Am I the only one who finds the loons while looking for a place to shoot?

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grubbylabs

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I thought it was bad when I showed up at the local gun club I used to live within driving distance of only to find some mall ninja want to "running drills" with his AR and taking up whole shooting ranges ( there were multiple). Who want to shoot next to that? But it was not to bad because we had multiple places to safely shoot at the range.

I have since moved from that area and now must rely on public land for shooting. I find a small area near town and it is quite nice. There are multiple spots along a single dirt road. There is probably enough room for 6 different areas that people can safely shoot from.

Well yesterday I decide to take the whole family shooting. So we get there and there is a car pulled up and facing a shooting berm, I assume they are shooting at the berm. Well I pull down the road a little ways and as I am turning to park I notice they are waving at me to get my attention. So I drive down back down to them only to find out that they are not shooting the berm. Instead they are shooting down the dirt road, thus taking up the whole range. There is no where else to safely shoot at this spot. On one hand I am furious because they take up the whole range and don't have the decency to share, but on the other hand it is public land and they were there first.
 
grubbylabs said:
but on the other hand it is public land and they were there first.
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Pretty much sums it up. Did you ask then how long they were gonna be there? Many has been the time I have pulled up to my local range and seen a multitude of folks there with no room for me, only to ask and find they will be done shortly. Instead of driving home frustrated, I end up waiting and watching for a few minutes till I end up with the range to myself.
 
I had the same problem in the area I used to live. The good shooting spots are also a hotspot for 4 wheelers. This is because all the good shooting spots are in cinder pits. It was very frustrating going to the range only to find it was a zoo with 4 wheelers running all over the place. I even set up one time thinking we had the place to ourselves and started shooting. The next moment a guy in a 4 wheeler rolled up over the backstop and drove right through our line of fire. I stopped shooting immediately of course but was quite steamed about it. We were shooting large caliber semi-autos and I'm sure he heard the shooting. I have since moved from there and have several more choices of shooting venues.
 
The craziest range I have ever been to was Idyllwild in SoCal. Shoulder to shoulder with some of the craziest shooters I've ever seen. We were there maybe 30 minutes when we couldn't stand getting sprayed by spent cases any longer. There was an ambulance behind the firing line on stand by. This was about 20 years ago and many of the shooteres were firing SKSs and other surplus rifles. Perhaps it has calmed down somewhat since then but I wouldn't bet on it.
 
So I drive down back down to them only to find out that they are not shooting the berm. Instead they are shooting down the dirt road, thus taking up the whole range.
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Did you point out to them that there were berms to shoot into?

Maybe they just didn't know.
 
At that point I felt that it was safer for my family and I to leave. The berms and what not were fairly obvious. If they were going to ignore what I would call a basic safety rule no shooting down a road, then I did not want to be around them, especially with my family.
 
There's NO excuse to be shooting down a road or road ROW. Unless your laws are very different from where I live, it's a crime to discharge a firearm on a roadway, and certainly it's very dangerous to anyone driving down that road.

Next time you might want to, very politely, call their attention to the fact that they are violating federal law by engaging in this behavior.
 
It was on a dirt road in a gravel pit that dead ended in a box canyon so its not like they were shooting without a back stop but I still did not like the idea.
 
I am lucky. I live near a lot of public land and can easily find many places to shoot, but sometimes I find my spots taken, so I just drive some more. I don't like to shoot where others have left trash. I clean up my mess no matter where I shoot.
 
I'm a bit skeptical.

I've seen many people paint all AR-15 shooters with the 'mall-ninja' brush.

If the 'road' was inside the gravel pit then it isn't a state, county, city, or township road, it's a workman's roadway, usually leading to the last place gravel was being taken out of. Are you sure the 'berms' you saw were purposely built as a berm rather than just a big heap of non-gravel or surplus gravel that gets used by shooters as a berm?

I think a 'road' in a gravel pit that dead-ends in a box canyon sounds like a great set-up for long range shooting, especially if shooting prone.

There's a chance you were right and they were being unreasonable, but I think there's an equal chance that they were totally normal.
 
The mounds are exactly as you describe, left overs from when the pit was being used. It is all basically really course volcanic sand.

I have however found it to be quite common for some one who is taking up the whole shooting area to either explain that they will either be done momentarily or offer to share the rest of the range. Especially when it is the only spot within 45 minutes to an hour. And to not expect you to use a spot that while to the side, is still down range by 5-10 yards.

And I realize I may be alone on this, but I just can't bring my self to shoot down a road in that situation. If they did not go any farther than their target was set up then their could possibly be others further down the road. It just did not feel like a very safe situation.


And no I don't think all people are with AR's are mall nijas, Just the ones who put out 20-30 targets and go running in between them and firing. If those people that I have seen at that range doing that were officers of any kind they would have been at the county range that is designed for that kind of training. It is on the same road and you pass it to get to the club.
 
I went to one of the more popular nearby shooting areas with one of my sons last year. When we got there, we were greeted by a group of very mall-ninja looking dudes who were shooting clay pidgeons out of a thrower.... with their tacticool looking ARs. Hopefully their shots were landing harmlessly in the lake on the other side of the hill because they were shooting too high for them to be hitting the backstop. There are farms and houses between the base of the far side of the hill ( about 1.5 miles) and the lake (about 3 miles).

We turned around to leave and were going to call the police, but someone beat us to it. We passed several sheriff's trucks flying up the hill. I later talked to one of my neighbors who is a deputy about the outcome and he said that one of the guys was a convicted felon and the other two knew it, but were letting him shoot their rifles.

Morons.

Matt
 
I guess you'll be getting out there earlier next time. I figure I'd ask them to let the road go in pursuit of utilizing the berm. Seems sensible when politely asked. I've seen lots of informal areas like you describe where folk would shoot along a road or track to more easily service targets. Seems silly to me but I get them doing it if it's not downright unsafe.
 
That's the thing it was not a completely unsafe deal, it was just not good practice in my mind, or polite. But like I said in the original post, it is open to the public, so really what can I do other than say have a nice day and see ya later. No real reason to call the police or make a big stink with them about it. I am the one who chose to just leave, I just wish they would have been a little more polite.
 
Yea, I unfortunately run into a bit of some idiots at my local range.

Guy with a cheap 22 with a 12-24x scope teaching a new shooter, and getting mad that she can't find the target.

Same guy made the girl to shoot squatting down behind the benches and the bullets were barely clearing the end of the bench (benches had stools and everything).

Guy explaining how .22LR is the most dangerous cartridge because it slips through kevlar (he was shooting .223).

Same guy explaining how he hand loads his bullets using his secret "compressed charges" by filling the case to the brim, putting in a bullet and compressing it down. My friend was shooting the guys carbine at the time and immediately set it down and walked away when he heard that.

Same guy again explaining his ingenious setup consisting of a massive 12-24x scope behind an eotech mounted on his 9mm AR. The optics took up the entire receiver and handguard rails on his 16" AR.

Same guy explaining how I shouldn't shoot thin aluminum because it will bounce 50 cal rounds and "we had a death wish, he doesn't want to be around when we kill ourselves" (22LR zipped right through what we shot at). Despite this the guy never setup targets or inspected the range he just shot at bits of stuff around the range.

Guy ignoring the beautiful skeet field 100 yards away and shooting trap down the rifle range.

Guy who never sets up a target and just walks up and blasts through magazine after magazine as fast as possible just to hear the sound of his own gun.

Guy who picks up his pistol, and immediately slaps in a magazine, racks the slide hard, and inspects the pistol waiving around in my/his friends direction. I couldn't leave fast enough with that guy!

Honestly when I go to my local range, if people are there I usually just turn right around and go home. Sadly these were all at a local club, not even at ad hoc ranges.
 
I went to the range yesterday. Some ****** bag decided to start walking out onto the range to set up a target. While people were shooting. Let me repeat that: while people were actively shooting.

That's one of the downsides of public ranges.
 
but on the other hand it is public land and they were there first.
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Not necessarily.

Instead they are shooting down the dirt road, thus taking up the whole range.
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Most states, and all federal lands have specific regulations in regards to shooting " On, over, or adjacent" to roads and trail passages.

I know Oregon does, I know michigan does, I know california does. Not sure about Idaho- Check that one out.

The problem with Public ranges? The public.
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In short- yes. Specifically, the uneducated public.


You are not alone Grubby. All things mentioned in this thread are the very reasons I cant wait to have my own land.....
 
my problem seem to be with the call of duty kids with there walmarted out ar15's, stack

of steel case ammo and total lack of safety,consideration, or self preservation. i too had

a experience with a 20 something range hog of this nature. 2 or 3 months ago i was up at

my private club to test and tune a few loads for my 243 and low and behold there were 3

tacticool kids with ar's and ak's stacked up on the right side of the range. i pulled up and

unloaded my vice,gun, ammo, muff's, targets, stapler ect only to find they had taken

control of the whole place. it was as if they were pretending the range was Normandy

and they had just hit the beach! they too were "running drills" as they called it, looked

more like a monkey making love to a football to me, and taking up the whole place.

my trip ended about the time one of them suggested "hey yeah lets put the whole 5

lb of tannerite under this milk jug of gasoline and shoot it at 25 yards dude" o_O.

i loaded up my gear and backed up to a safe distance and called the club president and

reported them. the explosion was spectacular in size and happened a few seconds after the

safety officer had showed up and i was giving the details. they are no longer members.

looking back i probably should have just intervened and stopped them but i have learned

better then deal with a 22 year old holding a ak in one hand a 5 pounds of explosives in

the other.
 
This is why I go to the woods to shoot and not ranges. I set up my own range. Others are not welcomed to join me unless invited, and I know you. I don't trust people I don't know to handle a gun safely, and the first time I shoot with someone i watch them very closely. If I see someone shooting like a fool, or being unsafe, I leave and that's the last time I shoot with that person.
 
I had a strange event happen once, but thats it. I am the kind of guy you WANT to run into at the range...

A few years ago, me and some friends from the FD decided to go shooting. When we get to the pit, we see a car parallel parked infront of the berm. We were setting up our tables, as they were in the car.... we were just waiting to see what they were doing. The next thing you know, they are shooting (Unknown guns, but they were full auto) from the car (An early model large sedan, rusty and beat up.....)!! The finished, and drove off....

Now, on the other hand... this past week on Thanksgiving I hosted my 3rd anual red neck rendevous for the family and a couple of strangers happened upon us at the range after missing a deer earlier in the day and wanted to sight it in... well... when I go shooting with family we have coffee, bagels, multiple shooting platforms, spotting scopes, etc... they ended up staying and shooting with us for better part of an hour. So, sometimes the loons can be your friends too :)
 
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