Did you ever go to the range....?

[rwsmith]

.... and someone was really negatively dogmatic about what you were shooting? Went with a friend who brought some friends who were nice, interesting people who I was glad to shoot with except on thing. I had my Mosin Nagant that I REALLY like, the build, the history and the fact that it's a really nice shooter. But it seems that the spring in my magazine was weak and I had feeding difficulties. That brought the comment that it's a wonder than the Russians beat the Germans with the equipment supplied them. Later it came up that as the war went on production quality dropped off. I mentioned that this rifle was a 1937 model. A later unsolicited comment was that the Mosin wasn't a Russian rifle, it was a communist rifle. This was delivered with an extra dose of acid. That was three.

I should know that you are going to run into people like this at the range, but not in my crowd.

PS: It was a scorcher out there today. Glad we were under a shed.

 

[Joni_Lynn]

After an experience like that, I then make the effort to not find myself at the range or anywhere else with those type. Life is too short for that.
There are too few places or activities I enjoy that aren't boring and in which I can find relaxation.
Best wishes.

 

[Bkreutz]

My stock response to people like that is: Are you really that stupid? Or are you deliberately trying irritate me. (that's a paraphrase of the words I actually use)

 

[Engineer1911]

Your rifle can't talk back, but you shouldn't be afraid to defend your rifle. "How well will you work at 80?" could be a start. "Your knee and this mag spring are alike. Both are a little weak."

 

[RGVshooter]

Well if these are people that came with you to the range that made the comment then obviously you need better (mature) shooting companions. If this was a random person at the range then I would just say "ok, so you don't know".. and move on to someone that may be more helpful.

 

[jeffsmith]

Unfortunately Mosins are more reliable than some of our Associates

 

[Kernel Crittenden]

I don't let people like that get to me. It's their problem. Not mine. If I don't respect someone to begin with, why would I even care what they think anyway? Makes me like my disparaged item even more. Just smile and keep shooting.

 

[growr]

Had a similar event with a different ending when I was dialing in another M1 Garand.
Several young men came by and asked to look at it....no problem, even offered the young men that were home on leave from the Marine Corp if they would like to shoot it....

Sure, they said...."pretty nice antique rifle Mister" one of them said! I showed them the proper operation of an M1 and then handed each of them a "clip" ...

One said to the other , "No way that old thing can hit the 300 yard gong"

To which I asked the shooter if he WANTED to hit the 300 yard gong....Hell yeah was his answer, I asked if he understood a 6 o'clock hold/sight picture....No, was his answer, so I drew it out on the back of a target and then clicked on the 300 yard dope, told him to put the target on top of the post, squeeze and fire. He did just that and guess what happened?
Not only did he hit it with the first shot but with all 8 rounds! His buddies were totally blown away and wanted to see if THEY could hit the gong as well...all 4 of them did.

I told them that this rifle was the same type of rifle their grandfather probably used in WW2. The first shooter, then remarked that it would sure SUCK to be on the other end of one of those!

I gave each of them the empty clip and the empties they fired....as they walked away, I heard them commenting that, the M1 Garand was quite a rifle in it's day....the second shooter remarked it still IS!

Randy

 

[Warren Sear]

There is this...

 

[BigBoy99]

My range story.

One day while I was at the range, a fellow began unloading his stuff at the vacant shooting bench next to the one I was using. I said, "Hi" and he proceeded to tell me his story. He had just bought this rifle and was there to sight it in. He proceeded to tell me that he was an experienced shooter and had many guns at home. When he had his equipment unpack and laid out, the salesman must have spotted him a mile off. He had just about everything known to man in his accessories for the rifle.

The rifle was an AK47 with a scope mounted on it. He had all kinds of tools, gas wrenches, sight adjustment tools, magazine loaders, etc. He loaded a magazine and fired all 30 rounds at the target, using the scope to sight the target. He sat at the bench and didn't use anything other than his arms to support the rifle while shooting. He didn't even use the base of the magazine. Using the scope to sight, the target looked like some had used a shotgun to shoot the target – holes were all over the paper.

When he retrieved the target, he was complaining about the lack of consistency of the rounds. He then said he knew what the problem was. He went to his accessory tools and got his front sight adjustment tool and made some adjustments to the front sight. He then fully loaded another 30 round magazine and using the scope, he proceeded to shoot a new target. The results were just like before – rounds all over the target.

He was upset with the lack of grouping but since he reassured me he was an experienced shooter, I decided not to comment upon his lack of rifle support and the other obvious faults. Again he produced the front sight adjusting tool and tweaked on the front sight. And as before, fully loaded a 30 round magazine and fired all the rounds into the target using the scope to sight. Exactly the same results.

Again he was mad and getting frustrated with the lack of shot grouping. He again tweaked on the front sight and the same procedure again with the same results. He then started packing up all of his equipment and complaining about the inaccuracies of the rifle and was going to take it back to where he bought it and get rifle which was accurate.

I just wished him well and went back to my shooting, shaking my head!

 

[CajunBass]

The only person I take to the range with me is my wife, and she thinks I'm some kind of a cross between Skeeter Skelton, and Jerry Miculek.

What she doesn't know won't hurt her.

 

[ordy]

The problem with arguing with stupid people is that they drag you down to their level. Better just to smile and wave.

 

[sheepdawg]

The Mosin was a very functional rifle, also very lethal and I'm a Mauser collector. Here's mine, a 36 hex, and I usually out shoot anyone at the range using irons. The one thing it won't out shoot are my Mausers. Any comments about it are usually put in place when they see my targets.

 

[keith44spl]

As on ol friend once told me,

"I haven't run into the feller that was smart enough to get my goat!"


.

 

[Golddollar]

Happily, I had a range experience that went the other way. I was shooting my Thompson Center flintlock rifle and down a few benches was a granddad, son and little granddaughter. Since they were down to the right of me, they could see all of the steps that I was taking in loading a flintlock. I could hear the father explaining to the little girl what I was doing each step of the way. I'm an admitted ham actor, so I was glad to be a real living history exhibit for the father to teach his daughter from.

 

[johngalt]

No insults during this trip. I had my 03A3. Range is only 100 yards. There were a couple guys a few benches down shooting scoped ARs. They must have been looking at my target through their scopes, they came over and said, "wow, you can really shoot with open sights!" It does probably have the best sights I've used, and I'm always impressed at how well it shoots, even if it is only a 2-groove barrel.

 

[rwsmith]

It was peculiar....

He was a Vietnam Vet. Some years older than me and a keen interest in many things historical. He was shooting a black powder revolver.

I have to say that other than this piddly complaint, I had a great time, the only REAL complaint being I had trouble with the rifle that I wanted to shoot the most. I'm not going to let something like that ruin my shooting day. And except for that one minus they are a great bunch of guys and I enjoyed being with them. It's fun to visit the range in a group as I'm usually by myself or with one or two people. Most of my getting out and being social nowadays involves going to the range.

Other than that, I'm going to doctors, running errands or shopping, so I'm grateful for being able to use the range as my 'club' or 'corner bar'. Long live shooting sports.

 

[Rpg]

I'm more amused than annoyed by this sort of ignorance so my approach is quite different.

I see these folks as opportunities, not for me to educate them but to let them entertain me.

I like to draw them out, encourage them to tell me more, hang on their every word and express delight that they are willing to enlighten me.

These folks are usually quite willing to entertain me with their 'expertise'.

Why try to avoid them when they can offer so much fun?

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

I tune them out, like the people who say "_______ are junk!"

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Eto Nam nichedo, tovarishch! It is nothing, comrade!