Range encounters that bug you

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I've known two people fairly well that actually served in special forces. One is now a fireman, the other a full time preacher. I know their wives and their families, and beyond the basic overview of their service, I know nothing else. The real ones DO NOT TALK ABOUT IT.
 
The biggest negative range encounter I have had is a guy shooting his AR-15 on the section of the range CLEARLY labeled HANDGUNS ONLY. I shot my 6 rounds and then left without talking to him.

(Clarification: I was only there to see if the Tula .380 I had bought would work in my gun. I had seen a few threads about it not going into battery. Seems they had put some Makarov bullets into .380 cases. Not an issue it worked fine. They seemed to have figured out the issue and fixed it. I went back to wally world and bought more.)

Jim
 
That was a lot better then the time I had my kids at an unstaffed range. There was one guy there on one end (with a Marine hat on and he had a gun in pieces on the bench). I said Hi to him as we walked by and went to the far end of the range. Next thing I know - we are placing targets and this moron is shooting. Ticked me off as it was - but considering my KIDS were with me downrange I was really hot. I commenced to chew his butt pretty hard - with him muttering that I should have walked all the way back down there to tell him we were going downrange.?.?
I ended with #1 - we just got there and greeted him - so wouldn't the next thing to happen be us placing targets? And #2 - didn't they teach him in the Marines to CHECK DOWNRANGE TO SEE IF IT IS CLEAR before firing??? People like this are the reason I hardly shoot anymore.....:fire::fire::mad:
 
Racinfan83 said:
That was a lot better then the time I had my kids at an unstaffed range. There was one guy there on one end (with a Marine hat on and he had a gun in pieces on the bench). I said Hi to him as we walked by and went to the far end of the range. Next thing I know - we are placing targets and this moron is shooting. Ticked me off as it was - but considering my KIDS were with me downrange I was really hot. I commenced to chew his butt pretty hard - with him muttering that I should have walked all the way back down there to tell him we were going downrange.?.?
I ended with #1 - we just got there and greeted him - so wouldn't the next thing to happen be us placing targets? And #2 - didn't they teach him in the Marines to CHECK DOWNRANGE TO SEE IF IT IS CLEAR before firing??? People like this are the reason I hardly shoot anymore.....:fire::fire::mad:
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Everything is situational and he might have screwed up but you should definitely make sure to inform other shooters you're going down range. Some people take half an hour to setup before putting up targets and not everyone is keeping track of you.

OP, lucky he wasn't one of those guys that gives you **** about Tula through his rifle in general :)

I go to a range without a range officer or a bunch of rules (safety rules apply of course) and never really have any problems. Plenty of noobs but I never mind sharing knowledge, plenty of times I'm learning tons from someone else too.
 
Most shooting in Nevada is with foothills as backup or into gravel pits, or someone with a bulldozer has made backstops. In southern Nevada there is one official outdoor range. So people are expected to know a bit when shooting wherever in the desert. We also have an unwritten rule of ALWAYS having one gun loaded when shooting and reloading, for personal safety from low riders. Yeah, low riders on desert roads.

Also, it's first come to an area, first served in picking where you are shooting. Haven't had a problem with cross shooters when I've been out. A friend and I one morning were shooting down into a deep gravel pit, towards the 10 oclock position from about the 6 oclock position. There is a berm at the top of the pit and a large flat area where people shoot at the 3 oclock position (a hill) from the 9 oclock position, from behind the berm.. Mostly handguns or .22s.

We've been there about 30 minutes when a guy appears around the berm and starts waving his arms and telling us to stop shooting at him and his boys. There is a road around the pit and we stop whenever a vehicle comes around, but none has nor has anyone climbed into the pit and, there are no ricochets from us. We keep shooting. No one else is offended. four or five times he does this. We point to the direction we are shooting. No good. We shoot into the pit next time he comes up. still no good. This is a common shooting area and most people understand its characteristics. Finally swearing and angry - and unsupported by those in the know - he and his boys leave.

After another hour we leave. To leave you have to drive through the shooting area on top, and its also understood that all shooting stops when vehicles come or go. No problems from those we pass, just that one loon earlier.

Would have loved to have heard his story about that morning, to whoever he could get to listen.
 
"I once showed a guy up (unintentionally) at the range in a situation similar to the op's. I show up to the range and a guy was there with his brand new ar15 with a 24" stainless barrel and a huge cheap scope on it. He could barely shoot a tennis ball sized group at 50 yds. I pulled out my $200 Remington 597 and shot quarters at 50 and about 2-3" at 100.
I just stayed to myself watched the entertainment unfold till he left frustrated. I chucke at people who think superior equipment makes up training"

I would say and " practice"
I love doing the same with an aperture sight muzzleloader vs their rifle/ scope, I can even ask them to tell me what my group looks like!
 
Getting swept by muzzles by folks going to and from the bench seems to be becoming a bigger issue. Gun stores are partly to blame I think as so many these days no longer bother with any measure of muzzle discipline. Why would you assume it's a problem if the guy who just sold it to you swept you with it multiple times?

Everything is situational and he might have screwed up but you should definitely make sure to inform other shooters you're going down range.
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It's always a good idea to YELL in a clear voice while making eye contact that the range is clear to go down (not just the ambiguous "clear"), and to get a confirmation from everyone else on the line. I always yell it AGAIN after we confirm, before going down. Sometimes people think I'm goofy for yelling, but not as goofy as I'd look dodging bullets.
 
My "disturbing" range encounters are way different. I am lucky so far.

The range I shoot at has its share of oddballs but are, by and large, a very good group. I always end up shooting next to a guy with a .22 whose shooting those little 3" targets at 50 yards...and putting them all right there in the middle. "Getting 'er sighted in for squirrel season 's'all".
 
One day at the range in Yuma I was down range with a couple other guys changing targets during an announced cease fire. While on my way back to the shooting line with the rest of the guys, this one man, actually the only person up at the firing line, opened up with his weapon. Although none of us had any rounds impacting super close, or going over our heads, we were still only a mere 20yds. or so out of his line of sight. At 200 yds. from him, that is really close in my opinion. We all hit the dirt. When we got back to the firing line we walked over to him and gave him a piece of our minds. This is an unsupervised range, so there was no one there to watch our backs. Anyway, his only response was that he saw us and wasn't shooting toward us, but rather at his target. One of the guys told me that he got swept with his barrel several times prior to this incident.

Some people just don't get it at all. There is little you can do to get through to them, cause they simply don't understand and never will.

GS
 
These stories are the reason why I choose to pay a relatively small fee to belong to private, non-for-profit clubs.


I've had a few people who needed personal attention at the one I frequent most. But I have to say, I've made a few friends, and had a lot more friendly conversations with other members by helping people who clearly needed it but were reluctant to ask.
 
The one I never got, was the guy at the pistol range shooting his AR15. From sandbags and at 3yds. Must have shot 500 rounds. Now I could understand the 15 or 25 yd. range to see if you are on paper, before moving to the rifle side, but 3 yds?
 
BullfrogKen said:
These stories are the reason why I choose to pay a relatively small fee to belong to private, non-for-profit clubs.


I've had a few people who needed personal attention at the one I frequent most. But I have to say, I've made a few friends, and had a lot more friendly conversations with other members by helping people who clearly needed it but were reluctant to ask.
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I can agree with that. I pay $100 a year for membership at a nice range, mostly the bench rest crowd and home to the annual Bench Rest Super Shoot. A well mannered serious group.

Ron
 
Renewing my CCW last year was interesting. Shooting for score, everyone had a range guy at his elbow. The old lady to the right of me was disqualified for loading her ammo in the mag backwards. The guy to the left of me DQ'd for sweeping me. That was worth paid inside range time. But I hate not being allowed to pick up brass.
 
Actual sighting in procedures using a red dot and backup iron sights is sight in one, and you can "cheat" and snow cone the other sight off the zeroed one. But when using one, the other does not exist. Took lots of effort for the old timers to ignore the front sight when using a red dot, and to ignore the red dot when using the iron sights. As far as the .223 and 5.56 disagreement goes, I have heard POGs say the same thing. And I have also seen POG celebrate for getting 23 (out of 40) on a qual range and call them selves experts for passing the first time around.
 
What is a POG?

What is a POG?
I hear this all the time.

In my 8 years of active duty in the USAF,,,
I never heard the term one time.

And I spent a year on an Army compound.

Aarond

.
 
Army told him not to fire .223 in his 5.56mm?

Obviously he's never served a day in his life.
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It seems like many Army guys I talk to are not "gun guys". This is merely ignorance. He has no idea how to properly sight in, or shoot, a rifle.

As a friend says: "I carried a machine gun for the USMC for ten years and learned about guns after I was out."
 
Worst encounter was with a gentleman (or so I thought) who told me I needed to stock up on guns and ammo so I can protect my supplies from several races of people other than white when crap hits the fan. It made me uncomfortable so I packed up and left. I have no need to talk to someone like that while they have loaded guns within hands reach.
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I find it easy to say "You're probably right" and then do whatever I'm going to do. It sounds like you're agreeing with what they're saying without doing so. I then proceed to not engage them in conversation; no nodding, looking at them, etc. They generally get the hint.

My pet peeve is when I'm downrange working on my targets during a mutually agreed upon cease fire and someone starts shooting. Needless to say, I was not pleased that day.

Even worse, I called CEASE FIRE when someone was shooting and another guy decided to walk down range. The shooter did not fire, but had the temerity to bitch at me for messing up his aim.
 
I was driving my ATV on a road at an open BLM area near Calico, Ca. a couple of years back. Shooting is allowed in this area, and there are lots of side canyons and spots to safely shoot while people can go by on the roads. As I round a bend I come face to face with some folks who had stopped and set up their targets..ON THE ROAD.. facing right where I was driving from. Thank the Lord no one was firing when I came around the bend, I had nowhere to go.

I told the fellows that there were about 25 other people riding up and down this same road in various vehicles, and they would be smart to move to a safe place to shoot.

These guys looked at me like I lust landed a spaceship and wanted to be taken to their leader. I just left, I want nothing to do with people who have IQ's lower than the ambient temperature in March.

The idocy of some people amazes me.
 
I am an in-the-city dweller and went to my local indoor range on a Friday off. They put a youngish woman in the lane next to me. She pulled out a Glock .40. Puts a man silhouette target about 3 feet in front of her, and proceeds to burn through six or 7 mags as fast as she can pull the trigger. In about 1 minute.

When I look over, she is packing up her range bag - I said "wow", she said, "yes, I come and practice shooting once per month to keep proficient".
 
jmace57, you remind me of the time I went to my local indoor range when the only other people there were two sherrif's deputies in uniform. They were shooting fast and all over the place. When the ceiling tiles took rounds, I turned and knocked on the window. The range master told them to stop it. They didn't. He threatened to kick them out and they left. Heaven help us if those ladies ever had to use those guns on the streets.
 
I am also really irritated when things go the opposite way.

There's always some nut who thinks he can make up safety rules off the top of his head and yell at people for violating them.

That's just an eye-roller until he gets himself on the board for the range and his ridiculous safety rules actually become official.
 
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