How safe do you feel at the public range

[lrb1200]

I don't know about you guys, but myself.....not so much.
The public indoor ranges in my area, about zero gun etiquette / safety. I could fill pages with specific examples of what is a common sight at these ranges.
On the days I go to the range, I am the first one in the door
at opening, and I request either the first or last lane next to the wall, that way I only have to be concerned with the possibility of fire coming from one direction.
Because of this, it feels like I have to spend an inordinate amount of time being cognizant of others in my proximity.
What say you?

 

[Florida Guy]

I'm a member of a range that has cameras in each room, and monitors above the check-in desk where employees constantly watch them. I feel very safe there.
I had shot at another range a few times before joining the one I am at now, and they had 2 or 3 suicides on the range. One guy even killed himself with one of their rentals.
As long as they aim at themselves, I'm okay with it. Sure glad I wasn't there when they took place.

 

[Fishinfool]

After years spent on various ranges, both for fun, and instructing LEO, I have seen my share of stupid, and am frankly surprised more blood has not been shed. People are people, and vary in ability and common sense. Some folks could hurt themselves or you with a simple rubber ball if given the opportunity....

I think the key to a safe range is proper control and supervision by range safety / instructor staff. You cant just leave range safety up to the shooters. Some of the "range rules" that seem onerous to many are there for a reason, and help minimize the lack of common sense shown by a certain percentage of shooters.

Larry

 

[Arik]

I prefer public range. Yea there are safety violations once in a while. My personal experience with going to a public range......in 6 or 7 years I personally witnessed ONE violation. Of course I'm not there every day. This range is state game land, no RO and an occasional drive by by police or park ranger. The range goes from 25 to 300 yards. I have to drive about an hour and a half to get there, pay tolls and obviously gas. There is a outdoor range 5 min from my house and I refuse to use it.
1) they only go to 100 yards.
2) cannot stand up. I hate benching rifles. It's lame, I'm not practicing sniping.
3) cannot stand by your rifle when people are collecting targets. This means no brass pick up.
4) cannot stand in front of your rifle during live fire even though each person is separated by 5ft of concrete. This means no picking up brass. So basically no brass pickup.
5) must stand behind the red line when range is cold. This means you will be kicked out if your toe is on or a hair past the red line.
6) 50BMG is perfectly fine but 30 cal light AP is not. Where the logic
7) no surplus ammo
8 )timed shots. Not talking about rapid fire here. At least 5 seconds between shots.
9)Overall kindergarten like treatment.

No thanks not for me. If I got to even an indoor range and see an RO I'm out. I'll take my chances on public ranges and shoot how I like

 

[ralph7]

Any public range is certainly safer than something you probably do every day, which is get behind the wheel of your vehicle on a public road.
There is always going to be the possibility of harm in life, might as well try and have a good time and keep an eye out for trouble.

 

[billwill]

To some folks "range rules" are the wild west wide open spaces! People don't realize it only takes a nano second to have things go wrong.

 

[Hillbilly77]

I usually feel pretty safe at the range.

If I see somebody doing something stupid or dangerous, I'm not the least bit shy about speaking up.

 

[SC_Mike]

I observe thru the glass. If I see a situation that's not to my liking I wait and go in later or ask for a lane far from them. If I see a dangerous situation I point it out to the range master.

I saw a young couple on a lane where he squared her to the target down range, handed her the weapon, then he knelt to go thru his range bad, looking down. She apparently had a question and swiveled at the hips, pointed the weapon about three inches above his head and asked it, he answered never looking up, not knowing he had a loaded weapon pointed at his head for a few seconds. I reported this to the RSO.

Be careful out there, every second.

 

[redlevel]

I was raised relatively poor, but we owned land.

If I had to shoot on a public range, I would sell
most of my guns.

If I had to hunt on public land, I would quit hunting.

I am spoiled.

 

[K9wardog]

I love the range I use. The lighting and ventilation can't be beat. As for safety, they have at least one range safety officer on duty at all times. My buddy and I were the only ones there, and they still had a range safety officer with us. They offer instruction for every level of shooter, and their selection of firearms to rent is unbelievable. Check out the Machine Gun Nest The Machine Gun Nest

 

[4barrel]

I am a member of a 600+ gun club. I shoot with a certified range officer. Only newer members give a small problem which is easy to fix. Three strikes & you are out. 100 people waiting in line for a membership. I will take some photos later on. A classy bow & arrow club--A super nice shotgun club--all within 1/8 miles. We have people come from 100 miles or more.

 

[NYlakesider]

As a former NRA certified instructor and RO at my 1,800 person private club range I have sure seen soon stupid and very unsafe gun behavior. Now the last few weeks before rifle season we open the range to the public. We staffed it with ROs to help out with people that are not that familar with firearms (one weekend a year hunters) and that alone can be INTERESTING.

The absolutely worse is seeing a major safety violation and being nice to the person and just telling him what he did was wrong/do not do it again and then have that person argue with you. The normal argument is I have been around guns all my life and I knows what is right.

I try to keep it civil but sometimes these clowns will just not listen and continue to argue. At that point I will ask them nicely to leave and never come back. (that can sometimes generate more arguments

If they are ok with my little talk all is well and they can continue to be there. If they do another violation that’s it there out.
All our ROs have the power to throw out people and In my case as a director of the club I hade much more power if I need to bring it to bear. Yes I have had to call the police a few times (many of that force are members here) as some of these people want to go hands on when told of their misgivings. This was all pre cell phone era so that entitled a walk into the club house to get a phone.

 

[Mercury]

Much like the lrb1200, I try to get a lane on the end but prefer the one that's all the way to the right. I figure that most shooters are right handed and if they were to have an issue with a handgun, they tend to point it to the left while trying to diagnosis it. This cuts down on the number of times that it might be pointed my way. It's not a guarantee, but it lowers the odds of getting swept with a loaded gun.

 

[mtgianni]

Next week is our county fair which means that the range will be full until the opening day of deer season. Other than that i usually have the pace to myself, no range master and managed by the sportsman club.

 

[Vulcan Bob]

The range I use the most is an "Sportsmans" club range and requires a membership to use it. The hitch is there is about zero enforcement of this other than members using the range may inquire if someone is a member (I think abut half are not). Now to the crux of the matter, I've been running into more and more "hostile" people who seem to think they do not require a "membership" and resent any attempts to bring unsafe behavior to their attention. Now I'm a polite and reasonable person and almost never interject myself unless there is a dire safety problem occurring. However I am starting to fear a "range rage" incident.

Two days ago a fellow forum member and I were at this range and had it to ourselves at the time and were testing ammo and such in our 1911's and as you know this takes awhile. A large SUV pulled up and parked with four folks in it and just sat and looked at us, it soon left, about 20 minutes it came back and they just sat and glared at us, no coming down and talking or anything, it soon degenerated into them milling about the vehicle and mumbling to themselves, one bolted on a gun belt and sidearm and got more vocal, not addressing us but making angry comments on our "behavior", guess we did not pack up and leave fast enough for em. Eventually he loudly proclaimed, "you are just ignorant!" and left.

Now there was plenty of bench's and room but I guess they felt they should of had it to themselves, maybe their mommy should have taught them to share! This is what safety concerns I'm having these days.

 

[BearBio]

Ours is public in the sense that you pay a membership but go as you want. We usually go Sunday Mornings early (mostly cause of the heat). We'll use the covered pistol range if empty, otherwise, we'll use the outside bays. No real problems. Left once because of some "Mall-ninja, yahoos". It's only 20 minutes and behind a locked gate with a on-site caretaker/range master.

 

[scooter123]

I do my shooting at public ranges on a Sunday morning right when they open. My Stepsister thinks I'm a bit of a sinner for doing this but in my area the young knuckleheads sleep in on Sunday morning so those at the range are old farts like myself. In fact it's usually the same group of old farts and we've gotten to know each other fairly well. So, I feel 98% safe at the public ranges I shoot at.

Note: I do most of my rifle shooting in the summer at a private club and in that environment I feel 100% safe. Because there are always at least 4 RO's on the line along with the Range Master and they keep a very close eye on every person present. Put just one toe over the red line after a cease fire and you'll hear about it, they don't tolerate any hedging on the rules for any reason. Some may call this "range nazi" behavior but those who feel this way need to realize that there are very good reasons for those rules and hedging inevitably leads to the rules becoming meaningless.

 

[otisrush]

I'm not sure what constitutes "public". The range I go to requires a membership. It's a Sportsman's Club kind of place. They have a maximum membership limit and there has been a waitlist for years. (Not that it takes that long to get a slot.) No background checks. No RSOs. There are clear rules but they're enforced by the collective who is using the range at the time.

99+% of the time I feel more than safe there. In fact - most of the folks are really great. There have been 2 or 3 times I packed up earlier than I wanted and went home. One time a guy was being unsafe but an experienced guy down the line instructed the guy and got it under control. The other times I had just a general uneasiness because it was 4-6 guys hootin' and hollerin' and blasting away like crazy. "HEY! CHECK THIS OUT! WOW YOU SURE BLEW THAT AWAY! LET ME SEE HOW BIG OF A SPRAY I GET GET FROM THAT MILK JUG!" Stuff like that. One time a group of guys set up water jugs next to my paper targets. As I'm settling in on my target and trying to calm down to take a shot all this water comes flying into my field of view.

I just had this sense their top priority was yucking it up with their friends and they seemed oblivious (inconsiderate) to others there. So no actual rule violations - but I decided there would be another day and I'd just get annoyed if I stayed.

I guess I'm letting my curmudgeon come out.

OR

 

[Biggfoot44]

There is a subset of those who like to be holier than thou , and comiserate about others at public ranges. While specific situations might occur at isol*ted incidents , I am much more concerned overall about overly restrictive range rules and range nazi's .

 

[M1A]

I feel perfectly safe at any of the ranges I frequent. I do not tolerate any safety infractions, and become RO if necessary. I try to be cordial but definite. If necessary report to the actual RO.
Such encounters have been few, and easily resolved. Some folks are just new and need a little guidance.
If I ever encountered a range that I actually felt uncomfortable, I would leave, not to return.