The most annoying man at the gun range.

I dont shoot at ranges very often since my family has quite a bit of land out in the boonies but last weekend I went to a Public Range in the area and decided i wont be doing that for awhile.

I was the only one there and was shooting at a target on a board at 25 yards. I was half way through a magazine and ut of the blue this guy shows up and yells CEASE FIRE RANGE CLEAR. Walks out to the 100 yard berm and tries to put up a target when he realizes he forgot his tacks. So he sends his kid out to the car to get them but the kid cant find them so the guy walks out to his car to get them. Since there is no one on the range and he is walking all the way out to the parking lot i continue shooting and on my last shot he comes back to the firing line and yells I SAID CEASE FIRE RANGE CLEAR. I decided I didnt want to stick around and take orders from Mr. MACHO so I packed up and took off.

I realize that people have to set up targets but he should have been a little more polite about it.

One thing I use to do when fishing in public places is to wear clothes and have gear with forreign stickers. I usually go with stickers in Dutch, because more or less noone outside of Holland or Belgium can understand it. Then I just give people an "evil eye" if they start to get to close, and/or grunt something that cant be understood.
That usually works pretty well.

Another thing that works when you're out fishing and dont want someone disturbing you is to bring a small airtight container with old shrimps in it. Just open it and place it in the vicinity where it cant be seen. I dont think that would be appreciated at a range though.

OP
Offer to buy his guns for insultingly low prices. Either it will piss him off or you will get a good "buddy" price on a .44

There is someone like that at one range I go too. He is probably 70 and never stops. He doesn't shoot, just comes to get brass. And he talks about everything, the grass, trees, sky, clouds, ammo, targets, cars, cities, towns, gunsmiths, people, himself, and anything else you can think of, but half of this "talk" is mumbling that isn't understood. He never has hearing protection so I will usually offer him a pair an use mine as an excuse for not hearing and understanding him.

It probably sounds like I was rude, but I wasn't. The first time I was very polite and talked to him. The second time I tried to just shoot and talk when I changed targets, but the third time I couldn't bare to talk to him. It was the same boring conversation I had the first time I saw him....

From Double Naught Spy:

"You know, whenever I got to the range in Arkansas on my regular visits, there is this guy who I swear is stalking me! I don't know how, but he always shows up after me and then takes the lane next to me. Honestly, it happens so often that I think he must be fixated on me and it scares me a bit. Why would he do this to me?

So, I try to make conversation with him, talking about guns, ammo, etc. I load my own, don't you know. I tried to help him with his shooting as he apparently needs it. Heck, I figured that is why he wanted to shoot next to me so often was for shooting tips or something. However, this guy comes off as a jerk and acts like he doesn't want to know me, doesn't want to talk to me, doesn't want shooting help, in spite of cozying up to be session after session. It just gives me the creeps.

Anybody else here feel like they are being stalked at the range?"

Click to expand...

- Always good to see the other point of view

(PS - I wonder if anyone else got it?)

I guess I see the opposite kind of guy....when I used to go to public ranges, I would always end up next to the guy who didn't know squat about the gun he was shooting and he would always ask me to un-jam it or "how does this work?"

Now that I only go to a private club range, I've only seen people I'm happy to talk to....

Interesting.

I always find myself trying to talk to people who are obviously doing something wrong, or bought the wrong type of gun or ammo. I mean, don't they realize how much they could save by handloading>?

This is probably what's in the mind of the guy the OP talked about.

Some good stories here.

I am surprised, though, by the number of folks who complain about having their "concentration" ruined by the actions of their fellow shooters. I look upon distractions as a *bonus*. I've had people fountain the brass from their subguns right on top of my head (that's karma for ya ). I consider it practical training - you wouldn't want to lose a gunfight over a coupla blisters, would you?

I've had folks touch off cannon in the next position with no warning (or maybe I was "concentrating" so hard I didn't hear their warning! ). Yes, muzzle blast can be *very* dangerous, but it's called "situational awareness". Again, you don't want to stick your head against your buddy's muzzle in a real gun fight, do ya? If you can't tell what the person next to you is holding before they start shooting, you aren't paying enough attention. You need to know if they're endangering you by poor muzzle discipline, if they're going to drop their weapon through poor handling, or if it looks like they're simply going to blow something up (think about blood borne pathogens and fragmentation),

I realize my attitude, while optimistic, might be atypical. So I've (painfully!) learned over the years to exercise good range etiquette ("Ya'll might want to step back for this one...").

For the OP: Surely you personally know another individual with the same passion as your antagonist. Bring him along on your range trips to "run interference" for you. While the two "nuts" are talking, you can get on with your business.

Loosedhorse: My peeve was a guy (this is years ago but I remember) who, on a practically empty range sets up the next station to my right. I'm shooting an FAL from the bench.

Click to expand...

Amazing aren’t they? There seemed to be one at the range every time I went.

My favorite long gun is my M1 Garand. For those that don’t know, M1’s throw brass over half of the county. The first round ejects at about 1:00 o’clock and the 8th goes over my right shoulder. (I’m a south paw.) Considering this I always went to the last station. This guy walks past 25 empty lanes to set up next to me! Being the nice guy that I am I suggested that he might want to consider another lane as he will be peppered with brass. He promptly ignores my suggestion and sets up anyway. For the next half hour he sits there and mumbles and cusses the brass hitting around him and makes quite a show of knocking the brass off of the table. I finally fragged one down the back of his shirt. After an impromptu dance session he finally got the hot brass pealed off of his back. He muttered something under his breath, gathered up his stuff and moved.

I am so happy to be a member of a club with a private range! It doesn’t eliminate all of the morons but it certainly reduces their number.

One other event...

Different range. Pull up to shoot pistol with my wife, and we see the only other shooters at the pistol range, a couple. He's probably a little over 6 ft and north of 200, she's maybe 5'2 and delicate.

And he's handing her a Desert Eagle (I thought it was a .50, but my wife says she remembers him saying it was a .44).

Good instincts: as my wife starts forward to get set up, I stop her with my hand blocking the path and say, "Let's just watch this a moment."

Boom! The girl staggers back, and to keep her balance, extends her gun hand out to the side, whirling the arm at the shoulder like an inept tight-rope walker. Muzzle pointing all over (and behind) the firing line. No AD, and she didn't cross us (about 15 feet back). And she wasn't hurt.

I thought, "Well, now she's gonna cuss him out, and we'll have the range to ourselves." But no, she starts laughing/giggling to beat all get-out, and I remember the lovely image of the two of them embracing: pistol still in her right hand, barrel leaning on his shoulder, muzzle maybe not quite pointed at his ear.

We gingerly got back in our car and left. That's when I started wearing bullet-resistent vests to public ranges (and eventually stopped using public ranges altogether).

If any of you go to Utube and search "Desert Eagle girlfriend," you will see this is an apparently popular way to introduce your sweetheart to the love of shooting.

Grumble.

i am a member of the shooting range out here where i live and i dont go on the days where it is open to the public i go during the week and if i see anyone else there i usually go on the opposite side of the firing line, i havent had any problems yet hopefully it stays that way

Amazing, isn't it? Can't understand how some guys just have no sense. Picking the bench next to the only shooter on the line, when there's numerous other empty benches, is no different than going to the urinal or stall next to the only guy on a whole wall full of empty ones. Just ain't right.

I'm a private person by nature, I'll always go to the spot farthest away from the other guy, it's just the right thing to do. Doesn't mean I won't converse with him if the chance arises, but I don't bother anybody by any means.

My gun club's range has numerous individual pistol ranges totally separate from each other, where you can have the whole thing to yourself all day long if you want. It's excellent! The high-power rifle range is more of a community thing though, with a dozen or so benches in a line.

Not only that he doesn't seem to listen. He kept on talking about how if I shot his .44mag I would want one, even though I told him I already own three .44mags, just didn't bring them.

Click to expand...

I like shooting other peoples guns especially if it is their ammo. I would have been like "really". Let me try it then.

"I tried to be polite, then I tried just ignoring him, then I tried to stearnly explain that while his advice and friendlyness was appreciated, it was counter productive to teaching a new shooter. It all seemed to go over his head and he just went on like I hadn't said anything."

I'm not physco so I don't understand those who are but I am human and I understand a little of human behaviour.

WE ALL, even losers, want to be respected, even looked up to, for something. Some social losers have at least a mild interest in guns so they go for it that way. You see them at malls dressed in camo, pony tails and dark glasses, you see them at ranges trying to find an audience, in bars and some restraunts-coffee shops being foul, loud and agressive. Just wanting someone to pay attention to them is all it is, like the 8 year old constantely calling out, watch me mommy, see me!

Perhaps if someone paid more attention to them as kids they would make better balanced adults but it's really too late by that time and I don't have time to stroke them myself. There is no way any of us can change them but we can be "professonally" courteous and keep our own council polite.

excellent post.

I had some jackass lighting off a 50 AE Desert Eagle. "This is a mans gun,only a man can shoot this gun!" Thats the only thing he was talking about. I got through my 200 rds with my G17 and he looks at my target and asks me how could he shoot like that. I told him to sell that boat anchor and find something more practical.

Click to expand...

I tell you, I have to deal with enough macho b.s. at work. I don't want to deal with it at the range.
Thankfully there aren't many asshats at the range I frequent; vast majority are polite.

NavyLT said:

How about the person next to you that has a .460 S&W and they are shooting full power handloads like .22's. It's blam, blam, blam, blam, blam, reload and it starts over again. I don't get more than five seconds to get a good sight on a target, bench resting my rifle, just get ready to squeeze off a round, and there they go again, blam, blam, blam, blam, blam with that dang .460.

Click to expand...

Shooting under those conditions, you could turn that into a great training session for you actually.

I shoot with all the old guys.
Nobody talks stupid around the old guys.

Some people!

Some people can't take a SUBTLE HINT that they are bothering you.

When I come across these kinds of people I have no problem telling them my feelings. Sometimes, it means having to tell them flat out that they are bothering what would typically be an enjoyable time, and basically to bug off and leave us alone to shoot.

I've had people actually butt in in the middle of a conversation in a restaurant and start to get involved - just like they are part of OUR conversation!

I try not to hurt people's feelings, but some people have no consideration or manners and don't know that they shouldn't be BARGING IN to a conversation (or, in this thread, a quality time at the range). I think there is a word for it and that word is IGNORANT (or, ignoramus).

If it is convenient to move to another part of the range, then you could do that, however, you shouldn't have to move because someone else is making, what would be a good time, miserable.

I do find it happening a lot less -- the older I get.

If the guy picked the only bench next to yours at an empty range, that is a problem. I realize the guy might THINK he is being helpful, but if not anything else what it actually ADDS for a new shooter is UNWANTED CONFUSION!

Send him with his big boomer over to sit next to me and I'll pull out my full house burner loads with ball powder in my 500 Magnum. Guaranteed, he'd move just from the stuff spitting out the sides and all the fire!

That's one reason I only go to the range when necessary, and try to go when no one else is around. There is nothing like just me and my guns at an empty range.

Silly Gangsters

In my area, near Detroit, we get lots of so called "gangstas" at the range . Last week the one next to me had a nice S&W .44 revolver, I wasn't paying much attention untill I noticed his girlfriend laughing at him. I glimpsed over and noticed he had shot about a box of shells and hit the target once! Oh, and the guy with the sub-gun scared the $%&@ outa the wife! Nothing too annoying though, sorry to hear about your "buddy"!

I encounter some wannabe gangbangers from time to time, but they're usually harmless. Actually, a guy next to me one day was holding his Springfield sideways and actually hitting the target! While we were both reloading our mags I complimented him on his shooting, and he responded: "I'm a minority, I'm required to shoot that way!"

The most annoying guy I ever saw was a mall ninja type with an AK variant. He kept talking about how he was prepared to take on anybody and anything, except he was at the pistol area shooting a dinner-plate sized group at 25 yards.

Some folks are annoyed by full auto fire. I'm a proud member of the NFA club, but I always make an effort to warn people/ask if they mind if I burn through a magazine. That way they don't complain about me on the internet.

Public range, S.W. Florida: I arrive at 10am on a Sunday (mistake) five of six rifle stations are occupied. I set up on station #6. Shaved-head Biker and Friend arrive and take up places on benches behind. Since I have yet to set up targets (the other shooters are ignoring me) I take up polite conversation with Biker & company. Fellow range-mates continue to ignore me, Biker points to my gear and inquires: "how much longer will you be?" I explain that I arrived about five minutes before him and had yet to put up a target. "I'm sure that one of these guys will be leaving shortly", I offered. "How about I punch you in the mouth and take your position?" my Biker replied. Flumixed, I responded foolishly with: "Bold words for a bald-headed fat man" and lifted my shirt to show my Colt Officer's model .45. He glared at me but made no move. He and his "babe" mounted up and left a few minutes later, while my range neighbors continued to shoot and ignore me. Ten minutes later one of them ran out of target or ammo and called for a cold range. No more public range for me--thank you!

sadly, i think i may slightly resemble "the most annoying man at the range". now, im not like some of the folks you all have mentioned (the type that wont shut up after directly being TOLD to shut up), but i like to "talk shop" during cease-fires. and if i see a gun i like/dont recognise, im gonna compliment/ask it's owner about it.

Indeed some interesting stories.

I shhot at a private range, you have to be a member of the gun club.

Range usually not busy (on the week days anyway).

Everyone really nice when you need to set up targets, lend you a stapler if you run out of staples, he pass targets around becasue sometimes someone forgets.

I learned to stick with a private range after a scary incident.

I was at a public range, table was 50 feet from the berm but had firing lines all the way up to 7 ft.

As I was only on the range I was at the seven yard line. Heard some folks speaking behind me and turned to look. A family that seemd to be talking and waiting. I asked them if they wanted to set up targets they send no and continued to talk. So I kept shooting.

Much to my surpise, shoots rang out behind me. They were shooting at an old target at the 50 ft line (that means bullets flying past me )

Caalmy as possible I tunred and ran back giving them as much room as possible.

Packed up and left. It has been the private range ever since.

I know should have screamed/talked/explained to them this is bad, just did not have the energy or at the time ability to control my emotions.

I blamed myself for letting folks I do not know stay behind me with firearms, regardless of what I thought there intentions were.

If you are forced to use a public range, be careful, stay safe.

When I want someone to leave me alone, I spontaneously perform a couple of barrel roles and then empty whatever firearm I am shooting at the area around my target(s). Then I drop the firearm and charge the target w/ knife drawn, screaming “Die! I kill you! Die”. That usually does the trick.