Jerk at range today.

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BamBam-31

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Okay, so I'm shooting my 8mm Egyptian FN49 today, when an older gent people call "Sarge" comes up to me while I'm shooting and says, "Excuse me, but do you know where you're hot brass is flying?"

The cases from my FN49 usually eject approximately 2:00 and pose no problems, but this time they bounced off a nearby pole and riccocheted over to his bench. "I'm sorry, would you like me to get a screen?" Our range provides courtesy cardboards stands for this very problem.

"I don't give a damn what you do. Don't you know you're dangerous?! There was this guy once whose hot brass went down the shirt of the guy next to him. That guy then turned towards the first guy and accidently shot him with his rifle!" While he's saying this, he's pretending to repeatedly bayonet me with an imaginary rifle, and he's standing all of about two feet away from me.

He had just arrived and couldn't put his target out yet, so he sat back down on one of the benches behind the firing line to wait. "Mind if I shoot the last three rounds first, since you haven't start shooting yet?" I asked.

"I don't care what you do. You're dangerous." Okay....:rolleyes:

So I fire off the last three rounds, and before I can sneak a peek through my spotting scope, my buddy (who's shooting on the other side of me) brings me a screen. Cool. Must have overheard the Sarge. How could you not? The guy doesn't speak so much as he lectures loudly.

So I set up the screen and continue shooting. After the next break, the Sarge comes up to me and says, "Oh, and here's more bad news for you: Your rifle's illegal. No one here gives a **** what you shoot, but your rifle's illegal. It's got a bayonet lug."

"Uh, no, it's an FN49. It's a curio."

"It sure as hell is illegal! You have an illegal rifle! Did you buy it before 2000?! Then it's illegal! You can write to the DOJ, and they'll tell you it's illegal. I saw it in Shotgun news. It said 'No sales to CA,' so that means illegal!"

"No, that's a .308 Argentin--"

"Wanna bet?! HOW MUCH YOU WANNA BET?! Your rifle's illegal!"

Okay.... :rolleyes:

Click ignore button. Commence shooting. Enough with the FN49, out comes the LE No. 4 Mk. II. Trying to enjoy myself.....then, "Oh, an Enfield. Not illegal, like the other one."

:banghead: :cuss: :fire:

"It's not illegal."

"Sure it is!" He goes on to loudly rant about how he's not anti-gun, how gun control laws are silly, how our CA Senators are evil and don't trust us with guns, etc., all while pointing and wagging his finger about four inches from my face. "See, so your rifle's illegal." Yeah.

By now, my buddy's had his fill, and the guy on the other side of him is simply shaking his head. Buddy's gonna say something, but takes patient cue from me. "Okay, you're right. Uh huh. Yeah. Right." I nod, feigning acquiescence to get this guy outta my face. Don't want to get into a louder-is-righter debate. The whole "Never argue with a fool" thing.

Click IGNORE! Continue shooting. During break, I check my target at 100 yds. Voice from hell: "So how's that British Enfield shooting? Hitting your target?"

"Yup." I quickly turn back to the benches to avoid saying anything smart.

Fortunately, the Sarge leaves soon after that. Appears the company wasn't friendly enough for him. I wave goodbye as he drives away.

Unfortunately, some doofuses down at the other end of the range decide it's a good idea to shoot at my steel pistol target with their .223 rifle. Paint spatters to the right of the divots in my steel plate, so shots are coming from the left. Only three benches shooting rifles to my left, and I know immediately which one it is. They deny doing it, of course, but at least they stop. They keep looking over their shoulders as they walk to their car. One divot per doofus.

[Lawdog] *sigh* [/Lawdog] Man, was I a magnet for headaches today....
:banghead:
 
Perfectly good day at the range ruined by a Kudzu Kommando (he was probably in SEAL Team 99) with diarrhea of the mouth.

Well, take heart, a bad day shooting is better than a good day at work...
 
sounds like a guy name skip at the range i was at yesterday, The retired ARMY Printer- Commando know it all who shots only at 25yard and needs a HI POWERED SPOTTERS SCOPE to see if he hits MAN SIZE target.
 
Myself and some friends at the range had a visit from someone like that. A friend of mine was sighting in his AR-15, myself and some others were plinking with 22s. This fella goes over and starts lecturing my friend about this and that. "No you are doing that all wrong", etc for upwards of 20 minutes while we try to politely give him the cold shoulder. Then he gives us a new humorous anecdote that has entered our catchphrase lexicon from that day forward.

"How about you hold that rifle and I work your knob for ya"

Talking about adjusting the windage and elevation dials on his scope of course. It was so hard to keep from laughing out loud right then and there and luckily he left soon after that. He didnt ever shoot though, just making observations and offers of knob-working.
 
You did real good there guy. I can't stand people who are concerned about the legality of other peoples guns. Where was the R.O. when this was going on? Any R.O. worth his salt would have told the moron to go play some where else.
 
Wow I never really understood what you people were talking about when referring to "mall ninjas" before, but now I see what you mean!!! What a bunch of idiots! As much as I like to be calm I really think I would have told off that sarge guy just for the fact it MIGHT stop him from pulling such nonsense on someone else in the future.

I think the weird part is I live in one of the most anti-gun states you can find and after YEARS of going to ranges I can't say that I've EVER ran into someone like that. Most of the time the people at the ranges I go to are so cool we'll spend more time shootin the bull than shooting the targets!
 
wow i thought A-holes like that only came from Ohio, michigan, new york city, and massachusetts. you kept your cool you did good. remember never argue with a moron.
 
There seem to be a lot of those fake "sergeants" running around in cammies (usually USMC marked) and yelling like they are on "Mail Call". I doubt if any of them were ever in any country's armed forces except maybe the Kingdom of Id. Pin them down and you will find draft dodgers and Marine "wannabes" who couldn't run fast enough if they ever were shot at.

Jim
 
I guess I'm pretty lucky when I go to my club during the week. Sometimes, I'm the only one there. We have separate ranges for pistol, high-powered rifle and rimfire and the chances of anyone being there in early morning is pretty slim. One morning last April, I was at the pistol range all by myself for over three hours before anyone else showed. up.

I don't recall encountering anyone like that at our club. The people I have talked to are friendly and will take time out from their shooting while I post targets and on occasion, people will just put their guns down and BS for an hour or so sort of like a big coffee break. Sort of talking with your neighbor instead of getting the lawn mowed!!

:D
 
First and foremost, "work your knob for ya," man, that's classic! :D

The range I go to is San Gabriel Valley Gun Club. It's a great place to shoot, range employees are friendly and professional, and a vast majority of the customers are friendly and courteous. The Sarge (and doofuses) were unfortunate exceptions to the rule, and of course they come in threes.

My buddy and I go there practically every weekend, so we're getting to know many of the other regulars at the range. Friendly chit-chat is half the fun. The Sarge is a regular, too, so I'm just gonna look out for him from now on and set up as far away as possible.

I spoke to the RO about him. Apparently, he was a real sergeant in the Army. Served in Korea. RO said something about him never making it past staff sergeant despite a long service. I'm guessing that implies some degree of incompetence. Dunno. Turns out, the Sarge is a dealer,too. Sells guns n' suff as far away as Nevada. A dealer. Hmm.

Anyways, bad day at the range is still a good day overall, no doubt. Thanks for letting me rant.
 
wow i thought A-holes like that only came from Ohio, michigan, new york city, and massachusetts.
Click to expand...

Nope, we got sick of them and deported them to other states. :neener:
 
Several years back, I decided to go shoot at one of my gun club's ranges (every member has a key to the grounds). I drove up, noted that the gate was already open but that there were no signs indicating a High-Power rifle match (which would usually shut down all of the ranges). Anyway, as I drove in, I noted that the sign indicating "range closed" was pulled down on the 100yd range. No problem. That year, Federal had constructed a handgun caliber "plinker range" for us. It was maybe 7 yards wide by 15 yards long, was built into the side of a huge hill, and had large cinderblock walls running from the firing points right into the hill. There were steel baffles on the roof to prevent rounds from leaving the range. Rules were that you could shoot whatever target you wanted (clays, waterjugs etc.) as long as you cleaned up after yourself. The range was fairly new, and no one had put in a sign you could use to indicate "range closed".

So, I start shooting one of my handguns. About 15 minutes later, this horses @$$ comes up and starts yelling at me. Apparently there was going to be an archery match using the entire club grounds the next day. They were in the process of setting up various targets (deer decoys etc.). He yells at me telling me that I could have killed someone who was setting up and I should have known the entire club was closed because "it was in the newsletter!" I replied that if someone had gotten hurt, it would have been his fault for not posting a sign either at the entrance or at the range in question. Plus, unless someone decided to walk into the area I was shooting to set up a target, an accident was no more likely than any other shooting day at the range. He was apparently the archery governor for the club. I decided to leave, but did not renew my membership.

He struck me as being one of those lifelong-losers who goes nuts when he gets a little power.

No offers to operate my knob, though.:D
 
"How about you hold that rifle and I work your knob for ya"
Click to expand...

ROFL!!!! Maybe that's really what he was after. He hangs around ranges waiting for big burly guys with guns so he can "work their knob." I'd be heading in the other direction by that point.
 
KLR, years ago, I had the same thing happen to me!:uhoh: Ummm, gee, not everyone reads your newsletter.

The club now has, courtesy of ME, large neon orange signs that say "RANGE CLOSED--NO SHOOTING" in black lettering that they post at the front gate (hanging from the signage) and in the parking lot when they close it for range work days.:D
 
Appears (Sarge) is a future "road-rage" candidate. I would NEVER yell, insult or belittle someone holding a loaded gun. Some have...they are in the the ground with a slab of granite over there head. You handled that situation very well. But, keep an eye peeled for him again.
 
El Tejon-

Rather than become part of the solution, I just moved to the midwest! :D

Actually, I probably would still be a member if I hadn't left NH for the exciting world of federal LE. Boy do I miss not needing a purchase permit to buy a handgun. I cringe every time I go to the Police department to get their permission to buy.
 
Send him to the range i belong to. The RO is a vetern of the IA Drang valley (as in "We Were Soldiers". And yes he can back up his claim). Richard will know how to handle him.
 
Some years ago I was a member of a gun club up in the People's Republic of Minnesota. The club treasurer (later implicated in shady dealings, but that's another story) was one of those small people in positions of minor authority that liked to throw his weight around. I figure during his working life, he was probably at the bottom of the heap and was always being ordered around, so as a club officer, HE got to give the orders, and thought that when he said "jump" the only proper response was "how high?"

Well, anyway, one day my buddy and I - both club members - are taking an extended lunch to get in a little practice. We're the only ones on the whole range, so we put up the red flags (per range rules) and commenced firing. BUT - we put up about 3 targets each. Now, these three targets are only a couple of feet apart on a 100 yard range, so we're not cross shooting in a manner that would send bullets zinging around out of control.

All of a sudden a voice says "You guys should't be cross shooting like that - IT'S DANGEROUS!" And he proceeded to deliver a lecture about club rules. At increased volume. Right in my shooting buddy's face.

My buddy was getting ticked, so I interjected, "Who the %$#! are you?"

Taken aback, he says "I'm -------------, the club treasurer! You know who I am!"

I came back "I'm afraid I don't believe you. Any club officer would follow the range rules that require club members on the property to wear their club ID clipped to their shirt, and I don't see yours. I'll have to ask you to leave - in fact, if you don't leave, I'll follow the club rules, call the sheriff, and have them forcibly remove you."

Fuming and cussing to himself, face a lovely shade of purple, muttering "All I do for this club and I get no respect" (so help me for all the world just like Rodney Dangerfield!) he turned on his heel and stalked off. :D
 
This is why I have been reluctant to join a Gun Club. It doesnt mater what organization it is there is always the people who run it and the people who think they run it. I can imagine getting harassed for not mowing the ranges. not, not, not,
 
I'd have handed him my cell phone and said "473-0166. That's the ATF's local office ... go ahead and give 'em a call. If they agree my rifle's illegal then tell them to come and arrest me, if its not then you go away."


If you're wondering how come I know the number to the ATF's local office, its because I had a similar experience with a postban AR-15. Some yahoo trying to tell me that AR15s where made illegal by the AWB. So I got their number and wrote it down and stuck it in my range bag just in case I run in to another one of these yahoos.
 
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