You never know what you'll see at the range

[John Guedry]

I shoot at a public range. And once when I was going I asked my nephew if he wanted to go.(He's retired leo) When we left after a good afternoon,he comented how much safer he felt at that range than the police range. He said most of the "newbies" at the police range had no concept of muzzle control or any idea of firearms safety. This was after they qualified.

[firefly1957]

Last weekend I helped my club at sight in days we have four more days coming very few shooters came out .
I had one Lady with A Winchester model 94 with a side mount scope was shooting all over so I said let me check your mounts . Sure enough the mounts to the side of the rifle and the mounts to the scope rings were loose . To make things worse the scope was turned so left and right was up & down and up &down left and right I verified what was what and wrote it down . After tightening the mounts she was shooting small 50 yard groups with the 30-30 .
Another guy was shooting a .300 Blackout and he complained about the blast from a guy at the other end of the range . I told him he is shooting the same weight bullet as you but over a 1000 f/s faster. He was shooting a .300 Weatherby with Weatherby 150 grain ammunition . He was having terrible trouble getting the scope set I forget the brand it has the locking up down ring and the adjustments were very stiff.

I have seen a bunch of things mentioned above the past few years .270 in 30-06 . 41 mag in .44 mag 30-30 in .32 Sp. and found 9 mm cases there fired in a .40 S&W. About the goofiest guy at the range was shooting a Rossi levergun in .45 Colt he had the right ammo but said something about .45 short colt we told him there is no such thing. He got the gun sighted then it jammed the last shot was 6" high at 25 yards and there was an ejected .45 acp case with the next one jamming the gun . He had a few in a jacket pocket and it was high end self defense ammo , no harm was done to the gun or him -this time!
Last year I did see a nice old Remington 740 JAMMED by a reload the owner bought from a gun show it was a over pressure load that stuck in the chamber and the case rim was ripped off . I got the stuck case out and told the guy to have the gun looked at by a gunsmith before trying to shoot it again. It looked OKAY and seemed to lock but who would want to chance a cracked locking lug or some other issue , The primer pocket was HUGE and the shell was very tight in the chamber.

[Wag]

Several times, I've been on the line next to someone with a new handgun. I'll finally hear the guy say something along the lines of, "This is the worst gun I've ever had. Can't hit anything with it." Along with some salty language, of course.

Finally, I said, "Do you mind if I try it?" I tried it and it shot just fine, small groups, at or new the bullseye. I'm no great shooter by any stretch of the imagination but it's not usually problematic at short ranges.

The owner of the gun would tell me something like, "Wow, how did you do that?"

I'd reply, "Just doing the basics. If you like, I can show you some different things."

"Sure!"

In about ten minutes of coaching on basic grip, trigger control, sight picture and sight alignment, stance, etc., the guy would be on target and thanking me profusely. Occasionally someone would offer to pay me but I always decline. It just feels like paying it forward.

--Wag--

[Photog]

Our local public range is owned by the game and fish dept, and I helped them build it, and volunteered as an RSO, sat on the board of directors and was the operations director for a while. I got to meet some great folks, and even started a USPSA club (which was a major point of my volunteerism). I worked a lot of matches, led practices, taught new shooters, and spent plenty of time on the line keeping things safe. Its not all bad! Yes, I got a bunch of muzzles pointed at me, so there's that. But overall the LEOs were the least safe group, I had a couple of them decide that they could shoot rifles anywhere on the range that they wanted, and picked the trap range as their backstop. And there was the time I found a bullet hole in the spectator bleachers (behind the pistol range) right after a LEO training. And I got lots of brass to take home!

[shooting on a shoestring]

For a while my folks lived in Hagerman, New Mexico near the Pecos River. The county had a nice berm pushed up at the end of a little county road just off the highway heading east out of town. It wasn’t an official shooting range, just a handy place to shoot a little.

One day driving past it on the highway about deer season, we looked over and saw a handful of “locals” with a 30-30 shooting at 5 gallon bucket. But……they had the 5 gallon bucket perched on the pinnacle of the berm. Perfectly sky lighted. Easy to see.

[44Blam]

The pandemic getting people to buy guns was really bad for this...
I remember a small lady going to learn how to shoot her gun and she got the 10mm because it was only 1mm bigger than a 9mm. She unboxed at the bench where you put stuff, flagged the whole line and took it to the shooting line... I think she shot 2 rounds... She did not have a good experience.

I remember a guy at the rifle range and was shooting a 10mm revolver. I commented on it and he said he was shooting 40s. So, I asked "oh with moon clips?" and he said "no, I just tilt the gun back before each shot"...

I did find a chunk of a 44 mag cylinder in the wall of the pistol bay - it looked like someone had a terrible day.

[376Steyr]

Not nearly as spectacular as some of these stories, but I was shooting my .38 Special at the range and was asked by the guy next to me to look at his .357, which was not firing. The gun and cartridges were absolutely slimy with 3-n-1 oil, and the primers were quite dead. I wiped the gun down, ran some .38s through it with no problem, and advised him to buy some fresh ammo. He told me it was his home defense gun.

[steve urquell]

When I was a 16 year old kid in N. Houston a guy wanted to shoot my Ruger MkII. He took a couple shots then turned to me with finger on the trigger swinging the muzzle around. As a kid I didn't feel like I could tell an adult he was being unsafe but I was bobbing and weaving around the muzzle. POW! He shoots thru the range roof. I told him to put my gun down then. Could have killed me.

Last time I was on a public unsupervised range at least 30 years ago(I have my own range on my property) a guy showed up wearing SWAT gear, started putting clays on the berm then started stalking and shooting them with a pistol grip 12ga. It was in our Nat'l forest and we were the only two people there. I packed up my guns and left.

[tommag]

Quite a few years ago I was on my way to arrange and realized I neglected to bring any 38 special ammo to shoot out of my 357 magnum. rather than head home there was a local big box gun store on the way so I figured I’d just stop in and pick up a box. Ask the guy behind the counter for box of 38 special. I was then questioned as to what I was shooting them out of. Without thinking I replied my GP 103 57 magnum. The guy behind the counter went into a tirade about how I was gonna blow my gun up shooting 38’s out of a 357 Because, he explained 30 eights were much bigger and thereby more powerful than a 357 magnum and if I tried to shoot them I would surely blow my gun up along with seriously damaging my hands. As I looked in disbelief and Uttered one word “ idiot” . As I turned around to leave one of the other sales persons asked me what the problem was. I told him that the previous person I spoke to needed to be transferred to the dock department as he had no business talking to anyone about firearms! I then attempted to explain the situation. Well the second sales person told me that the first sales person was right and I should always shoot the proper ammunition out of any gun! I thought I was in the twilight zone. I suspected as people were moved around out of other departments they were told the blanket statement of make sure when you sell ammunition to someone it’s the right ammunition for the firearm they want to load in it. And that was probably all the instructions, experience, firearms training that any of them were given. Now matching ammunition to the specific firearm is certainly sound advice, but I wondered how many range mishaps these two idiots were responsible for. I’m sure there was an awful lot of people that stopped in this place on the way to the range I was going to as it was on the way and only about a mile or two away from the range. As for me, I left turned around and went home got my reloads and went back to the range. I’ve never been back in that store.

Would that be like warning a customer against shooting 22 long rifle in a handgun since it's obviously not a rifle?

[mobilemail]

I usually shoot at the local indoor range on Saturdays, the same day they offer the first-time CCW classes. It's always interesting, occasionally entertaining and periodically scary to hear the range master stories after the students shoot their qualification rounds. I've decided it takes a good deal of bravery and patience to be a range master.

[paul edward]

An uncle bought an 1894 Winchester from a neighbor who complained it was not accurate. To demonstrate, the neighbor loaded a few 30/30 cartridges and fired them at a nearby cardboard box without hitting it. (they were in a remote place) Uncle looked at the empties, commiserated, and made a very low offer mumbling something about parts. Neighbor left happy with a few bucks and my uncle ended up with a very accurate 38/55 rifle. I still have one of those empties.

[nueces5]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA SOOO GOOD!
Poor Mosin, I'd like to know how accurate he was.
I have seen a 9mm case purchased to shoot a 38 Super colt 1911.
Some think it is like using regular or premium gasoline.
Others of us know that it is like using gasoline or diesel, hahahahaha

[jdgabbard]

About the goofiest guy at the range was shooting a Rossi levergun in .45 Colt he had the right ammo but said something about .45 short colt we told him there is no such thing.

Had he said something like that to me I would have thought he was talking about 45 Schofield, 45 Government or whatever the Army called it back then. As that is effectively what it is, a 45 Colt Short. But I definitely wouldn't have guessed 45 ACP.

[rintinglen]

Back around 1990, I saw a pair of thug-life looking fellows wrapping 32 S&W shells with strips of tissue paper and firing them in a 38 Charter Arms. The cases were blown out in a funnel shape and the bullets were impacting all over (and around) the target at 5 yards... I reported them to the range officer and left.

[technojock]

I've never had a bad day at the range but I had one slightly humorous story. A member and his friend were shooting a 9mm and a .45ACP. As the were packing up I took them a handful of their brass that landed in my area, they declined to take it and told me they just toss it. They looked at me as some kind of hobo as I went though the trash to recover about 4 boxes of brass...

[charlie b]

ROFLMAO, yep, been there, done that.

A few of the CCW qualification classes I attended were smaller with folks who didn't reload. At the end of the class they looked at me funny as I collected all of it.

One of our indoor ranges didn't care about brass on the floor and had a few long handle brooms. Whenever I got a chance I'd sweep up all the brass I could reach. The staff like it cause it saved them some work at the end of the day.

[Walstr]

I've been 'lucky' at our public range. Most of the folks at least know which end the bullet comes out and I haven't seen anything unsafe.

During the hunting season we get a lot of folks zeroing guns. Many have bought the guns yesterday and are zeroing the gun on the way to hunt. Most take advice well and actually welcome someone helping them. At least all of them had the correct ammo

Our annual fall sightin is a good fund raiser for the club. One RSO/customer + an RSO dedicated for "check-in" to verify ammo is correct. Amazing how little native curiosity concerns some folks. I too look for body language clues.

One 30-something had his scope on backwards. It was a cheap ***, so hard to tell ocular from objective lens!

Like a previous member said, I too don't want to be near the next Darwin award ceremony!

[Walstr]

ROFLMAO, yep, been there, done that.

A few of the CCW qualification classes I attended were smaller with folks who didn't reload. At the end of the class they looked at me funny as I collected all of it.

One of our indoor ranges didn't care about brass on the floor and had a few long handle brooms. Whenever I got a chance I'd sweep up all the brass I could reach. The staff like it cause it saved them some work at the end of the day.

Yeah but, don't they sell it for smelting $$ income?

[Winger Ed.]

They looked at me as some kind of hobo as I went though the trash to recover about 4 boxes of brass...

I was at the public range years back and saw a guy sighting in for the upcoming season.
He had a high end Weatherby with a scope on it the size of your leg.

He got done, picked up his brass, went over to the trash can and was rooting around taking all the rifle brass he could reach.
My buddy pointed over and said, "Look, that guy is beating us to the range brass we aren't supposed to take".
Then he went over and got into a new Mercedes. One of the real big like diplomats have to drive them around.

I thought to myself, 'Getting rich is hard, but staying rich takes a lot of work'.

[Walstr]

An uncle bought an 1894 Winchester from a neighbor who complained it was not accurate. To demonstrate, the neighbor loaded a few 30/30 cartridges and fired them at a nearby cardboard box without hitting it. (they were in a remote place) Uncle looked at the empties, commiserated, and made a very low offer mumbling something about parts. Neighbor left happy with a few bucks and my uncle ended up with a very accurate 38/55 rifle. I still have one of those empties.

WOW...I fellow gun show vendor found a beautiful $10K 38-70 Winchester to buy for a song.