Range behavior rants

[lowroad]

Really???, it is all OK.

ok.

[kgturner]

My local indoor range is about 3 miles from my house so it's super convenient. It's just five indoor lanes about 25 yards long. He doesn't allow shotguns or rifles obviously, but basically any handgun round is good to go. My dad and I went there last weekend and he brought along his Ruger Red Hawk .44 mag. Standing in the lane beside me, I could feel the concussion from the muzzle blast. That was a little un-nerving.

There's no range officer in there and the owner of the place makes you fill out a form before he'll let you shoot. The only question he ever asked me is "Do you know how to be safe with a gun?". The interior walls on both sides of the range are completely chewed up. The most unsettling thing I've seen in there is a bullet hole running between the lane dividers. The hole goes through three dividers.

Kevin T

[TheTman]

Some nut job came into the range I frequent and rented a gun and blew his brains out. Now I'm leery of copy cats coming in and doing the same thing, only maybe taking a few with him.

[O'Dell]

Some nut job came into the range I frequent and rented a gun and blew his brains out. Now I'm leery of copy cats coming in and doing the same thing, only maybe taking a few with him.

The same thing happened at my range/gun store last month. I'm sure Randy, the owner, was pretty shaken since he rented the guy the pistol. He wasn't a regular there, but had been in a few times. I understand that he had been involved in an auto accident where two people were killed. He was being charged with vehicular Manslaughter and couldn't handle it.

[Cokeman]

That happens more than you think.

[SpecK]

I recently ended my membership at the indoor Bass Pro range. The guys working there are preoccupied with customers and tuning scopes, good guys, just too busy to keep it real safe. Ive WATCHED people put bullet holes in the ceiling, shooting tables, and dividers. Part of that probably is that its also a public range you can pay by the half hour for, or if you buy a new gun from BPro, they give you a free half hour on the range. Seen plenty of first timers walk in with brand new pistols from the gun counter and not even know how to load it. Thats when i pack up.

I like the Missouri Converservation outdoor ranges but here are my peeves:

Giving me advice on my stance/grip/anything really -- i dont know sh** from shiola about you, just stay away from me and quit waving your gun around.

Those wanna-bes that will un-chamber a round by racking the slide and moving the gun upward so they can catch that round-- thats just stupidity, no round is expensive enough to not hit the floor- just let it drop

And crossing my or anyone elses body (unless its your own) with the muzzle -- FOR THE LAST TIME I DONT CARE IF ITS NOT LOADED --my cousin didnt think his .22 was loaded...he's dead now

I usually just go out to the farm but if Im at a range with friends and see something i dont like, i dont risk the confrontation of trying to educate or correct them, i just pack it up and head on home

[Barth]

I usually just go out to the farm but if Im at a range with friends and see something i dont like, i dont risk the confrontation of trying to educate or correct them, i just pack it up and head on home

I've found that no matter how respectfully and carefully I try to talk to folks
about unsafe practices it always seems to go badly.

I too now just walk away.

As for ridiculous advice by strangers?
LGS, Range or the gym.
If I ignore them, they go away.

[jocko]

thats why I shoot by myself..

[TheTman]

After a friend got upset about a little talk on gun safety, I'm not about to approach some stranger on unsafe practices, unless it's affecting me directly.

[TriggerMan]

My local indoor range is about 3 miles from my house so it's super convenient. It's just five indoor lanes about 25 yards long. He doesn't allow shotguns or rifles obviously, but basically any handgun round is good to go. My dad and I went there last weekend and he brought along his Ruger Red Hawk .44 mag. Standing in the lane beside me, I could feel the concussion from the muzzle blast. That was a little un-nerving.

There's no range officer in there and the owner of the place makes you fill out a form before he'll let you shoot. The only question he ever asked me is "Do you know how to be safe with a gun?". The interior walls on both sides of the range are completely chewed up. The most unsettling thing I've seen in there is a bullet hole running between the lane dividers. The hole goes through three dividers.

Kevin T

I am told my range has bullet proof dividers between stations. I can attest none of them have holes.

[TriggerMan]

I've found that no matter how respectfully and carefully I try to talk to folks
about unsafe practices it always seems to go badly.

I too now just walk away.

As for ridiculous advice by strangers?
LGS, Range or the gym.
If I ignore them, they go away.

I'm doing about 1 bad experience versus 8 good ones. The one guy told me to go f myself. I no longer shoot there as too many times I had to call people on safety violations. No real RO. Just a clerk selling stuff and answering phones.

[TriggerMan]

I recently ended my membership at the indoor Bass Pro range. The guys working there are preoccupied with customers and tuning scopes, good guys, just too busy to keep it real safe. Ive WATCHED people put bullet holes in the ceiling, shooting tables, and dividers. Part of that probably is that its also a public range you can pay by the half hour for, or if you buy a new gun from BPro, they give you a free half hour on the range. Seen plenty of first timers walk in with brand new pistols from the gun counter and not even know how to load it. Thats when i pack up.

I like the Missouri Converservation outdoor ranges but here are my peeves:

Giving me advice on my stance/grip/anything really -- i dont know sh** from shiola about you, just stay away from me and quit waving your gun around.

Those wanna-bes that will un-chamber a round by racking the slide and moving the gun upward so they can catch that round-- thats just stupidity, no round is expensive enough to not hit the floor- just let it drop

And crossing my or anyone elses body (unless its your own) with the muzzle -- FOR THE LAST TIME I DONT CARE IF ITS NOT LOADED --my cousin didnt think his .22 was loaded...he's dead now

I usually just go out to the farm but if Im at a range with friends and see something i dont like, i dont risk the confrontation of trying to educate or correct them, i just pack it up and head on home

My experience at Bass Pro Shop is same as yours. I wrote the Manager and advised him of what I had seen at EVERY trip there. His defense was that the Rules were posted (they are, IF you can read in the near dark and like small fonts).

[tv_racin_fan]

My local indoor range is about 3 miles from my house so it's super convenient. It's just five indoor lanes about 25 yards long. He doesn't allow shotguns or rifles obviously, but basically any handgun round is good to go. My dad and I went there last weekend and he brought along his Ruger Red Hawk .44 mag. Standing in the lane beside me, I could feel the concussion from the muzzle blast. That was a little un-nerving.

There's no range officer in there and the owner of the place makes you fill out a form before he'll let you shoot. The only question he ever asked me is "Do you know how to be safe with a gun?". The interior walls on both sides of the range are completely chewed up. The most unsettling thing I've seen in there is a bullet hole running between the lane dividers. The hole goes through three dividers.

Kevin T

Don't think I would shoot there myself...

My wife was a bit miffed at herself one time. Said she couldn't hit what she was aiming at. I pulled her target in and told her to look at it, and count the holes. Every round she had fired was on paper (in fact every round was in the torso of her zombie). Then I told her to look at the hanger and the ceiling and walls and even the partition, which that particular one has a bullet strike (if the round had gone thru the partition I would have packed bags and left right then I think). These guys are not on you like white on rice BUT they have come out and spoken to us a time or two (once I was trying to use the shelf like a rest and apparently was shooting awful close to the target appartus at the far end of the range, he didn't tell me to stop only that if I hit that apparatus and broke it I had to pay for it.. I believe he spoke to the wife once about shooting head shots for the same reason).

[Cokeman]

I've found that no matter how respectfully and carefully I try to talk to folks
about unsafe practices it always seems to go badly.

I too now just walk away.

As for ridiculous advice by strangers?
LGS, Range or the gym.
If I ignore them, they go away.

That time.

Hopefully they learn something, especially if it happens to them more than one time.

[SpecK]

My experience at Bass Pro Shop is same as yours. I wrote the Manager and advised him of what I had seen at EVERY trip there. His defense was that the Rules were posted (they are, IF you can read in the near dark and like small fonts).

HA! So that crappy "rule" board is a company standard. Nice.

Like I said, I just find it hard to say much cause the guys that work there are really nice, just like the rest of us overworked and underpaid.