Bad experiences on the shooting range

[JasonB]

Sunday was bad experience... It started raining on us...

First time my wife and I took our youngest to Eagle Creek with his new Cricket... Nearly no one at range but even after asking multiple times the RO basically found it funny that the 6'4"+ guy shooting his 45 next to us kept pelting my son with brass and wouldn't let us move elsewhere...

Needless to say they lost our business... Plus give annual membership elsewhere was less than 2x what it cost 4 of us to shoot out there for the afternoon.

 

[87iroc]

My brother had someone(young kid) start shooting as he returned from putting targets up at the JP range. A guy there with his kid and his kid started shooting. I gathered they were quite a ways down the line but not a good situation. He informed me(I wasn't tehre) so I could make sure my daughter never did it.

Other than that, I think muzzle's being pointed poorly on the firing line. I did it to a friend one time after I started shooting(10+yrs ago) not even thinking about it(it had been years since I had shot). I have tried to be careful since.

At Atterbury a Japanese couple...she pointed the muzzle of the pistol down the line at all of us. I kept an eye on her after that but they only shot like 5 rounds from a semi auto then left. Guess they just bought it and wanted to try it out? I don't know.

Other than that folks at Atterbury touching the tables during target change times..but not near as bad as having a gun pointed at me on the line...

Stupid Bravado from guys overcompensating with their firearms to impress non-shooting friends is annoying but not unsafe...its just annoying. I saw that at Atterbury once.

I have never felt I had to say anything to anybody about anything.

 

[Westside]

Things I have seen just this year.

1) Dad brought his son to the range for the first time. Son shoots a 1911 after first shot with finger on the trigger the son points the gun to the sky and proceeds to look down the barrel. DAD DID NOTHING!

2) Muzzle direction issues I can't count how many times.

3) People loading firearms while the line is cold (shotguns and gallery style 22 rifles, NOT MAGAZINES)

4) Guy brought his first reloads to the range and had a squib load and didn't check to see if the barrel was clear and almost shot again before being stopped.

5) I was working on one of my guns at the range one day and a guy was having problems with his and wanted me to fix it. (I am not a guns smith) So, when I told him that I would look at it and give him my best advice but will not fix the gun he got mad at me.

Footnote: Not all these things occurred at the same range or on the same day.

 

[Bennettjh]

Most of my trips are fun and uneventful. However, this one time a dad was teaching his son to shoot pistols. The dad loaded up a .38 snub nose and handed it to the boy and went behind him. The kid didn't have a clue and kept looking at it and eventually ended up sweeping me with it. I turned around and gave the dad a bad look and he jumped up and grabbed the gun from his hands.

Teaching kids to shoot is awesome, but work with them. Don't just load and go.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

I’ve told this story before but it is always good for another go around.

I worked in a Navy personnel office on Torii Station Army Base just north of Kadena AFB 1n 1974 and our department head decided that he wanted all of us clerical type people .45 qualified (maybe because he was concerned that chucking our typewriters at invading Viet Cong couldn't guarantee us a OSS).

I was in a lane to the immediate left of a young sailorette, one of the first WAVES assigned permanently on Okinawa. She had just started in working in our office a few days earlier and in WAVE boot camp they then didn't weapons qualify so it was her first time with any gun of any kind.

Being a female type sailor, her dungaree blouse buttoned from the reverse of the men's, so the opening gapped to the left instead of the right. While we were shooting rapid fire one of my ejected brass flew into the gap in her blouse, and then wedged deeply into her cleavage (she was VERY well endowed).

She was quite surprised, upset, and vocal... and waving a .45 around in one hand while she danced across the range grabbing at her chest with the other. I was the only one who knew what happened, and I was dying laughing while everyone else scattered until things got back under control. I think the range Gunny put his retirement papers in the next day. Just couldn't handle these new-fangled ideas about women on the firing line.

She eventually forgave me, and this year we celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary. (She's since learned much better range manners, and I try not to give her any reason to regret going with me

Now that's some fancy shootin'.

 

[CindyE]

Was with 2 other people, shooting handguns at the short range. Guy on the long range to our far left announced he was going down range. I looked at him and nodded. I mistakenly thought the other 2 people had heard as well, they continued their conversation. I started loading magazines while waiting, and was not paying attention to the people I was with. Guy was downrange for awhile, and hidden by trees. One of the people I was with started shooting. Guy gets pissed and pointed out that I acknowledged him going downrange. I admitted that I did, and mistakenly thought the other people knew as well. I felt bad, but I think it is best to make eye contact with everyone and get an acknowledgment from everyone before going downrange. I think we were both at fault. I know I learned from that experience.

 

[jaybird_123]

She eventually forgave me, and this year we celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary. (She's since learned much better range manners, and I try not to give her any reason to regret going with me[/QUOTE]
Really nice story. Glad to know it worked out that way. My wife had similar situation, but the casing went in the collar of her shirt and stuck to the side of her neck. It was a friend of ours .45 casing that did it. She still has a slight scar from it. Did it make a scar on your ladies......ah.....area? That would be a real good conversation starter.

 

[JDvader]

I'm happy to report no dangerous situations at the range. However, I am sick and tired of being asked every 5 minutes if I'm going to keep my brass.

 

[Cygnus]

There was this one time, at Red Brush...

 

[drop45]

Shooting 44 magnum at Willow Slough last fall it was a crowded Saturday, shot 2 rounds and was about to drop the hammer on he third when I see this knucklehead half way down the path to change his target, I called him a dumba** at the top of my voice, gave him a death stare, and told him to leave before I kicked his teeth in. He's the perfect example as to why some parents eat their offspring in the wild.

 

[Valvestate]

She eventually forgave me, and this year we celebrated our 39th wedding anniversary. (She's since learned much better range manners, and I try not to give her any reason to regret going with me

Really nice story. Glad to know it worked out that way. My wife had similar situation, but the casing went in the collar of her shirt and stuck to the side of her neck. It was a friend of ours .45 casing that did it. She still has a slight scar from it. Did it make a scar on your ladies......ah.....area? That would be a real good conversation starter.[/QUOTE]

Mine's got a .22lr scar under her boob. She finished her mag before fishing the casing out.

 

[Rocket57]

Nope. I've never been to Don's and plan to keep it that way.

Worst I have experienced was the guy in the next lane having an AD with his muzzle-loader. He was messing around with something and thought he had the percussion cap off. At least he had it pointed downrange.

 

[rvb]

Didn't directly happen to me, but I was at the match where it happened....

USPSA level 1 match, about 80 shooters.... a shooter was interrupted mid stage when some guys fishing in a creek on the other side of the berm decided to climb to the top of the berm to "see what's going on."

-rvb

 

[rkwhyte2]

Don't have any truly bad experiences other than hot brass and a few idiots but I did have a funny(to me at least) experience. Took my daughter and her BF to the range in Delaware County(can't remember the name). Her BF was a Hispanic guy originally from South Central LA. We were shooting a variety of rifles and pistols and at one point while we were reloading he looks at me and says this is fun and it's the first time he has ever shot a gun when someone wasn't shooting back. Don't think I will ever forget that.

 

[bdybdall]

Long time before they redid Atterbury I was on the 50 yd. range. I was toward the right side and had my .54 TC Renegade. I was shooting off sand bags and had my set trigger set when my peripheral vision caught a guy going downrange to his targets. There were three young guys looking like construction workers sharing the same bench and it was one of them. I flicked off the cap and looked around. Most of the other shooters had congregated behind the line watching them and I joined them. The three young guys had a pump shotgun, a Marlin .30-30, and a gold plated SA revolver. They were shooting almost on top of one another.

 

[seadoodr.]

Saw a Russian (Ukraine) guy lock his keys in his car once at the range....

But actual bad things at the range....asked a "dad" to supervise his child better. He had given his child a full mag'd 22 rifle. Child started shooting wildly as dad simply walked off to get a soda.
He promptly left after he returned my "suggestion" with a hastily response. The RO had seen the commotion and simply ended the "dads" range time.
Not much of a dad to hand a novice youth shooter a firearm and walk off....

I'd say more like an idiot, some people don't use the brains god gave them!

 

[Sajer]

There are so many over the years. I shoot mostly at Kingsbury, which can be very good or very bad.

I like to try and get the first lane or two so that I dont have to worry so much about people behind me, but that donest always work.

I have been swept many times.
Told people to not to mess around with firearms during cease fire.
Dont steal my brass
Last week was a bunch of yahoos that had an SKS that didnt work in semi so they kept jacking the bolt and gave one of the kids a mauser and had him shoot it. AFter the third round he hit the last baffle on the 50 and poof a huge cloud of concrete.
BTW , they now have a sign for any baffle strike there is a $50 fine.
I have had people get pissed when I rain brass on them. One guy was so made he glared at me and told the RO. The RO came up and I told him im doing the best I can, but I warned them to not sit there.
Two guys trying to shoot of the same bench.
People using the wrong ammo
Not wearing eye or ear pro.
Anyone from the great land of Lincoln......

 

[littletommy]

Anybody who is familiar with the Henryville range knows how absolutely scary and stupid the LEO range is in relation to the main range. I've packed up and left there more than once when some cops showed up and walked out there while the main range was going full blast. (LEO are supposed to give notice to the park office about when they will be there, so the main range can be shut down for that time, but apparently they don't follow the rules).

 

[Mark 1911]

Was at the Winamac range last fall. An older couple was there, and it appeared as though the man was "teaching" his wife to shoot a handgun. It was a .38/.357 revolver with a approx. 6 inch barrel. The man was just sitting at the bench not paying much attention at all to the lady. She was standing behind the bench and holding the revolver with two hands, and her trigger finger never left the trigger between shots. After each shot, she would drop her arms, fully extended. With finger on trigger she was sweeping the concrete pad, sometimes the roof overhead, sometimes her husband, and a couple of times my buddy and I. We stepped way back, at least 10 yards, behind the shooting line. She never had an accidental discharge while we were there, but she sure was scary. She and her husband saw my buddy and I watching them in disbelief, but they didn't have a clue. I started to walk over to say something to them, but my buddy stopped me at that point and said "let's go man". That sounded good to me. We waited for the next time they walked down range, we grabbed our gear and left.

 

[gunowner930]

I was at a range in North Dakota last year that had no RSO. When I pulled up there were these 2 guys with an AK variant. I believe the gun belonged to the older looking guy, and the younger guy had the gun at the line and as i pulled up he turns all the way around sweeping the whole range. There was only one other group and they didn't seem to notice this guy shooting like an idiot. The older guy said something to him about doing that so I figured he wouldn't do it again. I go up to the line and shoot a mag from my pistol. This younger guy loads up another mag and is just firing away from the hip spraying rounds all over, hitting the ground as close as 15 yards in front of him. I'm watching this out of the corner of my eye, and when he's done (assume the mag is empty, no bolt hold open so can't be sure) he turns around to his friend sweeping the range and me again. I am instantly pissed and in a not so nice tone of voice tell him to not point that effin thing at me again. He can't hear what I am saying because he was not wearing any hearing protection. I have my pistol in my hand, and I'm thinking if this idiot swings the muzzle of that thing back around and sweeps me again I am gonna draw down on him and have him drop the rifle. Thankfully his buddy took the gun from him and I grabbed my stuff and left. I said something along the lines of "That idiot is so stupid he's dangerous" as I left. I didn't go back to that range much after that.

I bolded this because it seems especially apalling even given the other lunacy and some of the other stories from other posters, but damn I feel so fortunate that I have friends who own land in rural areas. If i saw that clown behaving like that, I would have walked right off that range and told anybody I saw who worked there why.