Public Gun Range Amazement

[6MMsteve]

Irvington Sportsman Club, 4 bermed bays good for all caliber pistols and rifles out to 100. One bay with covered benches measured for 100 zero and load testing. Trap range. $40 per year. Knob creek Gun Range (famous for machine-gun shoot and fake news story about violence in Syria). Full time range officer with strict safety rules. Any caliber out to 300. $75 per year for veterans.

down the road from ya Cave City, Goodnight area

 

[Rube Shooter]

Reading thru the various posts..... Um..... all potential "ammunition" for the anti-gun crowd.
Or at the minimum.... strict "controls" on the "we the people".

AND the sad thing is the anti's would have "good" points on who should be "handling" firearms.....

Nothing surprises me anymore. Venture out on the highways and byways and "observe" the "we the people" and their driving "habits"....and NO law enforcement to be found.

Absolutely agree 100% about the driving habits of "we the people" and no law enforcement to be found. Got passed in a no passing zone coming home from the deer lease last week by a dually, we were no more than a 1/4 mile from the passing lanes. The dually nearly had a head on collision with a large delivery truck. I usually avoid this stretch of road but had to go this route to take a deer to the processor.

We have a range here in Ft. Worth where years ago one of the range safety officers was checking a rifle being brought in when he pulled the trigger, discharged a round and struck a child. Years before that the 100yd range backstop was burned down, someone was shooting incendiary rounds and started a fire in the tires used to stop the bullets. I had already stopped going to this range before these incidents because of the unsafe things I had seen.

 

[ptf18]

I do think it would help a lot if we at least had firearms training in our schools. At least kids would be introduced to them and learn safe handling and accuracy with small bore. These days most parents don't own a firearm and don't care about them. A lot of people just buy a firearm and go to the range and start shooting with no training at all.

Just some of my thoughts on it.

OH heaven forbid!!!! Teach Un Natural (Biblical) sexual relationships but firearms "safety"??? NEVER!!!

 

[Old Tanker]

down the road from ya Cave City, Goodnight area

Anything in the wind to resurrect Rock Castle?

 

[6MMsteve]

Anything in the wind to resurrect Rock Castle?

nope.... they had a real chance to make something great there, but locals I think fouled it up imho..

 

[miningshawn]

Hmmmm.

I see that quite a few of the responses in this thread would advocate for compulsory education prior to usage. In a perfect world that seems nice, and it was how a lot of us were raised. But times they are a changin'.

A new shooter starting out nowadays is often faced with a horde of, for lack of a better term, bigoted assholes whenever they show up at a shooting facility. If they pull out an AR then they are immediately pigeonholed as being a spray-and-pray idiot or worse. Like it or not this is the new generation. The AR is America's favorite cheap and abundant rifle. New shooters aren't going to drop serious coin on an expensive benchrest rifle, and they never will if all they get are hostile looks and side-eye from the locals.

All it takes is a few minutes when they are grabbing gear and getting set up to say hello, ask them what the goals today are, and see if they need a little help. A few minutes is all it takes. When they do get set up they aren't in their own little world and realize that there are other PEOPLE on the line sharing their space.

Or you can sit on your high horse in your cloud of smug and watch your sport die off. As your buddies get to old or move away there isn't anyone new coming in. Why should they? Why would they?

Not everyone needs to be a Boy Scout leader or an NRA Instructor. Sometimes these new shooters or casual hunters just need a little face time and a gentle nudge to jar their thoughts and realize that this is a potentially dangerous sport and that there are other people with names and families just like theirs sharing the space.

Admittedly there will be the occasional dirtbag that shoots up the place. It's going to happen. But when a new shooter starts feeling like a member then they also take ownership of themselves and their actions. If there is no investment then there is no need to reciprocate. Some of the best times I've had at the range were 4 or 5 random people helping out a fella with a new rig, spotting, tuning, swapping gear and experience. If this has never been a part of your range experience then I truly feel sorry for you.

If you see someone struggling are you the kind of person to step in and offer advice, or are you the one that clears the bench and huffs off back to the rig? Seems like most of the ones responding to this thread were born shooters and never had to learn a thing...

Just my $0.02

 

[rwj]

Hmmmm.

I see that quite a few of the responses in this thread would advocate for compulsory education prior to usage. In a perfect world that seems nice, and it was how a lot of us were raised. But times they are a changin'.

I would suggest that as a society, we would benefit in many ways from compulsory military service for at least two years starting at age 18...

 

[KMart]

I would suggest that as a society, we would benefit in many ways from compulsory military service for at least two years starting at age 18...

After 12 years of government indoctrination, you would want them put completely in a government home and indoctrinate them some more? Doesn't sound like that would work out well.
The military is not the fix all to society's problems and they have a boatload of their own problems with what society is sending them.

 

[rwj]

After 12 years of government indoctrination, you would want them put completely in a government home and indoctrinate them some more? Doesn't sound like that would work out well.
The military is not the fix all to society's problems and they have a boatload of their own problems with what society is sending them.

Today’s schools instill little/no self-discipline nor institute respect for authority both of which I believe the military environment would. If it doesn’t, then it would be a waste as noted...

 

[KMart]

Today’s schools instill little/no self-discipline nor institute respect for authority both of which I believe the military environment would. If it doesn’t, then it would be a waste as noted...

The Army recently put out an order to their Basic Training facilities that the Drill Sergeants can no longer use their tactics for getting a recruits attention. They now must explain and reason with the recruit. I wonder how that is going to work for the teenager that already knows EVERYTHING

Army Ends ‘Shark Attacks’ in Basic Training

The Army has decided to end one of the more aggressive tactics drill sergeants use on recruits in basic combat training.

www.ngaus.org

 

[Dgd6mm]

Heading South!

 

[Old Tanker]

The Army recently put out an order to their Basic Training facilities that the Drill Sergeants can no longer use their tactics for getting a recruits attention. They now must explain and reason with the recruit. I wonder how that is going to work for the teenager that already knows EVERYTHING

Army Ends ‘Shark Attacks’ in Basic Training

The Army has decided to end one of the more aggressive tactics drill sergeants use on recruits in basic combat training.

www.ngaus.org

There is a former Drill Sergeant, “Amuse” (her real last name) who does YouTube parodies on the old vs new policies. She’s actually endorsed by Army Recruiting.

 

[SDDasher]

Downhill, you pretty new at this, eh?

If your shooting benches are covered, look at the roof over the benches!

We had people walk down range to look at their targets during a hot range with people firing.

Darwin Award Candidates......

 

[JEFFPPC]

Was at my local range yesterday working on load development of a new 6BRX barrel. Noticed a guy about mid 30s with a young son several benches away. He was shooting at 100 yds with no rest. Shooting sitting with elbows on bench or offhand. I saw him adjusting his scope then getting an instructional book out. I asked if I could help, he said yes. He said his last shot was 2 inches left and 2 inches high but be did not know how to move his scope. I explained and suggested he move it 7 clicks down and 7 clicks right. I watched him move thw windage turrent about 3/4 of a turn. I said 7 clicks. He said I did, from 2 to 9 on the dial. I went into an explanation of clicks and moa. He said he understood and moved it correctly. I got him set up on sandbags and he shot. He told me it was in the bullseye. I said shoot another shot. He did and told me it was also in the bull. He thanked me, shook my hand and quickly left. Later when I went to retrive my target I decided to pull his two since he had not. There was not a bullet hole in either one. I am still shaking my head.

 

[Papa Charlie]

Was at my local range yesterday working on load development of a new 6BRX barrel. Noticed a guy about mid 30s with a young son several benches away. He was shooting at 100 yds with no rest. Shooting sitting with elbows on bench or offhand. I saw him adjusting his scope then getting an instructional book out. I asked if I could help, he said yes. He said his last shot was 2 inches left and 2 inches high but be did not know how to move his scope. I explained and suggested he move it 7 clicks down and 7 clicks right. I watched him move thw windage turrent about 3/4 of a turn. I said 7 clicks. He said I did, from 2 to 9 on the dial. I went into an explanation of clicks and moa. He said he understood and moved it correctly. I got him set up on sandbags and he shot. He told me it was in the bullseye. I said shoot another shot. He did and told me it was also in the bull. He thanked me, shook my hand and quickly left. Later when I went to retrive my target I decided to pull his two since he had not. There was not a bullet hole in either one. I am still shaking my head.

Wonder who's target he was shooting at or looking at? I had a similar situation at the range some time ago. Guy was getting very frustrated which was not helping either. I asked if I could help and he said yes. I gave him some instructions but his situation was not improving. I offered to take a look at his rifle and he agreed and asked if I could fire a couple of rounds down range. That poor guy was so far off the target I'm not sure what he thought he was doing. From looking down the bore he was at least 3 feet to the right and 2 feet low. I checked the scope attachments and all seemed good so I made the adjustments, fired a total of 3 rounds and had him on center. I had him do everything I was doing so he could see how to bore sight, then make the adjustments. He was very appreciative of the help.

Sadly, some people have a hard time asking for help and even a harder time admitting they don't know WTF they are doing. What they don't realize is that we all start from the beginning. The real embarrassment is when they know they are lost and don't reach out and be honest to learn.

 

[JEFFPPC]

Papa, there where only 3 targets. His two and mine.

 

[Papa Charlie]

Papa, there where only 3 targets. His two and mine.

Well, he obviously was not willing to show is ignorance any further as he was not getting it. As I said above, "Sadly, some people have a hard time asking for help and even a harder time admitting they don't know WTF they are doing."

 

[joshb]

I was at my Private range one time shooting pistol. A guy set up next to me with his 20 something daughter and a couple smaller revolvers. I noticed he was showing her “the ropes”. I was reloading my magazines so I kinda watched a little. She was a cutey. What can I say? So this guy is going on and on the shows her how to hold the gun. One hand on the grip and one hand wrapped around the front of the cylinder! Needless to say, I emptied my hands and intervened!
The guy was pretty good about it. Turned out the pistols were new and so was he to pistol shooting!

 

[Papa Charlie]

I was at my Private range one time shooting pistol. A guy set up next to me with his 20 something daughter and a couple smaller revolvers. I noticed he was showing her “the ropes”. I was reloading my magazines so I kinda watched a little. She was a cutey. What can I say? So this guy is going on and on the shows her how to hold the gun. One hand on the grip and one hand wrapped around the front of the cylinder! Needless to say, I emptied my hands and intervened!
The guy was pretty good about it. Turned out the pistols were new and so was he to pistol shooting!

That would have smarted some when they let off the first round. I have seen people do this at the range. Trying to hold a revolver like an auto. One guy ended up with some serious burns. Worst part was he was told by the gun owner not to hold it that way, but must have decided that he was more knowledgeable than the gun owner and did it anyway.

He was actually lucky in that it only burned him. Could have been worse.

 

[ctrickett]

You have to resolve yourself to understand......anything forward of the firing is going to get shot.....period. Everyone I know that is involved with gun clubs, say the same stories....truly amazing.
We have learned to focus on safety at the firing line, stuff down range can be fixed, cost of doing business.