Range Rage!

Some months ago I was shooting in a large sand pit at a target about 200 YD away from a portable bench. So a couple of ATV's arrive from an area behind me drive up even with my bench, observe me for a few seconds then head down range towards my target area. First they run over the target and then proceed to drive up the hillside and over the top turning around somehow and back down the slope. Then they proceeded to ride around the pit back and forth in front of me crossing my previous line of fire multiple times. Then they started to go up the hill and proceeded to repeat the whole thing again. This happened the whole time as I was picking up my stuff and as I drove off. The two appeared to be one male and one female in their mid to late teens. This was in an old abandoned pit that a LOT of people use for target shooting and other various things without problem everyday even though when asking others I have met there nobody seems to know who the owner is. I have been there many times since and never encountered anything like it again. If the ATV riders were there to represent the landowner for any reason this was a poor way to do it IMHO. I have since asked several contractors in the area if they owned the pit or if they had any info about who owned it and nobody seems to have any idea. I feel the ATV riders were there same as I was and did not want to share the area. BTW this was a Tuesday in OCT about 10 AM and not a holiday so they should normally have been in school I would think.

man that bites!!

You did the right thing for sure! Unfortunately there are WAY too many lawyers who would have been foaming at the mouth if you HAD given in to the temptation to fire one "across their bow"! It really is a shame it happened but you showed that you are the more responsible shooter! Darwin will catch up to this guy sooner or later and hopefully he won't take any innocent bystanders with him!

Yeah yahoos abound even in busy public ranges with range officers around. How much more in unregulated public shooting ranges. One time i was at Carters Country and this guy at my left side shot my target once the okey to shoot was warned. I told him you just shot my target and he said, No i didnt. He was using a SW 500 revolver which makes big holes. My gun was only a 22 . I think he was trying to intimidate and prove he has a big gun . I moved my stuff to another stall after that.

Restraint?

blarby
Location: JC, Oregon:

Ahhhh, good ol range rage.
I applaud your restraint.

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I beg to differ, blarby [BTW, years ago I lived in Junction City, OR (just outside the People's Republic of Eugene)]. "Restraint" would have been if the OP had not uttered the "A.H." remark.

There are times when it has to be enough just to think something, but not say it.

Tell him him to get the off the rang or you will test your rounds in his truck. I will probably get bawled out for that too.

If someone shoots from behind me , that is pure threat to my safety and clear sign of intimidation. Always have your CHL weapon ready if worse come to worse. People who do this kind of stuff have no qualms whatsoever, either they have criminal backgrounds or pure dumbs.

This is why I joined a small club and lock the gate behind me when I go in.

I would add, these yahoos could be taking some form of drugs and have no sense of right and wrong. They are time bombs to say the least. If they see you have a nice expensive gun at hand, they might just pull the trigger on you in cold blood. The best way is find a gun club or a secure place to shoot. Nowadays its no longer safe .

I would have said well I'm going to continue shooting, and try not to hityour truck. But since you put it in a position to block my target I hope I can get those rounds not to hit it. And since you were in the act of shooting already he is in the wrong and must suffer the consequences of being a stubborn axxxxle. I also would have called the local sherriff and explained that there was a situation where somone pulled vechicle between you and the target you had been using, I'm sure they would have enjoyed screwing with this guy

Extremely accurate

The OP's implication that this situation is analogous to "road rage" is spot on. We have a public space that two people are trying to use simultaneously, with one being rude and refusing to obey the rules of the road. Real risk of escalation, and if that happens, risk of injury, death, jail.

The OP did the hard, right thing: zipped his lip and left. We should (seriously) recognize him as a shining example.

My only regret is that apparently there is no LE to call on this bum. I have found 911 an essential element in dealing with road ragers...

With the only more important ingredient being calm disengagement, as the OP so terrifically demonstrated!

Ya know loose you just have to take comfort in the fact that stupid usually catches up with folks. And when stupid with guns catches up it's usually pretty nasty.

Not knowing all the details, this looks like an inherently unsafe situation with multiple shooters and no clearly defined firing line that NO ONE is allowed in front of when the line is hot!

rcmodel said:

The guy in the truck rolled down the window and shot my target with a 7mm Mag right over me!!

It just goes to show, you can't fix stupid!
So you just need to stop doing whatever it is, and watch out for stupid at all times.

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That's not stupid in my world that is a blatant threat

gym said:

I would have said well I'm going to continue shooting, and try not to hityour truck. But since you put it in a position to block my target I hope I can get those rounds not to hit it. And since you were in the act of shooting already he is in the wrong and must suffer the consequences of being a stubborn axxxxle.

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Wow, just wow

Maybe it's me but I would think that any situation in which firearms are involved is a situation that calls for the utmost in restraint.

A person that is willing to instigate trouble with me when he knows I armed is not some body I want to be measuring manhood with.

"I'll bet none of you guys are NRA members"

Good one!

I live in az. so finding a private shooting spot is as easy as it gets. I'm sick and tired of range idiots endangering my life mostly, but rude and ethically challenged individuals are a good part of the problem also. I think I would have been tempted to put one in the engine block, and then just call it an accidental discharge.

Get license numbers and vehicle descriptions and give that information to the police. You did the right thing.

Unbelievable! I sometimes shoot at an unsupervised public range, but I almost always go at daylight and get a couple of hours to myself. My daughter and I have been heading out to the deep and lonely wilderness areas lately. Takes a while to get there, but so much fun to just be by ourselves.

You can have a gun. You can have a temper. You can't have both. You did the right thing by leaving the area. People like this will run into the wrong person someday and a little Clorox will be put into the gene pool.

Id say the one that fired over your head was taking some form of meth. These individuals have no qualms to pull the trigger on anyone. Watch your six on those farflung areas and bring along a semi rifle close by in case SHTF. You can never be so careful if its a pubic free range. Lots of druggies, crackheads, dopeheads, ex-cons, or what not.

Well in my neck of the woods we have back yards... and if thats not long enough you go to a field lol... i shoot my 38 in my yard and my 30-06 in the field beside it.. and for some reason i dont think im spelling that right lol o well. Field,feeld,felt wats the difference

I've run into jerks at the range, but not as bad as some have described. I would not have cussed out an idiot parking in front of me on public land, just left . . . anything else might have escalated out of my control.

On the other hand, someone in back shooting over or alongside me would have resulted in police involvement.

99.9% of shooters are good folks, but there ARE some bad apples out there. I'm reminded of the experience of a former colleague who had some woodland he hunted on . . . one day he drove up there and found his gate lock cut off, and a couple of pickups parked on his dirt track. Cautious scouting showed deer hunters in his tree stands on his land.

He didn't confront them . . . but since their vehicles were unattended, well, let's just say I understand they had a long walk back to town. (This was before cell phones were common.)

I would add, these yahoos could be taking some form of drugs and have no sense of right and wrong. They are time bombs to say the least.

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Bingo!!
Time bombs is right. Meth users are especially sensitive time bombs: A person who uses meth can go off any time. OK has many thousands of them.

ExTank - I've shot that range too but I liked the old MoBottom range as they had 200 yard set-ups. When it got flooded out in 93, it never really came back. The MO. Benchrest Club was next door (even closer to the river) but they moved out to Wright City and set up a REALLY good range. I am not aware of any improvements they might have made in the last 15 years but they did have some lanes set up for 600 yards/meters when they first opened up in 1995.