Dumbest thing you've seen at the range?

[kilo729]

I've had people in the lane next to me get very angry because they got showered with brass after my dad emptied a 15 round mag in his 92fs as fast as he could.

The guy who got angry was obviously a cherry, the person he was there with turned to me and gave me a thumbs up.

 

[hadmanysons]

Me. Learning where to put thumb when shooting a semi-automatic pistol. It hurt!

 

[teCh0010]

I watched a guy try to clear an open bolt sub gun and manage to shoot two cars in the parking lot, one of which was his.

 

[Phydeaux642]

During my CCW class there was a lady that was using a .22 wheelgun to qualify with. She would pull back the hammer between shots so she could shoot single action. Every time she pulled the hammer back she would bring the gun up and back by her ear and have the muzzle pointing behind her at her shooting partner. Neeedless to say, he was not happy.

 

[DaveBeal]

Dumbest thing I've ever seen at a range I did. A friend handed me a M-1 to look at ( he wanted me to see it was a Rockola) I took the rifle, supporting it under the forestock , other hand on the butt and looked at the breech. Bad lighting I turned into better lighting and swept the whole line.

Then my friend mentioned that the rifle was loaded and chambered

Your friend handed you a loaded gun and didn't tell you in advance? He's at fault at least as much as you are, Treo.

 

[Trustin]

watched a guy start banging off slugs from his 12 gauge, when the fella in the lane next to him backs out of his lane to see what's making the noise. I see this and notice his glock with finger on the trigger, i grab him by the wrist and guide him back to his lane by a firm shoulder grip. he lays it down, i unload and clear a hollowpoint out of the chamber. he had just finished sweeping all up and down another shooters back. he was an African immigrant and didn't even understand the verbal abuse I gave him.

tapped a guy on the shoulder for holding his M&P .45 sideways in his lane (w/ partitions, not open) and he turns the same direction the gun is pointing and I wind up with it in my face and his finger on the trigger. see ya! hope you enjoyed your time.

sitting at our check in counter I hear a large caliber rifle going off rapid fire (against rules on our range. he had a 24x24 bullseye and was dumping 30 rounds from his SKS. when confronted, he begins to brag about how he "brought that one back" and he rapid fired because he wanted to re experience "the rush" (earlier he was mouthing off about "popping heads off of shoulders with his M40") I replied "dude, if you were really doing the things you say you did, shooting at a rubber filled back stop IS NOT the same rush."

most regulars/long time shooters/even cops/military seem to think they're too teflon to make mistakes. "I KNOW it was unloaded" is not a good argument for negligently sweeping everyone on the range.

I hate "profesionals"

 

[Treo]

Your friend handed you a loaded gun and didn't tell you in advance? He's at fault at least as much as you are, Treo.

What's the first thing you do when someone hands you a weapon? I didn't, I was wrong

 

[DrLaw]

Three things

No. 1. Fellow working on a jam in a bolt action rifle. Had the gun pointing downrange. He was looking at it from above, working the action across his belly. Gun was pointed up at about 30 degrees, about the amount you would have to hold it to get maximum range. It went off. Nowhere near our backstops. A few of us quietly left before any cops arrived to ask about a new hole in house a mile and a half away.
(nicely enough, he didn't hit anything, or anybody)

No. 2. Shooter at pistol range somehow gets three, count 'em, three 9mm cartridges stuffed into the chamber area. He is wiggling the slide for all get out to try to get the cartridges out. I immediately sent him outside. The people outside immediately sent him back in to be my problem again.

No. 3. We found a dent in one of the metal walls separating our shooting lines tonight at our gun club. Somebody had to have shot into the wall from point-blank range, at what would be about 6 feet off the ground, aiming up and to the right. Since this is 90 degrees off from where the bullets are supposed to be put, we are wondering who in the world did this.

The Doc is out now.

 

[Trustin]

2 more!

not so much about safety, but about range ettiquette. after several problems with a few younger guys, I made a final walk through after cease fire. noticing a column of brass, i follow it into the lane and see trash crumpled and thrown all forward of the line. I walk back and discreetly tell them to try being more cleanly and not to purposefully throw trash onto my range. tthe larger of the 3 immediately begins eye rolling and replaces eyes and ears then walks back on with me right behind. he sees the mess and begins bellyaching that "it fell while reloading" and that all the pieces were flat, and not crumpled, trying to prove it was inadvertent. back in the store he brings my boss out and calls him by name. turns out he was an employee there and new the boss well. I figure I'm screwed, he's going to pick sides. yet, I explain about the trash, he retorts, hurling names and saying he doesn't have to listen to a kid. I lost it at the kid remark. I began yelling that he was using MY range and the sheet he signed on states that I am in charge at all times. (apparently, my language got "colorful" without my even realizing it) he left in a huff and customers were telling me good job from the back of the line :lol: point is, not everyone thought I was so hot. my language put off a few customers and I apologized directly. point is, a big headed RSO can make some big mistakes too.


and I'll finish with my all time worst.

young guys, 3 of them. say it's their first time there and they hardly glance over the rules. I hear rapid fire and after walking behind them I hear "that was bad ass"

i correct the rapid fire and carry on. later, watch another one shoot movie gangsta sideways and strike a target carrier. I emphasize that they aren't following the rules and re iterate what were a few key points.

later i see one of them say "watch this!" i turn to see him pointing the gun (downrange) straight out to his left side looking back at his buddy and jumping up and down with his tongue hanging out of his mouth, laughing and screaming all the while. :banghead:

"THAT is the kind of s#$% you do in the DESERT into a BERM! not on my range!"

a discussion on what they did before they left, emphasizing they were welcome to come back any time after that day and I hoped they would, just they just needed to take more responsibility for our rules. (needless to say, my lunch break was a "box lunch"

Box of .40 Smith going downrange, then -->

 

[CYANIDEGENOCIDE]

Shooting next to some gangsta's with their glock fo-tay actually it was a glock 21 in .45 ACP. The guy loads a mag, racks the slide and click. the whole cartridge comes out the end. Three times this happens before the RO comes over and examines the weapon and starts laughing. 9mm doesn't run through .45
These clowns had no clue and the RO spent the next few minutes explaining bullet caliber. You would think they would go buy the correct ammo, but instead they walked up and down the line asking to trade or "borrow" some. :banghead:

 

[longdayjake]

Shooting next to some gangsta's with their glock fo-tay actually it was a glock 21 in .45 ACP. The guy loads a mag, racks the slide and click. the whole cartridge comes out the end. Three times this happens before the RO comes over and examines the weapon and starts laughing. 9mm doesn't run through .45
These clowns had no clue and the RO spent the next few minutes explaining bullet caliber. You would think they would go buy the correct ammo, but instead they walked up and down the line asking to trade or "borrow" some.

My bet is that the gun was stolen.

 

[tpaw]

Incompetence at the range only gives fuel to the Brady Bunch with reasons why people should not have guns. All my range experiences have been safe and professional. I would never settle for less.

 

[DeathByCactus]

Guy shooting an AK-47 at the 8 meter range
Guy shooting an AK-47 sideways at the 8 meter range
Guy shooting Glock 21 sideways at 8 meter range
Guy shooting shotgun at 8 meter range
Guy shooting AK-47 at 8 meter range rapid fire
Me going to get the RO because the :banghead::banghead::banghead: kept hitting my targets
Needless to say his group of friends didn't leave easy, I thought there was going to be some serious problems.

Guy shooting .500 magnum revolver with one hand, double shots, gun drops, I dive, no fire on drop but still. I have no idea where that bullet went.

Weird thing was the RO walked over and just had a talk with him, dunno, if I saw a dude shoot one of those one handed, double shot, one bullet goes through the roof, the weapon drops... I'd tell him to have a nice day and take it on home.

 

[shotgunjoel]

I was shooting trap a couple months ago when this guy shoots a chunk out of the back of the house. The little concrete chips pretty much hit everybody. Seriously how do you shoot that low? He left pretty soon after without finishing the round.

 

[jackdanson]

Guy shooting shotgun at 8 meter range

Hey! I do that one, busting silhouettes at that range is fun! Practice for HD ranges!

 

[MIgunguy]

One female LEO trying for more than 3min to make the mag of a MP5 fit inside the... pistol grip..


Wow, that's bad.

There's LOTS of examples of bad gun handling in the above posts. Amazing there aren't more "accidental" shootings (negligent really is a more appropriate term).

The most disturbing thing I saw at a public range (where you see all the weirdos) was a guy shooting a full auto MP-5 at the 25 yard target board. I guess that normally wouldn't be so bad, except his choice of targets he taped to the board where stuffed animals. Bad childhood, maybe?

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

I did something that was really dumb and embarrasing.

I dont go all that often, but one gun range I go to has motorized target returns. The other is manual (ie, pull the cable.) well, I was at the motorized range, and out of habbit started pulling the cable to put out my target. It didnt work, I looked around all confused for a minute with grease all over my hands thinking how bad it was that not I not only got a lane with a broken target system, but the line is greased........ and then I saw the motor and control buttons.......I had to go ask for a paper towel......

They had to be laughing at me when I left, I was too.

 

[MIgunguy]

I thought of something really dumb that I did. Years ago, I had recently heard from the local gunsmith about how with the 1911, if the slide was locked back and a new magazine inserted, the way the gun was originally designed, it was better for the internal parts to pull the trigger then hit the slide release. Next time I went to the range I got into the groove of doing just that on each magazine change, I was impressed with how fast I could do it, it seemed almost instantaneous (insert new mag, pull trigger, release slide, fire seven rounds, repeat on next new magazine). Once I did it just a little too fast and had an "unexpected" discharge . Good thing that "always point gun downrange" rule was so well ingrained. Won't do that again, I'll deal with worn parts.

 

[TimboKhan]

Quote:
Your friend handed you a loaded gun and didn't tell you in advance? He's at fault at least as much as you are, Treo.

What's the first thing you do when someone hands you a weapon? I didn't, I was wrong

Treo, nice job admitting it, and you are right. People can debate the ethics of him handing you a loaded rifle until you are blue in the face, but in the end, it all comes down to the fact that you failed to check it. Luckily, you made a mistake, didn't get hurt and learned a lesson. I would bet any amount of money that you could name that a weapons check is a practice nearing religious fervor with you now!

 

[Yoda]

OK, my turn...

A buddy and I were the only two shooters at an outdoor range. I called the range "cold" and went downrange to change targets. His health is bad, so he stayed at the firing line while I changed his targets for him. While walking back, I saw him holding his rifle, looking at the action, with the gun pointed downrange right at me! I made a lateral move, then went up to the firing line to ask him what he's doing.

I said, "The range is cold! You're not supposed to be handling that gun while I'm downrange!"

He said, "I was just loading it."

More seriously (? OK, just as seriously), I was one of the instructors at a concealed carry class, and I was paired up with a young man whose mother was also taking the class. When we were all done with the prescribed course of fire, the lead instructor annouced that the range would stay open for a while in case anyone wanted to practice some more and finish up any open boxes of ammo.

I hung around to give pointers. After firing a shot or two from her revolver, the mother had an idea. She turned sideways to her son and said, "Josh, would you like to try my gun?" She had the muzzle of her loaded revolver pointed straight at her son's navel. I gently swept it away.

She instantly realized what had happened and turned dead white. When the course was "over," she had unconciously relaxed her safety awareness. She was so horrified about it that I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't pick up a gun again for a long, long time.

But really, the funniest (really funny) thing I ever saw was some nut who wanted to show me and a newbie I was instructing what he had "discovered." He said he had "figured out" how the gunslingers in the Old West had managed to draw and shoot from a holster so fast. The secret, he said, was to lift the gun out with the trigger finger already on the trigger. He said that as long as the old single action revolvers weren't cocked, it was perfectly safe, and it really speeded things up.

With no warning whatsoever, he demonstrated, drawing in our direction, which was also the same direction that swept the whole firing line...except his gun went off early and almost took his big toe off. Yes, it sure looked like he had a single-action revolver, and no, I don't have a clue about what actually happened, but my friend and I left immediately for another range.

- - - Yoda

 

[IndianaBoy]

I pay good money for membership at a range where unsafe crap doesn't go on. I encountered plenty of wannabe gang bangers with a fo-tee in their pants at the public range years ago. One of them once asked me where they could buy an AR like mine. Not wanting to encourage them, I told them I built it. That was enough to confuse them.

 

[Davek1977]

Your friend handed you a loaded gun and didn't tell you in advance? He's at fault at least as much as you are

I respectfully disagree....rule one, GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED, and should be treated as such until you VERIFY, not "been told" that its either loaded or unloaded. Whether at home, in a gun shop, at a buddy's house, range, etc....a gun that gets handed to me will instantly have the action opened and examined. Yes, his friend should have told him, but no, the friend wasn't equally at fault. While most of us have done something similiar to Treo at some point (and his admitting his mistake was admirable) gun safety IS NEVER "SOMEONE ELSE'S" responsibility, ESPECIALLY once that gun is in our immediate possession. It takes a moment to check a guns status, or to inadvertantly take a life. What one would you rather do? "But I thought it wasn't loaded" should NEVER be an excuse for a AD/ND, ESPECIALLY for somone the tiniest bit familiar with safety concepts. Gun safey isn't the responbsibility of our friends, our parents, our chioldren, our shooting buddies... gun safety is MY responsibility, once that gun is in MY hands. I hope I NEVER utter the words "but...I thought it was unloaded" because those are usually the first words spoken after something does terribly wrong.

 

[CTW]

I was at the indoor range I used to shoot at years ago and I saw some gang banger looking guys rent a glock 17 and come out on the firing line. They loaded the mags all the way up and would put the target out about 2 feet. They would then hold the pistol in the classic sideways manner and empty it as fast as they could pull the trigger, rounds going all over the place. After I observed this a couple times I packed it in for the day never to return to this range for allowing this crap.

 

[ar10]

I've seen so many stupid actions by shooters it's hard to pick the worst. I had one serious injury where boy friend was showing girl friend how to shoot a .45ACP. Girl friend shoot gun for first time and slide ejects and smack her in the head. Boy friend had a squib stuck in barrel and didn't check gun.

The most recent was a Class III brought a .45ACP full auto to the range. Guy had all his paperwork but was new to the range so I stood right behind him, (range was busier than hell that day), he fires two round and gun jambs, clears it, then fires 2 more and gun jambs. He turns around to show buddy and I tell him to keep gun down range. (this is typical of a new shooter). He has the gun down range holding it at waste, not aiming then pulls the trigger. Bamb, within about 2 seconds he dumps about 30 rounds all over the range. I pull his weapon and we escort both off the range with the invitation to never return.

 

[Deus Machina]

"Me. Learning where to put thumb when shooting a semi-automatic pistol. It hurt!"

Seen it. Younger man teaching an older to shoot, and the older guy could hardly hit paper at 3 or 5 yards despite the young guy repeatedly telling him how to line up the sights.

Old guy just couldn't listen, couldn't line up the sights, and was changing his grip with every shot, often after the gun moved out of it. THe last shot he took, his grip involved sticking his thumb straight up--behind the slide. Blam, slide shoves back, rams the guy's thumb back while opening one heck of a gash.

Young guy has to grab the gun to keep it downrange, while old guy is making noises I've only heard out of the mentally handicapped under distress. Think pack-a-day smoker going "huhrrrr!" repeatedly. Then ran out, with a heavy trail of blood.

The worst I've done was teasing my friend during the break-in of a 1911 with a bunch of minor problems. He'd shoot, and as soon as he got a jammed shot, I'd pop the cover of his target holder with my .22, making it wobble around. Dumb, I know, but we were goofing around.

Same trip, I "gangsta'd" my Ruger. And could actually shoot alright with it. Which proves it's the shooter.