Accuracy snob

[Dfish1247]

I was doing my usual golf ball hunting at the range a few weeks ago. Had a severe infestation at 100yds and had my ar cleaning them out. Bushmaster lower, woa 22” wylde upper, prs stock, 4x16 Burris scope with 1/8 dot.

Anywho, things are going well when these two jokers who are punching paper on the other end of the shed at 100yds ask to look at their papers. “Sure, take your time, I need to put more out myself.” Well, one had to start ragging on my ar for some reason, “ Golf ball the best you can do, that’s a 2” group at best, you need to try actual benchrest shooting, you wasted all that money just to do that, blah blah.” I asked if they competed, both said no, so I said “why blow all that money on a custom rifle, turning necks, trimming necks, separating bullets by .1 grain weight differences, having god knows how many unopened cans of powder laying around, yada yada, just to punch paper and gripe because you still had on flyer that turned one hole into a group. I guess I shocked them or something about knowing that type of info. Seen four eyebrows go up in surprise.

That went over well as one would expect, after the back and forth nonsense because I egged them on and had fun with it, I told them they’re doing the same thing I am, having fun with their toys. I’m 35 and both of them were roughly the same age, kills me some people have to act like that.

You folks have any similar stories we could get a laugh from?

 

[waffles]

Egging on some friendly competition to hit smaller and smaller targets at the range is fun, people being jerks to others is not, and just gotta laugh about people talking **** about how rigorous their ammo prep is and still shooting at such a short range.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

"A Severe Infestation" I like that! I have, enjoyed Golf Balls, Paint Balls, Cheez-its, and M&M's. They were all a riot. But some stranger comes up and says, Is that all the better you can do? The game is range time so I always offer to let them try with my gun and ammo. I had two try, one guy did fair, the other beat my pants off! It was a set up by one of my friends! The guy was a Champion BR shooter. But then the fun started and lasted well past dinner!

Ivan

 

[Puller]

You folks have any similar stories we could get a laugh from?

I find the more I'm out in public the less I like people in general.

 

[LVSteve]

I couldn't be bothered with two targets as easy as those zeebs.

The general fascination with 100 yard groups is lost on me other than for basic function and comparison testing. I was once asked why I don't visit the rifle range at the Clark County Shooting Complex. I told them that the longest range of 200 yards is fine for sighting in, but it's no good to practice actual shooting. We had been promised a 500 yard or maybe 1000 when that project started in 97-98, but that went away for reasons unknown to me.

 

[Beemerguy53]

The way things are in this country right now, with people on edge and ready to resort to violence over even the slightest provocation, I don't engage strangers in arguments over anything. I especially wouldn't do that at a shooting range.

With all due respect, in that situation, I think I would have said simply, "thank you for your opinion."

 

[Rustyt1953]

I am usually able to quickly diffuse such prickly encounters by making them laugh. Once they do they generally turn into human beings again.

Honey vs vinegar rules the day.

 

[9mmPatriot]

I don't bother with Range-Snobs. I do my own thing and let others do theirs.

If a guy/gal wants to spend brazilions to make small groups, cool.

Me? I just try to hit a 6" bullseye at 2-300 yds with a 2 moa optic or mbuis. If I do, then I won. If I don't, I try a little harder.

I shoot for my enjoyment and to impress myself. and I am (typically) easy to impress.

 

[cherrypointmarine]

I don't have that problem. Our range is only open Thur , Fri , Sat and Sunday . My buddy is an RO plus he's on the board . So we go out on Tuesdays because he has the combo to the gate . The only people we run into sometimes is the Coast Guard . Even then they are on the far side on the 200 yard range . When they leave they police up their brass and leave it in ammo cans , so we get first choice .

 

[Sevens]

Back in the earlier days when the electronic ear protection was new to the market… lots of guys at the range had never used them before and had NO IDEA how well they amplify conversation. I heard two guys grumbling about me, how I was wasting my day, all my time and energy screwing around with that stupid chronograph.

“He should be shooting and working on skills and accuracy but instead he’s futzing with that dumb thing.”

I thought they were jerks for judging me having only their first 30-second view of what was my (literally) 8-hour range day. And I know that I’m right. The funny post script is that occasionally, I do feel the need to use that AWFUL chrono, I named it “the fun sucker” a decade ago. Every shot I send through is annoying hahaha and I just want to get to target shooting whenever I’m using it.

Those guys were still jerks though.

 

[Dfish1247]

The way things are in this country right now, with people on edge and ready to resort to violence over even the slightest provocation, I don't engage strangers in arguments over anything. I especially wouldn't do that at a shooting range.

With all due respect, in that situation, I think I would have said simply, "thank you for your opinion."

They weren’t combative or anything like that, just “thumbing their noses” towards me. Gotta give it back, or you get ran over. Bowing down ain’t my thing.

 

[Dfish1247]

I couldn't be bothered with two targets as easy as those zeebs.

The general fascination with 100 yard groups is lost on me other than for basic function and comparison testing. I was once asked why I don't visit the rifle range at the Clark County Shooting Complex. I told them that the longest range of 200 yards is fine for sighting in, but it's no good to practice actual shooting. We had been promised a 500 yard or maybe 1000 when that project started in 97-98, but that went away for reasons unknown to me.

All in what’s fun to you, 100yd-300yd is fine for me since I can walk there easily, 400yd+, lugging a 4 wheeler around just to shoot don’t sound as fun. If I competed, it’d be a different story, been there, done that, hated it.

 

[Rodan]

I try to avoid such "discussions" when shooting, but some folks just need a little "schoolin'"...

Many, many years ago (late 1980s) I was shooting at an indoor range with an old 1911 of some sort, when the barrel bushing broke, allowing the plunger and spring to launch off into space.

The gent in the next stall, who was shooting the latest/greatest Euro 9 crunch n' ticker and had previously, and snidely, commented on 'obsolete' guns, thought it quite hilarious.

That is, until we rolled the targets back. He was shooting on some sort of silhouette/torso target and had about a 12" pattern over several mags. At the same distance (only 10 or so yards), I had been holding the 10 ring on whatever bullseye target I had been using with the 1911, and the recoil spring had poked through the paper in the 7 ring, and was still hanging there.

His smile disappeared when I remarked that my departed spring was still more accurate than his modern and high tech whateveritwas.

 

[gjgalligan]

I was helping a lady work on her sd handgun shooting at the range using 8.5x11 paper as targets. A guy there (has to always be better then everybody else) started ragging on the fact there was not bullseye on the sheets of paper. I picked up one of the papers and told him there was 10 shots fired at it and it had 10 holes. he commented the holes were all over the place so I held the paper up to his chest. Told him to look where the holes were and would he want the lady to be shooting at him.
He turned around and walked away with no further comment.

 

[meaneyedcatz]

It really sucks when grown men act their shoe size instead of their age.

 

[hittman77]

You folks have any similar stories we could get a laugh from?

A few years back IL began offering CCW permits and range qualification is required. I’m about age 55 at the time. A group of us show up at the private range owned by one of the instructors for the shoot.

I drove there with 2 buddies. They and all the others there are 20 to 30 years younger than me. Honestly, I’m a bit nervous cause I’ve never had to qualify having not been in law enforcement or the military.

Since they called “age before beauty” I was first to approach the line of benches. I laid out my 4 inch Security Six and a box of ammo. Then the snickers and teasing began.

Then we qualified.

I had high score plus no stove pipes or fail to feed, etc.

They bought me lunch when we got home.

 

[BigBoy99]

Humorous Range Incident

Here is mine my funny/humorous events which happened while at the range. I was sighting in a scoped rifle when a young fellow (late twenties) asked if the bench next to me was free. I said it was and he proceeded to start unloading his equipment. His rifle was a new AK47 with a scope mounted on it. As he was setting up he told me that he had just gotten the rifle and this would be the first time he had it the range. He was also telling me how experienced he was as a shooter.

He load 5 rounds in the magazine and fired them, using the scope. Not too bad as they were all on the lower- left side of the target. He says, "Not bad but adjustment is needed." He then goes into one of his bags and gets out a front site adjustment tool and tweaks the front sight. He fires another 5 rounds into the same area as before and again he does more adjustment to the front sight. He repeated the firing and the same results occurred and more front sight adjustment. I just watched and didn't say anything because he was such an “experienced shooter". After the fourth sting of shots with the same results and front sight adjustment, he packed up all of his stuff and was going to take this #%@+!&* inaccurate rifle back to the gun store. I just wished him good luck and chuckled as he walked away.

 

[BB57]

I have similar concerns about so called long range shooters who get hyper focused on 1/4 MOA accuracy but don’t focus on first shot hits.

For example they’ll spend a boat load of money on extreme accuracy and then take 5 shots to walk their way onto a target in real world real wind conditions.

My approach is a bit different. My long range rifles and loads are 1 MOA accurate, but are very consistent, delivering repayable cold bore accuracy and very consistent groups as the barrel warms up. 10 shots fired at a normal pace into 1.25 MOA is a minimum standard for me.

I load my long range ammo on a Dillon 550. I use Whidden floating tool heads and clamp kits and verify the weight of each charge but I load 110 rounds per hour and still get runout no more than .001”.

What that means is that I spend a lot less time and money to shoot a lot more, focusing on shooting in the wind in real world conditions.

It also means that while the that 1/4 MOA accuracy guy takes 5 rounds to hit a steel plate at long range, I’ve put 5 rounds on the same plate.

Yet they don’t get it. They miss the time tested concepts that:

- Any system is only as good as it’s weakest link, and in precision shooting under field conditions that weak link is virtually always the shooter; and
- “perfect” is the mortal enemy of “good enough”.

 

[BB57]

A few years back IL began offering CCW permits and range qualification is required. I’m about age 55 at the time. A group of us show up at the private range owned by one of the instructors for the shoot.

I drove there with 2 buddies. They and all the others there are 20 to 30 years younger than me. Honestly, I’m a bit nervous cause I’ve never had to qualify having not been in law enforcement or the military.

Since they called “age before beauty” I was first to approach the line of benches. I laid out my 4 inch Security Six and a box of ammo. Then the snickers and teasing began.

Then we qualified.

I had high score plus no stove pipes or fail to feed, etc.

They bought me lunch when we got home.

When I moved to MN I had a similar experience there was no set course of fire, you just had to satisfy the instructor you were sufficiently safe and accurate to not pose a threat.

There were snickers as I took out my 2 1/2” 686+ about half way through the proceedings. Most of the shooters before me had shot 30-40 rounds with some individual coaching to get a passable dinner plate sized group on target fired at a realistic pace and I’m sure they thought the middle aged guy with a snubby revolver was going to be there awhile.

I fired 7 shots rapid fire at 10 yards into a group about 1.5” in diameter and centered in the 10 ring of the B-27 target.

The instructors said, “l noticed you fired that double action, that’s excellent. Are you shooting .38s or .357?” I told him it was my .357 self defense load and he said “Of course. You obviously know what you’re doing so you’re done”.

 

[OLDSTER]

I wouldn't fit in. Virtually all my handgun shooting is at 5, 7, and 10 yards. The range "experts" would refer to me as an old fuddy, just learning to shoot .

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Reading the wind is an art form! One of my friends said the best way to learn to shoot in the wind with a 308 at 600 yards, was to do just that! But not everyone has a 600 yard range in their back yard, so a good substitute is to shoot an accurate 22 at 200 yards!

Ivan

 

[Breakaway500]

While at the 100yd. range one day with a friend, I was having fun with bouncing targets while he punched paper. Just before a walk down call, he insisted I was wasting my ammo with that "assault" rife..(It's my Ar10T) I scoped out his target and saw zero hits on the bullseye. He has some sort of custom made bolt action in some wildcat handloaded caliber neither name of which I can even pronounce. Hmm. I proceeded to fire 5 rounds of military grade ammo (7.62x51) on his target...4 out of 5 in the bullseye. It was a quiet ride home..

 

[old bear]

My idea of ideal accurate shooting is minute of “Great Unwashed” at 50 yards.

 

[Golddollar]

I have to say my experience has been different. I shoot .22 bullseye most of the year, and when I need to sight in a different gun or shells I go to my club with the indoor range. I'm not a great shooter, but good enough to sight in shooting offhand like I would in a match. The was another club member at the range, and he expressed his admiration for anyone who could shoot a handgun with one hand.