Just a Story...it happened!!

[northwolf]

When I was a range master in 1978 north of TORONTO, Ontario, Canada, I had the following experiences!
On a Saturday in late summer a guy approached me with his 12 Year Son and his wife!
He wanted to sight in his rifle at 200 Yards. HE said he tried 4 rounds and got nowhere! I asked him about the cartridge, it was a 458 Win Mag!! After me questioning what he want to shoot, he said he got to shoot a Gris in Alaska!
After some conversation, he showed me his shoulder!! BLACK from the impact!!
He looked like a LINEBACKER, about 6,2 280 pounds.
I took the rifle to the 200 Yard Range and sighted in his Rifle (a Mod 70 Win) with 9 rounds! HE asked me to show my shoulder and I had NO bruise! At that time I was 5,10 about 180 lb. I got him a PAST recoil pad from my truck and showed him how to shoot the "Beast" (as he called it). He had developed a severe case of "flinchitis". He fired the remainder of the bullets for practise and I shot one of the new box to make sure the 0 was still on!
It shows, that it doesn't matter what size you are, as long as you know HOW to shoot a weapon!!
BUT it also shows the GREAT character of the guy, who, in front of his son and wife, was not afraid to ASK FOR HELP, when he knew that he was over his head! I still take my hat off!!

Happy New Year and may you always shoot straight!

 

[theken206]

kinda like we say in the fight game I guess "its not how HARD you hit, its how WELL"

 

[Macmac]

I tip the scale at 150 in winter. Summers I go down to 145. I more or less snug up a gun like that, and roll with it. Would you suppose that shooter was holding the gun off his shoulder?

I am schooled in the theory of the basket vs the might oak. Sometimes the basket wins...

 

[northwolf]

He was holding it STRAIGHT to his shoulder and hanging on for dear life. I showed him how to put it across his chest, so he could twist away with the recoil. Simple as that!

 

[lencac]

Great story Here's one. I had a 458 Lott sometime ago. Shooting at the range one day sighting it in (you could only shoot a couple of rounds off the bench before you were dazed and seeing stars) I loaded 500 gr FMJ RN that chronoed at 2400 fps. It was a Interarms Mauser 98 weighed about 8 lbs. So I took a couple of shots. A guy on the bench next to me asked "what in the hell is that?" So I showed him the rifle and the round. He was impressed to say the least. So he asked "can I try it?" And being the nice guy I am I said "OK" He set up on his bench with me standing immediately behind him. He pulled the trigger and it KNOCKED HIM OUT !!!! But only for a second. I had to grab him and the rifle cause they were both heading to the ground. He didn't even know the rifle went off. Result of improper shooting technique and a glass jaw The ironic part is it was a damn good shot. Closer to the bull than I was getting

Ok, here's one more. This one still tears me up when I think about it A few months ago, you know when the "hunters" come out to "sight-in" their cannons. I'll be honest. Hunters scare me Most really shouldn't have guns. Well I was set up at a 100 yrds. trying to make 'em go through the same hole. So here comes these 2 guys (hunters) they set up 2 benches down to my left. We called a ceasefire to hang targets. The range sells targets for a quarter so pretty much most everybody uses the same targets. We get 'em all hung and come back to the firing line. So these 2 guys get right down to business right away. I'm taking my time. As it turns out the second guy was there only to spot for the guy with the 300 Win Mag. So he takes a shot. His spotter says "I don't see it" So he takes another shot, same thing the spotter says "I don't see it" So I take a look in my spotting scope and see 2 holes in MY target almost a foot apart. So I think to myself "should I tell 'em ............ nah" So next time he shoots I shoot his target. Now his spotter says " ah, good shot, 2 inches high 12 0'clock" So I repeated this for 4 more shots and each time his spotter says 'nice shot, almost the same hole" but my target has 5 holes all over the place. After the 5th shot the shooter says "looks good I'll leave 'er right there" So they packed up and left

 

[Wes Janson]

I have to agree with you lencac about certain hunters out there...

A week or two back I was at work, when a shooter came up to me and asked for help zeroing his Remington BDL in 30.06. According to him, he'd been having a tough time trying to get things right on, and then his shots were starting to go really wild.

So I sit down behind the rifle, which is naturally in a most difficult position for a shooter of the southpaw persuasion, squint through my non-dominant eye, and proceed to pop off a round at 50 yards to see just how badly off the scope is. Punches a hole through the 10 ring, right at 10 o'clock. Hmmm, thinks I. So I run the target out to 100 yards, and fire off a second shot while peering skeptically through the rather dim and dirty glass. Windage was precisely the same, elevation was an inch below the first shot, placing it at 8 o'clock on the edge of the 10 ring.

At that point I took a look at the shooter's target, which was a 3' x 2' target he had hung at 50 yards, which was riddled with holes everywhere but the bullseye, and told him the rifle was zeroed just fine. How one can flinch so badly as to miss a poster-sized piece of paper when shooting off of a bipod at rock-chucking distance, I cannot fathom.

"So does that mean that it's my fault?"

"Well sir, it's theoretically possible that your ammunition was horribly faulty, but I'm going to suggest that you might need to practice just a wee bit more. Have a nice day."

 

[Mauserguy]

You can meet some really nice people at the rifle range. Sometimes they don't know how to shoot, but for the most part shooters are good folk. If somebody asks me for help, I am generally happy to assist, after all, helping others is more fun than just punching paper by yourself.
Mauserguy

 

[lencac]

Wes good story. Can't imagine how many times that senario plays out daily. I feel sorry for the places that employ range officers.
Mauserguy, I agree. By and large the vast majority of folks I meet at the range are enjoyable regardless of their shooting abilities. But at the same time when you got 2 sets of eyes shooting at one target and are 20 ft off at 100yrds., they don't need help...... they are morons and just need to leave ..... THEY ARE DANGEROUS These are the guys that don't know what's even behind their target nor are they checking. These are the guys who "accidently" shoot another hunter 300 yrds. away and not even know it. :banghead:

 

[gcrookston]

great story. I always scratch my head at posts about "how to reduce the recoil of an AR", or "butt pad for a mosin"... Elimental techniques, like how to shoulder a weapon, go a long way in making the shooting sports fun. I have a 338 Lapua I've brought to a few sessions with some friends. No one will shoot it. It hasn't bruised me yet.

 

[Avenger]

My dad has an air rifle that almost scares me every time I shoot it. The spring is just incredibly powerful, it has more felt recoil than any shotgun or rifle I've ever fired. The funny thing is that Dad poo-poo'd us everytime we told him how hard this thing was kicking, until we got the camera out. I weigh 260ish, and it was pushing me back a good 6 inches,, and believe me I had that puppy snugged in good. Even a 3 1/2 slug in a 12 doesn't move me that much.

 

[northwolf]

Soundshooters.

LENCAC You are so right!
I'm afraid of the "hunters" from the big city, who come out hunting, never practised on the range, have usually a BAR in 300Mag or a 742 Rem and shoot at every sound in the bush. They usually have no regard for private property or hunting etiquette. They put on aftershave in the morning that you can smell 1 mile away and they wonder, that ALL the animals are long gone.....shesh.. I had to get THAT of off my chest....LOL

I have my hunting buddies and we look out for each other and are in places the "City Folk" don't, won't or couldn't go...LOL

I didn't get a moose this year, but a buddy went caribou hunting in Quebec and got his two, so I got some meat!

 

[daniel (australia)]

Lencac I think you did the wrong thing. You obviously let your prejudices overcome common sense. Who knows why that hunter's groups were bad? Sure, it could have been a lack of skill, but equally it could have been a dud scope, loose mounts or any one of a number of factors. Rather than offering to help, or at least saying "hey mate, I think you're hitting my target" you fooled the guy into thinking his rifle was grouping well and zeroed. He's now going to go out hunting with a rifle shooting several feet from the mark, a recipe for accidents, wounded game and at the very least unnecessary frustration.

I'd be ashamed to have done that.

 

[lencac]

Daniel those are all good points and I considered letting them in on their indiscretion but in light of everything I saw to that point I decided .... nah.
Myself and those 2 were the only ones on the range. He could have set up many benches away but he didn't. When they came in I said hello ... they said nothing to me. When they wanted to hang targets they didn't ask me if I wanted to... they just said we're going down range to hang targets. So in light of their range manners I decided ....... nah. So perhaps I should be but I'm not ..... these were good 'ole boys that between them probably had a collective IQ of my shoe size. Probably HS drop outs that never graduated. So if you want to chastize me do it for making a judgement about the cut of their jib, but these cats shouldn't have guns.

 

[CK]

Does this range still exist North of Toronto? I would love to go there when I am back.

 

[MechAg94]

It was still a funny story lencac.

It is also good to remember that most of these people are not stupid, some are probably pretty smart. They just don't think or choose not to. Sounds like they were not polite or courteous either.

 

[northwolf]

Range North of Toronto

It was the "SHARON GUN CLUB". I don't know if it's still up. I'm living now about 750 Km north of it.
The owner had died and to help his wife, some of us toke care of the range. That was almost 30 years ago. After I left, I know that some members bought out the lady and kept it as a going concern.

It had Trapp, Pistol and up to 200 yard Rifle ranges.

 

[oregonhunter]

I was the range with my grandfather about a year or so ago, their was a guy shooting his 300 winny, He thought it was the biggest and baddest thing around. At the time I was shooting my pre-64 m70 fetherweight '06 ( love the way this thing shoots) The guy who looks like he just got out of the office, asked If I wanted to shoot his "300 magnum". He told me "But It does kick I mean its a serious gun." I said nah I'm good. Sitting next to me was my grandpa's 338 lapua improved

 

[ken grant]

A few years ago, a friend and I was running the range at a Boy Scout Camp for Open House.
Early that day before anyone arrived, we set up the targets and was waiting for the opening time.
My friend brought a Win. M52 Target rifle that I had owned years before, so I asked to shoot it. I got into prone with sling and put 5 rds. on a target and had one small hole in the center of the bull.
About that time people started arriving so I left the target hanging.
Before lunch we had a family show up. Dad,Mom and two sons. The Dad was a know-it-all and didn't want us to help the boys. He was bragging about what a good shot he was.
They went to the far end of the line and started shooting. the Dad first to show the boys how to do it. He wasn't a good shot!!!!!
I asked the Mom if she would like to try it and she didn't much want to as she had never shot before but she said she would try it so I let her shoot a 5 rd. mag.
We called the line cold and everyone went down to get their targets. I told the Mom I would get her target. I brought back mine and gave it to her.

The Dad didn't have much to say anymore and stalked off, seemed as if he was mad because she outshot him badly.

 

[Avenger]

Ken, thank you. That made my day...

 

[paintballdude902]

ken poor bsa shooting ranges lol

that was the first place i fired a gun

we were all shooting one day working on out merit badge and a doe ran out so they called a seize fire and one kid hops the line to teh shooting area (a fence seperated the shooting area and the waiting area) grabs a loaded rifle off of a bench and takes a few shots at the doe thank fully he missed


another time i was helping out becasue i didnt have anyhting else to do and some kid had a failure to fire so he stands up points the gun at the scout master that was in charge and goes "it didnt fire" so we all hit the deck and some kids dad ripped the rifle from the kids hand and pointed it down range and then the kid was told to "get the $!@$ out of my range and dont come back until you learn how to not be an idiot"

 

[lencac]

I like that one Ken

 

[The Annoyed Man]

I have to say that I am a little disappointed...

All the hunters I know are fine shots. A couple of them live in the big city (Dallas), and both are perfectly comfortable in the wild. This just reminds me to stay away from any shooting ranges where the range officers all think they are Jeremiah Smith and that the rest of us poor benighted souls are good only for the disrespecting.

I'm not afraid to ask for help if I'm AWARE that it's something that I'm not doing right. But I am also happy to observe for a few minutes, and then offer a friendly hint to someone else who is not aware either and struggling. It adds to the camaraderie of the sport, and I would hope that another shooter would be willing to offer friendly advice if they saw me struggling with something. If my hint is rebuffed by the other guy, then so be it. But one thing I wouldn't EVER do is come to this board and start yucking it up about how "all us country boys is better than them city folks." I live in the burbs, by the way. Does that make me worthy of your disrespect too?

What a way to advance the sport.

 

[TX1911fan]

Annoyed Man, I agree. I haven't seen much High Road in this thread.

 

[Wes Janson]

What a way to advance the sport.

Annoyed Man, I agree. I haven't seen much High Road in this thread.

I don't know your background, so perhaps you have first hand experience of what I mean by this, but truthfully there ARE many people out there who can't shoot and do not wish to learn how to. Sooner or later when you spend enough time on a range you meet guys who A: can't shoot, and B: do not want advice from anyone on anything, because they know enough already thank you very much. If someone asks for help, by all means I'll do everything I can to help them. It's all well and good to talk about taking the high road, but frankly there are some whom I have zero sympathy for because of their views towards safety and learning.

The particular attitude I see most often, though, isn't specifically the "Know-it-all" mindset, but rather the "I don't care about shooting, I just shoot my rifle every other year" mindset. I'll try to encourage and educate them, but many simply don't care enough about shooting to listen. They expect to be able to select a rifle up off of the wall blindfolded, load it with ammo, and take game at four hundred yards with it after firing three rounds to zero (with the annual hunting season requalification shoot of five rounds at 50 yards to make sure zero hasn't changed in the past decade). And then when they miss the target they get pissed off. Trying to suggest spending more time on the range practicing, or dry firing, or working on fundamentals of shooting, just earns one a blank look. I learned a while back to save my energy and use it to help people who actually want to learn.

 

[northwolf]

@ Wes Janson

Amen!!