Stopped at a new shooting range today - won't be going back . . . .

[Wheelguns 1961]

I frequent a very good friendly indoor range near my home. They have no problems with my lead bullets or my reloads. I mostly shoot revolvers, but if I bring semi autos, they will help me pick up my brass and any other brass left behind that I want. They have several long term employees that I now consider friends. They are very safety conscience and don’t put up with any ****. I like to go during the week, but if I go on a weekend, I get there right when they open. That way, I miss alot of the mall ninjas. I enjoy this place, and have became friends with like minded folks. So, some are good and some not.

[Hickory]

...someone should have consider the application of an IQ test for proper gun handling.

This is a very good idea.

[EDG]

Private range operators have a tendency to be strange birds. We had some shooters find a human arm in the ground after the road up to the 200 berm eroded from a heavy rain. Turns out the range owner murdered the man and buried him in the road after hours. It gave me the creeps to go to that range years later after he got out of jail. He eventually did the world a small favor and died of a heart attack but the new owner is just about as goofy.

[richhodg66]

Private range operators have a tendency to be strange birds. We had some shooters find a human arm in the ground after the road up to the 200 berm eroded from a heavy rain. Turns out the range owner murdered the man and buried him in the road after hours. It gave me the creeps to go to that range years later after he got out of jail. He eventually did the world a small favor and died of a heart attack but the new owner is just about as goofy.

Wow!

There are actually two around here, one of which is run by a retired LEO and is generally a pretty well-run place, he's a good guy and runs a good business, just not my kindof place.

The other is in a nearby town and had kind of a reputation. The wife and I were in the shop next door once when a guy inside committed suicide. Guess I can't fault the owners for that, but these pay as you go indoor ranges seem to attract types I don't want to be around with loaded guns.

[JSnover]

The wife and I were in the shop next door once when a guy inside committed suicide. Guess I can't fault the owners for that, but these pay as you go indoor ranges seem to attract types I don't want to be around with loaded guns.

Does anyone know how common this is? A friend of mine who 'knows a guy who knows a guy' said one of the indoor ranges near me has had several suicides on the firing line and that it happens more often than we think.

[daengmei]

My daughter tells me one occurred at a range I've use a couple times just in the last day or two....too many folks are taking the "easy" way out without regard to the pains that follow for loved ones.

[richhodg66]

Suicide is an awfully selfish thing to do, and doing it in public where strangers witness it is even more so.

The regular outdoor public ranges I go to now and then don't ever seem to attract real weirdos, at least they haven't when I've been there.

[Tom W.]

It's been a few years since the last suicides at Shooters...but there were I believe two within a year's time. The guys rented a firearm and bought a box of cartridges, set up their target, shot at it a few times and blew their brains out.
This was two different occasions.
Kinda creeps me out when I go there, as I don't know what lanes they were using......

[higgins]

A pay as you go range of any type seems to attract people who I don't want to be around. Some ranges are open certain hours and have ROs on duty, but they can't be everywhere at once.

[FISH4BUGS]

Does anyone know how common this is? A friend of mine who 'knows a guy who knows a guy' said one of the indoor ranges near me has had several suicides on the firing line and that it happens more often than we think.

I was shooting at a friend's commercial indoor range when a guy next to me decided to off himself. I was sad that he did that to himself but grateful he decided to not take anyone else out with him. Needless to say it was quite a mess.
There was a news crew that had just completed taping a segment on the ownership and shooting of legal machine guns and had packed up and was actually in the parking lot ready to leave when the guy decided to do the deed on the firing line.
The owner immediately closed the range
I stayed with my friend as the HazMat crew cleaned up the mess and the police did their thing.
In talking with him, I learned that the insurance industry says that on average, one suicide per every 35,000 hours of range operations is the "industry standard".

[Petander]

I used to frequent a couple of indoor ranges in the early 90's before I moved to the woods.

In 1999 a woman rented a Beretta 92 and killed three men and seroiusly wounded one at an indoor range here in Helsinki.

She then took a bus to the airport,bought a ticket to London. She had ammo in her pocket at security check but she was let through because her excuse was "these are memory items from my dead husband".

She was stopped while boarding,a janitor had found the pistol in an aiport trash.

She thought she was a widow for some X-files agent character and she had to run a revenge... She had a normal job with computers,no violent background or anything.

[trapper9260]

I shoot at the best range anywhere in the world, my own.
No restrictions, no fees, no limit on caliber or velocities.
Sometimes I am interrupted by my wife telling me it's time to eat.

This is what I got also . But no wife. I just shoot when I feel like to.My is outside also.

[Sig556r]

I was shooting at a friend's commercial indoor range when a guy next to me decided to off himself. I was sad that he did that to himself but grateful he decided to not take anyone else out with him. Needless to say it was quite a mess.
There was a news crew that had just completed taping a segment on the ownership and shooting of legal machine guns and had packed up and was actually in the parking lot ready to leave when the guy decided to do the deed on the firing line.
The owner immediately closed the range
I stayed with my friend as the HazMat crew cleaned up the mess and the police did their thing.
In talking with him, I learned that the insurance industry says that on average, one suicide per every 35,000 hours of range operations is the "industry standard".

Wow, that's one too many in 14-15yrs of operation...reminded me of one local open range that got a freak "accident" when a newbie, cleaning a rifle, had an accidental discharge fatally hitting a guy in the parking lot...

[Crash_Corrigan]

We are somewhat fortunate here in Vegas. We have 4 indoor ranges that I have been to and used in town. I am sure that there are probably 20 indoor ranges here. One is reasonable and decent. Any ammo you want except AP or tracers. Pick all the brass you want. The will even allow to load up on lead when they clean up every week. This lead is super dirty but since it floats off the top? The price is right and this stuff is super soft.

Only one range has a decent air cleaning system. It works. The others get kinda smokey especially when I fire off a box of .45's. They are big fat 200gr LSMC lubed with mule snot and they all leave a visible smoke trail right to where the boolit hit. One place had a we gonna keep your brass so I mounted a brass catcher on my wrist and caught all mine. I started a trend they were not happy about.

WE also are blessed with the Desert Sportmans Rifle & Pistol Club in nearby Red Rock Canyon. My senior ticket for year is only $75. No 50 bmg or tracers allowed. Any ammo you want, they want you to pick up the brass even if only to dump it in the trash. When I go there I also drag along a truck full of 5 gal plastic buckets to pick up the brass after the local cops qualify every month or so. The ground is covered up to 3 or 4 thick in shiny new brass cases. I came home last week with well over 1,000 lbs of brass. If I ever get to it I will sort it out and sell it. We also allow you to mine the berms when no one is shooting. One day I was shooting and a van pulls up. Four Asian tourists and their guide with two cased rifles and a study cart holding big steel cans of ammo. Turns out that the white dude "guiding" them was a local whose schtick was to troll the Hotel California and pick up tourists. He takes them to our range and supplies a spanking new CMP Garand, ammo and steel targets. Hours went by and all those 4 Asian dudes had a ball. They were firing off 8 round enbloc clips AFAP. Soon the ground was littered with them and their brass contents minus boolits of course. Soon enough the group started to leave. I spoke to the guy about the brass and he said "take it all along with the ammo boxes and clips." " I just buy new ones." Those guys went thru 800 rounds in about two hours. I have a lifetime supply of brass for my two beloved Garands.

[Winger Ed.]

Hours went by and all those 4 Asian dudes had a ball.

The range I used to go to before I moved out of the city is a big tourist attraction for people from fire arms restricted countries.

They rent hand guns, they must be fed with the range's own reloads, and it ain't cheap.
They have a big sign in the range shack that clearly states:
"At least one person in your group MUST speak fluent English"

These folks get a safety class, and put right next to a full time range master.
I've seen a few groups of Asians that rent one or two .38 or 9mm handguns, make a day of it,
and they look like they're having the time of their life.

[15meter]

I'm so grateful for my membership in 2 private clubs, I have access to multiple trap and skeet fields and both rifle and pistol out to 300 yards.

I occasionally go to a state outdoor range when I'm traveling in the area, more to brass vulture in the scrap buckets than shoot. The RSO's are more than happy to let anybody haul off as much as they want--one told me he already has more 55 gallon drums filled at home then he'll ever use.

My shooting would drop dramatically if I had to shoot on the public ranges with the clientele that shows up there.

Unfortunately those are the people the anti-gunners see and base their fears on.

I know they scare me. And they're breeding.

[Tom W.]

Most of my shooting is at the Sheriff's office range now....

[jonp]

Private range I go too is pretty nice but...when they opened up the owner was and is pretty cool to talk to. Former military sniper but without the attitude. Requires a weekend class taught by him before letting anyone on the 1,000yrd range. Reason is pretty good as there are houses way beyond the berms but if someone just starts letting them off there is a very small chance a bullet could go far enough downrange so he wants to make sure you have some idea what you are doing.

Range membership has grown and last couple of times I went he had hired a couple of "those" guys to help out. You know the type, too cool to talk to you and who know everything about everything. Not very friendly so now I just go, do my shooting and leave without much talk.

The range does let you shoot reloads and keep your brass but asks that you leave all other brass on the ground as they pick it up to sell for some money.