Frustrating day at the range...

[Low-Sci]

My brother is a member of a gun club about 45 minutes from where we live. Has been for 2 years. He was allowed to bring guests, and he brought myself and my older brother as guests today.

Gun club president shows up, tells him there's no guests allowed. That's a new one on us, but fair enough, they can change the rules when they like. President say's we're fine for today, just be sure to clean up after. Now comes the aggravating part.

The gun club president starts telling us why they made the new rule. Because everything that you could possibly shoot at the range has been shot. The shelter, the skeet pits, the clubhouse door on a regular basis, the windows of the clubhouse, the lawnmower, the benches, everything. He showed us. And then he's got people who show up and shoot bow on rifle days, and vice versa. This guy didn't have to be angry, I was doing that for him.

It really, really bothered me to see this kind of behavior from other gun owners. I don't know what they could possibly have been thinking.

I'm done ranting now. Thoughts?

 

[d906670]

If all of that goes on there I would find a new club. I have changed because of stuff like that.

 

[XD Fan]

Related Experience

I have a friend that is a member of the shooting club located close to my home. I joined him at the club one day last spring. It was a great club with a variety of shooting opportunities. I saw a 25 yard range that was intended for .22s. It had the little steel sillouhettes (?sp) that are intended to be shot by a .22. I was disapointed to se they were padlocked in a down position. Apprently they had to replace them last year when someone shot them with a 30-06. What is up with people?

 

[donkee]

I happens at the club I belong to. Not as often now that we have cards to open the gate. They used to bash the locks with sledge hammers....

 

[OpFlash]

I fail to see how disallowing guests will have any effect on the problem. So long as sensible rules are in place like only a small number of guests allowed (1-3) and only if accompanied by a member. Any member that would allow his guests to misbehave is probably an offender himself.

 

[MisterPX]

My home range has a similar issue. The sad part is that it's a members only range.

 

[JohnKSa]

The money spent replacing equipment would be better spent on a professionally hidden camera setup or two.

 

[rbernie]

It really, really bothered me to see this kind of behavior from other gun owners. I don't know what they could possibly have been thinking.

There are morons in every demographic, and (like it or not) gun owners are no exception.

I figure that there is at least ten percept of the general population who I would not want to be around if loaded firearms were also present. And I'm probably being very generous in only classifying the percentage of mo-rons at only ten percent....

 

[Lupinus]

people like that burn me up. It is a club and you pay to be a part of it, being a moron and shooting the place up is uncalled for. It isn't called for when you are just renting some space there but it is even less aceptable when you are actually a member of the place.

 

[isa268]

i went to one of the local non-membership ranges around here one time, and noticed that the owner had a target carrier on the front counter. we got to talking and he tells me people come in and AIM AT THE TARGET CARRIERS its like a game to see if they can knock the carriers down. he said each carrier costs him $50-75 and hes going to start charging people for damaged carriers.

he's going to make a quick disconnect rig and hand you a new-non-shot-up carrier when you come in if you bring it back with no holes in it you will get some of your deposit back if there is one or two holes he might cut you some slack but if there are lots of holes or you knock it down he's going to charge you for it.

i can't believe people sometimes.

 

[nibb]

i think its even worst on paintball fields. Kids shoot anything from signs to lights. I suppose people love to shoot at things that arent suppose to be shoot at.

 

[Roadwild17]

Went to an indoor range once & noticed there were holes in the drop celling, I really dont think the roof was bullet-proof

 

[silverlance]

eh

i don't like shooting at indoor ranges. i go to outdoor ranges and bring my own targets. i paid about $300 for my target steel and one time when some jackass started shooting at my target FRAME I got real ticked off. I don't mind if people shoot my brinell500 steel, heck I don't even mind if they shoot my paper - as long as they ask me first. some clown on the line with an ak decided that everything downrange is fair game - and i called him on it. i walked over and said, "how's the shooting?" I then proceeded to explain to him that he had been shooting at my target and i'd appreciate it if he'd stop so I can actually sight my rifle in. told him that it was ok, people mad emistakes all the time..

i then saw him ND right in front of his foot with a load of birdshot.

 

[444]

That kind of behavior is typical.
You can see this type of thing exhibited right on this board. If you post a question about serious shooting, almost no one responds. But, if you post something about shooting junk, blowing up computer monitors, blasting junk cars............... the thread will be three pages long.

 

[AnthonyRSS]

There is nothing wrong with shooting junk, so long as you clean up the mess. Shooting facilities and club owned non-targets is bad. We have such things happen from time to time, but our people are pretty good about it.

Anthony