Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Dumb asses at the public range...

There are some scary incidents being posted here. I guess I'm lucky. My range has range officers that watch everything like a hawk. nothing that is not 100% safe will be tolerated. security Camera's cover every firing position. You have to sign in and out of your lane/position. Overhead baffles prevent a bullet from striking anything but the berm/embankment. Flashing safety lights are activated indicating when the range is cold and no one is allowed to go down range to check or place/pull targets until everyone is behind a yellow safety line with all wepons placed on the table with actions open. Small bore, handgun, steel plate, 50-100 yd, 50-200 yd ranges facing in different directions etc. No such thing as being to safe.

Here is eastern Nebraska, the biggest and most active range is pretty darn safe. Was there with the g/son yesterday and it was not as active as usual but still a double handful of folks shooting. The range officer was driving from range to range checking on everybody and making sure things were safe.

Side note: why do kids want to shoot the expensive stuff instead of the .22 lr ?

I am fortunate to have a city owned and supervised range very near my home. A couple of weeks ago I was on the pistol range side. A young man to my left was there firing as well as were several others left and right. As I was sitting at my bench taking a few shots, I felt a thud on the right side of my chest. Looking down, I saw a mark on my right shirt pocket and on the ground was a FMJ bullet about .38 caliber. I picked it up and it was still warm. The young fellow to my left was shooting that same ammo and others different calibers/bullet types. I wasn't mad or anything and told him that I thought he had shot me. He got all defensive and tried to say that the bullet was a .45, not a .38, etc., etc. It was obviously not a .45 as I showed him a .44 case that I was shooting. I tried to reassure him that I was not upset and knew it was a freak richochet (sp?). The berm was about 30 yards or so down range. I joked that maybe I need to get my old helmet out of the attic to wear when I went to the range. I didn't see that anything unsafe was done by anyone or caused by any defect in range facilities. It was just one of those freak things. I did not say anything to the range management as I didn't want the city to do any investigating and declare the range a public safety hazard or anything as nothing overtly unsafe had happened. Again, just a freak accident.

Starr's is still open? Remember going out there when I lived in Corpus. Used to have fun at that range.

I was our local range not to long ago and there was a elderly gentleman with his grandson trying to sight in a slug barreled shotgun. I heard them complaining about not being able to hit the 50yd deer target at all. So I turned to see what the heck is going on. I noticed that the slugs were hitting the baffles above the target and walk over and tell them what's going on and that they are destroying that protective barrier! So asked them if I could look at their shotgun and the said yes. Well the scope base was all freaking loose, the scope was way out of focus and for the life of me I don't see how he could even see the freakin target. So I tightened everything up, used my bore sighter, adjusted the scope and asked the gentleman to look through the scope and he was surprised as [bleep] he could see the target. A few shots later he was grouping his shots and at the end he came over to thank me. I said, no problem, but you sure wasted a lot of ammo based on the boxes I saw in the trash can.

Is anyone here a member of one of those “gun clubs” where some have not popped a cap in 20 years and just sit around eating schnitzel and talking about gout? 😃

We got some down here mostly winter Texans. They'll interrupt your shooting time and just blabber on and on!

A friend was invited to a gun club as a prospective member. He showed up with a rifle, expecting to do some shooting. When he arrived , everyone was wearing sport coats and drinking cocktails. He got some funny looks when they saw him carrying a gun case. Most members didn’t own a gun.

When in my 20s and first teaching myself to shoot and reload, we lived out in the desert SW corner of AZ and it was quite simple - drive out to a clear area, set up, and shoot. Paradise. Later when living in Tempe. AZ in the 1960s, one could still do that by driving about 30 minutes south and also we were fortunate to have a very good private/public range at the base of South Mountain - staffed every day by an old fellow who was knowledgeable and excellent - never encountered a problem person there. Maybe there were some idiots there as folks got ready for deer and elk seasons but was never there at those times. Paradise continued, to a significant extent

Later, in MD near DC and then in the Puget Sound WA area in the 1980s it was necessary to be a member of some "private" range if one wanted to shoot within an hour of home - and some poor specimens started to show up at those venues. Bad harbinger. Then we had a wonderful and very scenic membership range quite close to town in Prescott AZ in the 80s and 90s and never an issue with jerks at the range - spoiled me forever.

Then, for a few years we lived in Scottsdale and a person had to drive out to Ben Avery or over to Usery Pass - and experienced ongoing problems with crowding and some very poor shooting behavior. Quite a comedown.

So, we moved up the the NM high forest 20 years ago and one of the very first things we did was set up the 25 yard to 400 yard target stands - and even a way to shoot from indoors on rough weather days. Paradise regained - and never an instance of strange or poor range behavior, even though some of our interesting and unique Campfire guys have come to visit us and enjoy the "range". We realize that we are blessed and very fortunate - and I wish for every serious shooter that you can enjoy the same while on this earth.

I do my best to keep to myself at the range as I find most people like to tell you about what they’re shooting more than they like to shoot. A while back there was a dude shooting some custom rifle with reloaded ammo with a nightforce and a suppressor. In CA, you gotta be someone to have a suppressor. He looked like he knew what he was doing. To me this is a rare sight at the range. Sure as [bleep] he struck up conversation- eager to tell me about his rifle (6.5 creedmoor) and how he works for an elite security company so he can have a suppressor. After a shooting session he comes back with his target and starts taking measurements with a set of calipers. They were good groups. He of course shows them to me and I was confused as to how he got his numbers- until I saw him take more measurements. Dude was taking the center to center measurements of the groups, then subtracting the bullet diameter... I bet he couldn’t wait to tell his buddies

How did you find out?

Dang I didn't know you ate schnitzel and talked about gout.

Why doesn’t the range shut down all shooters while people are walking on the range?

I used to shoot on a pay-to-play public range in the Pawnee Grasslands east of Ft. Collins.

I cannot count the number of times, during a CEASE FIRE, I was downrange gathering a target, and turned around to see half the firing line handling rifles pointed right at me.

It was unhealthy for me in the long run. I tried for weeks to be polite and educate. Lost that patience and starting barking at guys after that for a while. Complained to the "range boss" (that's a lost cause)... It was just a total chit show every time I went there.

Finally joined Liberty Firearm Institute in Johnstown, CO once they opened. Top notch indoor range, haven't looked back.

Each range is a separate range with a 25 foot high burm dividing them. Ranges are probably 40-50 yards apart. It takes a particular effort to walk over to the other range to get them to hold fire but I think that will be my practice from now on. Unfortunately there are no range officers at this range. Just some posted “rules”. Below is an overhead view of the range.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/14710636#Post14710636

Lytle creek in Southern California maybe 30 years ago.

Old brass and shotgun shells maybe 30 feet wide running a long ways.

Guys would come up with sks’ and shoot in a circle at a central target.

Another guy has a watermelon in one hand and tries to throw it in the air to shoot it. By the time he gets his hand on the forearm it’s hit the ground 3’ in front of him. So he shoots it there.

Didn’t go back.

Anybody here ever shot at the local range in Brady, Tx? It's out by Brady lake. Man, that place will make you nervous.

Also, nothing more irritating than yahoo’s sitting at the bench right next to you and “ratt,tattt,tattt” with their AR or sks, raining brass all over you when you are trying to shoot for accuracy. I was so tempted to tell a guy next to me to get a brass catcher or choose another shooting bench😡

Seen all kind of dumb stuff done on my range, go to some public ranges too that's were really dangerous stuff goes on

LMAO! Reminds me of high school, I'd just bought my first 10-22. I was taught gun safety well (my father and grandfather put ~80 years combined in the California Highway Patrol).

So I was petrified when my dipchit buddy grabbed my Ruger 10-22 with a 50 round mag out of my hands, and hip-fired the mag empty while swinging the rifle all over, screaming (in a horrible Arnold Schwarzenegger accent)

"ARNIE MOWS DOWN THE FOREST!!!:"

Today, that dipchit friend of mine is a top raking officer in the US Army, a very capable neurosurgeon. Go figure.