Has this ever happened to you?

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I saw this happen quite a bit a few years back at the indoor range I shoot at. Most times but not always by some smart--- that thought it cute to bewilder a new or inexperienced shooter. Haven't seen any of that lately under the new management. I've heard of it happening at outdoor rifle ranges where some fool actually shot at someone elses target by mistake but never seen it myself.
 
sure. i do it all the time. never knew it was bad practice. figured they are targets, and we are all here to shoot, so i just let 'em fly. maybe next time i'll ask before i shoot somebody else's targets.

ahh, i'm just kidding, and because of people like these is why i don't go to public ranges. access to your own farm is a good thing.
 
Shooting at other peoples targets on purpose would be very rude. :scrutiny:

At one of my CCW renewal classes here in Texas, I saw a class member shooting at the wrong target! I'm assuming that he didn't do it on purpose.

James
 
Had this happen at a range in California that had a dedicated 40 yard tin-can set up. I'm plinking away when a couple of yahoos with an SA SOCOM and a few twenty-round magazines (probably the byproduct of a clandestine trip to Reno) sidle on up to the firing line. Anyway, there is a BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM, and one of my cans falls over. After the fulsillade ended, I told them politely that if they were going to be shooting my cans, I was going to be shooting their rifle.

And that's how I got to plink with a SOCOM.
 
I wouldn't be 'polite'. I'd insult them with the intention of angering them to the max. By the time I'm done, they'll have a resentment that will last into the middle of next month.
 
Go collect the pumpkin pieces and throw it into the front seat of their car/s with as much of the pumpkin guts as possible
 
I shot the wrong target at the 100 yard rifle range before. Luckily, no one one was took the lane beside me, so no one noticed. :eek:
 
sometimes i do it when i feel sorry for the poor marksmanship of the other shooter. everyone should have at least one nice group on their paper, right?
 
It can happen when you get tunnel vision looking through a scope... always pays to have a shooting buddy watching your work when you are sighting in...

"dagnab it where'd that last round go? I swear I was tight on that :cuss: target! I had me a :cuss: half inch five shot group working!

Rob! Take a look at the target NEXT to it.

"Oops."

--------

But actually shooting up someone else's targets on purpose? Heck no.
 
I was at an indoor range, and a city cop who _really_ needed practice to qualify was shooting in the lane over. There's a BIG difference between 9mm and .45 ACP. Sad thing is that it wasn't done on purpose.

I've also been at benchrest matches where folks will plink at other folks' sighter targets. It's _really_ interesting if you can get 15-20 people to open up on one victim's sighter right after "commence fire." Then there are the people who get things like hats or t-shirts shot... Usually the match director will get on the PA - "There's a bright orange thing that someone left hanging from the bottom of target frame 33 - We think it belongs to Fred. Don't nobody shoot it, okay? Commence fire!"
 
mistaken identity

When I first read your complaint, I thought, I know this guy! My brother shot his target at the public range this Sunday. However, CA is not PA.

The offended shooter, had placed up targets on the 100, 50, 25, and 10 yd. ranges during the cease fire. No-one paid attention much; we were all placing up ours too. Then he went with his kids to the 50 yd. range and shot there. This guy had his littlest jump up right in front of his loaded muzzle, and what appeared to be his oldest boy waving the two inch barrel pistol towards the woman shooter to the left of them! I don't think she even saw this.

My poor brother had asked all the shooters at the 10 yd. pistol range if the targets directly in front of him belonged to anyone, and was assured that no, they were left there by someone.

This irate shooter would then go up and down the range berating all the unfortunate schmoes who had "the nerve" to shoot his targets.

It is aggravating to have your target deliberately shot at, but then, there are some "sportsmen" who need more than their sights adjusted.
 
It has happened around me at the long range rifle courses. Never at an indoor pistol range. Ouch!

I personally did it once years ago using irons at 200 yds for my first shots on a friend's bench. It was a communication error as I sat in to the bench on my friends rifle. Fortunetly, it was my target to the right anyway. Very embarassing... you learn from those incidents!

Did anyone watch the final sessions of the rifle matches from last year's Olympics? US lost a Gold because shooter shot at wrong target.

It happens...
 
I am convinced that when a firearm enters into the hands of certain individuals, that their higher brain functions are somehow overridden.

The cause of this I do not know. :rolleyes:
 
"The day I out-shot a 'scoped .270 hunting rifle with my .22 pistol", by.....ME!

This happened several years ago, at a somewhat remote spot in the Mojave Desert that TOO many recreational shooters knew about.

A perfect back-stop for shooting just about anything, for it was a huge volcanic hill, and the target area was at least 100 yards wide. You could set up targets of your choice and, depending upon how far up the hillside you wanted to climb, could safely shoot all the way out to 150 yards distance.
I was out there with 4 of my shooting buddies, enjoying the weather, clean air and the shooting.

A pick-up truck with 3 strangers pulled up to our spot, and politely asked if they could share it for some target practise. No problem, for the area was big enough to have at least a dozen shooters lined up. While the strangers set up their target stands, all of us took a break. When the strangers were finished, they signalled that they were about to start shooting. STILL, no problem! At least they seemed to know general safety procedures!

Okay, so one of the strangers broke out a 'scoped .270 bolt-action hunting rifle, and one of his friends was "calling" his shots as he aimed at one of their paper targets. While the .270 shooter was shooting, I made myself a snack and relaxed, without giving much attention to the strangers. They were doing "okay", as far as I knew, until...

The .270 shooter must have gotten "bored" with trying to punch holes through HIS paper targets, for one of my shooting buddies yelled over to me, "Hey, he's shooting at YOUR steel plate target!"
It was a piece of 1/2" mild steel plating, about 6"x8" in size, painted white, and I had told all of my buddies that it was to only be used for .22's and handguns....not center-fire rifles. Add to that, it had been set up on the hillside to the LEFT of the entire width of the shooting area! The strangers were to our far RIGHT, so the .270 shooter was aiming at a diagonal angle across the "open" shooting area! That was MY target, not THEIRS!

I started toward the strangers, but one of my buddies held me back and said, "Hey, let him go ahead and shoot at it! You can always get another steel plate!" I paused, realizing how angry I was, and felt that I might do something STOOPID if I approached those idiots. Yes, I backed down, but cursed under my breath.

The .270 shooter went through 20 rounds of ammo, with his buddy still calling for him. The spotter kept on saying "high, to the left", "low, to the right", etc. 20 rounds, and NO hits! The .270 shooter placed his rifle down, stepped over to their truck, and it looked like he was fetching some more ammo. While he was doing that, I broke out my trusty S&W model 41 .22 target pistol, inserted a loaded mag, and squeezed off 10 rounds.
There were 10 distinctive "dink" sounds from the bullets striking MY steel plate, and I quickly reloaded with another 10-round mag. 10 more "dinks" could be heard, followed by an almost dead silence.

The silence was broken when the "caller" yelled over to the .270 rifle shooter with, "Hey, what's wrong with your rifle? That guy is hitting that target with a .22 pistol!" At that point, I turned to see what the .270 shooter was doing. He went back to where his rifle had been placed, picked it up, and carried it back to their truck. He then put his rifle in a rifle bag! The strangers picked up all of their tables and chairs, and drove off about 5 minutes later.

The distance between where the .270 shooter was, from MY steel plate, turned out to be about 120 yards. I laser-measured the distance from my shooting spot to the steel plate....90 yards. Of course, his RIFLE, with the scope, was WELL within a reasonable distance of being accurate....but it WASN'T!. My pistol was fired with IRON sights, and at a measured 90 yards, was worthy of being called some "fine" shooting, at least in MY opinion!

After that incident, I swore that I would NEVER back down from at least TELLING another shooter that "range etiquette" was to be adhered to, including "shoot your OWN targets, not MINE"!

(By the way, that steel plate is STILL in use! It has quite a few minor dents in it, from .22 rounds and center-fire pistol rounds, but NO holes in it!
A fresh coating of white paint is done before it is set up every time. It probably COULD last forever!
 
If my husband is getting an excellent grouping and I'm having an "off" day, I like to mess with his target a little. :evil: (This only works if we are in adjacent lanes.) :what:
 
When shooting Highpower it's easy to shoot at someone else's target. I did that once and really screwed up a guys scoring. Basically because I suck :rolleyes: and placed a shot on his 6 ring. All his shots were 8 ring or better. I didn't realize I had shot his target until the count came in and I had 19 hits and he had 21. I had to apologize and he was fine with it saying it happens to everyone sooner or later. I know what he was thinking though, mostly sooner for newbies like myself.

I wouldn't shoot someone elses target when plinking unless they offer. Pretty rude.
 
cant say i have ever done it on porpuse or had anyone do it on purpose but if it happens by accident the nit happens like in cameran texas there is a little gun range at arrons it is indoors and poorly lit i hit the spining target next to me instead of my own but on purpose is another thing
 
this actually happened to me a couple of months ago at the PPC at the range. i was scoring my target and noticed that besides the expected number of distinct .40 cal holes there were 6 extra holes clearly made by a different caliber. i asked the people shooting next to me if they were missing 6 hits but nobody fessed up. :)
 
know your target, and what is beyond...

Is there anything ambiguous about that? No.

Shoot at someone elses's target - another lane by carelessness?
Stern warning if it happens again, you're leaving.

Deliberately - cease fire, and the offender should be gone, no warning.
Of course, YMMV at an 'open' range with no RSO. But do that nonsense at a range and get caught, you should expect to be tossed.
 
Unfortunately, this is all too common with NRA Conventional Pistol competition--especially at the larger ranges, and MOST especially at the Nationals, at Camp Perry, OH. The targets are VERY close together--separated by about 1 foot, and there are about 50-60 people in each firing group, with at least three to four groups per relay. You are almost literally standing shoulder to shoulder.

We actually have a saying: "There are two types of pistol competitors in Bullseye shooting--those who have crossfired, and those who will." For this reason, it pays to take special care to ensure that you are on your own target.

My most memorable incident occured at Camp Perry 2001. I was riding neck-and-neck with the person who eventually won the Police/Service (Marksman) category.

I was shooting the .45 match, and preparing for a timed fire string. I was pumped, psyched, whatever. I was READY to clean the target.

On the load command, I inserted a magazine with my first five rounds, and loaded a round into the chamber. I had already found a perfect stance, and my NPOA was dead on. I raised the pistol during the preparatory commands, and as the last command was given--"READY ON THE FIRING LINE"--I let the pistol settle so that the Ultra-Dot sight was dead centered on the X, at 25 yards.

For once, the pistol seemed to LOCK onto the center of the target, as viewed from the edge. All was in perfect order.

The targets faced, and the dot was perfectly placed. I rolled the trigger 5 times; each time the pistol fired; my grip was so well placed that the gun recoiled straight back and settled back into perfect alignment, right in time for the sear to break once more.

I didn't NEED a spotting scope--I SAW a large bughole where the X had been completely eaten out! We fired out second, five-shot string, and it was a repeat of the first--I simply aimed at the hole in the center of the target! I rejoiced, and secured my pistol in the box with a flourish--I had fired my first clean target with the 1911 pistol! At the Nationals, no less!

The line was declared clear, and I went down range with a song in my heart to score my neighbor's target. As I approached, I looked at my target--and stopped dead in my tracks.

There was my target--COMPLETELY CLEAN! NO HOLES!!!:eek:

There was my neighbor's target--with three holes in the 9 ring--2 in the 10--and the X completely gone.

I had just fired the best score of my LIFE in timed fire--on my neighbor's target. :banghead: :banghead: :eek:

Well, he got a 97-7X for that target.

I got a big fat goose egg. It was enough to bump me to third, overall.

(But I STILL won the .45 Rapid Fire match!!!;) :D )
 
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