time for another round of 'Range Idiots'

[spacemanspiff]

so i go to the range yesterday afternoon with my brother, he's never really shot his ruger p90, and really doesnt have much experience shooting handguns. i talked him into splitting a case of ammo with me, as he only wanted to shoot maybe a hundred rounds or so. but that won't do for me!
we both learned that neither him nor i can shoot his ruger accurately. i don't know what it is, i just can't put those shots where i want them to go. maybe i'm just spoiled by the trigger on my kimber.

heck, i wasnt even shooting my kimber that great either. just wasn't having an accurate day.

for some reason i always get one or two people that come up and want to talk while i'm at the range. sometimes its cool, but most of the time i'd just rather shoot. thats what i came out there to do, and i feel cheated if i dont get all the shooting out of the time i spend there. but anyways, this guy comes up and i guess he just had to brag about the groups he was getting with his ruger mkii; and he had every reason to brag, they were some damn fine groups.
so i started talking about how i havent been able to get much accuracy out of my walther p22 and i show him how the rear sight is adjustable for windage (though i've never adjusted it, yeah i'm still a noobie) and the front sight is removable and there are different inserts for it. oddly enough, put all three front sights for the p22 next to each other and they all look the same size to me.
so this guy, Goober (not his real name), asks if he could take a look and get it sighted in properly. thats cool, since i dont really know what to do. and he gets it adjusted horizontally, but its hitting about 3 inches low. the 'smallest' front sight is still too big. in the end i'm going to wind up filing that front sight down, or just getting a different 22 pistol.

on to the 'idiot' part. this guy, goober, is thinking outloud about how hes going to explaing to his girlfriend why hes late to pick her up. he then figures 'a couple more minutes wont hurt' and goes to pick up the p22 and run some more rounds through.

while the range is Cold!
i grab his arm and say 'whoa whoa whoa! cold range! cold range!' now he's really freaked. there were at least 6 people downrange and a range officer behind us, but he was talking more than watching the line.

a couple minutes go by, goobers getting ready to leave, i'm reloading magazines, and goober says 'man we destroyed that target today didnt we?' and he starts walking past the firing line to the target.

while the range is hot!
i yell 'stop! hot range! alright, its time for you to get home. you're trying to fire on a cold range and walk down on a hot one. you've had enough for the day.'

i dunno why, but i expected better range etiquette from someone who is a MP on Elmendorf. okay, now i just have to rant for a quick minute. if i get offered from a fellow shooter to "try out my xxxxx", i take that to mean 'run one magazine through'. not 'shoot as many rounds as you please'. thats just bad manners, as far as i'm concerned. goober, if you're reading this, next time someone asks 'want to try this out?' limit yourself to only one magazine please! dont shoot a couple hundred rounds of my ammo. i said nothing because i couldnt think of a tactful way to say 'let me shoot my own guns'.

 

[CWL]

I enjoy meeting and talkingto fellow shooting enthusiasts and don't mind at all when someone walks up and asks me what I'm shooting. I do it all the time myself as well as offer them to put a few downrange if they so desire.

What I hate are the ones who walk up and try to give me pointers as I'm shooting or training.

Hey buddy, I don't know you and I don't care to get advice from you. I'm not the best shot and can always improve, but when I need to advice, I'll ask for it from people I know & trust or from professionals that I pay money to.

 

[jsalcedo]

Wow, looks like goober needs some help with situational awareness.

Good thing you were there to keep everyone alive.

 

[Mark Tyson]

I think that if more people were raised around guns and more people shot from an early age people would be more responsible and careful. The destruction of the gun culture (not its existencec as our enemies would claim) is to blame for things like this.

 

[centermass]

range dummies...

My friends and I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago at a free public outdoor range in a nearby state park. We had been there most of the morning already shooting shotguns, then pistols, and finally rifles. There weren't very many people there besides us three, a few guys (that appeared to be together) were sighting in rifles on one end while we were shooting pistols, and a few other folks on the other end of the line also shooting pistols. As it is a free public range, there is no staff, so no R.O's. The only thing wrong with the guys sighting in the rifles was that they would start shooting as soon as they assumed everyone was back, without asking a verbal o.k. and without telling everyone who was casually waiting around with their ear protection off that they were going to start shooting. One of those "oh yeah, HOT!" situations. Another guy that kind of "irked" me was Mr. Brand New AK, who asked to call "cold range" on a line with ten people on it every five minutes to check his target which was only 15 yards out. The kicker, however, showed up later on. Everyobody left, besides us, which was great. We had the range for about an hour to ourselves, so we decided to prepare for a little 100 yd contest with the rifles, a .270 bolt action, a .308 bolt action, a Mini-14, and a 7mm single shot. Pretty big guns, VERY LOUD guns to the uninitiated. This guy shows up with his girlfriend (or wife), with one pistol and a box of ammo. It appears to be a .38 snubby. He asked us since we were on a break if it was o.k to set up. We checked our weapons to be clear and gave him the go ahead. He sets up his target at 15 yds and walks back, stating we can continue whenever we like. Now, I did not check this guy or his woman to make sure they had ears on, but it didn't really occur to me to do so since the majority of the people who go to this range are either avid hunters or avid shooters who at least know the first unofficial rule of gun awareness: GUNS 'R LOUD! He was just poppin' away with his little snubby when BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Three guys (us) with high powered rifles open up downrange and scare the bejeezus out of him! Soon to follow was, "Man, those are loud!" Now I realize he does not have ears on, and the female has the pointer fingers in hers. But wait, it gets better... The rifle benches are at the far right of the line, this guy is at the opposite end. We are still "warming up" for our friendly competition, when out of the corner of my eye, I see Smartguy walking down range! We call "HOT HOT HOT!" and ask him what's up. He says "It's o.k. guys, you go ahead. I'm just checking my target." He ran out of ammo soon after that and left. We carried on with our game, where sadly my friend with the scoped .270 and myself with the scoped .308, were beaten by our other friend with the scoped Mini-14. You may laugh now, we did.

Don't be a range dummy, STAY SAFE!

Steve

 

[Ian Sean]

I get the roll up squishy ear plugs free at work and always have extras. Similar experience, wife and hubby show up at the range, pistol station is about 50 feet from the rifle seperated by a berm. I let go with the FAL and they both jump out of thier skin.

My friends and I wrap up our rifle play and head over to the pistol range. Hubby has a Ruger P-85 blasting away, Wifey is behind with fingers in her ears. Niether of them have hearing protection. Both gratefully accepted my offer of plugs. Turned out to be a nice guy and gal, just new to firearms. Let him and her pop off a clip in my .45 and .357.

 

[goon]

After yesterday, I have decided to only go shooting with large groups of people I know.
That way, we will fill up the rifle range and there will be no room for anyone else.
My brother and I went shooting yesterday.
There was this guy and his kid there when we got there. They had a S&W Sigma that they had a Wolf .40 round jammed in. It was a live round and it was stuck almost the whole way in the chamber. I watched in horror and disbelief as they tried to dislodge it.
About 45 minutes later, they finally got the round out. The kid went on to load the rest of them up and shoot them.
After he had finished that mag, he just took the gun and nonchalantly looked down the barrel.
Sent shivers down my spine.
About this time, a guy shows up who just wants to zero his rifle.
While he is setting up, and while I am loading mags with my back turned, idiot guy opens up with a .357.
No warning so anyone could put their earplugs in, just loud gunfire.
Nice guy.
After a little while longer, he leaves.
The other guy sets up his targets and shoots his rifle without incident.
At one point, he just sort of wanders off as he is smoking a cigarette and trying to escape the mosquitos.
I load up some mags for my pistol, then lock and load. Something makes me look downrange before I raise the gun, and he is down there screwing off.
Not really dumb like the other guy, but it is more difficult to keep track of people when you don't show up and leave with them.
Hence, my new policy.

 

[NRA Instructor]

Congrats spacemanspiff on a job well done.
You should take the Range Safety Officer course and continue to be of help to others who either do not have the proper training or who just forgotten their lessons.
Again, you did very well and it makes this old shooter proud to know that we still have safe shooters out on the range, not only taking care of themselves but others.

 

[El Tejon]

Good job, space. On a range it is not about "me"; it's about "we."

 

[Brad Johnson]

I have a good friend who has always seemed pretty gun-savvy, so I invited him to the range for the first time a month or so back. Turns out he's one of these "impress you with how big my gun is a how fast I can shoot" types that spouts an endless string of excuses why he is stringing shots low and left (even though everyone else is able to hit the 10-ring with the same gun).

He's got a really nice Kimber Ultra Carry that's a pretty darn good weapon. Unfortunately, the moment the range master calls "Begin Firing" my buddy would start banging away just as fast as he could pull the trigger and swap mags. No trigger control, no sight picture, just BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG! After a while it got so annoying that I made up some lame excuse to have to leave. On the way home I had a heart-to-heart with him about range etiquette, and I had to get a little forceful to make it stick. He didn't talk to me for a week or so, but I'd rather have him get over some bent feelings than for me to develop a rep as someone who brings idiots to the range.

Brad

 

[PawDaddy]

I always wanted to have a shooting range close by, but I never thought about potential problems such as this. I guess that I'm fortunate to have a hunting lease where I can shoot without these types of things coming up.

 

[MagKnightX]

Brad:

If this is all he ever does, then I can understand, but while aimed fire is what you should do, realize that sometimes it can be fun to just let loose down a hot range.

 

[Croyance]

Sometimes Darwin tries to clean out the gene pool.
Not right to have it on another person's conscience.

 

[ocabj]

i dunno why, but i expected better range etiquette from someone who is a MP on Elmendorf. okay, now i just have to rant for a quick minute. if i get offered from a fellow shooter to "try out my xxxxx", i take that to mean 'run one magazine through'. not 'shoot as many rounds as you please'. thats just bad manners, as far as i'm concerned. goober, if you're reading this, next time someone asks 'want to try this out?' limit yourself to only one magazine please! dont shoot a couple hundred rounds of my ammo. i said nothing because i couldnt think of a tactful way to say 'let me shoot my own guns'.

I never offer others (people I don't know) my weapon to fire at the range, nor do I accept offers from people I don't know to fire their weapons (I did do this one time though awhile back, when someone let me run though a few 45 colt in a single action revolver). I understand the friendliness in this act, but I think it could lead to more trouble/misunderstanding, as spaceman has experienced. This holds especially true when I'm shooting reloads.

What I hate are the ones who walk up and try to give me pointers as I'm shooting or training.

Heh, sometimes I'm one of these people. Seriously though, it is annoying when people try to tell you how to shoot. I only do it when I see some gross mistakes. IE: People leaning so far back when shooting a handgun, you think they're in a limbo contest.

 

[jimpeel]

we both learned that neither him nor i can shoot his ruger accurately. i don't know what it is, i just can't put those shots where i want them to go. maybe i'm just spoiled by the trigger on my kimber.

Sounds like the natural point of the pistol is not right for you. Try this:

Stand with your body in your usual shooting stance.

Have the firearm at your side.

Concentrate on a target point.

Close your eyes.

Bring the firearm up to shooting level.

Open your eyes.

This will show you the “natural point†of the particular firearm you are holding. You should be looking right over the top of the firearm right through the sights. In most cases with most firearms, you will be seeing the firearm pointing somewhere else (slightly up to 12 O'clock; slightly down and to the left at 7 O'clock, etc,).

Perform this excercise several times.

The most natural pointing firearm for me, that I have yet found, is the Browning Hi-Power.

You may be able to correct the problem with new/different grips.