Scary trip to the range

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spartywrx

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So I went with my girlfriend out to a MiDNR shooting range last weekend and had quite an experience. We got there early and headed over to the shotgun range (a big field with picnic tables in a line to form a firing line) to teach her how to shoot my 20ga Mossberg. I set up some clay targets on the ground and she manages to blast them away and has a great time pumping new rounds into the chamber. Anyways, after a while, two middle aged guys showed up to shoot clays so I couldn't run out and reset targets for her. We (more like I) spent the next hour or so busting clays from my little 3 pronged clay flinger. I noticed that the guys who showed up had attached their little clay flinger to this concrete table (for lack of a better description). I wanted to know how they did that so I could too, so we secured our shotguns (my 12 and 20) and walked on down to have a chat.
As we approached, they saw us coming and stopped shooting. The guy on the firing line slung his shotgun over his shoulder (while holding the butt of the gun at waist level) to turn and face us. Luckily it was pointed downrange.

BLAM!:what:

He managed to fire the shotgun up into the air. He was lucky to not blow his head off or shoot someone. He looked at his buddy and just laughed. At that point (we were about 30 feet away) I just turned around and walked back to my station without saying anything. My girlfriend is new to guns and I stress safety to the point where I annoy myself. She was noticeably unnerved about being anywhere near the moron.

So with that we decided to head over to the rifle range to get away from these dudes. We're plinking away with my 10/22 when the call to stop shooting to change targets comes on over the megaphone. I lock open the action and we step back behind the safety line. Suddenly a loud "POINT THAT MUZZLE DOWNRANGE" comes on over the megaphone. Guess who it is, our friend from the shotgun range. He had placed his levergun on the bench pointing not downrange, but along the row of benches (where people were still locking open their actions to go downrange). :fire:


Needless to say we left quite soon after that and we're not going back to that location.

If I wasn't a poor medical student I'd join a private range to get away from idiots like that (or are they at all ranges?)
 
Judge the people 1st and the range 2nd. If the range doesn't work to correct the problem, then leave it. There are idiots like that at every range, remember, owning a gun != competence with a gun.
 
If you want "experience" try being an RSO at one sometime. I stopped being polite and "nice" after my first week. And after a couple of years you find out what some people are really like.
 
I always like range/gun shop/show stories that involve guys shooting "gangsta" style sideways and do stupid things like slam the cylinder shut on a wheel gun or say some really stupid stuff about dual wielding desert eagles because it would make them look cool.
 
I have no words. Some things are a complete mystery and one of them is firing ranges that continue to stay open for decades. Time is not on the side of a negligent firing range my friend, it is not. I have a problem concerning those who have no respect for firearms. To the point I want to turn mean and ugly.
Decent firing ranges are difficult to come by. If you come across one please support it.
 
try having a guy come back into the shop complaining that something is wrong with the Glock 22 the sold him... .22 rounds fall right through the barrel....
 
wait till you see your first guy look down the barrel after a misfire....it feels like a miracle but then you realize that god wouldn't save someone so stupid.
 
Happens most places on occasion. I'm a RSO for a local city run range, and have taught hunter education for several years. With a little practice, you learn to distinguish the difference between the guy that had a rare brain fart, and the true idjit.

Don't hesitate to point an ijit out to range staff. We don't want an incident any more than you do.
 
I second (third) about talking to RO when you see UNSAFE actions. Also talk to them (when they are not busy) about when a good time to shoot is.

I was one (of many) ROs at a private range that had public range days a couple times a week. I finally got to point they had to meet infront of the "Rules of Range sign" Go over them in brief, ask if any questions, (if they "know it all" then I KNOW this person will be trouble) If they are unsure/want to follow rules likely less trouble (after a few pointers)
"alwasy keep muzzle downrange, if you have ANY trouble keep muzzle downrange and raise your off hand (like you want to go to bathroom) and someone will assist KEEP MUZZLE DOWNRANGE. IF line is called safe and you are unable to clear your weapon YELL :"LINE IS NOT SAFE" until we can assist. (that should NEVER happen)
 
I am not defending these people for their actions, but let me tell you my story.

I did not grow up handling firearms. I went to the gun range to rent some guns because I wanted to learn more, and asked for help from the employees. The people renting the firearms did NOT explain the safety rules to me after I told them I was a newbie, but they did rent me the guns!

Looking back on where my muzzle was pointed at the time, I know now that I swept many people on the range and carrying the gun back to the rental counter. (I now know the rules.)

If someone had taken the time on the range to explain to me that what I was doing was dangerous instead of looking at me like I was an idiot, than I would have felt more invited to shooting.

Just something to think about when you see someone violate one of the rules. You could be kind about explaining the rules and maybe even make a friend.
 
Looking back on where my muzzle was pointed at the time, I know now that I swept many people on the range and carrying the gun back to the rental counter. (I now know the rules.)

If someone had taken the time on the range to explain to me that what I was doing was dangerous instead of looking at me like I was an idiot,
Click to expand...

ARE YOU SERIOUS???? Common sense should tell you the you never point a gun at ANYTHING you dont intend to shoot! I agree that we should educate people that want to learn but if you lack common sense then you shouldnt have a firearm to begin with. No one can teach you common sense.
 
There's evidently one way to point a gun downrange all-the-time. This is not going to happen with an pistol traveling from a store/range countertop through door(s) to a separate shooting area, right?

Case in point...pointing a closed guncase (yes, it might be loaded) so the handgun or rifle barrel is pointed downrange ONLY and traveling to the point of setting it down on a table or flat surface. Then, while the case is still closed (with barrel still in the downrange direction) removing the firearm from closed case without changing muzzle direction, and removing it on the shooting table or ground (for prone) unless held or carried while pointed downrange. If it's at a rental counter, it is being walked through a store pointing at floor or somewhere else you don't intend to shoot.

I suspect that fewer than half of those at the indoor and/or outdoor range ONLY point at targets or downrange at ALL times-berms or ground in front of berms (or indoor range equivalent). I suspect that the many do not ALWAYS keep the muzzle pointed toward the target from the tailgate or trunk (or rental counter) to the firing line without fail. I'm no expert, but I've observed plenty of others at indoor/outdoor ranges for nearly forty years, including Hodgdon's Indoor range, and other 16 station or larger indoor ranges.

Situational awareness and open cylinders, bolts, or slides locked back with focusing on keeping the muzzle continuously pointed downrange is a start...it would be helpful if more would mentor others, and I hope that most indoor range employees take a proactive interest in safety for beginners.
 
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Common sense is nothing but the prevailing norm of yout group. Not everyone grows up in the same group (or their group is TV/movies where nobody cares where a gun is pointed) so not everyone shares the same common sense. Likewise, common sense can vary group to group...for one group it is common sense to keep all guns loaded all the time, for another it is common sense to keep them unloaded until the sights are lined up.

Don't attack people for not sharing your sensibilities...or they never will.
 
Amen to Ed.

If you want an example from our own ranks, watch a bunch of action pistol shooters and then watch a group of serious shotgunners.

The layers of safety and rigid adherance to the 4 rules as practiced in IDPA and (usually) USPSA is all but oppressive -- but it is what is required to keep an inherantly dangerous activity "safe."

The shotgunners will have very different ideas about muzzle discipline. An open over-under is no more dangerous that a golf club in their eyes, and a semi-auto is barely more so. If you're "muzzle sensitive" you could just about crawl out of your skin trying to deal with that situation. (Yes, there are factors about skeet shooting and the equipment involved that make it pretty "safe", especially in comparison to action pistol, but it's a game of inches, so to speak. The principles are the same.)

I do believe there is one right way and many wrong ways. But I have to accept that many folks -- whom I respect as fellow shooters -- don't see everything quite my way...yet.

And telling them that they're idiots without common sense will not bring them into the light.

-Sam
 
ARE YOU SERIOUS???? Common sense should tell you the you never point a gun at ANYTHING you dont intend to shoot! I agree that we should educate people that want to learn but if you lack common sense then you shouldnt have a firearm to begin with. No one can teach you common sense.
Click to expand...

It is people like you that almost made me give up shooting the first time I went! This is exactly what I am talking about. I didn't come out of the womb knowing the firearms safety laws.

On the range, I wasn't pointing the gun at somebody with my trigger finger on the trigger with a round in the chamber. That was as far as my common sense went at the time. I guarantee you that this is as far as most uneducated people would consider a gun truly immediately dangerous.

The firearms safety laws are LAYERS of defense. You have to violate multiple layers before someone gets shot, so NO, they are NOT common sense to someone who doesn't know them.

The bottom line is that if I saw someone at a range violate a rule, I hope that I would say something gently rather than react as you did here.

You may just win over another shooter instead of convince someone to vote for a gun-control candidate! Your very right to carry arms may depend on it!
 
I had a situation a few years ago with some idiots from San Francisco who did similar. I was at Circle S Ranch east of Petaluma with a friend of mine sighting in our rifles. These 3 Wall Street type yahoos pulled up in a fancy looking VW and had the shiniest looking stainless ruger 10/22s with them but no knowledge of safe gun handling whatsoever. In the middle of loading their rifles they pointed them at me and my friend. :eek: My friend (and a couple others) and I jumped up and told them to point their guns down range or else, including the rangemaster. They did this twice. The 3rd time it happened my friend stood up and turned his M1 Garand at the guys and told them flat out " You point those damn rifles at us one more time you're gonna get SHOT!!" :cuss: Everyone saw they were in the line of fire of these yahoos and either jumped way back or pointed their guns at these guys too. At this point the range master, hand on his 45, told these three yahoos " You got 1 minute to pack up and leave" with all of us P'Oed shooters backing him up.

My friend and I never been back since because of idiots like that.

So I've been going to Redwood Gun Club over by Arcata since moving north. It's a nice range and most everyone there has good sense in gun handling :D

I hope those guys did not scare your girlfriend out of getting into shooting.
 
Holy crap Squeaky Duck, any of you think about going down there and actually talking to these guys and explaining gun saftey rules insted of playing IDIOT cowboy!!??? :eek:

People pointing guns at each other to make a point? ARE YOU FRICKING KIDDING ME??!@ :cuss:

Everyone at that range that day should get some sense or perhaps just sell their guns. Those SF guys were not the only ones there with safety issues. Not by a long shot. JEEZ

That is NOT the way to handle that situation. Period. :banghead:
 
"This is why someday I dream to moving to Vermont and making my own range in my backyard "

me too!
 
This is why someday I dream to moving to Vermont and making my own range in my backyard
Click to expand...

No kidding! But mine is buying land here in Colorado.

Thankfully, I joined a private club with a bunch of separate bermed ranges. We can nearly always have a range all to ourselves, with high dirt berms all around us. Several short pistol ranges, one 50 yards, two 100 yards. The 100-600 yd. High Power Rifle range is a communal range though.
 
I once went shooting with a Polish Doctor who didn't have English as his first language. He crossed into an offlimit area that is supposed to prevent anyone from picking up a gun on the table as people are downrange looking at their targets.

RSOs yelled at him first, and then proceeded to aim ar-15s at him after he didn't listen (he didn't know they were talking to him).

He learned English quickly that day. :)
 
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