Dumbest thing you've seen at the range?

The dumbest thing I've seen at a range was a "Tacti-Cool"er with a heavy-barreled AR with an ACOG on it. He was trying to do some sort of oddball point-shooting drill from a low ready position to a target 15 feet out. Whip the rifle up, fire a single round, then back to ready. BUT.... he smacked the barrel onto the underside of the bench 3 times as he swept it up, put at least a dozen rounds into the concrete floor short of the target over the course of two mags, dropped his first mag and let it bounce out onto the range, blasted his empty ammo box into cardboard dust, and the fun really began when everyone else started bringing targets back. There were enough .223 shrapnel holes in their targets to almost make up for the 20 or so out of 60 missing from his!

The dumbest thing I've personally ever done was to use a Mosin to try to kill a monster carp that was tearing up a friend's pond. Firing a Mosin into 6 feet of water creates a rather impressive example of the word "SPLASH!"

As a company grade CSS officer (XO), I was issued a M9. For one reason or another (probably USR ), I missed the O-3 and down M9 range day. The next open range was intended for O-4s and up, but I attended anyway to get qualified . Its kind of fun watching the full birds put on their LBEs and actually shoot something . Anyway, the Finance BN XO (MAJ) came up to the line to begin the course of fire with the rest of us standing behind her. After her first set of five rounds, she promptly rotated 180 degrees and pointed the gun straight at us . I have never seen a group of senior field grades hit the ground as fast as that. The MAJ was escorted off of the range by the NCOIC, all the while under massive verbal assault from the senior bird . This not a tirade against female officers- my SPO was a female OD MAJ who was an excellent shot- but that particular Finance officer had NO business carrying a real weapon !

once went to a range, never been back. but i was out at a local shooting area (private land the owner lets people shoot on as long as we pick up our trash) and a guy with a beard begins shooting at a target not far from mine. only thing was he was a 90 degree angle from us basically shooting in my vicinity. im only 19 but i but i could have equalled many veteran sailors with my words that day. the owner of the land shows up to talk and helps me when i give him the story. he threw the guy off and told him the next time he see's him on his property will be the last time he does anything. i really like that old man.

forgot to mention this one. went to the same range with a guy new to guns. this is the conversation
"greg get your finger off the trigger"
"greg finger off the trigger"
"FINGER! OFF! THE TRIGGER!"
ended without him firing a single round. we went home.

not at a range, but a friend's backyard that he frequently used as a range. oh, and this was all my stupidity :banghead:

I was testing out my brand 'new' Yugo SKS when I felt something crawling on my leg. apparently I was standing on a fire ant hill and they were crawling all over me. so stupid me, instead of taking a quarter of a second to think about it, did the first thing that came to my mind and blasted that fire ant mound with 7.62x39 from a distance of less than 5 feet

I did that once with a .22 without any problems. apparently I forgot about the immense power difference in those two rounds for a split second. I was picking dirt and fire ants out of my hair, socks, and pants for the next 4 hours.

We have a range north of Phx run by the Az game and fish dept called Ben Avery. Every 15 or so minutes they call a cease fire, the RSOs check all guns and then you go down range. So this day my friend and I are shooting next to these two guys with a SW 3rd gen auto, unsure which one. When the cease fire is given they just put the gun down. The RSO gets to them and asks one of them to clear it. The guy picks the gun up, and while trying to rack the slide back, manages to fire a round right through the ceiling.

Same range, I have seen several people shooting flat top ARs with no sights on them and wondering why they cant hit anything.

Stupid thing I have done. With the same friend as before. We just turned 18 and bought a cheap Turkish Mauser. After spending some time wiping off the cosmoline we head out to Ben Avery. The Mauser kept jamming up on us. A couple old timers take a look at it for us and find the problem. We never put a single drop of oil on it. So not only is it unoiled, but it still has a thin layer of cosmoline on it. Guy pulls out a spray bottle, soaks the action in oil, wipes it down, puts more oil on it and behold it works. I thanked them very much.

I am not sure how this worked but I heard a guy admit to hunting using a pump shotgun saw the biggest deer in his life shoot 3 times reload rack the gun only to have a pack of rolaids slide down the barrel.......how does that work?

I was at my gun club and they were doing a CCW class that was unexpectantly large. The club president asked me if I would help out on the range because they were a little short handed. I agreed and went out on the line to help. Everything was going fine until the next group came out. This very nice lady who seemed a little shy came out carrying a beautiful ladysmith k-frame of some type, the only problem was her husband come out to the line with her and he was not taking the class. To make a long story short he stood there watching her like an eagle the whole time barking out commands at her and I could tell it was making her real nervous. Any ways he started to argue with one of the instructors when they were instructing her on basic safe gun handling. He caused this big scene and ended up getting kicked off the range and class also, not sure if they refunded the cost for the class. I have never seen him again, but it would not hurt my feelings if he was expelled from the club.

a sign saying "NO SHOOTING". no kidding! it was in an area between the shotgun, and pistol / rifle ranges. its placement was the only thing saving it.

I did not see this personally but it happened to a co-worker:

He was at an outdoor range and was about to finish for the day. As he was putting everything in his range bag; his cell phone rang. Since his vehicle was directly behind the bench, he jumped inside so he could hear the caller while keeping an eye on his bag.

Several minutes passed during the call while others continued shooting nearby. He finished the call, picked up the rest of his gear, and went home.

When he arrived home, he took his Glock out to clean it and found a .9mm slug had went through his range bag and damaged his gun.

The gun had to be returned for repair. Unfortunately there was no way to determine who was responsible.

Had he not received the phone call when he did, things might have turned out much worse.

This may not be the worst, but since I did it, it feels like it. It happened last Thursday. I took my neighbor to the range, he's not a real "gun guy" but he's got a couple of handguns from his elderly relatives and wanted to try them. I gave him the safety talk about never pointing a gun anywhere but on the target, keep your finger off the trigger, every gun is loaded, etc.
Well he shot his, and then tried my CZ-75. As he was finished he handed the gun back to me, and asked where to deposit the used brass. Without thinking I said, "over in that box" and gestured with my hand to the place. I instantly realized I had the CZ in that hand and had just waved it all over the place. Now nothing happened, the gun was empty, I didn't pull the trigger, but I thought how I had just violated my own rules in an instant. I didn't shoot any more that evening, I wanted to get away. No one else noticed, but I saw how easy it is to screw up.

I shot a 44 (hits) by shooting 40 rounds with a few fliers at my qual range right before I went to the SGT board . The MSG beside me only shot a 23 (bare minimum to qual), and they were all hits, no fliers (and this was on paper targets, so you really can see a flier). I showed him this oddity and showed him that all of my shots were head shots (and all of the fliers were just outside of the heads) while there were some mysterious shots almost dead center on several targets. He just grinned and said I must have had some extra ammo.

I would have had a 37 without his help. I don't know where his other 10 went, but there was a pfc on the other side of him.

Stupid funny, not moronic.

Bicycles

About 12 years ago on the Gunnison Colorado Club: The local bicycle fat tire greenies got the county Recreation director to try and enforce an ancient trail easement allowing bikers to ride across the downrange centerfire area.

This was about 200-400 yards from the fire-line and to the right, but still in the ricoshet area from the 100 yard, and off the sight where they would be concealed by sagebrush.

After 2 months of wrangling, the county Commissioners ( then GOP ) stepped in and shut her idiot ideas down. They alread had another access that was in a safe area. In today's world that county of the Old West is run entirely by Greenies.....they'd probably kill the range.

At an outdoor range:

1) people absentmindedly pointing loaded guns at people next to them.

2) people handling their firearms during a cease fire.

3) same people handling their firearms during a cease fire after the range marshal has yelled at them over the PA system.

4) same people still ignoring the range marshal during the same cease fire and losing their privilege to be at the range after only being there a total of 5 minutes.

5) idiot gang looking type people doing stupid hold-the-gun-sideways moves (they usually get kicked out eventually for being stupid)


The outdoor range I go to is pretty strict and it doesn't take much to get kicked out for the day or banned permanently; which I'm thankful for. The way I look at it, they aren't strict, it's just that a lot of people don't have any common sense or ability to follow simple instructions.


At the indoor ranges I frequent, I've never had any problems. Haven't seen anyone do anything stupid.

Last Sunday...outdoor range

My friends I were at an outdoor range. We're shooting .22s on a 50 yd. range on lane 42. RO calls as cease fire and everyone complies. People go down and change targets. A few minutes later the range is declared HOT. Our end of the range is getting back into shooting position when a bunch of people start yelling. There was an elderly gentleman on lane 1 still changing his target! Luckily the other shooters we yelling ceasefire and no one was hurt....

I met my friend at the outdoor range we both attended at the time, in the late 70's. He brought a friend, who also brought a friend. Everyone came in different cars. The friend(2) of a friend (1) was fresh out of the Philadelphia police acadamy. Little did we know he was a Rambo. Friend 1 is on crutches with a broken ankle.

We start shooting at the 20 yard range on pistols. These guys friends shared friend 2's pistol, a 9mm S&W.
Friend 1 will not shut up laughing at friend 2's shooting,which really sucked. Aggravates the living hell out of him. All of a sudden, with a fresh mag, friend 2 takes friend 1's crutches, throws them downrange and starts shooting at them.
The cars are parked right behind us, and Friend 2 then puts 3 rounds in the hood of friend 1's car, emptying the clip, shattering windshield, etc.
Friend 2 then puts his gun in his belt, and grabs his stuff while we start yelling.
He tells us to stuff it (lots of cussing), he can do what he wants as he is a cop now. Gets in his car, and drives off.
Long story short: Call local police, make report, guy arrested in philly, thrown out of police dept, found guilty of multiple charges after a couple of years,gets 15 year sentance.
Talk about nutcase. He was hell bent on giving cops a bad name.
We got apologies from the Philadelphia police chief after the trial.

What a maroon.

Another dumb one. not at the range, this time.
Working in my shop, a guy bursts in unannounced, ( I worked by appt only) in cammies, orange, and carrying a shotgun. My hand is already on my pistol, starting to pull it out of my holster. I stop when the guy starts to speak.
"Are you the gunsmith?" I've been out turkey hunting and just when the birds get to the right place, I chambered a round and it won't fire and I can't open it. Look." Just then, he tries to open it, struggling, with his finger on the trigger. I start walking toward him to grab the gun, and the idiot manages to get the safety off accidently.
Gun goes off, and blows a hole through my cieling and roof. Guy had a real dumb look on his face. I have nearyl pooed the pants. Grabbedthe gun real quick and unloaded it, cussing at him the entire time. Threw him out after I got his name and address.
Made him pay a contractor to fix the building.
Why did it jamb? Fresh green twigs stuck btw the magazine and the forearm.

Ya also gotta love the kids on ATV's and dirtbikes that ride down behind the berm and you can't hear them. Then they stick their heads up over the top of the berm during a DCM match just as firing starts.

Another dumb one. not at the range, this time.
Working in my shop, a guy bursts in unannounced,

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That ones gotta be a winner. An even bigger maroon.

Been swept by a buddy's girlfriend on the range....cussed her out, told my buddy what happened, then he had a nice "chat" with her to explain how she could've killed me. (nice that he took my side!)

Another time, a guy somehow got a round stuck in the chamber of an AK.....and so he decides to hold the butt against the bench, and try to work the action while looking down the barrel to see if it's moved yet. The guy wasn't there too long after that incident!

Headed to a range one time, and before I even got out of the car, I saw a group of idiots there; one was waving a single-action around everywhere, sweeping everyone, and pointing at things down range. While watching this, another member of the group got there with his son, and his son grabs a 12 ga and rests the action on his shoulder while he holds the buttstock--and the barrel's pointed straight back through my rear window, at my head, and the father didn't care. I didn't even get out of my car, I just left.

Usually, when I head to the range, it's just me and my buddies, so we don't get too many idiots--but, there's always "those days".

I'm thinking that this is one f those threads that could go on for years. Apparently there is no end to human foolishness.

At a New Years Party, yes it was on New Years eve, people were having a manliest man contest. Some guy thought he won by firing a .500Sw one handed. I walked down and saw one of them open a beer taking a second look i realized it was a N/A. They told me that the winner would get so much cash it was like 200 bucks at the end. I was shooting a remington 7615 i think i was, I looked over and one of the idiots had a Remington 1100 i think he fired one handed one shot went down range the other went into the ceiling the next into the divider. I left as I saw a RO come over and bitch them out.

I met my friend at the outdoor range we both attended at the time, in the late 70's. He brought a friend, who also brought a friend. Everyone came in different cars. The friend(2) of a friend (1) was fresh out of the Philadelphia police acadamy. Little did we know he was a Rambo. Friend 1 is on crutches with a broken ankle.

We start shooting at the 20 yard range on pistols. These guys friends shared friend 2's pistol, a 9mm S&W.
Friend 1 will not shut up laughing at friend 2's shooting,which really sucked. Aggravates the living hell out of him. All of a sudden, with a fresh mag, friend 2 takes friend 1's crutches, throws them downrange and starts shooting at them.
The cars are parked right behind us, and Friend 2 then puts 3 rounds in the hood of friend 1's car, emptying the clip, shattering windshield, etc.
Friend 2 then puts his gun in his belt, and grabs his stuff while we start yelling.
He tells us to stuff it (lots of cussing), he can do what he wants as he is a cop now. Gets in his car, and drives off.
Long story short: Call local police, make report, guy arrested in philly, thrown out of police dept, found guilty of multiple charges after a couple of years,gets 15 year sentance.
Talk about nutcase. He was hell bent on giving cops a bad name.
We got apologies from the Philadelphia police chief after the trial.

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You win.

I saw sparks

I don't think this story is necessarily different from the aforementioned stories, but here it goes. I was at a local indoor range practicing with a family member. All was going well and great fun. The shooter to the left of our lane was a regular, and only demonstrates the highest level gun safety.

About 15 minutes into practice, a group of 5 kids from a nearby high school decided it sure would be fun to go to a firing range (even though they had never shot before). I thought, "okay, I was a first timer shooter once, no problem. They only have a handgun, and this partition is thick." I kept going about my business.

The first one had rented a Glock 19, and he was flinging lead every which way as fast his poor little fingers could pull the trigger. That wasn't the best indicator of competence; not because of the rapid fire, but because when I looked at the target (5 yards away) there weren't ANY bullet holes. Whatsoever. There were none. The target was a blue silhouette meant for 25 yards away. Diddley-squat.

But wait, there's more. They decided to rent some more guns.

Aside from this prodigious shooter's girlfriend who somehow managed not to wear hearing protection in side the shooting area (did he bring her to show off just what a tough guy he is?), the SHTF at the firing range when I suddenly heard (bang x 30), rapid fire from an AR-15. Just think of how quickly you can mag dump an AR. Shot by a first time shooter.

His aim was so low that it was hitting the concrete 5 yards in front of him. The rental AR has iron sights, btw. It made this incredible cloud of dust that enveloped that side of the range. He kept shooting. The magazine held 30 rounds.

The rounds also bounced off the concrete and were hitting a metal cross bar on the range's ceiling. Huge, bright sparks were flying everywhere. You could hear the bullets fragmenting. It all happened so fast. I practically had to dive to avoid the shrapnel.

Let's just say he won't be around that range ever again. :banghead: