Funny range stories?

I got an invite to gun club range. We started out on the .22 range.

A guy was on the bench to me, with his 12&8yo daughters. He was trying to get the oldest to shoot an old bolt action that was way too long for her to shoulder. 4 shots and not hitting the 20 yard going, she sat down, disgusted and gets on her phone. Dad gets the younger one over and is explaining the operations and safety.

I asked him, if it was ok for her to try my 10-12, with red dot. He said ok. I showed her the red dot and she got excited. I gave Dad 2 BX-25 mags and left the rest to him.

She gets the rifle rested and lets loose. Pow, ping, pow ping, pow, ping.
"Whoa, this is fun!"

The oldest looks up.

Pow, ping, pow, ping, ...... pow, ping. Empty

Oldest standing behind the bench. " Can i try that one? "

Dad was having a hard time keeping mags loaded.

When they were leaving, he hands me back the rifle and thanks me.
Oldest says, "thank you, that e as fun."
Youngest says, "thank you", turns to Dad, " why don't you buy cool guns?"

Told it before, but what the heck. New Smith 19, and you guys are famiiar with Smith's reputation for decent triggers.

So a little unfamiiar with it, shooting a Sanctioned Handgun Metallic Silhouette match, I let one go before I was really ready.

Bullet hit the dirt and ricocheted up and hit the turkey.

Which sloooowly turned around like one of those bad guys dramatically dying in an old western movie, and finally toppled off the rest and fell to the ground,

I turned to my scorer and asked doubtfully, "Did that count?

"It fell down when you went bang, so yes," he said as he grinned and marked it down as a hit on the score sheet.

Terry, 230RN

Old NDOT gravel pit in the middle of nowhere. It's a popular shooting spot as evidenced by the copious amounts of brass and trash left there. Most of the time, it was deserted though and there was plenty of room for various targets. A game we liked to play was to toss a golf ball a little down range and pop it with .22lr. It was fun to see who could get it moving away from everyone else.
Once, I managed to clip the ball and heard the ricochet as it sailed off and clanged an 8" pistol target another 10 yards downrange. I'm guessing it hit a rock on the ground. I couldn't do it again if my life depended on it but the jaws dropping when we heard it were priceless.

In High School, we had an old gravel pit where everybody went to shoot. And a few jackasses went to dump.

My cousin had come home from his 2 weeks of summer National Guard camp. He is going through gear and finds a .30-06 tracer round.

He gave it to me.

Saturday, we are headed to the gravel pit. My buddy goes to his Dad's truck (paint contractor) grabs a metal gal can of lacquer thinner, sitting in the July afternoon sun.

We get to the gravel pit and somebody has dumped a refrigerator.
Jerry puts the lacquer thinner in the refrigerator.
We back off 100 yards and I load the tracer.
Take aim and think " that is kinda like a shaped charge and is awful close "

We back up another 50 yards.

I aim and BAROOOOOOMF!

We are both laying on the ground, feeling the intense heat, smelling singed hair. Looking at each other, our faces look sunburned and we have scorched eyebrows.

Then, we hear the laughing. Look up and a Highway Patrol is up on the road watching us.

He drives down, still laughing. He asked if we had seen anybody dump the fridge? We tell him no and he asked if I had anymore "illegal rounds"? I say no sir and I don't ever want another one.

He laughs and says, " wish I had a way to tape that. That was the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Nobody is going to believe me. "

We loaded and left.

Seedy Character said:

wish I had a way to tape that

Click to expand...

Ya, me too! I'd give a lot to have seen that!

Mac

Seedy Character said:

In High School, we had an old gravel pit where everybody went to shoot. And a few jackasses went to dump.

My cousin had come home from his 2 weeks of summer National Guard camp. He is going through gear and finds a .30-06 tracer round.

He gave it to me.

Saturday, we are headed to the gravel pit. My buddy goes to his Dad's truck (paint contractor) grabs a metal gal can of lacquer thinner, sitting in the July afternoon sun.

We get to the gravel pit and somebody has dumped a refrigerator.
Jerry puts the lacquer thinner in the refrigerator.
We back off 100 yards and I load the tracer.
Take aim and think " that is kinda like a shaped charge and is awful close "

We back up another 50 yards.

I aim and BAROOOOOOMF!

We are both laying on the ground, feeling the intense heat, smelling singed hair. Looking at each other, our faces look sunburned and we have scorched eyebrows.

Then, we hear the laughing. Look up and a Highway Patrol is up on the road watching us.

He drives down, still laughing. He asked if we had seen anybody dump the fridge? We tell him no and he asked if I had anymore "illegal rounds"? I say no sir and I don't ever want another one.

He laughs and says, " wish I had a way to tape that. That was the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Nobody is going to believe me. "

We loaded and left.

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I'll give you credit for backing up another 50 yards. Not sure as a teenager if I would have thought 100 yards was too close. A similar story was when the engineers attached to our unit were blowing up abandoned Iraqi tanks. Loaded a tank with a b#++ load of c4 and where there was a tank was only a black spot in the desert. What looked like tiny things flying through the air were road wheels and hatches. They looked tiny until they started to get closer. We were much farther away than 150 yards, but technically still not far enough. Fortunately no one got killed.

Different kind of range, but still a range story.

Summer 2 weeks with my Army Reserve outfit at Camp Drum, Watertown NY, circa 1970. As usual, our admin people never did anything right, and had never put in an order for 3.5 rocket launcher (bazooka) ammo. We were supposed to be firing inert rounds, but since not requisitioned, they only had HEAT rounds (High Explosive Anti Tank). Same people who didn't order M-1 Garand ammo for a range day at Ft. Dix and we had to pull apart machine gun belts, and set the woods on fire with tracer rounds. But that's another story...

Anyway, I was dying to try a bazooka and made sure I was in the first firing order. I'm first to fire, and the targets down range were old vehicles, including an old half track. I listen to instructions, aim as told, and hit the half track.

Big explosion, and suddenly whirring noises are headed for us. Large pieces of jagged metal from the half track are flying through the air and landing near us. Scared the crap out of everyone. End of range day with one round having been fired.

I have a feeling various installations dreaded our unit coming. lol

d31tc said:

Loaded a tank with a b#++ load of c4 and where there was a tank was only a black spot in the desert.

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Reminds me of the Myth Busters episode when they were using explosives to clean the inside of a Redi Mix truck with set-up concrete in it. When they did their Take-It-To-The-Extreme portion, the truck literally disappeared.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mythbuste...www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxm_qpKh7Jw&ia=videos

Ok, I'll play, too.

Circa 1976 at Lackland AFB, Basic Training: One fellow from our squadron had orders for Spain and desperately wanted to go. The problem was he had not qualified with the M16 and that was a requirement for overseas duty at the time.
This poor guy came from a small town in Kansas and had never fired a gun of anykind before Basic Training. He couldn't hit the broad side of a barn from the inside.
Three or four of us made sure he qualified on the last day of hot range training. We would put 4 or so rounds through our own targets and then one through his until the course of fire was completed. He qualified "expert" with about 100 or so more hits than he had been given ammo. The range master just laughed and signed his range card.

My brother went to work as a State Prison guard.

The first 6 weeks was a boot camp. Start the day on the track. In for classroom. Finish the day with PT or hand-to-hand training

Now, the average age of the new hires was 26. He was 43.

Started the 4th week, same routine, until lunch Friday. Instructor tells him, " you can go home. we are going to the range after lunch, for M16, shotgun and M9 training. You are not assigned an armed position (management in food warehouse), so you don't have to qualify, UNLESS you just want to go shoot. "

He laughed, " that is the only thing I have wanted to do for the past F****** month. "

Several years ago on med leave from work was going to Public range during the week . A lot of retired guys are there one showed up set everything up and threw his hands up in the air. I asked what was wrong he said I was so much in hurry to get away from nagging old lady forgot my guns . I offered to let him shoot a few rounds with my 10/22.

At the gun club one day and some guys asked if I wanted to shoot trap. I said sure. I got out my Stevens 311 16 gauge. They made fun of my Jed Clampet gun. I said how about 25 clay for $100. They agreed. I went 25 straight. Then I said double or nothing on another 25. Got em again. Then offered the same deal on doubles. No takers. Never saw those guys again.

I was at the rifle range burning off some stress and sighting in my brother's deer rifle when this "gentleman" showed up with his .300 Winchester loudboomerthunder magnum and a scope that belonged in an observatory. The got set up behind that's open with his eye almost touching it, I politely asked him if he knew how far that rifle was going to recoil. He told me he was an "expert" and "knew what he was doing." I stopped shooting and walked to my truck for my first aid kit as I heard the boom and cry in pain. His face looked like a bloody mess and the rifle looked painted red. I left him in the care of the rangemaster and walked away after he started saying someone should have told him how much recoil the rifle had.

I packed up my gear and left for the day as I couldn't keep a straight face. I wonder how fast he sold that rifle the next day, and how many stitches he needed for his eye. I never saw that guy again after that day and wonder if he stopped being so pig-headed and macho.

Speedo67 - after I had just got out of th USAF in 1967, I was working as a referigeration mechanic apprentice at a job site in LA/Industry putting referigeration in tanks at an anodizing plant. The job took 3 days, and every day while my journeyman and I sat on the receiving dock eating lunch, a large contingent of the plant employees demonstrated, loudly, in the parking lot against the Vietnam War. I laughed and laughed at them, earning their scorn. My journeyman asked what was so funny and I told him I'd tell him later.

On the last day of the job, as we were packing up, I told him that they were anodizing the motor cases for 3.5" rocket motors; racks of 100 at a time. I didn't tell him sooner because I didn't want to take a chance on spoiling the workers fun.

When my daughter was 16 we went to the range to check her BLR in .243 prior to a youth deer hunt. I knew the RSOs at this 1 00 yard range but I had never been there with my daughter. I wanted to take the first shot out of the BLR to make sure it was on. I settled in, squeezed of a shot but I couldn't see in on paper.

The senior RSO came over, tapped me on the shoulder and said "you are going to have to leave". I turned around and looked at him and he started laughing. Then he said "you centered the bullseye so you don't need to shoot anymore". My daughter was very confused. I laughed and told him "well she has to shoot too".

When I took the target down I looked at the bullseye and the first was almost perfectly centered. My daughter shot and was a little intimidated that she couldn't shoot like me but I told her just to glance at some of the other targets when we get ours and you will feel better about your shooting.

Poper said:

Reminds me of the Myth Busters episode when they were using explosives to clean the inside of a Redi Mix truck with set-up concrete in it. When they did their Take-It-To-The-Extreme portion, the truck literally disappeared.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mythbusters+cement+truck+blast&t=chromentp&atb=v138-1&pn=1&iax=videos&iai=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxm_qpKh7Jw&ia=videos

Click to expand...

Yeah, pretty much like that. But we were a little closer and there was less of the tank left.

A little off-topic, but worth the cautionary advice: You csn't be far enough away when a mass of hot 150,000 psi gas is pushing large chunks of steel or rock or tanks or cement trucks around at high velocities.

This one is a reminder of that. Demolition squads had set up Bangalore Torpedoes to wreck the huge nazi swastika on a buiding in Germany.

And wreck it they did. The camera man said he thought he was going to get killed as that big chunk came his way (left side of screen) and bounced toward him.

Anyhow, this is also interesting 'cause it includes shots of the crew setting up the torpedoes.

Watch it on you tube. I don't know what the implications of that are for THR.

(1:05)

Back to to topic.

Terry, 230RN

Anecdote 1
Our old range had a longitudinal berm separating rifle and pistol ranges.
One day FLG was on the pistol side checking sights and feeding on a customer's 1911.
There was activity on the rifle side. He heard across the berm:
From the 100 yard line: BANG
From the target stands: "That one was about two inches to the left, Joe."

Anecdote 2
FLG and I were at the sparsely attended range.
Mr Cool Dude and Wifey were there. He was shooting his HK P7 ("The Porsche of Pistols") and had considerately furnished her with a Ruger SP101 and all the Magnum ammo she cared to shoot, which was not much or very well.
We caught him looking the other way and gave her a box of .38 wadcutters. She fired a couple and her face kind of lit up when she found she could shoot without pain. By the time that box was empty, she was hitting better than Mr C.D.

Seedy Character said:

I got an invite to gun club range. We started out on the .22 range.

A guy was on the bench to me, with his 12&8yo daughters. He was trying to get the oldest to shoot an old bolt action that was way too long for her to shoulder. 4 shots and not hitting the 20 yard going, she sat down, disgusted and gets on her phone. Dad gets the younger one over and is explaining the operations and safety.

I asked him, if it was ok for her to try my 10-12, with red dot. He said ok. I showed her the red dot and she got excited. I gave Dad 2 BX-25 mags and left the rest to him.

She gets the rifle rested and lets loose. Pow, ping, pow ping, pow, ping.
"Whoa, this is fun!"

The oldest looks up.

Pow, ping, pow, ping, ...... pow, ping. Empty

Oldest standing behind the bench. " Can i try that one? "

Dad was having a hard time keeping mags loaded.

When they were leaving, he hands me back the rifle and thanks me.
Oldest says, "thank you, that e as fun."
Youngest says, "thank you", turns to Dad, " why don't you buy cool guns?"

Click to expand...

A lot of people want to teach their kids to shoot with iron sights thinking it'll make them a better shooter in the long run but I'm of the opinion to make it easy and fun first and then those fundamentals can come later once they're hooked. It's real hard to beat the simplicity of: "make sure the red dot is covering the target and pull the trigger". I started my stepdaughter on a SIG 522 with a collapsible stock and a red dot shooting at steel when she was 5 and she had no problems understanding irons a couple years later when I started her on a Ruger MKI. I started my next oldest also at 5 with the same 522, blasting away at old rotting jackolanterns. She'll be 7 in October and is already asking if we're going to shoot the pumpkins after we carve them!

bassjam said:

A lot of people want to teach their kids to shoot with iron sights thinking it'll make them a better shooter in the long run but I'm of the opinion to make it easy and fun first and then those fundamentals can come later once they're hooked. It's real hard to beat the simplicity of: "make sure the red dot is covering the target and pull the trigger". I started my stepdaughter on a SIG 522 with a collapsible stock and a red dot shooting at steel when she was 5 and she had no problems understanding irons a couple years later when I started her on a Ruger MKI. I started my next oldest also at 5 with the same 522, blasting away at old rotting jackolanterns. She'll be 7 in October and is already asking if we're going to shoot the pumpkins after we carve them!

Click to expand...

Exactly! Missing is NOT fun.

One year of Little League (8 year olds) was pitching machines. Before season started, the team managers meeting , we were told the pitching machine would be set on 4 for the first half of season, then on 5 for the second half.
I set the machine at 3 for 3 days of practice, then inched it up each day for the next 5 days, until we got to 4.
Started talking to other teams, trying to get a practice game. Nobody wanted to scrimmage. Their boys weren't hitting the ball and were afraid of the machine. Our guys were knocking the crap out of it.

Get to the first game to start the 2nd half. Kids were in the dugout talking and some looked scared. Asked what was going on and they start in about the other team telling them that the umpires were speeding up the pitching machine. I laughed and told them I had told them that to psych them out. (We were tied for first) The machine was exactly as it had been.

We beat the crap out them.

Hitting the ball is fun. Striking out isn't.
Hitting targets is fun. Missing isn't.

a guy came to sight in day ,had his scope on backwards

I've seen them rolled 90 degrees and the nimrod wondering why his elevation knob was moving his hits sideways.
I saw one installed with the crosshairs at 45 degrees, X marks the spot.

Had to dig out my shooting log book for this one. It was May 16th, 2008. During the week when the range isn't busy. A woodchuck had actually dug a hole in the 100 yard berm at my club. Can't believe it but apparently he got it dug without getting shot. Then we saw him in tall weeds near the berm. Fellow I was shooting with pulled out a .380 handgun and said he could lob some rounds into the tall weeds, and scare the now hidden 'chuck. If he headed for that hole in the berm I might get a shot at him. My .22-250 was already solidly bench rested for some load testing. Got my crosshairs on the 'chuck hole and he began putting .380 rounds downrange into the weeds. I didn't know if he would head for that hole; as woodchuck dens have several entrance & exit holes, but it was the only one I could see. He put 3 or 4 rounds down there and heard him yell that he was running. Suddenly he appeared in my scope at the entrance to the hole and just turned to look back as he headed underground. Just as I completed the trigger squeeze. If he hadn't paused to look back he might have made it underground before that 55 gr. Ballistic Tip got there. I only wish I had a picture but didn't have my camera that day and the flip phone I had back then didn't take pictures. The other guy congratulated me and I thanked him for a "guided" hunt. Then he packed his gear and left, saying; "Nice hunting with you!". Haven't seen a woodchuck down there since except for one along side one of the pistol ranges last year.