My trip to the range cut short today

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You're a nice fellow.
I do that, too.
Share targets, stapler, whatever I have to spare, if needed and wanted.
Sometimes gun and ammo.
 
I've been there before. I've even offered ear and eye protection. Some people just don't get it. I've offered foam plugs, showed them how to use them and still had then not protected.

This is where it would be nice if there were clear range rules posted and someone to enforce them would be nice, but that isn't enough often. The good but unfortunate thing is with the wrong gear, people don't shoot enough to hurt themselves usually.
 
This has happened to me several times. I carry extra foam plugs and offer them as needed. If it were kids I would also just leave. There are folks out there with no sense.

On one memorable occasion I was at the local range sighting in two pistols when some dufus showed up with his girlfriend and a Ruger 10/22. No eye or ear protection at all. I offered plugs and a set of shooting glasses. The man sort of sneared and told me he never uses ear plugs. At that point he became a dufus and a butthead. He went down to set up a target without even checking for range clear. OK. I took out the Mosin M38 carbine and some really nasty Romanian ammo and while the guy was getting all ready to shoot the Ruger, I loaded up and kind of stepped back just enough to get the muzzle under the tin roof. I shot five times and waited for the guy to shoot. He shot exactly ONE shot, peered at the target and left. Gone.
 
The man sort of sneered and told me he never uses ear plugs.

I encountered that exact situation with my wife's know-it-all uncle prior to an afternoon of .45, .38, .22, 7.62x39 and 12 gauge. That little excursion left him with permanent tinnitis, I kid you not.
 
I put napkin-paper in my ears when I'm out and there's a band that's surprisingly too load. Toilet paper?

I would have asked him to do SOMETHING, put some distance between you for what it's worth, and stayed.

Problem. Solution. Darwin.
 
I would offer advice and ear plugs. If I had no extra plugs and/or the advice was ignored, I would probably stay and not shoot until they were finished. My club rules require eye/ear protection and I follow the rules there. I've shot plenty of .22 and blackpowder without eye/ear protection on home ranges or in the woods, it really is a bad idea. I don't do so anymore. I shot my AR without hearing protection ONCE, one round, never again.
 
I always carry eye and ear protection to the range, the DNR range I go to wont let you on the line without both eye and ear protection. It is also mandatory at work when qualifying too. I would have offered if I had extras, but if not I would have left like you did. If it was just some guy and no kids I would have probably kept shooting, maybe they would have learned a quick lesson.
 
You're a nice fellow.
I do that, too.
Share targets, stapler, whatever I have to spare, if needed and wanted.
Sometimes gun and ammo.
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+1

That was decent of the OP you to be considerate to the other shooters.

I also try to share and be generous to others if they treat me the same way. Sometimes others will let me shoot their guns, and i'll let them shoot mine. Some people even have given me spare paper targets or ammo, so I do the same to others if they need it in return.
 
I also try to share and be generous to others if they treat me the same way. Sometimes others will let me shoot their guns, and i'll let them shoot mine. Some people even have given me spare paper targets or ammo, so I do the same to others if they need it in return.
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Again....it's just one part of being a steward to our sport and promoting it in a positive way. While unsolicited advice is not always accepted, when one sees a potential safety hazard, not saying something is simply irresponsible. Having a bucks worth of disposable earplugs to give a new shooter is not really breaking anyone that can afford to be at the range for pleasure. I even carry a few factory rounds in most of my handguns calibers in my range bag just in case there is a new shooter there that shows interest in trying one of my handguns or handgun caliber carbines. Not a big deal and happens only rarely as I shoot mostly at my own private range. The smile from the 14 year old that just shot their first .357 revolver goes a long way.
 
If this was at the outdoor range I usually shoot at, I'd go over to the guy and tell him ear protection is mandatory. If he put up a fuss I'd ask him to leave and then report him to make sure his membership was revoked.

What he did was selfish to other shooters at the range, not to mention to his grandchildren. I would try being nice, but if I had to sound harsh, I would. I don't know if I'd leave or not....
 
I think I'd have gone back to my truck, pulled out my 50 BMG, set it up, asked the kids & grandpa if they wanted to look at it. Then I'd have told grandpa I needed to sight it in, and if he thought the kids might need hearing protection.
 
I was at the public range hereabouts where there is supervision and caught a couple of guys with a HiPoint carbine a couple benches away from me on the short rifle range. No eye pro, no ear pro. I gave them spare foamies that I keep on hand in my range bag and even had a couple pairs of older, lightly scratched safety glasses. Watching them load, or attempt to load, mags and the gun I left, pointing out to the range officer, who was busy chatting with someone on his phone, that they were ill prepared.

Danger all around and some people are their own worst enemies. My hearing is bad enough from The Corps!
 
The first time I went to a range as a kid I had an H&R 22. I walked into the main building, paid for my lane, then went out to the line. Nobody said anything about eyes & ears, & I didn't know any better. Common sense should have kicked in, but I've never been known to have much of that. I shot a 100 round box, & as it was a hot Texas day, I'd had enough. My ears were ringing, but not near as bad as they would be for the next three or four days! I had a concussion headache that no aspirin could kill. I think that the ringing in my ears that I still have to this day can mostly be attributed to that stupid little adventure. I learned a valuable lesson, though.
 
Let me ask every "nice for leaving" person a question: why do you feel like you are worth less than someone(s) else!?
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It's not about feeling less than someone else. I don't compare myself to everyone I meet as to whether I'm better or worse or worth more or less then my fellow man. The reason people are leaving is because they are good people and don't want to damage the hearing of helpless children. The kids are only doing what grandpa does and have no choice. I'm proud of the OP for not firing his gun and risking their hearing.
 
It's not about feeling less than someone else. I don't compare myself to everyone I meet as to whether I'm better or worse or worth more or less then my fellow man. The reason people are leaving is because they are good people and don't want to damage the hearing of helpless children. The kids are only doing what grandpa does and have no choice. I'm proud of the OP for not firing his gun and risking their hearing.
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Nicely said.
 
I try to keep spare everythings in my range bag, and have lent them out quite often. I agree with your sentiment that the grandpa was being, well, an idiot. It sucks that you had to cut your range day short, especially before you got the barrel broke in. Of course, you were a better man than the grandpa for caring about the kids' hearing and leaving.
 
The Wimpification of America Continues, Embraced Even!

Leaving was a fail.

The solution was to rectify the identified problem, if possible, but stay. The first adult part was in challenging the circumstances -- kudos. Being successful would have been persuading the old man and kids and/or staying to shoot anyway. But that's not what happened...

There is no virtue in sacrificing oneself on the alter of someone else's insensitivity, irresponsibility, stupidity and lack of following basic rules designed for such idiots without the common sense God gave them. Leaving is just letting the lowest common denominator dictate your life. And screw that.

"Sorry kids. I said SORRY KIDS!"
 
Leaving is just letting the lowest common denominator dictate your life. And screw that.
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So, MattShlock, you would have just said, screw the kids I was here first and I'm not going anywhere and then proceeded to fire away knowing that you were very likely permanently damaging the children's hearing?

I am all for standing up for what's right and it would **** me off if I made a special trip to the range and this happened to me but I don't know if I could do what you are proposing. But that's me.
 
So, MattShlock, you would have just said, screw the kids I was here first and I'm not going anywhere and then proceeded to fire away knowing that you were very likely permanently damaging the children's hearing?
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Of course not!

I would have started by doing exactly what the OP did -- but didn't finish. I would have explained that though THEY are only shooting .22 LR I am NOT. I'd have explained that anytime your ears ring you have permanent damage. I would have explained it is not just the responsible thing to do for oneself but especially for your family, youngins at that, whom you are here with and responsible for. That as an adult the grandfather had experience and a duty. That he must err on the side of caution.

I would have explained that even some wadded toilet paper would make a world of difference. I would have explained that the rules require hearing protection. I would have explained I was going to report him if he failed to follow them. I would have explained that I was staying to shoot, and make a lot of high pitched, loud, noise whether I got there before or after them. What he did next with his charge was then up to them. And of no moral weight, concern, nor consequence to me.

Next I would have fired my first shot, asked them if they hadn't changed their minds if they still refused hearing protection, and then I'd have shot to my heart's content bathing in the righteousness of my mature thoughts and evolved actions as well as self-respecting refusal to be something less than the fools around me at my insistance.

"Leaving so soon kids? I SAID, 'LEAVING SO SOON'!?"
 
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