Lawrence (MA) Rod & Gun Club Pin Shoots - Beware

O

otasan

Moderator
Beware. Their website invites the public to their 3rd Saturday of the Month pin shoots. BUT, if you are capable of shooting five pins with five shots at 50(!)feet, they are going to start dumping on you.

I drove 100 miles from Lebanon, NH down to their nice range, and it wasn't a half an hour until they added 3 pins to my tables, and then started taking rounds out of my magazines.

I was VERY GOOD about it. I just love shooting pins, no matter how much of a challenge it is.

After an hour, they just told me to sit down and not shoot. On a nice, sunny 16April2005, I had better things to do than just watch pin shooting. I left. For the first time in 27 years of competition handgun shooting, I was made to feel very unwelcome at a public shooting event. I did NOTHING to deserve it, except, perhaps, to shoot well.

And no, I wasn't using a $2000 pin gun and prancing around doing the "Rocky" dance. I was setting pins and staying safe. I was friendly, humble, and helpful. My firearm was a Springfield Armory M1911A1 .45 ACP uncomped with iron sights.

Envy is such an evil sin.

Also, they DO NOT ensure that the just-fired handguns are unloaded and safe before they send the pinsetters downrange. I witnessed a shooter leave an S&W .45 autopistol with its slide locked back over a LOADED magazine on the firing line table as the pin setters went downrange. :eek:
 
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Otasan
Many facets from all individuals involved in a shooting event can exacerbate this “Shooter Envy”. Your years of experience could tend to draw your attention to safety issues that others don’t readily see. The very nature of the shooting sports as a whole is shrouded with dangerous situations. When some common sense protocol, such as (are the firearms unloaded and safe before going down range), left unaddressed then accidents will happen. There is no undo button for accidents thus some requirements for safety must be adhered to.

The level of authoritative approach in handling safety issues may vary such as this one,

“I witnessed a shooter leave an S&W .45 autopistol with its slide locked back over a LOADED magazine on the firing line table as the pin setters went downrange. ”

To handle this breach of safety either tactfully or aggressively is the question. A perceived aggressiveness would cause some to be leashed down by the range officers and create an air of shooters envy amongst other shooters.

One would have to consider all aspects surrounding the overall situation. Was the operator of this firearm one of those pinsetters heading down range or was he/she standing by the table with the firearm on it while setters went down range. A firearm sitting on a table such as this with no one near it will not load and discharge by itself. One with a person near it, which could then be handled, is an entirely different story.

My best guess would be that the way this issue was addressed in addition to your doing so well might have been what caused the extra pins and removal of rounds to occur.
Regards
Mandark
 
Very Tactfully

I handled it very tactfully. All that I said to the shooter, who was VERY near while finishing picking up his brass, was that there was a loaded magazine still in the pistol. I said it in a quiet, matter-of-fact, non-judgemental tone.

This incident occurred LONG AFTER they penalized me 3-5 more pins and 2 less rounds in my nearly-stock M1911A1 .45 ACP pistol.

Some semi-auto pistols have a tendency to wiggle down the slide stop and close the slide. With the pistol in question, an ND could certainly have happened. It was a non-1911 .45 ACP S&W Performance Center workover, with a nice LIGHT single-action trigger and NO grip safety.

That fact remains that there was a nearly fully-loaded pistol on the firing line table with the shooter about to pick it up and leave the line WHILE THERE WERE TWO PIN SETTERS DOWNRANGE. Who knows what would have happened had he made it back to the spectator area.

The gang at Lawrence had better mend their ways, or else they could single-handedly END the sport of pin-shooting. One bullet wound from such negligence is all it would take.
 
I would concur, that with the additional facts coming into light safety concerns are most alarming over at Lawrence.

It was an assumption on my behalf that led me to think the safety incident happened prior to the penalization of added pins and less rounds. Either way two words come to mind “Bad Form”. :barf:


This is a bit off topic (Lawrence) but it deals with Pin Shooting none the less.
Your tough to beat, but it’s possible I’ve seen it done (usually equipment related if memory serves me correct). It doesn’t happen often I might add. I’m coming into my fourth season over at Chester, you’re in number 27 all over the place. I’m watching and learning and I’m getting better. It could be said to some extent I have some shooter envy, however I use it as inspiration to better myself while inadvertently keeping you as well as a few others on your marks. For as soon as you slow down someone will inevitably be there to take up the slack, I know I’m trying and I won’t give up :D . I look forward to competing this Sunday at Chester. Let the better person prevail.
Regards
Mandark
 
I AM slowing down

I'll be 50 next January! Ken Tapp is one of my heroes!

I had a 3.4-second run at Country Pond on 10 April. Just luck.

I am happy to pass on all that I have learned since my first pin match in Oct '78.

CU Sunday! :D
 
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