Crazy Things

Guy shooting a revolver and having light primer strikes. Bang, click, click, bang, click, bang, click, bang, bang, click, forgets where he’s at and points the gun in his face so he can see that it still has a live one in there. At least it wasn’t a hangfire or someone shoot themselves in the face would have been the craziest thing I have seen at a gun range.

hmmm...

In the shop:
Had a lady on the range drop her rifle onto the bench, tried to catch it, shot herself in the foot with a 223.
That made for an exiting few minutes.

Happened to a buddy:
Customer came in wanting his AR15 looked at. Hands it to the gun counter guy and pulls the trigger in the process. Gun goes off into the floor, no injuries. lots of ears ringing.

Craziest stuff I see on the regular are mishandling of firearms. The ones that stand out, of course are when the guns are pointed at you.

About ten years ago I was down on the 200 yard range, function testing a couple of old milsurps
I look up to see Air Force One banking in and flying real low across the range in the process of lining up on the McAllen, Texas Airport without crossing into Mexican air space... .

Back in 1960 or so, my dad was teaching me how to safely shoot. We were on the Ft. Dix rec range ,a man few yards down was firing a Webley .45(very common gun). On his 2nd cylinder ,the gun went full auto. Two rounds downrange and 2 rounds in the range roof and 2 rounds still in the gun. No one hurt but we were wondering what the ???? happened. TheRange was shut down for a moment, the range officer said this webley/fosberry had in done this before with a former owner. My dad was concerned and his 13 year old son wanted that gun.

I was really confused until you got to the Webley/Fosbury part. Wonder what the cyclic rate was? Lol. But if you know someplace where they are "common", please tell us. They are anything BUT common. They go for thousands of dollars at auction.

Was pistol shooting at an indoor range once. A couple of booths away were two clowns with a kid about 10 years old, shooting an AK clone. The kid can’t hold it correctly and is shooting the floor of the range- sparks are flying and the two clowns are just laughing. My buddy and I unloaded, packed up and got out of there quick. Told the owner on the way out the door.

Craziest thing I have witnessed at the range is a blow up with a Savage 300WSM bolt gun. I had just gotten to the range, turned toward my bench and BOOM. The rifle shattered and the bolt hit me in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me, left me with a nasty bruise. The shooters hand was darn near down to 3 fingers and had a good hole through the palm. We tourniqueted the arm and he was whisked away by ambulance.

Found out later the old man had been hand loading .44mag and had a 300wsm case full of H110. Bad day at the range for sure.

Shooter induced problems seem to be the more common occurrence, but on rare occasion weapon/ammo failures surface. Four tact team members were practicing live fire entry drills. This was in the early 70’s and I was third in the stack, and our department issued S&W model 28’s. The first officer entered and swept right, the second officer crossed the threshold and swept left and I crossed the threshold focusing on center just as the second team member engaged a target discharging his model 28. It was the loudest .357 mag discharge I ever witnessed because when the round under the hammer ignited so did the two adjacent cylinders. The three cylinders were torn into shrapnel as well as the top strap of the revolver. It was an outdoor range and we never covered the top strap and only pieces of the blown cylinder. Factory ammo was used, 125 grain Super Vel.

Yet another ammo failure...... a jammed cylinder due to a primer backing out against the recoil plate necessitated a rubber hammer to free the jammed cylinder. The round did not fire, only the primer ignited. Curious, we pulled the bullet to discover the Winchester brass did not have a flash hole!

Oh boy! I'll have to come back to this one.

I've only been a member of a public range for about 9 months. Nothing too crazy, except having to stop shooting more often that I'd have thought for deer grazing behind target stands.

bassjam said:

I've only been a member of a public range for about 9 months. Nothing too crazy, except having to stop shooting more often that I'd have thought for deer grazing behind target stands.

Click to expand...

Canadian Geese can be a problem at the range I go to. They have some type of flare gun they use to scare them away, otherwise they'll hang out and graze in-between the 50 and 100 yard line.

Public range, bench next to me asks if I care that he shoots at his umbrella - how do I answer that one? He places the open umbrella at 50 yards and begins mag dumping (about) 50 rounds.at the target. The umbrella bounced around a bit but not violently - rifle barrel/ shroud (M14) is smoking from the heat. He packs up, bids farewell and leaves the trashed umbrella on the range.
I should have known - the guy had that look - a little bit of “not quite right” in his face and mannerisms. I have joined a private range, still some concerns with some shooters but not like the public range frequency. If I am honest with myself, I have witnessed several people in my lifetime that should not have a firearm in their hands. I know how the 2A reads but I see how some people drive also - I am still trying to grow eyes in the back of my head.

The worst I saw was a guy showed up with a Henry big boy, new in the box and clearly he had no clue about firearms. He managed to get the gun loaded a couple of times and I noticed him struggling and waving the muzzle around . range officer corrected him . it was time to go down range to set up targets and this guy stayed back, before anyone could do anything he was back at the bench fiddling with his rifle with 10+ people down range. The range officer got there quick and sat the guy down for an extended lecture (which is kinder than I would have been) and let the guy continue under the ROs close supervision .
The guy loaded his rifle, fired once and the magazine tube must not have been properly inserted, it flew several feet down range and in the blink of an eye the guy was crawling under the bench and down range to retrieve his magazine tube. That was it, RO booted him out.
I asked the RO how the guy managed to get out there without him stopping this knucklehead . he said that he figured the guy dropped something or had to tie his shoe and then he just started crawling under the bench and he stopped him as fast as he could. I hope I never see that guy again and I think the RO did a poor job of wrangling this guy too.

David Hoback said:

Was thinking the same thing... Webley 45 automatic Revolver common?? I’ve seen 1 in my years. Never fired one.

Click to expand...

Rock Island Auction Co. had one up for auction a year or so back. And it was chambered in .38 Auto.!! It sold for $11,500

Now that's rare !!

I spent over 2 decades in the military, and much of that was spent overseas on 4 different continents training soldiers from allied countries that needed.... help. LOTS of time on weapons or explosive ranges, not to mention jumping out of planes, doing things in and under the water, climbing mountains, things with helicopters, driving at night under NVG's, etc. Also real world missions with these people. I could write a book about all of the "crazy" things I have seen during training or missions. I suppose it was just extremely good luck that no one was ever killed or severely injured due to an accident, despite what I think were their best efforts a few times. The one that I think about every time I go to a range- we were training soldados in a certain Latin American country on their new M16's and CAR-15's - first zero/familiarization, etc. They had just transitioned to these weapons from their Galil rifles. Being good instructors, we issued each soldado a set of foam ear plugs (in the absence of these, I have seen them use spent brass). One of these geniuses decided that the best use for the foamies was to insert them into his nose to prevent dust from going up there. He would rather suffer hearing loss than a clogged nose. On another occasion, I caught a soldado in the break area with a paper target that he had folded into a cone, He was using this cone to contain black spray paint (liberated from my range box) that he was spraying into said cone to inhale the fumes to get high. I just took him to his sargento, and explained that he would not be issued live ammo anywhere near me or my people and to figure out something else to do with that moron. No idea what if any action was taken, but I never saw krylon-boy the rest of that trip.

A class of 30-35 people who could barely hit a man sized target at 15 yards. They were in a class with me required for an "enhanced permit". Of the 30-35, there were maybe 5 or 6 of us who could shoot proficiently. The rest took ridiculously long to aim and follow up. I know a few people failed and staid after for additional training and testing.

Some had no business carrying a gun. A few had no business owning a gun based on their responses in class.

FL-NC said:

I spent over 2 decades in the military, and much of that was spent overseas on 4 different continents training soldiers from allied countries that needed.... help. LOTS of time on weapons or explosive ranges, not to mention jumping out of planes, doing things in and under the water, climbing mountains, things with helicopters, driving at night under NVG's, etc. Also real world missions with these people. I could write a book about all of the "crazy" things I have seen during training or missions. I suppose it was just extremely good luck that no one was ever killed or severely injured due to an accident, despite what I think were their best efforts a few times. The one that I think about every time I go to a range- we were training soldados in a certain Latin American country on their new M16's and CAR-15's - first zero/familiarization, etc. They had just transitioned to these weapons from their Galil rifles. Being good instructors, we issued each soldado a set of foam ear plugs (in the absence of these, I have seen them use spent brass). One of these geniuses decided that the best use for the foamies was to insert them into his nose to prevent dust from going up there. He would rather suffer hearing loss than a clogged nose. On another occasion, I caught a soldado in the break area with a paper target that he had folded into a cone, He was using this cone to contain black spray paint (liberated from my range box) that he was spraying into said cone to inhale the fumes to get high. I just took him to his sargento, and explained that he would not be issued live ammo anywhere near me or my people and to figure out something else to do with that moron. No idea what if any action was taken, but I never saw krylon-boy the rest of that trip.

Click to expand...

Ive seen a lot of YT videos of US SOF advisors working with indigenous troops, both in training and combat. I dont know how you do it. It seems like the local "friendlies" are usually a bigger threat than the enemy- atrocious muzzle and trigger discipline, deployment, bunching up, talking over each other and their officers, and generally just lacking professionalism. The one notable, consistent exception seems to be the Kurds. Even their female troops always seem to be well trained and deadly serious.

The craziest thing Ive ever seen? Probably my PPS43 self-disassemble the first time I shot it. The receiver popped open, the spring and bolt flew back over my shoulder, the magazine dropped out and hit the floor and loose rounds went rolling all over the place. I dont know how nobody (including me) got hurt......

Then there was the time an older gent had an accidental discharge while clearing his pistol in the stall next to me. The round went into the wall. No harm done. I think he was more shaken than I was.

Saw a guy who brought not one but TWO M2 belt-fed semi-auto machine gun conversions to the local 100yd range. That was pretty wild. He even let me squeeze off a few rounds too. Big fun!

Saw dude go full-auto with a Colt Woodsman once. I can only assume the disconnector broke. Boy, did that get the RSOs fired up! Nobody hurt, thank goodness.

Had the forend of my .308 Enfield "Tanker" come loose and fly downrange, taking the bayonet lug with it one time......

Had a M92 Beretta lock up solid. Took it home and hammered it apart with a rubber mallet. The barrel had cracked, causing the locking block to become wedged tight against the frame guides. Replaced the barrel, ok after that.

My Marlin 80E once refused to fire after pulling the trigger. No sweat except, the bolt wouldnt open either. So, I had to drive home with a gun in the trunk which had a live round in the chamber and a tripped sear and couldnt be cleared.....lets just say I drove real slow and gentle-like.
Turned out the two-piece bolt had over-rotated and the cocking cam was preventing the striker from moving forward all the way. I had to take the action out of the stock, put the muzzle in a bucket of kitty litter, and work the rear portion of the bolt around millimeter by millimeter with a pick until- BANG!
Once I got it apart, I determined that the edge of the bolt body (which normally limited rotation in one direction) had worn smooth over the last 100 or so years. I cleaned up the edge with a file and its been perfect ever since.

That was pretty crazy/ exciting, lol.

David Hoback said:

What’s the craziest thing you’ve witnessed in a shooting range?

Years ago I was the Range Manager/Instructor of a large & busy indoor range. I ran into quite a few crazy things, but two stick out and bare repeating.

First even, I was taking a brake from the range, and just checking people in. Probably a line of 30 or more people with targets, their personal bags, weapons, etc. I notice two young men, 20-somethings, next in line. The one just starts convulsing and falls straight backwards....straight into the corner of one of the shelving units in the store’s showroom. His head became halfway lodged under the shelf & he had fallen back with his leg turned inward. He was having a very intense seizure. The friend kinda just stands there as I immediately go the aid. I pull the man away from the shelving unit he had fallen back on, checked his head for bleeding and yelled to my co-workers to call 911. He came around before paramedics got there and they continued aid. He was ok, and didn’t suffer any injuries. Of course he was not allowed on the range after. I continue today with thoughts....what if that had happened on the range with a loaded firearm? Pretty scary.

The worst instance for me involved a shooter on the range. Another young man came in with a friend and rented our Beretta 92 9mm. He had a few problems with stove piping and needed my assistance several times. At point he asked me a question, to which I stepped close and turned my ear to him to better hear his question...as I turn my head back to answer, I notice his shoulders squared up to me.... I was standing to his Left. I then look down to see him holding the Beretta at gut level, pointed right at me with the safety off & his finger on the trigger. Without a word, I brace his arm with my mine, back towards the range. To which he blurts out, “Oh my God! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I did that!” My blood was cold for about half an hour. By this point I had already had many guns negligently pointed at me. But I would always see it coming. This one caught me off guard. Was completely unsuspected. And a shot like that, at point blank would have been imo, unsurvivable.

Crazy thing...months before I started working at the range, a man had committed suicide, and maybe a year after I left, a patron accidentally shot another with a rented gun. Never was an accident on my watch. So what Crazy things have you seen on a range? Indoor, outdoor, back yard... whatever.

Click to expand...

We had a fella off himself at one of our local ranges a couple years ago (with his own gun, not a rental). Gotta say that is a very douchebag move to do it in somebody's place of business when you could just as easily do it at home or in an open field somewhere. Not only does it shut down their business for a time, it gives them bad publicity AND they have to clean it up- or pay big $$ to have a service come in and do it. Not to mention the possibility of little kids and other folks being around and getting traumatized- or even worse being injured by shrapnel or a ricochet.

Im all for free will and individuals rights to do whatever they want with their lives, but killing yourself at a gun range is really weak tea.

My buddy and I were shooting side by side at the range. We were both shooting .45 acp, but I was shooting Blazer aluminum case ammo and he was shooting brass reloads. We were shooting moving targets and so the rate of fire was fairly high. Then I heard his shooting stop and he exclaimed something like "What the $%^*?" He still had his gun pointed down range, but was rotating it back and forth examining a stovepipe malfunction. As a fairly new reloader, he often had various malfunctions due to his load development issues and QC. However, this was completely different than any kind he had had before because stovepiped in his ejection point was one of my Blazer aluminum cases. My case came down on top of his gun in the exact right position and time to be caught in his ejection point.

I quipped at the time that his reloads were so bad that even my spent cases get stuck in his gun. He did not find that amusing.

I was shooting at an indoor range. They had some massive metal gadget to hold the targets. So it came down almost to the top of a B-27 head. I was practicing one handed with my off hand. Decided to do a head shot. It was high and caught the bottom edge of the metal holder. A fragment cut the target in half and a spark set the target on fire. The guy next to me - said WOW, what kind of round was that? Obviously, it was a Hornady Flaming Bisecting Self-defense round.

Double Naught Spy said:

My buddy and I were shooting side by side at the range. We were both shooting .45 acp, but I was shooting Blazer aluminum case ammo and he was shooting brass reloads. We were shooting moving targets and so the rate of fire was fairly high. Then I heard his shooting stop and he exclaimed something like "What the $%^*?" He still had his gun pointed down range, but was rotating it back and forth examining a stovepipe malfunction. As a fairly new reloader, he often had various malfunctions due to his load development issues and QC. However, this was completely different than any kind he had had before because stovepiped in his ejection point was one of my Blazer aluminum cases. My case came down on top of his gun in the exact right position and time to be caught in his ejection point.

I quipped at the time that his reloads were so bad that even my spent cases get stuck in his gun. He did not find that amusing.

Click to expand...

Wow! THATS crazy!