Saw a close call today involving range officer

S

spacecoast

New member
The people in the stall next to us were shooting a scoped .44 mag. Colt Anaconda off sandbags, and apparently were not far enough forward on the bench (rifle range). The range officer approached from the 8 o'clock angle to tell the shooter to move forward, and just as he got there the guy let loose with a round. The blast from the gap between the cylinder and barrel caught the range officer only about 2 feet away, and surprised/hurt him enough that he turned away and had to stand for a few minutes to catch his breath. I asked him about it later and he showed me some nasty-looking red burn marks on his forearm, but otherwise seemed OK. I imagine he will be warier next time.
 
If the blast was bad enough to burn the RO from two feet away (and I believe you) the owner of that gun is doing severe damage to his gun. I have seen guns ruined by flame cutting and throat erosion from handloads with certain types of powders, especially Blue Dot. It acts just like an oxy/acetylene cutting torch. When that much gas is venting to the outside you're just wasting powder. I can understand why a lot of ranges don't allow handloads.
 
Drail,

I have never heard of ranges prohibiting hand loads. Most will not let you shoot hand loads in range rental guns but I have never heard of them banning hand loads.

If you do not mind, where is this occurring?:(
 
Well if he is burning up the gun, that is good, right? Sells more new guns and shrinks the pool of Anacondas so yours goes up in value with each one wrecked. And he was fully concentrated on the target, shows he is careful and accurate, right? And at least he had it pointed down range the whole time? And some nosy, overbearing range master got a lesson too, what is not to love? :D
 
If the range officer got burn marks on his forearm from the revolver's cylinder gap, then he was placing his hand in more danger than from just a little burning powder.

He needs to seriously rethink his procedure for interrupting a ready-to-shoot shooter - namely don't do it, it not only pees off the shooter, it is dangerous. Wait until the shot is taken and then interrupt. That is, of course, assuming that taking the shot wouldn't be a danger to others on the line.

I'll bet he was closer than two feet, otherwise the bench, ammo boxes, etc., would be in danger of burning up as well when the revolver was fired.
 
I'm trying to picture what the range officer was doing to get that close to the side of a weapon about to be fired. Was he reaching out to touch or take the gun?

-Chris
 
I've been nicked by lead shaving out the cylinder gap from a revolver.
The shaving bounced off the support beam 2 feet to the side from where the shooter was holding the gun.

I made sure to wear sideshields on my eyewear from then on.
 
geetarman, I personally never shoot on indoor ranges but here in the midwestern states most of the shops that I have wandered into that had an indoor range have placed limits on certain magnum calibers and handloaded ammo simply from the wear and tear on their backstops (and all of the idiots that can't seem to not put rounds through the ceiling.)
 
I have never heard of ranges prohibiting hand loads.
I am afraid to say that prohibiting reloads is becoming more common with a lot of ranges.
The only Indoor range here in Fort Wayne recently stopped allowing the shooting of reloads. This was just after my putting down $300 for a year’s unlimited access. I felt at the time that I should support stores that support shooters.
Then when they passed this rule I asked for my money back I was politely told "No refunds"
I have a friend that works there and the new owner has also stated that some time soon he will be requiring all brass to remain in the range due to "environmental" issues, what a load of BS.
My friend said that the main reason for no longer allowing reloads is that the new owner thinks that it will increase ammo sales.
What do I do,, I saved factory boxes and take them filled with reloads and blaze away. The new owner can,,,,,,,:mad:
 
Ronbert, if you have a gun that is spitting lead as you described, stop shooting it until you can repair/replace it. This is a dangerous situation. People have been injured badly standing next to someone shooting a gun that does this. (Sorry, I reread your post and realized that you were talking about someone else's gun.)
 
I'm trying to picture what the range officer was doing to get that close to the side of a weapon about to be fired. Was he reaching out to touch or take the gun?
Click to expand...

As I recall he was approaching the shooter from the left side, maybe trying to wave his hand in front to get his attention given the ear protection both were wearing. That particular round definitely sprayed a lot of stuff to the left. It all happened very fast. A good lesson to remember to keep your hands well back of the cylinder.

This particular shooter was also resting the barrel on the sandbag, not the best form according to other range officers who helped me sight our 686-4. When I use a bag, I always rest my hands and/or the butt of the weapon on it.
 
Was there one time too many COWBOYS FOR MY LIKING .People shooting shotguns and ar's on pistol range .Must have been a off day never went back.
 
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Maybe that Colt just has a really big Barrel cylinder gap.

Revolvers are my favorite type of firearms but there is one thing I dislike about revolvers and thats the barrel cylinder gap. I don't like knowing that I'm losing velocity because of it, and I don't like gasses spewing out from the sides.

But you can't have your cake and eat it too I guess, nothing can ever be perfect.
 
Happens all the time.

Even a proper barrel/cylinder gap can release a lot of energy.

I was shooting with a rolled-up blanket as a rest (just in front of the trigger guard). Because I knew about gasses venting from that gap, I had a piece of cardboard to protect the blanket. A single shot of mildly loaded ammunition ripped the cardboard to shreds and put powder stains deep into the blanket.

By the way, the gun was a brand-new Dan Wesson (the b/c gap is set each time you remove/replace the barrel) with the gap properly set.

Lost Sheep

Then there's the examples (two I know of) who mangled their thumbs pretty badly shooting Smith & Wesson 460s. One took responsibility for himself, the other tried to sue S&W.
 
The powder can make a big difference. I set a smoldering fire to some rolled up cloth under my Smith M57 when shooting full loads of H110 under a 210 grain jacketed slug. Gap on that one is a tight 3 thousandths. Same gap on my Ruger SBH, same cloth, and full loads of 2400 under a 240 grain swc is far far less destructive to the rest. Interesting.
 
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