Most embarrassing range moments?
- Thread starter Lupinus
- Start date
- Status
KIMBER45TLE
Member
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2006
- Messages
- 92
Brass
Been firing 1911's most of the morning when I decided to take out my Smith Model 24-3 in 44 Special. Fired six rounds, clicked the seventh, layed the pistol down and started looking for the brass which surely should be laying on the ground. Right????????
Been firing 1911's most of the morning when I decided to take out my Smith Model 24-3 in 44 Special. Fired six rounds, clicked the seventh, layed the pistol down and started looking for the brass which surely should be laying on the ground. Right????????
The first time I went to the range with my new muzzleloader. I packed up everything I needed (or so I thought). I set up my target. Then I loaded 2 pyrodex pellets and seated the saboted bullet. I was so excited!!!
I was forgetting something...oh yeah, I needed a 209 primer to set this thing off. Guess what I forgot? Yep! I had everything I needed...except primers. So, with my tail between my legs, I packed everything up and headed home. Now I bring 100 primers, regardless of the number of shots I plan on firing.
I was forgetting something...oh yeah, I needed a 209 primer to set this thing off. Guess what I forgot? Yep! I had everything I needed...except primers. So, with my tail between my legs, I packed everything up and headed home. Now I bring 100 primers, regardless of the number of shots I plan on firing.
statelineblues
Member
Do As I Say, Not As I Do...
I was a firearms instructor for an armored car company for over ten years; can't say I've seen it all, but plenty has past before my eyes. However, the worst is when I manage to be the lesson.
One fine day at an outdoor range, I was teaching a group of new hires basic weapons handling - safety, safety, SAFETY! Your weapon is Always loaded! Always check it to be sure! I finish chapter and verse, and begin the basic marksmanship section. I had a 6" steel plate set up downrange, and as I finished talking about sight alignment and trigger control I aim my Glock 19 and pull the trigger. CLICK. Feeling a bit foolish, I rack the slide and repeat. CLICK. Rack a third time. CLICK. Lock back the slide to see what's wrong, and I'm staring at my feet thru the empty magazine well.
Some days it just ain't worth chewing thru the leather straps.........
I was a firearms instructor for an armored car company for over ten years; can't say I've seen it all, but plenty has past before my eyes. However, the worst is when I manage to be the lesson.
One fine day at an outdoor range, I was teaching a group of new hires basic weapons handling - safety, safety, SAFETY! Your weapon is Always loaded! Always check it to be sure! I finish chapter and verse, and begin the basic marksmanship section. I had a 6" steel plate set up downrange, and as I finished talking about sight alignment and trigger control I aim my Glock 19 and pull the trigger. CLICK. Feeling a bit foolish, I rack the slide and repeat. CLICK. Rack a third time. CLICK. Lock back the slide to see what's wrong, and I'm staring at my feet thru the empty magazine well.
Some days it just ain't worth chewing thru the leather straps.........
Last edited:
Diamondback6
Member
Statelineblues, you coulda turned it into an impromptu learning oppurtunity right there:
"And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we always check our weapons. Because the only thing worse than a round in the pipe when you think there's not is not having one when you need it..."
I might work that into a "script" for when I'm teaching...
"And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why we always check our weapons. Because the only thing worse than a round in the pipe when you think there's not is not having one when you need it..."
I might work that into a "script" for when I'm teaching...
dzimmerm
Member
two that come to mind
I decide, since I am left handed, to try shooting my Hi-Point C9 with my left hand. I found out that with my grip I could not avoid hitting the magazine release when pulling the trigger, Nothing less impressive than dropping the magazine when you are trying to shoot a target.
The second time I brought my Makarov to the range, brought the ammo to the range, unfortionately my 4 magazines were sitting at home,
.
dzimmerm
I decide, since I am left handed, to try shooting my Hi-Point C9 with my left hand. I found out that with my grip I could not avoid hitting the magazine release when pulling the trigger, Nothing less impressive than dropping the magazine when you are trying to shoot a target.
The second time I brought my Makarov to the range, brought the ammo to the range, unfortionately my 4 magazines were sitting at home,
. dzimmerm
I loaded an ar15 magazine bottom up and sat there trying to figure why it wasn't loading.
a friend of mine who has pretty bad luck with high end guns experienced the following in a week:
Shot the front sight off his Kimber Warrior
Shot the rear sight off his Performance Center SW1911
Had an Ed Brown that wouldn't feed right and while loading said Ed Brown had a Ed Brown Magazine disintergrate in his hands and the bullets go everywhere.
I told him to stick to KelTecs & Hi Points
a friend of mine who has pretty bad luck with high end guns experienced the following in a week:
Shot the front sight off his Kimber Warrior
Shot the rear sight off his Performance Center SW1911
Had an Ed Brown that wouldn't feed right and while loading said Ed Brown had a Ed Brown Magazine disintergrate in his hands and the bullets go everywhere.
I told him to stick to KelTecs & Hi Points
TonyB
Member
Mine just happened this weekend...
I went to shoot an IPSC match at my local club.Now in my defense I was shooting a snubnosed revolver(a 357,but I'm shooting 38's)..anyway....last stage,it's like 90 degrees and I'm a fat guy,so I'm sweating like Bill Clinton playing Truth or Dare.....6 steel plates that take about 30 rounds to hit.The last speed loader was filled with 357's(125gr)by mistake(my sometimes carry load)I do a fast reload(already pissed that I'm missing so much)and pull the trigger.....KABOOOOM...everyone jumps,and I hit the plate stand,which send a little peice of the stand right back and hits me in the face!Now I'm sweating AND bleeding.I finally get the plates down(w/ the rest of the 357's).When I'm done,one guys says"Hey,I think you're hit."I never made a quicker get away.....:banghead:
I went to shoot an IPSC match at my local club.Now in my defense I was shooting a snubnosed revolver(a 357,but I'm shooting 38's)..anyway....last stage,it's like 90 degrees and I'm a fat guy,so I'm sweating like Bill Clinton playing Truth or Dare.....6 steel plates that take about 30 rounds to hit.The last speed loader was filled with 357's(125gr)by mistake(my sometimes carry load)I do a fast reload(already pissed that I'm missing so much)and pull the trigger.....KABOOOOM...everyone jumps,and I hit the plate stand,which send a little peice of the stand right back and hits me in the face!Now I'm sweating AND bleeding.I finally get the plates down(w/ the rest of the 357's).When I'm done,one guys says"Hey,I think you're hit."I never made a quicker get away.....:banghead:
Taurus 66
Member
Was shooting by brand spanking new Remington .22 WMR auto loader and it has an exceptional ejector ... only thing was the brass being ejected was wildly unpredictable. One of the cartridges landed on my shirt collar and wormed its way down my back ... oh say about 200+ degrees F. I created a new dance jig, but this wasn't enough, so I took off my shirt, only it looked like I never took off my shirt. Others at the range must have been thinking, "Dude!.." That was one hell of a farmers tan.
Punkermonkey
Member
You know the boxed Remington .22lr ammo you can get a Wally-world? The one with 550 rounds? I now from personal experience that one box will cover approximately 3 square meters of floor space at the indoor range. Should you need to cover a larger area, simply open box, drop, and repeated until the desired coverage is reached.
Dionysusigma
Member
Forget my hearing protection. It hurt, and I never did it again.
Also brought 500rds of Wolf and a brand-new AK to the range, where I was promptly told that "we don't allow that crap at our range." Ended up buying only one box of American Eagle 7.62x39 (at $15.00 :Fire: ) as it was all I could afford.
I haven't been back to H&H since.
Also brought 500rds of Wolf and a brand-new AK to the range, where I was promptly told that "we don't allow that crap at our range." Ended up buying only one box of American Eagle 7.62x39 (at $15.00
:Fire: ) as it was all I could afford.I haven't been back to H&H since.
grislyatoms
Member
- Joined
- May 31, 2004
- Messages
- 404
When I had my XM15, I used to tote it back and forth to the range in a toolbox, broken down into it's upper and lower halves.
Met a friend at the range one day to shoot it. Took the upper out, cleaned oil out of the bore...
Where's the lower?
Sitting on the couch back home.:banghead:
Met a friend at the range one day to shoot it. Took the upper out, cleaned oil out of the bore...
Where's the lower?
Sitting on the couch back home.:banghead:
TheFrontRange
Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2003
- Messages
- 541
Indoor Range Bounce-back
One time a couple of years ago at the indoor range I frequent, I was merrily blasting away with my then-Kimber Custom, firing some of those peppy Cor-Bon Pow'rBall rounds.
I was changing mags when a shooter from two lanes over taps me on the shoulder. "Are you finished shooting?" he asks.
"Um, well, no...I've probably got another 30 minutes or so left," I replied, not really understanding his question. There were only three of us on the line at the time so I knew folks weren't standing around in the lobby waiting on a lane.
"Could you come over here a second?" he then asked. I cleared the Kimber, set it down, and walked with him over to his lane.
He held up a flattened projectile. "I think this may be yours," he says. "It just hit me in the chest."
I was horrified. My round had apparently travelled its way back up the range after smacking the backstop! He took it all in stride...in fact, he told me it wasn't the first time he'd been struck like that. He said it didn't hurt him at all, he just felt a sudden nudge in his chest and the round fell to his feet.
It shook me up a heck of a lot more it did him. After profusely apologizing to him and a word to the range-master (all of which gave my hands time to stop shaking and my breathing to return to normal!) I tucked my remaining Cor-Bons back in my range bag in favor of other ammo and slipped some shooting glasses over my eyeglasses...I'd always relied on just my specs for eye protection, but suddenly that didn't seem like quite enough!
One time a couple of years ago at the indoor range I frequent, I was merrily blasting away with my then-Kimber Custom, firing some of those peppy Cor-Bon Pow'rBall rounds.
I was changing mags when a shooter from two lanes over taps me on the shoulder. "Are you finished shooting?" he asks.
"Um, well, no...I've probably got another 30 minutes or so left," I replied, not really understanding his question. There were only three of us on the line at the time so I knew folks weren't standing around in the lobby waiting on a lane.
"Could you come over here a second?" he then asked. I cleared the Kimber, set it down, and walked with him over to his lane.
He held up a flattened projectile. "I think this may be yours," he says. "It just hit me in the chest."
I was horrified. My round had apparently travelled its way back up the range after smacking the backstop! He took it all in stride...in fact, he told me it wasn't the first time he'd been struck like that. He said it didn't hurt him at all, he just felt a sudden nudge in his chest and the round fell to his feet.
It shook me up a heck of a lot more it did him. After profusely apologizing to him and a word to the range-master (all of which gave my hands time to stop shaking and my breathing to return to normal!) I tucked my remaining Cor-Bons back in my range bag in favor of other ammo and slipped some shooting glasses over my eyeglasses...I'd always relied on just my specs for eye protection, but suddenly that didn't seem like quite enough!
Harry Stone
Member
I was very embarrassed when I shot a target that I thought someone had left on the backstop but the shooter was still there. He chewed me out pretty good for shooting at his target. I gave him one of mine to replace it. After that I realized why I made that mistake. The idiot was shooting across two lanes at the wrong backstop. Then I was embarrassed for him.
dc2wheel
Member
Took a girlfriend [first time shooter] to the NRA range in Fairfax, VA. She's having a great time until she catches a hot 7.62 spent casing down her little tank top. To her credit, she [surprisingly calmly] places the safety on, the Romanian AKM on the bench, then proceeds to dance around like a crazy person, darn near tearing her shirt off until the burning hot casing fell out [it was stuck in her bra]. Half the folks on the line took a step back and wondered what the 6' tattood girls was freaking out about & eventually a range safety officer came out to make sure everything was 'ok'. She had a little burn for a few days, but it was worth it having her ask me to 'kiss it better' a few times Now all the first time shooters get a "normal to the neck shirt of some sort" notice along with the NRA basic handgun/rifle course.
-dc2wheel
Now all the first time shooters get a "normal to the neck shirt of some sort" notice along with the NRA basic handgun/rifle course.-dc2wheel
RustyShackelford
member
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2006
- Messages
- 4,018
S&W model 3913 9mm(rental gun)
Many years ago(1991-1992 range) I was shooting reloaded 9mm rounds out of a rental S&W model 3913 9mm. I had a jam and cleared it. I kept shooting when the 9mm pistol broke again. As I leaned over the pistol to see what was wrong I pulled back on the trigger at the same time... The S&W pistol fired and I was taken by surprise! I almost shot myself in the face.
Now that would have been a bad day!
RS
Many years ago(1991-1992 range) I was shooting reloaded 9mm rounds out of a rental S&W model 3913 9mm. I had a jam and cleared it. I kept shooting when the 9mm pistol broke again. As I leaned over the pistol to see what was wrong I pulled back on the trigger at the same time...
The S&W pistol fired and I was taken by surprise! I almost shot myself in the face.Now that would have been a bad day!
RS
Stock out of the box springfield .45....check...
Dylan progressive reloader...check....
Comedy at the range....you bet.
So I'm doing some controlled paired grouping with my stock .45 somewhere around the 5,000 round mark of its life, and I've been going at it for a bit and am "in the zone".
BAM-BAM...
BAM-BAM...
BAM.....
??!!???
For some reason, I lost my focus on the front sight post. I squint, wipe my eyes, and try to reaquire my sight picture...to no avail. I STILL can't see the front sight post.
"Odd", thought I.
I REWIPE my eyes, and concentrate intently on the front sight post...and that's when I noticed....there WAS no front sight post. That baby had come right off!
"BAH!!!", thought I. I showed my buddy, who promptly laughed at me. The guys that ran the range laughed too. They were ex-AMU pistol dudes and IPSC shooters who had fired a gazillion rounds and informed me that they had broken just about every piece there was on a .45 at one point or another.
This was tragic in my noob eyes, but it lead to transforming the .45 from the stock weapon it was, into the piece of art it became after some cash and some good gunsmithing. Live and learn.
Which leads me to...
A "thug" looking dude comes into the range one day with his bag o' guns. He's got the gold jewelry, the pants around the ankles, the crooked hat, and an attitude. He saddles up to the firing line and proceeds to unload a 9mm, a .50 desert eagle, and a .357. My buddy and I kind of chuckle, but ignore him and continue our training. All of a sudden my buddy taps me on the shoulder...
"Check THIS out!!!"
I look in the direction he was staring at, and see our man from the ghetto bearing down on his target with his .50 desert eagle...with his non-firing hand grasped around his firing hand....directly behind the slide. I start to move toward him to square him away, but my buddy grabs my shoulder...
BAM!!!!
It was too late.
The dude fired, and the slide promptly came back and took a nice bite out of his non-firing hand. I guess they don't warn you about that in "gangsta" school.
Dylan progressive reloader...check....
Comedy at the range....you bet.
So I'm doing some controlled paired grouping with my stock .45 somewhere around the 5,000 round mark of its life, and I've been going at it for a bit and am "in the zone".
BAM-BAM...
BAM-BAM...
BAM.....
??!!???
For some reason, I lost my focus on the front sight post. I squint, wipe my eyes, and try to reaquire my sight picture...to no avail. I STILL can't see the front sight post.
"Odd", thought I.
I REWIPE my eyes, and concentrate intently on the front sight post...and that's when I noticed....there WAS no front sight post. That baby had come right off!
"BAH!!!", thought I. I showed my buddy, who promptly laughed at me. The guys that ran the range laughed too. They were ex-AMU pistol dudes and IPSC shooters who had fired a gazillion rounds and informed me that they had broken just about every piece there was on a .45 at one point or another.
This was tragic in my noob eyes, but it lead to transforming the .45 from the stock weapon it was, into the piece of art it became after some cash and some good gunsmithing. Live and learn.
Which leads me to...
A "thug" looking dude comes into the range one day with his bag o' guns. He's got the gold jewelry, the pants around the ankles, the crooked hat, and an attitude. He saddles up to the firing line and proceeds to unload a 9mm, a .50 desert eagle, and a .357. My buddy and I kind of chuckle, but ignore him and continue our training. All of a sudden my buddy taps me on the shoulder...
"Check THIS out!!!"
I look in the direction he was staring at, and see our man from the ghetto bearing down on his target with his .50 desert eagle...with his non-firing hand grasped around his firing hand....directly behind the slide. I start to move toward him to square him away, but my buddy grabs my shoulder...
BAM!!!!
It was too late.
The dude fired, and the slide promptly came back and took a nice bite out of his non-firing hand. I guess they don't warn you about that in "gangsta" school.
Ohio Rifleman
Member
Not as embarassing as causing destruction at an indoor range or almost killing a fellow shooter, but this is all I've got. First time I took my brand new Ruger 10/22 carbine to an outdoor range. I loaded it, peered down the scope it came with, carefully aligned my crosshairs on the target...squeezed the trigger, and...click. I thought there was something wrong with the rifle, but the safety was on. I pressed the little button and was happily plinking away with my brand-new .22 This was about a year ago. At least I know the safety works 
I left my targets at home... I forgot my ammo... I forgot my gun... I destroyed something... I had the safety on... BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.
RustyShackleford, I think you might take the prize with that one, but I beg to enter the race...
I left 2 guns in the parking lot and drove off for the rest of the day
(a Wilson Combat Super Grade and a Magnum Research BFR 45-70 with 3-12x Burris Posi-Lock). They were in an unlocked gun case, and I'd put them down behind my car next to the trunk to help a friend carry something heavy. (I had parked my car nose out.) Then I forgot what I was doing, got in my car, and followed him to his house. Seven hours later, I got home. I opened up the trunk and perused my situation with a "***???" In a panic, I called one of the rangemasters I knew, at home. He hauled-ass to the range and found them just where I'd left them. They'd sat out in the open, in front of the first parking stall, at the walkway entrance, 10 yards from the only entrance to the shooting line, from 1030AM til the range closed. Man, I got lucky.
Duh... am I in the running as the king ijit?
.... I be's proof that not evahbuddy here is qualified as having 'average' intelligence.Confirmedkill
Member
The first time my friend took me to the pistol range I jumped when I entered the indoor firing range. I had ear protection on at the time. I was at the pistol range yesterday shooting at targets when I hear this big boom and felt the shockwave. Turns out the person two stalls to the left of me rented a .500 S&W revolver. I must of jumped 3 inches off the ground. So much for my intended career in Law Enforcement if I jump everytime someone shoots a gun. I think I am the new king of embarrassment.
the 22 junkie
Member
One time I rented an Ar-15 at a range and didn't know how to work the damn thing, so I just handed it back to the RO, loaded.
Breaking clays
About 5 years ago I was teaching my then 13 year old daughter how to shoot clay pigeons. She just couldn't get the hang of it. I would correct her stance, tell her watch the clay, you know, the usual stuff and the whole time she kept trying to say something. I would just cut her off and tell her to be quite and to just listen, it will be OK and then give her more instruction, because, Hey, I'm the dad and dads are always right. Right?... Wrong. Well after about 20 minutes of putting up with me, she shouted DAD! I shouted WHAT! she shouted I'M LEFT HANDED!!! As I crawled back to the thrower I mumbled something like " welll... then... just break the stupid things" .
After I "left" her alone, she broke 13 of 15.
RH
About 5 years ago I was teaching my then 13 year old daughter how to shoot clay pigeons. She just couldn't get the hang of it. I would correct her stance, tell her watch the clay, you know, the usual stuff and the whole time she kept trying to say something. I would just cut her off and tell her to be quite and to just listen, it will be OK and then give her more instruction, because, Hey, I'm the dad and dads are always right. Right?... Wrong. Well after about 20 minutes of putting up with me, she shouted DAD! I shouted WHAT! she shouted I'M LEFT HANDED!!! As I crawled back to the thrower I mumbled something like " welll... then... just break the stupid things" .
After I "left" her alone, she broke 13 of 15.
RH
I'd been lucky enough to train with a lot of South African cops since I was 14 and, once I was trusted, I got to regularly tag along for tactical room-entry type stuff. Great fun with almost 360-degree courses of fire, but it totally messed me up for my first actual IPSC match (about 20 years ago now).
I was real surprised when my buddy told me that after 8 stages I was in line for a medal if I could keep it together with 2 more stages to go (woohoo!), so stage 9 was a jungle-lane type of drill - run down the line and double-tap the targets left and right before ending up at the various poppers-and-hostages combos. No problemo - piece of cake.
All hyped, I started at a full sprint, hosed the first two targets with my CZ75 and missed the third target which was down at ground-level; I was going too fast to stop so I put 2 more rounds into it just after I pass it - BEEP!
I got disqualified immediately and it took a few seconds to realise that I'd forgotten the 180-degree rule - you can't shoot anything that's actually behind you for safety-reasons, but I was so in fight-mode at the time (Kill it! Kill it now!) that I forgot and reverted to my old house-clearing type training. Talk about muscle-memory!
Very embarassing because everyone had heard about the kid that had come out of nowhere and was watching to see how I did :banghead:
I was real surprised when my buddy told me that after 8 stages I was in line for a medal if I could keep it together with 2 more stages to go (woohoo!), so stage 9 was a jungle-lane type of drill - run down the line and double-tap the targets left and right before ending up at the various poppers-and-hostages combos. No problemo - piece of cake.
All hyped, I started at a full sprint, hosed the first two targets with my CZ75 and missed the third target which was down at ground-level; I was going too fast to stop so I put 2 more rounds into it just after I pass it - BEEP!
I got disqualified immediately and it took a few seconds to realise that I'd forgotten the 180-degree rule - you can't shoot anything that's actually behind you for safety-reasons, but I was so in fight-mode at the time (Kill it! Kill it now!) that I forgot and reverted to my old house-clearing type training. Talk about muscle-memory!
Very embarassing because everyone had heard about the kid that had come out of nowhere and was watching to see how I did :banghead:
evan price
Member
Yesterday as a matter of fact.
I just bought an FAL rifle from a board member & spent some time getting it right. So I used that know-how to WECSOG together an IMBEL FAL kit on an Entreprise receiver I got at a local gunshop a few months ago and had been holding in reserve. I started building it 9am Saturday and had it ready to roll Sat afternoon. A couple family members & a friend & I went out to the outdoor range up the road from me with an assortment of hardware including various AK's, an SKS, a Mosin Nagant, and my two FAL's.
The range was busy. All of us had out CCW's. We came rolling up in two SUV's looking like a .gov convention with our aluminum briefcases, .50 cal ammo cans, holstered sidearms, etc.
The other range goers were a family with kids shooting .22's, a couple guys bench resting .223's and a couple kids with a Romanian AK.
Well, after a lot of noise and smoke we managed to puncture the hell out of a lot of things. A few people came over during cease fire to look at the hardware and the kids with the AK asked about my FALs. So I showed him how easy it was to break open and check the action. Popped the release, he asked about how the gas system works, I angled it so he could see, and PLOP the bolt carrier dropped out into the dirt. Luckily it was the IMBEL kit that needed refinished anyway.
I just bought an FAL rifle from a board member & spent some time getting it right. So I used that know-how to WECSOG together an IMBEL FAL kit on an Entreprise receiver I got at a local gunshop a few months ago and had been holding in reserve. I started building it 9am Saturday and had it ready to roll Sat afternoon. A couple family members & a friend & I went out to the outdoor range up the road from me with an assortment of hardware including various AK's, an SKS, a Mosin Nagant, and my two FAL's.
The range was busy. All of us had out CCW's. We came rolling up in two SUV's looking like a .gov convention with our aluminum briefcases, .50 cal ammo cans, holstered sidearms, etc.
The other range goers were a family with kids shooting .22's, a couple guys bench resting .223's and a couple kids with a Romanian AK.
Well, after a lot of noise and smoke we managed to puncture the hell out of a lot of things. A few people came over during cease fire to look at the hardware and the kids with the AK asked about my FALs. So I showed him how easy it was to break open and check the action. Popped the release, he asked about how the gas system works, I angled it so he could see, and PLOP the bolt carrier dropped out into the dirt. Luckily it was the IMBEL kit that needed refinished anyway.
- Status
Similar threads
