Anyone else kind of nervous at the public ranges?

[TheDaywalkersDad]

I shoot at a private range almost all of the time but it's 45 minutes away. Once in a while I'll take the missus to a local indoor range that's about 15 minutes away since it's hard to get her to the private range before closing.
I noticed A LOT of really poor gun handling during our last visit. There was a great deal of muzzling and it seemed like everyone was more interested in doing mag dumps than hitting anything.
There's a lot of new gun owners out there.
Has anyone else noticed a change at the range? More unsafe behavior than normal?

 

[MErl]

This is a fairly common topic. public ranges have always had unsafe practices, I have my stories as well.

On the plus side, it is good to see new shooters. have to start somewhere, I know I did at public ranges.

 

[Torian]

Yes. I rarely frequent public ranges unless I have no other choice.

 

[TheDaywalkersDad]

This is a fairly common topic. public ranges have always had unsafe practices, I have my stories as well.

On the plus side, it is good to see new shooters. have to start somewhere, I know I did at public ranges.

I agree. It just seems like it's reached a new level over the last couple of months.

 

[The_Guy]

I haven't seen it personally but there are some dings in the ceiling and walls that make me wonder what the hell they were doing

 

[Hokkmike]

Not nervous but wary. I am glad to see tones of new shooters. My hope is that they are also voters.

 

[Jlr2267]

I have noticed the same. I quit going public after almost getting into a fist fight after a guy swept me for the 3rd time after 2 polite cautions.

Also see a lot of new shooters shooting w/out eyes/ears. A man and his teen son were shooting an AR15 beside us once without ear protection! I ask the guy if he would like to borrow some, he declined. I then suggested it would permanently damage his boy's hearing. He just looked at me like I was crazy.

 

[SigSour]

Yep. I'm working hard toward obtaining enough land to build a range on my property. A nice small one with a big dirt backstop and flood lights for night shooting.

 

[r1derbike]

I made a lot of ladies nervous at the indoor range today. There was a group of 7 or 8 being trained by two instructors. I got nailed with .22LR brass for about an hour. They were either side of me.

However, I went through a 100 round box of federal .45acp with two silhouettes, compared to their bright, colorful circles. It looked strange for a bit with my silhouette in the middle of 4 bright circle targets, way downrange. My XD-S was feeling accurate and frisky today, for some reason.

I was impressed to see that many ladies getting firearms training. A blast really.

I swept-up my brass, packed, and turned to leave and there were 6 of the gals leaning against the back wall looking at me. Must have raised the roof with that short barreled XD-S, and they were probably glad that my hand cannon and I were leaving.

I wish more ladies would shoot.

 

[danweasel]

Oh man, I went to this shooting spot once to shoot my Mosin. As I was packing up a Prius pulls up and out hop four pretty good looking college girls.

They asked me if my gun was "that cheap Russian one" (It is!) and then pulled out four autoloaders. No lie, one of them was asking if she was going to need earplugs, so they had to be pretty green. As I was driving away they were absolutely going to town out there.

It was pretty sweet.

-Dan

 

[MedWheeler]

Another very recent thread on this...

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=8726759#post8726759

My response to the question "Do you still trust public ranges?" is below:

Less and less as time goes by. A week ago, a man rented a gun at my local indoor range, spent a short time target shooting, then killed himself. I suppose it's fortunate that he had the balls to do it himself, and didn't decide to make the other shooters there do it for him.

 

[Fremmer]

You gotta watch it. I usually spend the first couple of minutes watching my neighbors on either side of my stall just to see if they're dangerous.

 

[Jim Mac]

our local range is a county range with a bunch of old time rangemasters. One thing I will say about these folks. They take safety very seriously. You screw up, they let you know it very quickly. If you read some of the review on the range, it seems some folks dont like the intrusive rangemasters, but when you have 25 or so people all shooting in line, you appreciate some people watching out for you. jim

 

[bogon48]

I travel 50 miles to shoot at the public outdoor range which is in a rural area. It's pretty nice with covered positions and benches for rifles and distances up to 200 yds. The pistol range is covered behind the firing line and has benches. No one is in charge. I know some rules have been broken by the kind of debris I clean up.

So if I drive up and hear some rambo-style shooting on the pistol range, I'll move to the rifle range, or vice versa. Overall, people have been courteous and safe. But you always gotta ask whether a hobby is worth getting nailed by a stranger.

As a personal quirk, I'm slow to line up on the pistol line with other shooters, mainly because it's not large and has no partitions. Don't want to eat brass or get kaboomed in the head. So I try to see how people want to arrange firing times or positions. If someone comes up who doesn't want to chat, I move up when they're reloading mags. If all else fails, I go back to my truck until they run out of ammo.

I can shoot some at on my property, but out of deference to neighbors and because distances are short, I don't shoot much here.

 

[XD Fan]

We have one great public state run range here in southwest Missouri if you are just sighting in or teaching a newb. Unfortunately, it has many restrictions (e.g. one shot every 3 seconds) that make it impractical for real training.

We have a couple of state run ranges that are great if one great there really early and no one else is there.

 

[Lost Sheep]

I shoot at a private range almost all of the time but it's 45 minutes away. Once in a while I'll take the missus to a local indoor range that's about 15 minutes away since it's hard to get her to the private range before closing.
I noticed A LOT of really poor gun handling during our last visit. There was a great deal of muzzling and it seemed like everyone was more interested in doing mag dumps than hitting anything.
There's a lot of new gun owners out there.
Has anyone else noticed a change at the range? More unsafe behavior than normal?

Does your range have rangemasters on duty? Letting them know of unsafe or discourteous behavior would be prudent, I think.

our local range is a county range with a bunch of old time rangemasters. One thing I will say about these folks. They take safety very seriously. You screw up, they let you know it very quickly. If you read some of the review on the range, it seems some folks dont like the intrusive rangemasters, but when you have 25 or so people all shooting in line, you appreciate some people watching out for you. jim

You gotta watch it. I usually spend the first couple of minutes watching my neighbors on either side of my stall just to see if they're dangerous.

I make it a habit to introduce myself to (at least) the people on either side of me, if for no other reason that if any of us need to yell something, we can call out a name. Besides I get to see (and sometimes shoot) a lot of guns I would never otherwise have the chance and I can share (show off) my guns with (to) others.

And, like you, it gives me a chance to evaluate their safety (and they mine), offer tips (one guy instructing his girlfriend did not notice she was about to fire a revolver with her off hand right next to the barrel/cylinder gap) and just be a good ambassador.

Lost Sheep

 

[miller.lyte]

I've been to several indoor and outdoor ranges. I haven't been swept or noticed any particularly poor safety practices or rude patrons. Everything has been well-run and everyone respected each other and the rules. Then again I've only been shooting in Texas and Georgia, I haven't been up in new england or out west. Maybe things are different there.

 

[JohnBT]

"Anyone else kind of nervous at the public ranges?"

Nah, I went to elementary school in downtown Baltimore. Then we moved to D.C.

 

[LS240]

I did have one very negative experience at the local BLM range while shooting on my previous birthday. Some joker let his teen kid start popping off rounds while I was downrange, in line only about 30 feet from where I was. I yelled for him to stop then marched over there and said some very non-high-road things to him. Otherwise my experiences have been pretty positive.

 

[rondog]

All very good reasons why I pay for a membership at a private club. Worth every penny, except for the hour drive each way. And it can get windy there. But otherwise the best place I've ever been.

 

[blarby]

Nah, mainly just shoot in the best public range there is : the forest.

Last serious "range" I went to I caught a ricochet in the head.

From my wife.

Doesn't get any better'n that

After you pick up the bullet that smacks ya in the noggin, sweeps don't seem so bad.


If all the n00bs make you feel jittery- get out and find some mother nature.

You are in Virginia , I'm sure there has to be forest there somewhere.

 

[nelsonal]

The NRA range is a good bit north of you but has excellent safety ( but it mixes rifle, pistol and slugs) which can be a bit of a surprise the first time someone sights in their deer shotgun next to you. Some times the lines are long, as well.

 

[El Tejon]

By nervous, you mean terrified, right.

 

[JRWhit]

We have one great public state run range here in southwest Missouri if you are just sighting in or teaching a newb. Unfortunately, it has many restrictions (e.g. one shot every 3 seconds) that make it impractical for real training.

We have a couple of state run ranges that are great if one great there really early and no one else is there.

I assume you refer to Andy Dalton. I have plenty of room to shoot at home, but that's a great place to get a bench, a spotting scope, and a wind break for sighting.
Busiek can be downright scary some times.

 

[gym]

I was in the people business most of my life. If possible I try to avoid ones I don't know,unless I have business with them, especially if they have a loaded gun in hand. It's just the law of averages, sooner or later, someone is going to do something stupid.