Can't believe I am doomed to an indoor range!

B

baddarryl

New member
I know, I know I should be grateful that I have a place 5 minutes down the street to shoot, but sometimes it just irks me. The idiot blasting a 12 gauge in the stall next to you, lead in the air with poor ventilation, having no idea who you are shooting with, not being able to find your brass, noise and more noise.

I know, gripe, gripe gripe, but there is something so totally soulless as compared to pulling over to the side of the road, finding a safe place and blasting some beer cans with your buddies.........seems there is no where to do that anymore!
 
I live in Wilmington NC. Truth is there probably is, but as a single dad, no time to explore or look. Certainly not in the immediate area though as Wilmington is pretty crowded and it's a 45 minute drive to the nearest public outdoor range. Outdoor ranges are the same way, just with fresher air! :o
 
Darryl, Just be sure to keep a check on lead contamination. Back when I shot Bullseye Pistol competitively, around 300 to 400 rounds a week, winter was indoor. After a few years of this, I started getting headaches about an hour into shooting. Got my lead level checked and I was right below the limit where I would have to quit shooting indoors. Doctor told me to wear a mask that filters out lead dust. Always wash my hands after shooting. Wear shoes dedicated to the range, never wear those shoes inside my home, especially with children at home. Once I started wearing that mask, the headaches stopped and my lead levels slowly returned to normal.

Some people seem to be immune to lead from shooting, others it affects them quickly. Not worth risking it, wear a mask. Not just a dust mask, but one specifically made to filter out lead dust.
 
Sorry dude, 45 minutes is nothing to drive - most folks do that daily twice a day on their way to and from work. You might want to check out those places sometime
 
Baddarryl, just head on up to the mountains and take a vacation. I am in the northwestern most part if NC. I'll find you a place to shoot. We have many from private ranges to a 1000 yard range within 30 minutes of my house... If you ever make it up this way, send me a message...
 
I feel your pain. Rifle and shotgun shooters should be segregated from pistol shooters. If it happens that one of those folks pull up next to your lane. Just take a different lane. Or walk off your lane and wait the individual out. Tell the management you've stopped shooting because of the situation. And that they should freeze your time until the guy leaves or you can get a more suitable lane so to continue your shooting time. When bad range ventilation is a concern. Get yourself a 3M {paper} auto painters mask. A much better constructed mask than a simple gauze disposable quite often seen in a hardware store. Plus the painters mask is reusable until it plugs.

S/S
 
Sorry dude, 45 minutes is nothing to drive - most folks do that daily twice a day on their way to and from work. You might want to check out those places sometime
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I know man and we do from time to time. I guess my point is I hate to pay to shoot. Just doesn't seem the same as the old days. Find a field, shoot......
 
Baddarryl, just head on up to the mountains and take a vacation. I am in the northwestern most part if NC. I'll find you a place to shoot. We have many from private ranges to a 1000 yard range within 30 minutes of my house... If you ever make it up this way, send me a message...
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We were just at Chimney Rock 2 weeks ago! Fantastic place and thanks for the offer!
 
Perhaps this will help a bit. (See post #4)
Its not a range, but it seems you can shoot some there.
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I live not far from there and it is something I am looking into. I have heard you can't target shoot out there anymore, but need to verify. The roads are closed except for 3 days a week during hunting season. I guess I need to put on the hiking books and check it out! Thanks.
 
For pistol shooting, I prefer indoor ranges. No worries about the weather, and the targets come back to me without me needing to walk out there to get them.

For rifle and shotgun, I'd rather shoot outdoors, and you need to with most rifles anyway.

Lead contamination is a worry, but probably not a serious one for the shooters, unless you shoot as much as most of us spend on our jobs. If the range is properly ventilated, shouldn't be too bad. I got lead poisoning once, but it was when I worked on an indoor range, and had to clean out the backstop once a week.
 
I know man and we do from time to time. I guess my point is I hate to pay to shoot. Just doesn't seem the same as the old days. Find a field, shoot
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Now THAT I hear ya - used to live out West with 100,000 square miles of open BLM land to shoot on; even the city shooting range was free and open to the public. Now living here in the East and finding a place to shoot - period - sucks, let along one that isn't populated with zombie-slayer wannabes and their "arsenals" or close to the house or not charging $15/hour. Result? I shoot a lot more shotgun at clay targets at a place that also has pistol and rifle ranges and take those guns up there now and again
 
Well.. theres one good thing about shooting indoors.
I use 1/3 of the ammo that I would outdoors shooting at whatever is laying around.
 
I have been an indoor shooter most of the time.
A good indoor range:
1. Does not allow black powder-more for the smell than the smoke.
2. Has good ventilation, not only for smoke and residue but also climate control-the range I currently use can be a steambath on a humid summer day.
3. Has well anchored target cables and holders-I have seen too many that sway in the breeze.
4.If facilities allow, separates shooters of loud guns from the rest.
Outdoor shooting places rather scarce here in Central NJ, my town outlawed
firearms discharge 40 years ago.Indoor shooting beats NO shooting.
 
blasting some beer cans with your buddies.........

We all guilty of this...I'm sure...given the opportunity.

However, this certainty doesn't play into the ideal of safe gun handling. After all alcohol and guns don't mix. This would be a great talking point with the anti-gun crowd. Granted, not talking about something doesn't make it go away but why provide ammunition for their cause?
 
Yea.. blasting some beer cans with buddies.
He didnt say drinking them first then blasting them.

This would be a great talking point with the anti-gun crowd
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Those people will always have their "talking points", real or imagined. :rolleyes:
I doubt a properly worded post in a itty-bitty thread like this will give them much to chew on.
 
Perhaps the right approach would be -

1) collect empty beer cans from your anti-gun buddies

2) go shoot them up out in the desert

3) collect the shot up cans, and a lot of other discarded cans, and your spent lead. Turn all that stuff over to your Sierra Club recycling buddies. Probably also take them pictures of the lizards and flies and blades of grass that you didn't kill. Tell them you wore 3 pairs of socks so that the bromhidrosis didn't kill any native scent sensitive bacteria.


Satisfy everyone's agenda..:)


Sgt Lumpy
 
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