Have you ever forgot your guns at the range

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Nope.

I'd submit that in this particular light, a gun is just like a baby. Leaving it unsupervised and/or forgetting it is grounds for serious consideration as to whether one is responsible enough for the care and handling of said gun/baby.

I'm sorry to be critical of those who admit to this lapse. But it is a very serious lapse on par with an ND, or leaving a baby in a hot car alone. In all cases, death can be a direct consequence.


-T.
 
I left several hundred dollars worth of ammo at the range, but all my guns came home with me! I went back later and the ammo was waiting for me.
 
I've done the "leave so-so" at home but NEVER at the range.. I double, triple check and even ask (if someone was with me) "do I have everything?"..
 
I'm sorry to be critical of those who admit to this lapse. But it is a very serious lapse on par with an ND, or leaving a baby in a hot car alone. In all cases, death can be a direct consequence.
Click to expand...

I suppose thats true to a degree, but a negligent discharge and forgetting a rifle at a range are two vastly different things. A negligent discharge is many times more likely to result in a death than forgetting a rifle or something is.
 
Have a friend in Australia where you must remove the bolt from a rifle before you travel with it. He got to the hunting area about 100 miles from his home and remembered that he had left the bolt to his rifle on his desk at home...Spent the whole week as the "camp rat" (chief cook and bottle washer)...
 
UPDATE

I got the call this morning and will be meeting the gentleman this evening to return his property. I won't be to judgemental as I am sure he is already feeling emberrassed by his forgetfulness. Maybe he is a member here.

My only near miss was when I was a Scout Master returning from a week long camp out. The parents were meeting us at a store parking lot to pick up their kids, we had 5 cars with 25 Scouts in them. One of the parent asked where "little Johnny" was, and he was no where to be found. The panic was just starting to set in when the little **** came walking out of the store with a hand full of candy. He got quite and ear full for breaking the Scout rules and I ate his candy. I was 100% sure my head count was right when we left but when he couldn't be found I began to have some doubts, 2 minutes of terrible thoughts about a lost kid I was responsible for suck.
 
Being severely ADD, I'm blessed to have never left a gun at the range. I have left a target on the carrier, however, and I apologized profusely to the range owner. I hate for people to have to clean up after me.
 
This fall, right before rifle hunting season opened, I arrived at a 100 yard bay way at the back of a range I frequent and found a lone cased rifle on one of the shooting benches. There wasn't a soul there but me.

So I just set up on the next bench over, so that anyone who didn't know it wasn't mine couldn't tell it wasn't mine. Sure enough, maybe half an hour later, a little turbo Subaru comes flying up the road in a in a cloud of dust, and a guy jumps out and jogs over. The relief on his face was easy to see, I had to grin at him. He said that he got 60 miles down the highway before he realized that the rifle wasn't with him, turned around and burned rubber to get back. The rifle had been sitting there unattended for probably almost 2 hours. He was pretty embarrassed, and a little sheepish, but grateful that his rifle hadn't disappeared.
 
UPDATE

I returned the guns to the owner ( after descriptions were correctly given ) and it turns out that he is one of the other range rats that has beaten me out of free range brass. Nice guy, he had 6 guns at the range that day and right before he left got into a discussion with another member for 10 minutes and then left without one of his gun cases. The range was at full capacity at the time so there were most likely many bags and cases in the outer room when he left, not a good reason but more understandable.
 
Just out of curiosity, what kind of guns did he leave? What shape were they in? If you have any friends with a Ruger Mark I/II or even III (I guess), there's a way of taking them apart and putting them back together where they don't work and they're hard to get back into working order! :D

Of course, I would never do anything like that...ever. Even so, it could be fun....
 
Oddly enough I took a picture, thought it would be a good idea to document incase more than one person made a claim.

Not the way I would keep them, a tad crowded for my tastes

Well kept otherwise, as far as I could see

LOSTGUNS.gif
 
No, but I did leave a case of Finnish Lapua 9mm in a parking lot once. It wasn't there when I went back. I left a nice pair of electronic hearing protection at the range last year but my shooting buddy picked them up for me after I left.
 
I've never forgotten anything at the range. Either that, or I never remembered it.
 
No, but I am so paranoid about it, that I do at least 2 sweeps after I clean up. And even after knowing everything is clear, I check the back of the truck again.
 
Nope, never have. I usually only bring 2 or 3 guns, simply because I like to spend some quality time with each, and I take my time when I shoot.

I have, however, forgotten the following at home, in my rush to get to the range:

- Ammo
- Shooting bag
- Targets
- At least one of the guns I wanted to bring

Only thing I've left at the range was a scope adjustment screw-thing cap, and that was after looking for it for a good 20 minutes. Never did find it.

donttellthewife - might be a good idea to take that image down. Someone who knows who you are might go to the range, see the note (and the above image) and then call you and request "their" firearms - as now they're able to identify them.
 
I haven't done this, but I know I must be extra careful, because (except for the professor part) I am definitely of the absent-minded professor pattern sometimes. Where are my keys? I just had 'em ... Where's my wallet? I *know* I left it right here, where I couldn't possibly forget it!

The last couple of times to the range, though (mostly because of ammo prices), I've settled on one gun to take and concentrate on at the range (or rather, one pistol for the pistol range, one rifle for the rifle range), and one for the pocket of my coat. I wasn't a Boy Scout, but I like their motto. Having only one along makes it harder to let one hide itself on the bench when the case gets packed up -- if my Cz (or whichever) isn't in the right place at closing-up time, it's pretty obvious.

timothy
 
I went to shoot sporting clays one time with my 16 GA. Anyway, I drive two hours to the site and realize I brought the ammo but left my gun at home. The place I shoot at rents shotguns in 12,20,28, and .410 but not 16 so I had to rent a gun and buy ammo, good thing I was a member and the prices were low. The first time I went to this club, I put my rented gun in the golf cart and when I got to the first station the gun was gone. the velcro to hold the guns in the cart was old and the shotgun fell out of the cart. I was so embaressed since i was trying to impress the head of the club.
 
This happened in 2005 in Laramie, Wyoming. This is part of the article from the local newspaper. If a normal person did this, we would have all kinds of crap to deal with.

Laramie Police Chief Bob Deutsch said yesterday he violated department policy by leaving his police-issued handgun in the restroom of a downtown restaurant last month. Deutsch said he mistakenly left the loaded gun — a .40-caliber Glock pistol — in the restroom of Jeffrey’s Bistro Nov. 29. He didn’t realize the weapon was missing until a police officer returned it to him later that day. “When I walked out of the restroom, I forgot it,” Deutsch said Wednesday. “There are no excuses. Personally, I think that’s a serious violation of policy.” Deutsch said he was eating lunch at the restaurant when he decided to use the restroom. He placed the gun on a countertop in the bathroom, leaving it inside its holster. A customer later found the gun and contacted a restaurant employee, who in turn called police. Officers traced the weapon back to Deutsch and returned it to him about 30 minutes after he left the restaurant. “The (police officer) came to my office, closed the door and handed it to me,” Deutsch said. “I was very embarrassed and apologetic. I immediately e-mailed the entire department, saying I made a mistake.”
 
Left my Glock in a lock box at work. Next day before roll call I got it out and no one knew.
 
wyocarp: I agree with the "all kinds of crap" comment, but

a) it probably depends on the place, and the "circle of trust" is probably broad enough in some places to encompass most folks known the the others involved.

b) you're *in* Laramie, and I won't presume to know anything more about it than gained passing through the place 5 or so years ago, but if the contrite behavior reported by the chief here is accurate, I find it hard to be too upset with him. I do hope that the Laramie police would at least bear this in mind when a non-cop, non-friend-of-cop has the same thing happen. People do sometimes forget things, even important things, and at least (according to the account you quoted) at least here he was pretty up-front about it.

timothy
 
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