Most People Are Fooling Themselves.....

[muleman69]

As my work bond for our club I help with hunter sight in that is open to the public - it's our money maker for the range. Many of the once-a-year hunters need help getting on paper and some need help with everything from bore sighting to scope attachment to stock fit. Mostly it's a good day to help well meaning guys that for whatever reason can't/don't shoot on a regular basis. But there are those few that come in with a new 300 WinMag in a light sporter rifle and three boxes of ammo to shoot. After a couple of shots they're too flinchy to keep it on the range. But the season opens Saturday, so off they go. Occasionally a dad with a young boy or girl pushing them to shoot way too much gun (before they can handle a 22lr).

One of the SOP's for our hunter sight in is to have one of ROs' verify the ammo is correct for the firearm. We have some photos of what happens when ammo and rifle don't exactly match up. We generally have six or seven ROs' on the line helping and spotting shots for folks and rarely have any serious problems but they do take some watching.

I am glad that these folks come the range to get some help. It's better than not getting any help and going out and maybe we have made a little bit of a difference. I hope so.

Really need more clubs like yours and YES you folks are making a big difference

 

[Milo 2.0]

I liken "venting" as a waste of energy that'd be more productively spent on actually helping someone. As a bonus, when you DO help someone, you get that positive energy sent right back to ya, by way of gratitude/appreciation. Win/win/win. You win, they win, and the world wins cuz there's one less ignorant shooter walking this Earth that the rest of us have to deal with...

Save for those who revel in a passing moment self-righteous superiority, while they belittle the 'ignorant masses' for a cheap laugh, what good does "venting" do? I mean, other than make y'all look like a bunch a wash women???

fredo, everything you said here is so true, and applies to other aspects of our lives also.
Historically, I've been an extremely helpful person, and I'd bet more in this thread are the same as myself. So I ask, what happens when the negative encounters at a range are far more prevalent than the positive ones? Does one relish the time in 2017 that we sent someone home happy, or do the 10 times this summer we could not wait for someone to pack up and leave stick in our head?
I'm basically a friendly person and greet people with a smile and a hello, but ultimately, the person I'm greeting sets the tone. I've made a lot of friends on the range, and shooting in general, BUT< see, we can stop here.

 

[gravelyctry]

Some of the folks at work know I’m a shooter, so I get asked a lot of questions. Some are sincere about wanting to do or be better, some are looking for validation. With deer season coming up, I was approached by one of the latter last week. He had just bought a 300 WM rifle and put a cheap Chinese scope on it. He kept going on and on about how he couldn’t miss with his scopes red and green illuminated “recticle”. I found it very amusing.

 

[pirate ammo]

Some of the folks at work know I’m a shooter, so I get asked a lot of questions. Some are sincere about wanting to do or be better, some are looking for validation. With deer season coming up, I was approached by one of the latter last week. He had just bought a 300 WM rifle and put a cheap Chinese scope on it. He kept going on and on about how he couldn’t miss with his scopes red and green illuminated “recticle”. I found it very amusing.

whats the matter with him, should of had the blue also,,

 

[Milo 2.0]

Some of the folks at work know I’m a shooter, so I get asked a lot of questions. Some are sincere about wanting to do or be better, some are looking for validation. With deer season coming up, I was approached by one of the latter last week. He had just bought a 300 WM rifle and put a cheap Chinese scope on it. He kept going on and on about how he couldn’t miss with his scopes red and green illuminated “recticle”. I found it very amusing.

Lol, you forgot the 3rd type, the ones that ask a series of questions, and you rattle off the answers to the best of your knowledge, and you know for the most part you are spot on.
Then 2 days later, here they come with that stupid grin on their face and proceed to refute everything you said, because they have sought advice from 3-5 others and are now following a different path. Now you can only hope that when your paths HAVE to cross again he may tell you that you were right. Most likely not though, the next time you hear or read about the same questions being asked, he will be passing your advice off as his own.

 

[muleman69]

Lol, you forgot the 3rd type, the ones that ask a series of questions, and you rattle off the answers to the best of your knowledge, and you know for the most part you are spot on.
Then 2 days later, here they come with that stupid grin on their face and proceed to refute everything you said, because they have sought advice from 3-5 others and are now following a different path. Now you can only hope that when your paths HAVE to cross again he may tell you that you were right. Most likely not though, the next time you hear or read about the same questions being asked, he will be passing your advice off as his own.

It's amazing how fast a student can become the teacher

 

[riflewoman]

It's amazing how fast a student can become the teacher

‘Specially with the innernet. Probably found the new info in some “hide” or some such.

 

[Mark204]

If you want to feel better about yourself, just look at all the leftover paper targets from other shooters "sighting in" their rifles.

Look at them? Hell I use them, the centers are very seldom carved out..........


Mark

 

[Delfuego]

If you want to feel better about yourself, just look at all the leftover paper targets from other shooters "sighting in" their rifles.

I just feel sad for the animals when I walk downrange to change targets.

 

[6ShotsOr5?]

hah, that's one option.

The other is to just get a handful of corn and a hammer.

Commere you! *thwap*

Edit: Wow beat, almost verbatim. hahahhah

35 years ago I had an oil field job in Crane county Texas where the coyotes were used to seeing a lot of vehicles and they were not very afraid. I stopped my car and picked up a very large rock and hurled it about 20 yds at one that was just standing there staring at me and nearly got him before he ran off. A lot of the deer are about like that too.

 

[pirate ammo]

I just feel sad for the animals when I walk downrange to change targets.

with some of those crazy ones out there, you walk downrange, you might better have on a full length body armor suit,,

 

[josh shrum]

adult males, who have several years of untutored shooting under their belts are the most difficult to teach anything about shooting.

Boyd,

I am going to get 2 brass plaques with this on it. Hang one in my reloading room, bolt the other to my shooting bench here at the house, and point to whichever is closer any/every time a friend/family member wants to argue with me.

Question is, can I include your name for your quote? Maybe it will steer folks towards your articles and help educate the masses.

 

[BoydAllen]

Reading your post made me actually laugh. That is a first for me, brass plaques. Sure, I wrote it. Why not? Seriously though, standing alone, out of the context of the discussion for which it was written, it does come off as more than a bit arrogant. You might want to tell them that despite that, I still enjoy trying to help people get better results. You can add another one. Test everything, and believe your targets.

 

[boltman13]

I'm at the range working on my new to me 6BR Mid Range F-Class rifle. This guy is blazing away at 50 yards off the bench with a scoped lever action rifle off the bench. We make the line safe and as we go to look at our targets and I change mine to a new one and are back at the firing line he wonders down to my bench and sees my target, 6 shots in just over 0.25" and a ten shot group just under 1.0 MOA. After complementing me on my shooting he asks me for some help sighting in his deer rifle. I say sure and follow him down to his bench. His rifle is a Marlin in 45-70 with a Bushnell Banner 4X12 scope, and a slip on rubber recoil pad. He is shooting Federal factory 300 grain amo and also has a box of Hornady 325 gr with the flex tip. His plan is to sight in the cheep stuff and then hunt with the Hornady round. I ask him to take a shot and stand behind him and he doesn't even hit the target. I then ask to shoot his rifle and he agrees, and happens to mention he has had a friend pull the bullets, reduce the powder charge and reseat the bullets, because they were "kicking him too hard. He is sure the friend weighed the powder after reducing it but has no ides how much his charge is or what his MV is. Thus informed I add 2 MOA of elevation to his scope setting and fire a shot. Thru the 12X scope I can see the bullet hit at 6 o-clock at the very bottom of the target. I tell him I know what the problem is and add 8 MOA to the scope. I ask him if he had fired this rifle before and he said only once after he bought it and had the guy at the LGS bore sight it for him and then had his load cut down for him by his friend. My next shot is at 10 o-clock and just outside the orange center ring. A small windage correction and a slight drop in elevation and my next shot is dead center. I have him fire a few shots and he is able to keep them inside the target edges of about 8" in diameter. I then tell him we need to sight in his hunting load on a new target, and fortunately his friend also reduced that load for him. Fortunately his hunting load shoots to the same POI, which may have been done by his reloader friend. Now he precedes to shoot a 3 shot group with his hunting load of just about 4". He said it wasn't nearly as good as mine, but should be good enough. I'm thinking , poor deer, when he tells me every evening the deer come up to his garden in his back yard about 50 yards away from his portable ground blind set up next to his wood pile and nibble on his left over garden crop. He has a rest inside his blind and he feels he is good to go. I' sure he is. I hope he enjoys his venison.

 

[Mark204]

I'm beginning to think that if the deer had rifles, there'd be more dead hunters than dead deer.

Mark

 

[Don_Parsons]

My friend told me he can't hit "Jack $4!¥" free hand, kneeling ,standing or leaning on a rickity fence-post.

I told him,,, don't feel bad,,, I can't hit nothing either. Ha

Off to the range tomorrow to count my fly'ers I can shoot.

The best shots going are the ones we don't see on paper... They must be going pretty fast to not leave a hole in the paper !!!

Ha

 

[fredo]

fredo, everything you said here is so true, and applies to other aspects of our lives also.
Historically, I've been an extremely helpful person, and I'd bet more in this thread are the same as myself. So I ask, what happens when the negative encounters at a range are far more prevalent than the positive ones? Does one relish the time in 2017 that we sent someone home happy, or do the 10 times this summer we could not wait for someone to pack up and leave stick in our head?
I'm basically a friendly person and greet people with a smile and a hello, but ultimately, the person I'm greeting sets the tone. I've made a lot of friends on the range, and shooting in general, BUT< see, we can stop here.

Thankfully Milo, my public range trips are not mandatory. And, yes, this is directly applicable to Life, in general...

As it goes for some range folk, there are a few where no amount of 'help' will sink in, so it behooves one to identify those early on & not waste energy on a 'lost cause'...

I'm the guy at the public range who talks no NO ONE, and goes about my business. If I'm at the public ange, it's out of necessity, not for pleasure. So, if someone curious happens along, I'm only too happy to oblige & offer help, when I deem necessary. Otherwise, I stay in my own 'bubble', and therefore not be bothered in the least by what's going on at the next bench down...

The fact that shooters here choose to "vent" (bitch) about other ignorant shooters just isn't a topic I could leave, lay. Hence, my comments in hopes of offering something to ponder when one gets frustrated by the, all to common, range folk. Fact is, those shooters might just represent ALL OF US, just a few steps behind the rest if us on our path to firearms wisdom. So, that's why I'm not too quick to pass judgement...

 

[Milo 2.0]

Thankfully Milo, my public range trips are not mandatory. And, yes, this is directly applicable to Life, in general...

As it goes for some range folk, there are a few where no amount of 'help' will sink in, so it behooves one to identify those early on & not waste energy on a 'lost cause'...

I'm the guy at the public range who talks no NO ONE, and goes about my business. If I'm at the public ange, it's out of necessity, not for pleasure. So, if someone curious happens along, I'm only too happy to oblige & offer help, when I deem necessary. Otherwise, I stay in my own 'bubble', and therefore not be bothered in the least by what's going on at the next bench down...

The fact that shooters here choose to "vent" (bitch) about other ignorant shooters just isn't a topic I could leave, lay. Hence, my comments in hopes of offering something to ponder when one gets frustrated by the, all to common, range folk. Fact is, those shooters might just represent ALL OF US, just a few steps behind the rest if us on our path to firearms wisdom. So, that's why I'm not too quick to pass judgement...

Well said! The shell on my bubble hardens also.

 

[carlsbad]

since we're telling stories....I was at the pistol range a while back and was shooting smaller groups that the guy with the AR15 in the lane next to me. Finally I felt so bad I offered to take a look. First I checked scope ring mount screws and they weren't even finger tight. No charge. -Jerry

 

[Pigdog]

man I just wanted to say ive got tears in my eyes from laughing reading this thread, the guy shooting 3inch groups at 100 who didn't allow for Coriolis that takes the cake though this is pure gold.

Ive never been to a public range and here in Australia its hard to get a gun and gun licence so I imagine there isn't as much entertainment at the range as there is in the US. If I ever make it back to the US can someone please tell me the best time of the year and ranges to go to be able to come and watch some of this entertainment lol