Idiot creates close call on range today

I'm thankful for my range. It's a semi-private range that's cheaper with a membership, but open to the public. I've yet to get a membership, but I've met the nicest people there and have to admit that I'm the only one that's had a safety issue while I was there.

At the indoor pistol range I swept a couple of nice women with their own guns when we were trying each others guns out. I don't know if it's up or down for safety in the indoor range (as it's cement EVERYTHING) and simply held the gun in an open palm aiming downrange with the slide locked back/cylinder out and no ammo in them (OF COURSE). They didn't seem to mind and one actually thanked me for treating her gun so well and being safe, but I felt bad that I muzzle flashed them both at points.

The rifle range actually makes me nervous, though. It's completely... weird. The 100yard range actually has a loading bench at 25 yards and has shooting seats set at 25, 50 and 100 yards. I fired at all the ranges there (only 22 rounds in two visits, as my Mosin likes to lock up. Now I need a membership to shoot again) But you NEED a membership to shoot there. In my two trips, I've always been the only one out there and only felt nervous when I realized that when I was shooting 25yards at the lower range, there were people shooting 50 yards at the upper range. (there's two ranges). There's no officers or supervisors anywhere at this place, it's a private club, so the people there are expected to be of higher caliber and police each other. No accidents or incidents that I know of.
 
Years ago I was at outdoor range that a 200/300 yard set up. The targets were on a rail that were accessed from a bunker. The bunker also had pointing sticks so a shooter could leave a spotter in the bunker, under the targets, to help point out were the bullets hit.

I took my nephew. He went in the bunker with me to help set the target up. I then asked him if he would remain there and be my spotter. He agreed.

I took three shots and waited for him to spot the hits. I waited, and I waited. A few seconds later I turn aroud to see him right behind me. I asked him what was wrong. He said he was frightened by the sound of the bullets whizzing by overhead. I told him that six inch cement walls and several feet of dirt and being a good ten feet below target would ensure his safety. He didn't buy it, and he wasn't going back.

I didn't blame him. Hearing bullets whizzing by would be unnerving, to say the least.
 
Help my husband is one of those idiots

Took my husband to the range on Saturday. It was the first time we had gotten the chance to go together, and with two little ones at home we don't get to do much together.
Now at our range there isn't always a RO on duty, but the rules are posted and you are expected to follow them. We had talked about firearms safety many times before and went over the rules of the range, but when we got there he walked down range before the line was clear, handed me a loaded handgun barrel first, and walked in front of me while loading a revolver you have to hold half cocked to rotate the wheel... :confused:
I stopped him every time and asked what the heck he was thinking! Explained to him what he did and why it was unsafe, but it just didn't sink in :mad: I ended up cutting our trip short because it just wasn't safe.

Right now I trying to convince him that we need to take a firearms safety class. Maybe if he hears it from a RO it will sink in
 
"try a shooting range in Alabama or Mississippi, you would be amazed at all the things you may see. One time I saw a guy shoot himself in the leg with a Ruger Mark 2 loaded with hollowpoints" from post 24.

I live in Mississippi & i find that a bit offensive. I seriously doubt that the intelligence of paper punchers has much to do with geographical dispersion within the continental United States. I will say, however, that most of my friends shoot on private land and not at ranges; i suppose there might be a lower rate of familiarity with range rules than in places with less private and rural land available for target practice like San Francisco or metro Atlanta. I personally feel safer shooting by myself or with a very few friends in a large clay pit made by oil exploration in days gone by; the pit has 20' clay walls and is on private land with a locked gate to limit surprises.

I don't eat possum or possum-on-the-halfshell either. :rolleyes:
 
There was a ceasefire for around 20 minutes after that incident, and to my suprise the guy just was joking and laughing around with his group of buddies like it was nothing afterwards with no ear or eye protection on the range.
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He should have been severely reprimanded for violating the rules. Had I been the RO, and he decided the incident was funny, he should have been booted.

That's a blatant disregard for rules, compounded by a safety violation. Then the guy thinks it's funny? He doesn't need to be handling firearms.
 
It comes down to one thing, mentorship. Ranges that don't require you to either take a class or have at least a 15-minute 1-on-1 session with the Range Officer prior to joining the range are asking for this type of Tom Foolery. Honestly I blame the range almost as much as the individual, assuming that type of instruction wasn't required.

Well maybe it comes down to another thing as well, getting into a rush. People think the more rounds they put down range the better they are getting. Shoot shoot shoot, if something interrupts their shooting, they get aggitated and stop thinking about safety, stop thinking about procedure, especially if it hasn't been trained into them.

I like to put the gun down every few mags or every 15min or so. Step back, do something else. Sort the crap in my bag, check my email on the phone, tie my shoe, go to the bathroom, chat with the people next to me, whatever. During that time I think about the last few mags I just shot, what I liked and what needs to be worked on for the next round of shooting. Sometimes I'll write this stuff down.

Slow, methodical, precise, directed practice... even if I'm working double-taps or rapid shooting. You're either getting better or you're getting worse, so make the time count.
 
I took my CCW class last night in Scottsdale with a gem of a team of Tim Forshey and Kevin Neal (i know some AZ folks know these guys)

They taught us that [accurate] rapid fire is an extremely important progression in learning to shoot defensively. I can understand why ranges wouldn't want people jackassing around with rounds going everyhwere, but to outright ban rapid-fire ? That makes no sense to me. It seems that would be a range where you cannot practice defensive shooting.

I've been shooting for 25 years but didn't realize until this class how important practicing "rapid fire" is.

Thoughts on ranges banning this and it being a safety issue by preventing adequate self defense pistol ?

I can only hope these ranges offer leagues where you CAN shoot as such
 
It think for many indoor ranges it's more of a maintenance issue than a safety thing, although the latter is obviously a concern as well. Lots of people think they can shoot fast, and some can, but there are also a lot of people who overestimate their ability to do so. These are the people who shoot up the ceiling, blow the hangers off the wires or damage other equipment, or create a safety issue by mishandling the weapon. It's unfair to those that can to be dragged down to the level of those that can't, but so it goes.
 
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