trap stock off my 1100 on it,and when I say it's a heluva looking thing,I mean it.When I get it out at the range,I put on leather gloves and a paintball mask/goggle setup and tell the other shooters they may want to stay back a little because it blew up the last time I had it out,but I got er welded up and I think it'll stay together this time.It's chambered in 219 Zipper,and it's insanely accurate,usually 5 shot groups at 100 yards are right around half an inch.The looks I get are priceless.That's what it's all about no matter what the range-having fun and enjoying each other's company.
 
Howland937 said:
I never really pay attention to what other folks are shooting beyond taking note of the ones I wanna keep my distance from. Muzzle brakes and AR pistols, I'm moving farther down the line. 4 dudes with one mat, laying out a 50BMG to shoot under the bench on the 100 yard line, time for me to leave.
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I actually made some idiot, too much gun I guess, move to other end of the range. Plenty of stations open with stations on both sides.
 
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I haven’t been to an outdoor rifle range to shoot since I moved to Granola Land over 3 years ago. I have been to ranges, they are just so crowded it’s ridiculous. That and all the Nimrods and idiots with poser military guns and muzzle brakes that look like they belong on Sherman tanks. “Flash Hiders” are illegal here so all these “builders” (assemblers) want to act like “Operators” and attach expensive muzzle brakes to their guns. Half of them don’t even know what muzzle brakes do. These same idiots complain about the guys on either side of them and how their muzzle brakes are annoying.
There is an indoor range about 3 miles from me that allows rifles / cartridges “up to 4000 ft/lbs of energy”. You haven’t lived until your shooting handguns and there’s a Nimrod on the left shooting .308 and 2 idiots to your right shooting ARs and all 3 guns have brakes that expell spent gases sideways (and it seems directed right at you).

I am leaving this enlightened utopia this summer. Thank God.
 
One of the advantages of retirement is the ability to go to the range on weekday mornings. I have actually been the sole shooter at times .For some reason, I went last Sunday afternoon and was quickly reminded why I don`t go on weekends! Besides the general crowd hubbub, I find it physically painful if the right rifle is in the next station over and I`m in its muzzle cone, even with good ear protection.
 
Turkeytider said:
... While the lack of firearms variety was not really a huge surprise, the ranges of targets was. ...
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I wonder how many of those targets were set short because they were being used for initial sight-in and how many because the owners were feeling too lazy/tired/meh to make the longer hike when the line went cold. :)

I have always (much) favored irons but some of my longguns are glassed as a nod to my presbyopia. I cannot recall ever shooting anything at a range beyond about 150.

I have a relaxed backyard range setup and I will often place targets at both 25 and 100. My initial sight-in effort is always spent at the 25 the finished results of which I can quickly check on the 100.
 
I am a member of a private range open to the public. We have 100, 200, 300, and 600 ranges. The 100 always gets crowded. That's my que to go home or go to a longer range. You have to qualify at 300 before you are allowed to go to 600. Now, that I think about it, the OP is right. Close to hunting season, you start seeing more bolt actions and black powder. I have an AR10 that I bought for 3 gun, but I also hunt with it. I love to bang the steel at 300 from field positions with my AR. Very, very few folks shoot field positions with any rifle. One range I went to would not let me shoot offhand in any position. I didn't go back only because it wasn't very helpful for me. I primarily hunt and want to practice that way. Each to their own.
 
I do just want to point out that this observed data is not a representation of firearms owners, but only of people that actually use them. Most people that own guns don't use them, and as far as the lack of hunting and precision rifles, there is only so much shooting you can do with a scoped rifle at 100 yards and keep it entertaining. I bet a good percentage of the people out plinking have traditional scoped rifles, they just aren't bringing them to the range.
 
someguy2800 said:
I do just want to point out that this observed data is not a representation of firearms owners, but only of people that actually use them. Most people that own guns don't use them, and as far as the lack of hunting and precision rifles, there is only so much shooting you can do with a scoped rifle at 100 yards and keep it entertaining. I bet a good percentage of the people out plinking have traditional scoped rifles, they just aren't bringing them to the range.
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This. ^^^
I take my hunting rifles out to 1) zero a new scope or 2) check zero before the season or 3) test new hunting loads.
For fun rifle shooting, it's one of the AR's, Mini-14, M1 carbine, or one of many .22 rifles.
 
While on vacation this winter, I visited a state range in SC and noticed similar to the OP. I knew about the range in advance, and brought a few old military rifles and an AR carbine as that's what I had ammo for. A Mosin 91-30, a Swedish 96, a Swiss Gew 11 and my butt-basic DPMS carbine made the trip. The Saturday we went was rather busy, being an unseasonably warm and downright beautiful day. The range had one bay that allowed steel shooting so I brought an improvised steel plate target made from a RR cross tie. After patiently waiting for a guy with a fancy PRS type rig to finish swatting a 12" plate from sandbags, I moved my homemade steel target to the 100 yard position. He was still hanging around along with the range officer who gave a bit of an eyeroll to my table full of antiques and one modern AR carbine. "You think them things can hit that itty bitty steel plate way out there son?' I politely muttered something about preferring a challenge, racked a stripper of 6,5s into the Swede and clanged my plate 5 times from prone under the bench. After awhile I noticed a bit of a crowd behind me (I had switched to offhand and was probably hitting in the 80% range). The range had gone largely silent. One good old boy asked where I was from, and getting the reply of Minnesota, remarked "I guess that's why we lost the war!", which I found not to be ironic at all, as 2 of my ancestors had marched with Sherman right through that very county! One guy in the crowd who was shooting an M1 Garand down the line and looked to be of the age that he could well have carried one in Korea just quietly smiled and gave me a knowing nod at that comment. I hope some of the onlookers gained a new appreciation for what "Grandpa's" rifle can do in good hands.
 
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Random 8 said:
While on vacation this winter, I visited a state range in SC and noticed similar to the OP. I knew about the range in advance, and brought a few old military rifles and an AR carbine as that's what I had ammo for. A Mosin 91-30, a Swedish 96, a Swiss Gew 11 and my butt-basic DPMS carbine made the trip. The Saturday we went was rather busy, being an unseasonably warm and downright beautiful day. The range had one bay that allowed steel shooting so I brought an improvised steel plate target made from a RR cross tie. After patiently waiting for a guy with a fancy PRS type rig to finish swatting a 12" plate from sandbags, I moved my homemade steel target to the 100 yard position. He was still hanging around along with the range officer who gave a bit of an eyeroll to my table full of antiques and one modern AR carbine. "You think them things can hit that itty bitty steel plate way out there son?' I politely muttered something about preferring a challenge, racked a stripper of 6,5s into the Swede and clanged my plate 5 times from prone under the bench. After awhile I noticed a bit of a crowd behind me (I had switched to offhand and was probably hitting in the 80% range). The range had gone largely silent. One good old boy asked where I was from, and getting the reply of Minnesota, remarked "I guess that's why we lost the war!", which I found not to be ironic at all, as 2 of my ancestors had marched with Sherman right through that very county! One guy in the crowd who was shooting an M1 Garand down the line and looked to be of the age that he could well have carried one in Korea just quietly smiled and gave me a knowing nod at that comment. I hope some of the onlookers gained a new appreciation for what "Grandpa's" rifle can do in good hands.
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Yep. " Don`t miss, Shifty. " Shifty didn`t.
 
Wherever you go, there you are.

I’m headed to the range today after a couple of weeks overseas, and I’m expecting to see ALMOST exclusively $2500-4500 bolt action rifles with $1500-4500 scopes on top. The deviants might be a MG on the carbine range or someone tuning up with a Staccato on the pistol bay.

Wherever you go, there you are.
 
I went to my private range yesterday to zero two rifles with new scopes. It's a 50, 100 and 200 yd outdoor range. There was one guy there with two bolt rifles and he left 10 minutes after I got there. Just barely enough time to say hello and goodbye. I was there 2 hours by myself. I usually check the brass bins for .223 and they were empty. No rifle brass of any kind left. Mostly I go to the pistol range. Most of the time I'm the only one there. If there is anyone there it's usually just one or two people. There are 12 stations on our rifle range and 15 on our pistol range. It's like a ghost town.

I paid $200 for my annual fee this year. With the cost and availability of ammo my guess is a lot of people just didn't renew this year. We usually have about 500 members and the range is just a few miles north of a large metro area.
 
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Varminterror said:
Wherever you go, there you are.

I’m headed to the range today after a couple of weeks overseas, and I’m expecting to see ALMOST exclusively $2500-4500 bolt action rifles with $1500-4500 scopes on top. The deviants might be a MG on the carbine range or someone tuning up with a Staccato on the pistol bay.

Wherever you go, there you are.
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Buckaroo Banzai!!
 
I mostly shoot at a state run range in SC. They have all the options: shotgun, rifle, and handgun. I mostly test hand loads for different guns or practice for the occasional 22 silhouettes match. I’m surprised by how few people shoot past 10 yards at the handgun range. There are a handful that will but it’s all the same people. There were three of us there one day shooting at golf balls in the 25 yard berm. From the looks of others around us you’d think we were doing some sort of black magic in broad daylight.

The rifle ranges ask that you bring your own target stand. If I’m moving to the pistol range I let people use mine if they forgot. I had to change my design to make it easier to repair when the legs get shot. The last time someone borrowed it he got both legs from25 yards. The legs are 2 feet apart.
 
Id say it's more the 100 yard range. Why bother with a big rifle at such a distance. And at least where I live, most anyone who hunts also has at a minimum 100 yards worth of range at their home. Majority have more.

If I were going to a range that was only 100 yards I'd likely take only handguns/ AR and rimfire as well. And I don't even care for AR. I'm not burning up barrels in my rifles to poke holes at a handgun distance

And taking a bench rifle or chassis rifle to a 100 yard range is like taking a prius to Bonneville. Not really its wheelhouse.
 
Zerodefect said:
"More shooters than hunters''. Exactly it.

The AR's work predictably well. Fudd guns? Not so much. There's so many things wrong with them. Luckily, there's new bolt action rifles coming out that work fine, right out of the box. No voodoo nonsense with stocks or goofy mounts. Slap an optic on the .mil rail and you're good to go. Seeing tons of Ruger precision rifles out shooting just about everything. No mistake that they're AR-ish.

Why shouldn't AR's be more popular. Cheap. Easy. Works.
Click to expand...


This is basically it. Look at all the work you saw with fudd guns to just get them barely 1 moa. You now have dirt cheap savage axis II's that are sub-moa guns with factory match ammo, and can get borderline laser gun accurate with load development.
 
I forgot one other observation. When testing loads for my 9mm I sometimes use the rifle range with my stand at 25 yards. The bench takes more of me out of the system and it’s easier to find my brass to check for pressure, not that I intentionally load really heavy. Sometimes the more powder you use the more accurate the load though.

Anyway, I pull out my S&W Shield to check some new XTP loads and I find out from the guy next to me that pistols are strongly discouraged on the rifle range. I go check with the RO and it’s probably ok as long as I’m not doing anything dumb. Given the result last time I let someone use my rifle target stand, I can see how pulling out a 3” barreled pistol would cause some concern.
 
arsterling180 said:
This is basically it. Look at all the work you saw with fudd guns to just get them barely 1 moa. You now have dirt cheap savage axis II's that are sub-moa guns with factory match ammo, and can get borderline laser gun accurate with load development.
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you sound like you're complaining? sounds like a good thing to me ....
 
I am also retired and like to go on weekdays to the 250 yard range. Sometimes another shooter will turn up and talk. I am shooting 308 recently (AR-10, Fal, M1A or Ishapore). I really like shooting Garands and 1903 but ammo is getting so expensive. Sadly the eyes are also starting to go. What target??
 
I am a land share member of a Sportsmen's Club. Prior to Deer Season we have "Sight In Days" . Judging from the participants we are not a nation of Riflemen. The rest of the year the Bench Huggers take over. There are some of us that shoot from standing at the 200 Yard line. That's becoming a lost art form.
 
I drive 1-1/2 hours and almost 80 miles to my outdoor shooting range. I grew up in that area and am allowed to take however much lead and brass I want. The rifle range extends out to 300 yards. I don't shoot often but the drive is nice. There are 3 ranges south of me that are around 30 miles away with pistol ranges and a 100 yard rifle range. I'll visit these in the future for shorter range testloads.
 
I'm happy when I see people out shooting, I don't really care what they are shooting,
hopefully they are hitting their targets, or working on that. :)
 
BudrowBob said:
I'm happy when I see people out shooting, I don't really care what they are shooting,
hopefully they are hitting their targets, or working on that. :)
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Feel the same way, only I have to admit that it`s amusing to watch someone, usually a guy that looks to be in his 20`s or so, obliterating a paper target 25 yards away, brass flying as fast as he can pull the trigger, out of something that barely looks like a rifle. Whatever floats your boat I suppose, as long as you`re safe. I don`t know, I guess if I was in my 20`s maybe I`d be doing the same thing!
 
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