I had a time at the Izaak Walton Club rifle range where I became a living history exhibit of sorts. I used to hunt with a flintlock rifle for deer and I was practicing at the range. A few benches down there were 3 people together who appeared to be the grandfather, son and a little granddaughter. As I went through all the steps necessary to load I could hear the father describing to the little girl everything I was doing. I'm a ham actor at heart so I was glad to be able to put on the lesson.

I was shooting revolvers one day and a guy in the next booth was shooting a Glock. He wasn't shooting good groups and asked how I was shooting so well (a lot of competition people I shoot with are just as good, or better). I had him come over and try a revolver and gave him a few pointers. He said "Want to shoot my Glock?" I said "Sure - throw it out there!" We both had a laugh and I shot a Glock (don't tell anyone), and made a new friend. Good day at the range.

Whenever I encounter someone who feels that it's necessary to brag about their equipment, I listen if I have the time.

First, you may actually learn something. You never know, none of use knows it all. Secondly, and more importantly, these people generally have nothing else to brag about. Taking a little time to listen, can bring a little joy to their otherwise dull existence. Why rob them of that?

Plus they keep the accessory companies solvent. They are good for the shooting community. Let them have their little time in the spotlight.


On another note:
Don't sell yourself short BB57. Hitting an 8" wide target at 110 yards with a revolver, while standing off hand, is very good shooting. Most can't do it.

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Freedom isn't free.

Well, if there was $100 dollars on it, I'd sure as heck take the shot with a .38 over the .45.
Has the OP much experience shooting .45acp? A heavy, slow chunk of lead is not all that great at targets at that distance. I'm a fair shot, but wouldn't embarrass myself in front of anyone trying to take that shot, especially with the reflex sight installed.
Now, if the game was picking off 6 targets, say at 15 to 20 yards, as quickly as possible, it may be possible that the guy might have taken you to school? Maybe?

Back in the 80s when I started handgun hunting i had been reading about it for a long but hadn't tried it and sure enough found out hitting a 10 inch pie plate at 100 yards consistently wasn't easy at all .So I went to the best revolver guy I knew personaly for assistance my dad.So he worked it out to take me to the Police range and give me some refresher training and some long distance handgun tips .We walked out to the rifle side 100 yard line and put up a target walked back and a couple of young officers were watching with interest and one of them made a comment along the lines of Seargeant has it been so long that you forgot which side is rifle and which side is pistol and they both laughed a little so did dad . He then proceeded to put 6 rounds out of his model 10 in the center mass of that target reloaded and put 6 more in the head looked at me and said now that I got my arthritis broke loose and am warmed up you ready to train. I said yes sir .One of the young officers asked if they could train with us of course dad said sure . Between shooting dad told one of the fellows that when he first started every officer had to be able to hit a playing card at 100 yards to qualify with the revolver he said sergeant honestly dad said sure I use to do it all the time but I've gotten so fat now I can't run back before the card falls out of the air so I can't show you but if you are willing to stand out there and throw up for me ? We all laughed and from then on those guys wouldn't go to the range without asking dad to go with em .One of them spoke at his funeral and both of them cried they honestly admired and loved him .He could get his point across with action but he always preferred humor .

At my range, that conversation would never have happened because multiple dudes would be blasting away with AR-15 SBRs, so conversation is impossible. Last time I went, the dude next to me had a .308 AR-10 SBR with a muzzle brake. With that configuration, he was obviously trying pretty hard to be a jerk.

Interesting. Don't know about the rest of you, but with my ear protection in place, I have a hard time hearing someone talking directly to me, leaning in, a foot away. Someone else, a couple lanes down? Forget it. He could be reciting Shakespeare and I'd never know.

Leader of the Band......Jest gotta have one....




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"IN GOD WE TRUST"

I run into the occasional blow hard. After a very short time you
should be able to realize they don't know what they are talking
about. Some of the things they claim are so far out, and they
are so stupid they don't realize it. There is no point in engaging
in conversation with these guys. Just walk away, they aren't
worth the aggravation. Most of these guys are not going to do
any shooting to give themselves away after their far fetched
stories.

Never have any problems at my club with any members.

I notice many talk about different subjects regarding firearms, I just agree with them all, I'm there to shoot, not to enlighten.

Sometimes if you listen you may even learn something from the loquacious person.

I guess that is why we all chose different firearms, mine is better than yours.

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Doesn't hasta call me Johnson

Had a gunsmith tell me to avoid the SW 40 because if the bullet is pushed back 1/1000th, the pressure can spike by 50,000 psi. Told him I had been hand loading it for years without a problem. Won't be using that gunsmith for anything.

When you think about it range experts are a lot like forums. I
read a lot of posts that I have no practical experience with in
the hopes I can pick up some smarts. I make no comments on
things I know nothing about. Seems some can't help themselves
from commenting on everything that comes down the road. I
know one thing for sure, just about the time you think you know
everything, you will find out you don't.

I distinguish between;
1. Blow hards, including know it alls, range commandos, self appointed experts, etc.
2. People looking for an audience.
3. The socially inept who haven't learned the fine art of listening.
4. People just trying to be friendly.
5. The curious.
I attract attention at the range because:
1 I am often shooting my Browning High Power with the Ciener unit. High Powers seem to attract attention, and I amazed how many people do not know about conversion units.
2. I shoot Bullseye style, and shoot better with one hand at 15 yards than many with two at 10.

A few years ago a bunch of us volunteers got together for a work bee at the range
We had 2 brand new duelling trees to install
There was a lot of trash talk from one guy who said he was gonna thrash everybody when the work was done and we start shooting .
I felt like maybe i could beat him , but didnt want to look the fool , by joining in the trash talking
It came time for us to square off . He laid out a couple extra mags for his 1911
i was shooting my 629 that day and my "buddy" suggested that i could use a second revolver for my reload ..
A fairly large group had formed to watch our duel including a cute young lady that i had just begun to date
Long story short , i beat him in three gave him a rematch and beat him in 3 again didnt even need the second revolver
I had been humble and ended up looking like clint eastwood to my fellow members and more importantly to that cute nurse
Its almost always better to not blow your own horn too loudly

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the rules? there are no rules

True greatness need not proclaim itself.

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Real men love cats!

Towards the end of my LEO career we had one of our range training days, which weren't really that often. Towards the end of the session we had a dueling tree shoot off. At that time I think there were only 3 of use still carrying wheel guns in that session which included probably 1/3 of the Dept. It ended up being a shoot off between me and one of the young semi-auto guys. I don't remember if they were carrying Glocks or M&Ps at the time. I was using my 6" 686 as they wouldn't let me shoot steel with my 6" 629. Well his spray and pray didn't work out for him and I took it with 3 quick shots before he managed to hit a paddle. I heard some of the younger guys in the background trying to claim I beat him so easily because of my 6" barrel. I just took my cheap prize of a set of ear muffs and walked away. I did hold my head a little higher feeling I'd stood up and represented us old gray dinosaurs well and wheel guns too. No talk needed.

It wasn't the first time I'd defended the wheel gun successfully against a semi-auto on a dueling tree but this time I was also wearing the label of "one of those old guys" which made it sweeter.

No brag or swagger in either case and the shoot offs were arranged by the training officers as part of their program. The dueling trees were fun. I wish we'ed done them more often.

My range always has the most opinionated, hard-headed show-off I've ever met. I've been shooting at the end of a logging road for about 12 years now, and I'm the only guy that's ever there!

Just in case anyone missed it, it's the guy I see in the mirror every morning.

Saved: the wife just called me for dinner.

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Foster Positivity.

If nothing else works to get rid of blow hards at the range, a
accidental discharge near their feet will often send them on
their way.

I'll just say this, from the first post on, and from the very top down, there sure seems to be a lot of Alpha Sierra Sierra showing going on in this thread...

I was a participant in "shut that guy up" moment....... When I started with Federal Protective Service back in the early 80's our Firearm's Instructor was an Army Marksmanship Unit retiree. One day we had an officer come to the range and was having trouble requalifying. She was complaining non-stop that her revolver was defective. The Sgt. offered to check it out for her and she stated "he was so good, it wouldn't matter", so Sgt. turns to me "Recruit "Mack", shoot this gun" So, I proceeded to shoot a low 290s/300 with her "defective gun". The look on her face was priceless, and I'm not sure the Sgt. ever told the officer that the "recruit" had been shooting since he was old enough to handle a gun.

Hang up a "THIS IS A NO WHINING ZONE" sign by your shooting station.

Or...yell "fire in the hole" when your about to crack-off a 50BMG round.

Of course...when somebody is loading a muzzleloader or handloading ammunition on the firing pad --- Just politely tell the offender, that it is not proper range etiquette too talk to a person who is in the process of doing so.

LOL..... guess it was my Sr. year at Grove City. Fall tryouts for the Rifle Team... a few girls and a bunch of freshman guys. The women would take advice and suggestions on the equipment, thou most had some High School experience.

Most of the Guys I talked to on the other hand were .... "hey, been doing this for years" "deer hunt with my dad" ... etc etc...... tryouts were all shot prone; jackets, gloves and Anschutz .22s. We let them shoot the prior year Seniors rifles. the coach did a little spotting and sight adjustments .....looking for potential or prior HS experience .... not necessarily great scores.

Well last relay there was a empty position so I grabbed a rifle and my "stuff" and lay down ........ no spotting scope .... just having a first day back, no pressure, good time...... while the others were 'trying out"

I put 12 rounds down range on the 12 targets ( 2 sighters and 10 for score)....relaxed and feeling good to be back.....

The Coach sent a couple of Sophmore's down to pull the targets.... marked by position only.....Coach flipped through the targets and said "this one shows promise" .......IIRC it was a 120 11X.

Guessing I had over 20,000 rounds through "my" rifle in the prior 3 years... sights were still on from the last match in 74" and no pressure. Let the force be with you!

We got some good shooters out of that freshman group ; but the braggarts never came back.

All you do is point your trigger finger at them, tell them that its jammed, and ask them if they would be so kind as to pull on it for you. They usually move right along.