10 Round limit on a public Range

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Most of the public ranges in my state are unmaned and rules are few. This can be nice, but on occassion some fellow shooter do some really dumb and dangerous things. One of the most common observed 'dumb' things I witness is handgun shooters placing makeshift targets between the shooting points and the berms. The bullets can be constantly heard ricocheting off the ground and flying over the berms into the tree tops beyond. Also, shootings will walk to their targets when others are still shooting, or walk halfway up to the targets to get closer shots when others are still shooting.

I have my own fifty yard range and go to the public ones only when I need longer ranges. I try to go during the week when I may be the only person there. I also belong to a great private club, but it is a 50 minute drive there.
 
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The free, public ranges maintained by the PA Game Commission has some rules; 3 rounds only max in rifles and 6 rounds max in handguns.
 
TheBeav
10 Round limit on a public Range
So last weekend i go to the usual public range where i have been probably 30 times over the last 5-6 months and shoot a full 15 round magazine like I have done every other time i have been there. the RO comes up behind me holding up 10 fingers and tells me i can only load 10 rounds at a time. this rule is not posted anywhere or anything. I think it is just an RO with the perverbial stick in a bad place. anyone else had similar range experiences?
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Heh, you think that's bad? When I lived in Kenosha, WI and was a member of the Conservation Club down the road, they only allowed FIVE rounds in handguns and SINGLE shots in centerfire rifle. The latest I've heard is that non-members must purchase shot loads for trap from the club. The sad thing is that they have probably one of the better ranges in the area with rifle going out to 300 yards.
 
Our public range is that - a free and unmonitored public range. The city takes good care of it, as well, and used that federal range bonus a few years back to good effect. Having said that, I don't go there on the weekends, so as to avoid some people that tend to be unsafe. I have run into a few people when I do go who are unsafe, and I leave, but that is the price I pay for a nice range with the only restriction being, "No explosives". Yes, it's on a sign. :)
 
I have a range near me that says you can only load 10 rounds into a magazine. This rule makes sense to me because here in NY, greater than 10 round magazines (unless made before 94) are illegal! This is a 50 yard indoor range that charges $17 per hour, per person.

On the other hand, there is a range the same distance from me that is a public outdoor range. The rules are that you shoot from noon until sundown into the berms, or with birdshot at clays. No sign in, no RO. I've never seen an idiot messing about either. Because guns are generally frowned upon here in NY, most people with them take it seriously.

You can guess which range I attend even on the coldest days.
 
The local public range doesn't seem to care much about anything but keeping the place clean. The rules are basically:

1) Paper/box targets only (they don't seem to care if you bring out steel spinners and the like as the spirit of the rule is just to keep clay pigeons, TV's, washing machines, etc off the range)
2) All shots are to be kept down range.
3) Range it only open during daylight hours.
4) Limit shooting time to one hour if others are waiting. (though pretty much no one obeys this - if you arrive and it's full be prepared to wait for however long it happens to take for a table to open up)

That's pretty much it. That's for the state provided free/public ranges in the area.

Now, here's a crazy one: I often shoot at an indoor range as well - it's cheap ($125 per year and shoot whenever you want, or $5 per day for as long as you want) and I can shoot at night, during the winter, etc. They have a rule against "rapid fire" . . . . . . and they also rent full-autos :banghead:.
 
I don't get this ^ notion.

So long as the shooter is not being unsafe and endangering the lives of others, or destroying the range itself, I don't care how he shoots.
If some guy wants to waste a ton of ammo shooting up a mountainside that's his business, not mine.

Personally, I don't have that kind of money to waste.
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Hes talking about the idiots that aren't safe when spraying the range.
 
I have never heard of a max capacity for handguns or rifles at any range I frequent. I would check with the range and ensure that this is actually a regulation. If so then they need to get some signs up to avoid confrontations.

The only thing that my range frowns on is the use of full auto firearms. I don't own any at the time so it's not an issue for me.
 
The state run ranges near me have a six round max, and no "rapid fire". They are pretty nice about one violation if you honestly didn't know. What they really stick to are the good rules like nobody near the benches during target check, nobody downrange during firing, etc.

Last year they stopped allowing target holders closer in (used to have some of their own target holders for general use). Since the closest distance is 25yd, it limits what you can do with a pistol...

I've really started liking an indoor range near me. Only ammo rules are no birdshot (jams the target holders) and no black powder (shuts down the air handling system). Other than that, they don't care how many you load or how fast you shoot.
 
I hadn't been to a public range in 10 years or so untill last year. I had a beta-c-mag that I wanted to try. Not a problem except that I ran outta ammo
 
I don't get this ^ notion.

So long as the shooter is not being unsafe and endangering the lives of others, or destroying the range itself, I don't care how he shoots.
If some guy wants to waste a ton of ammo shooting up a mountainside that's his business, not mine.

Personally, I don't have that kind of money to waste.
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I don't care how fast someone spends their money. Although it's extremely hard to concentrate on precise fire when some idiot is shooting his AK as fast as he can and showering everybody with hot, steel cases. I'm talking about the morons whose bullets fly over the berm and into everybody else's targets. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to retrieve my target and found several holes from some idiotic bullet hose.
 
Know the rules.
Obey the rules.

If in fact, that's NOT a rule, lodge a complaint.

There was a nice, new indoor range that opened here a while ago. I need to zero some guns for Camp Perry. As I was unpacking, they told me I couldn't shoot lead bullets... offering to sell me some +P JHP ammunition for my Giles .38 Special M1911, which wouldn't have even fit in the magazine. I put my gear back in the car and drove out of my way to a range where I could do what I needed to do. The new range went out of business eventually.
 
One local place by me, Ommelanden, has a 10 Rd limit. I've seen people break it and not get in trouble, I've seen people break it and get in trouble.

Carrying a G23 with 13rd mags its no biggy to make sure I only have 10 in at a time. Its easier to keep track because a load of a magazine is 2 lines out of the ammo box (width wise)
:)
 
I go to an indoor range in Mass and they dont have a limit, they do have other rules like as far as shotguns go but nothing to strict. I bring in 15 rd mags every time.
 
Haha nushif. Glad I'm not alone. Just seems logical. Easier to visually see how much you have left and let's me be a little organized ha
 
#s

I used to shoot at a indoor range where 90% of us were shooting Bullseye, and the rule was 5 rounds at a time. That was right for that range.
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That is the rule at my range in NYC.
I give a range safety course twice a year at this range. One of the first things that I do at that course is to have everyone attending stand up and walk with me downstairs to where the range is. Once there, I open a point and have everyone walk with me past the points and into the shooting bay itself.
It is an object lesson. Before the class, I have gone into the range an placed a wooden skewer into every bullet hole that I can find that is someplace where there shouldn't be a hole (ideally, there won't be any bullet holes to see...if all the bullets hit the target/backstop.) Well, this is an old range and there are plenty of skewers by the time I am done. Holes in the walls, in the partitions between the points, in the tables, in the ceiling, skid marks on the floors (those rapid fire drills at two and three yards where the careless shooter is actually shooting a bit down instead of straight and level....the bullets hit the floor just before the backstop. That's why no rapid fire.). It leaves quite an impression, I have been told. The idea is to prevent any new holes from appearing.
At the public (PA F&G) range that I frequent out in PA - unsupervised - there is a posted limit of five rounds in a pistol or a rifle. What angers me there is how many people don't take the time to read the range rules, load up and blast away. That's just wrong.
The other activity that angers me is - all pistol targets are at 25 yards - when shooters will decide to practice close in shooting at a target when other shooters are on the line. This prevents the whole line from shooting until the short range practice is over. Many of these folk ignore the direction to return, maybe, at another time and shoot alone. They just stay three yards from the targets and shoot. (maybe if they learned to hit the target at 25 yards, they wouldn't need to practice at three)
Pete
 
They just stay three yards from the targets and shoot. (maybe if they learned to hit the target at 25 yards, they wouldn't need to practice at three)
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While I can't possibly agree with their unsafe of inconsiderate behavior, this is EXACTLY why you have to pick a club that matches the kind of shooting you do. For defensive drills and practical competition type handgunning, 25 yds is all but irrelevant. So they may be very frustrated to have to work on that kind of limited facility.

In fact, at the other end of the spectrum, teaching a new shooter to hit anything with a pistol, when limited to 25 yd. shots is simply cruel and a guarantee of never getting them back to the range, so, again, finding a range that is flexible enough to really do something useful is a very important consideration.
 
I use a Game Management Range here. You have to have a current hunting lic. and no automatic weapons allowed. And yes folks can be idiots out there. But every body gets along.

I have to live with enough rules in my life. So the thought of paying for range time, belonging to a club or a range is sickening to me. Not to mention the insane amount of money they charge to be grumpy know it all's.
 
There is one area where I make up a rule even if it doesn't exist. Cleaning up the brass. My local range doesn't require you to sweep your brass or clean brass from your lane table... but I do out of common courtesy. It's just a quick push with the push broom they have laying around.

I've seen people blow through a box or two of ammo, leave the empty box and plastic holder on the table, along with a bunch of spent casings on the table too, and also leave their entire lane floor littered with spent casings.

Really? Just a little common courtesy goes a long way.

But I do agree with others here about excessive rules. Some of those expensive gun clubs (with the big yearly fees and REQUIRED meetings, etc) have far, far too many rules. I don't understand paying $300 just to join up, $400 a year, required attendance at meetings, only to have really silly rules. Why would anyone do that? Must only be "country-club" gun owners there. You know, the "an over/under in 20 GA firing birdshot is all anyone ever needs and it's good enough for you too."
 
Onward Allusion said:
Heh, you think that's bad? When I lived in Kenosha, WI and was a member of the Conservation Club down the road, they only allowed FIVE rounds in handguns and SINGLE shots in centerfire rifle. The latest I've heard is that non-members must purchase shot loads for trap from the club. The sad thing is that they have probably one of the better ranges in the area with rifle going out to 300 yards.
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Ha! Bristol, WI I went there a couple times when I lived in WI. I think they charged like $25 for a non-member - and I also remember having to buy "thier" trap loads because they were afraid our #8 shot defied the laws of physics and were a danger to some houses like 1000 yds out :confused:

I also got tapped on the shoulder by the RO for loading up 7 rds in my 1911...:rolleyes:

I had not read the 5rd rule either...

I concluded that the best place to shoot in the south eastern WI area was my buddy's family farm...
 
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I've seen people blow through a box or two of ammo, leave the empty box and plastic holder on the table, along with a bunch of spent casings on the table too, and also leave their entire lane floor littered with spent casings.
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If they shoot 9mm, 10mm or .303 British, that's fine by me!
 
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