Was at the range today and

I was at a range today that has overhead concrete baffles to keep bullets from flying over the berm. A woman shooting a pistol 2 lanes over from me hit the baffle twice on a single magazine... and the baffles in the rifle part are pockmarked from bullets and patches. It's supposed to be a $50 fine for hitting the baffle. It's amazing how bad at shooting some people are! The baffles are at least 6 feet higher than the target stands.
 
The indoor range I worked at years ago had the same issue, including people shooting down the string running the target carrier, blowing out the lights BEHIND baffles, etc. We had bullet scars on every conceivable surface down range, and at least one bullet hole in each bench.
 
I remember going to the indoor range a few towns over during a cold winter a few years back. During the intro/tour the RO was running through the rules, "do not go downrange during live fire". Me and my friend looked at each other and then simultaneously looked at the RO. He said, "I've got to mention it, we've had it happen before." :eek:
 
Indoor ranges , when you look at the sealing , bench & side walls ,every one has at least one bullet hole in it , looks like a grenade went off. I guess we can call then A Holes .
 
brasscollector said:
I remember going to the indoor range a few towns over during a cold winter a few years back. During the intro/tour the RO was running through the rules, "do not go downrange during live fire". Me and my friend looked at each other and then simultaneously looked at the RO. He said, "I've got to mention it, we've had it happen before." :eek:
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“No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”

- H.L. Mencken
 
Just yesterday a guy to my right was hitting my target. His target was set at 5 yards, mine at 25 yards. He must have been hitting his way left, or missing his on the left and hitting mine. I could tell the hits were his, I was shooting a .45 and he was shooting a 9mm.

Also, at this same range, the ceiling is kind of low, at about 7 feet. If you look up while standing on the firing line, you can see hits on the ceiling at about only 5 feet down range from the line. They progressively get more frequent the farther down range. Now when I first started shooting pistols back many a moon ago, I admit I was not very good. But hitting the ceiling 5 feet in front of you? That is bad, real bad.
 
Stupidity is like evil. It is ever-present, spreads like a virus, and never ceases to amaze.

The last indoor range that I went to hadn't been refurbished in probably 20 years. Every square inch of wall from the back of the benches forward was pock-marked. Even the walls behind the benches, the air ducts overhead, the back walls, the window, and the door had bullet holes or pock marks in them.

Ironically... When I checked in, the guy at the counter suggested I use bay #4, because they had just replaced that bench and the rubber side mats a few days prior. After entering the range, I walked up to the bay and noted that their 'brand new' bench already had two bullet holes through it...
 
Unfortunately, anytime people gather, regardless of the activity, there are various levels of rudeness, incompetence, and outright ignorance.

However, you can also always find good, kind and careful people.

I, personally dislike when people shoot across lanes, whether or not they are clearly marked. It is simply too dangerous in a group setting.

:-/
 
for the record

Through my career, we shot biannual qualifications, typically on an outdoor range, in firing lines at 3, 7, 15 and 25 yds. There was always a bit of competion to see who could shoot the best score, and who could clean a target.
If somebody was on my nerves, or needed a bit of a takedown, I'd occassionally crossfire and put a round outside the scoring ring on their target and never let on.

Hillarious!!!!!! Just don't laugh and you might not get caught. Trick is to get a good rathole going in the center of your target before you crossfire. If the RO sees you're a round short, you're busted. With a rathole, your "missing" round went in there.........I'm sure it did.
 
As long as it's not intentional I'd keep it friendly and maybe even offer some advice if the person was receptive. Not everyone wants to be "told what to do" but I'm a pretty friendly guy and often have success offering light assistance. Many people are terrible shots and TBH I'm glad they're at the range to try and improve. I started out pretty bad myself and really it's a learned skill so all anyone can do is practice and receive guidance from those more skilled than themselves.

What scares me are people who are intentionally shooting other targets. If the RO won't throw those people out, I'd prefer to leave.
 
Sequins said:
I started out pretty bad myself and really it's a learned skill so all anyone can do is practice and receive guidance from those more skilled than themselves.
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I don't remember being a bad shot.. lol. I remember when I was about 8, I was shooting 22lr from a bolt action Ruger rifle my father bought me. I remember always being pretty steady and able to put small groups in the paper. I can shoot good groups, I can make a nice bbq rack of ribs. I'm not a pro chef, I'm not a pro marksmen, but ya know, I can hit the paper

Sequins said:
What scares me are people who are intentionally shooting other targets. If the RO won't throw those people out, I'd prefer to leave.
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I was very annoyed. I was looking at the shots in my target and maybe the one in the lane next to me, with a poor stance was a true beginner, but the guys a few lanes to the left were plain shooting at my target.

--

In other news, could you imagine if I still had that bolt action Ruger? It would be vintage by now. Ya know what happened to it? My family sold the place we had, and I thought the gun belonged to the farm... so I buried it. I'm sure its still by the stream, exactly where I left it
 
I was at an outdoor range with about 20 lanes. Myself and a couple others clustered over to the right and a lone individual over to the left. I'm looking down my sight and I see the loner walking down the left side of the range half way to the targets. Scream cease fire. Person couldn't understand why everyone else had to stop shooting when there were ten lanes between us.
 
That would be grounds for removal from the range that I attend. We have separate pistol bays to facilitate freedom of movement in each bay but on the rifle range you change the flag before you go down range and you must get a cease fire before changing the flags.
 
The unmonitored range I go to occasionally has idiots that do that, and everyone will do the same thing, yell "Cease fire", and everyone looks at the moron. Had a whole family do it once. We called a cease fire, the family was angry at everyone, I grabbed my target and left. Normally it is a great place to shoot.
 
If they hit your target because they thought your target was their target, i.e., they were hitting what they were aiming at, not a big problem.

If they were aiming at their target and hitting yours, big problem.
 
Shooting lane tolerances get tight...when say, a shooter next to you has a target set a 25 yards on his correctly numbered shooting frame holes, and you have yours set at 100 yards on the correctly numbered shooting frame holes --- If the 25 yard shooter sits, stands, prone, Et Cetera --- on one side of the shooting bench, or on the other side, your target could be in his line of fire. It usually takes a 'gentleman's agreement', to make slight horizontal adjustments at the benches so that the 100 yard target is not compromised.

Though I've had people deliberately shoot at my steel targets without permission from me...which is a serious breach of range etiquette.
 
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Franken,
In late June of 1980 when West Valley City was formed, we original hires were up at Hendrickson qualifying for the first time, literally with Smiths borrowed from Salt Lake City. We were so new we didn't even have our own PD guns yet.
Oscar Hendrickson brought plastic 5-gallon buckets of SLCPD Smiths & handed 'em out as temporary loaners.

I had one misfire out of the 60 rounds allotted, fired a total of 59 rounds, counted a total of 62 holes on my 25-yard B27 target.
Guy next to me on my left barely had enough holes in his paper to squeak through.
He did not, coincidentally, last long before getting fired for consorting with hookers in downtown SLC.

I quit going up to that range on my own time years ago after retiring, very bad management.
Denis
 
I have learned to avoid ranges this time of year. Public and member only private. Too many yahoo hunters who only shoot 3 rounds a year to sight in show up and have no idea about range etiquette.
 
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