Most embarrassing moments at the range

Thought it would be fun to swap stories of the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to us at gun ranges. I ll go first. I was at an indoor range shooting my first black powder rifle. A CVA hawken .50 that I got in a trade. I know the indoor range ain't really the place for such a thing but there are no outdoor ranges in convenient driving distance from me except for one that's a private club I can't afford. So anyhow I was ramming a ball when the old wore out wooden ram rod broke off causing me to stab my hand by accident. I started applying pressure as it was dripping pretty bad but I didn't think it was deep enough to need stitches so I went out into the lobby headed to the bathroom to try an clean thing up when the guy behind the counter was like "oh **** are you ok man!?" I explained the situation and with a sigh of relief he said "oh God I thought you'd shot yourself or something" they had a first aid kit so I fixed myself up right there and went back to shooting the other modern rifles I'd brought. Went out the next day and bought one of those metal ram rods with the end that flips around to form a handle. Don't have that rifle anymore but I still have the metal ram rod. Use it on my traditions .50 now because the faux wood one it came with made me nervous. I'm still scared to use the wooden ones to this day

 

Whether foreign or domestic, the factory ramrods tend to be crap.

Buy (or make your own) from a good straight grain hickory rod and use PROPER TECHNIQUE of choking up on the rod 6” or less from the muzzle, using short strokes to drive the ball home, and you will not break your ramrod.

 

I took one revolver to the indoor range in a plastic case with a small padlock on it but grabbed my set of truck keys that didn't have the lock key. I signed in, assigned a lane but had to leave and drive 3 miles home to get my key. Felt like an idiot.

 

Let's see.....

Went to the range, forgot targets.
Remembered targets, forgot stapler.
Took three guns, ammo for two guns (more than once!)
Forgot one vital component for black powder shooting.
Left my range "scan" card at home.

 

My most embarrassing moments (and ya, it's plural) are those times I get home from the indoor range, and then get a phone call from them to let me know they still have my driver's license there.

 

Let's see. Forgot my targets once, forgot my keys once.

I was moving some stuff around from room to room so I could work on some flooring. Decided to give myself some much needed time off and go shoot some pistols. Realized all of my black range bags were at the very back. Only thing I could find was my wife's pink pistol carrier. Got a lot of looks and some comments from the fellas at the range. Now I leave at least one pistol bag in with my ammo.

 

Not at the range, but I went deer hunting once. Saw a nice buck crossing the field. Went to get my rifle and found it was still leaning against the work bench in the garage at home 45 minutes away

Made a short day

 

This happened only two months ago. And I know I'm not the only one who has done the same, but it still stung!

I was at the range with my buddy. I had set up a chrono and tried to measure what kind of velocity my T/C Contender in 7mm TCU could produce. It was a gloomy day and I had trouble getting readings, so I tried to send the projectiles closer and closer to the sensors... even closer... and the last round went straight thru the chrono.

Well, there's always a silver lining. When my buddy saw how hapless and ashamed I was, he asked me to visit his place on my way home. He then donated me an old but perfectly operational chrono he had no use anymore.

 

Hmmm…over the years I’ve had trips where I forgot magazines… forgot ammo for a gun…forgot a gun I brought ammo for…forgot targets…forgot ear protection…the usual human oopsies.

Luckily I haven’t had any blowups, accidents or injuries beyond a splinter or two from wooden frames or sore thumbs from loading mags… knock on wood.

Stay safe.

 

when the slide decided to eject itself on my Ruger SR22.

 

I have had the usual no ammo, targets, magazines, staples/staplegun, eye/ear protection and gate key.

The one that sticks out the most is when a buddy and I took his girlfriends Star 9mm out. The dang firing pin broke on the 2nd magazine of ammo. We still accuse the other one of breaking the gun.

 

If I can find the video... I'll post it.

Let's just say that putting targets up in high wind is a bad idea! Then add in standing on the bedside of a truck stapling them to a target frame someone else made...

Getting blown out of the back of a truck isn't any fun. Makes you think about being a fly getting swatted.

 

Those kinda things arnt embarrassing for me anymore.........my normal question upon arrival isnt did i forget anything, its what did i forget.


Shot the bayo for my magnetospeed after making fun of people for shooting their eyeball chronos.......

Im sure there are others, i just chose not to remember them.

 

Shot my 300 Win mag across the hood of my 79 Blazer rested on my coat. Not high enough... scorched the hood pretty bad:/ Saw a buddy shoot the top of his cross body tool box on his pickup once with a 30-30

 

Bought a well used but cheap-$10-barrel for my Browning HP. Accuracy was horrible!
I was firing 9MM out of 40 S&W barrel.

 

I was using the roof of my bronco2 for a rest and shot my luggage rail with an ar15 a couple shots before I realized.

My buddy shot my wheelbarrow with an ak, using it for a rest.

Another buddy shot my clay pigeon thrower with a 1911 45. We were standing farther back than normal shooting about 150 yards at my 2/3 ipsc.

 

Well, it wasn't at the 'range' but test firing a Marlin 336 .30-30 after a disassembly/cleaning. The test 'tube' was a 3' piece of sewer pipe running underneath the archery range at the shop. My SOP was to fire three rounds quickly, and when I did, because I was working the action, the muzzle was a bit high. The 3rd bullet hit the flat piece of steel covering the lightbulb, and half of it sheared off and hit me in the one place it couldn't do damage, my thick skull. The bullet shard stuck in the skin, and proceeded to bleed like a stuck pig. I half set down, half dropped the rifle, and put my hand over the wound, shard and all. I also kept repeating a four letter word, and my boss met me on the stairs I started running up. He said we were going to the hospital, the gun counter guy handed me a wad of paper towels to put on my head and we flew to the hospital. By the time we got there, he was in worse shape than I; he was pale white and pulse of about 200, I was laughing about it. They gave me a CAT scan to be sure no bone had fragmented off inside my skull, put 4 stitches in, handed me a bottle of Vicodin and said "Take a few days off work".
It was a while before I test fired another gun, but I was back at my regular job after one day.

 

Wow that could have turned out a lot worse

 

Every "dumb" there is-sigh.
Typically, maximum embarrassment is on seeing the shot-up targets . . . sigh.

Got into a habit of keeping "one of everything" in range bags--magazines, ammo, etc.

Did still manage to do a "dumb" in packing up the range bags, and took all the boxes out, then put them all back in--just not taking the 5 boxes I meant to. So, I had ten entire rounds for the new toy I had with me.

Have also managed to not take the "new" gun out to the range, having left it at the house . . .

 

I have forgot targets. Made due with what was in the trash can. Also left my range bag with my ammo in it. Sit on the kitchen table. My son ran back and got it for me while i played brass chicken.

 

Got swarmed by yellow jackets that seemingly were coming out of the berm! Doing 7 yard pistol drills and several times I had to backpedal and holster so I could wack em with my hat. They were strangely aggressive but I didn’t let them cut my session short. I shot one of them that landed on the target stand and considered the whole experience a Force on Force drill!

 

I put my arm down on a bumblebee once when shooting from the bench. He was angry.