Irate people at the range.......

[84CJ]

Ever meet one of these?

One reason I enjoy shooting is fellowship at the range. I have met some really great people (luckyderby is one)and made some good friends.

However one day i went shooting with a friend he brought another friend that wanted to shoot my AR 50. A fellow came and sat next to us while we put up our targets and set up the 50BMG . Took a while for my friend to get up the nerve to pull the trigger and I forgot about the fellow next to us. When my friend pulled the trigger it removed the gentlemans hat from his head and probably peeled his eyelids back. He jumped up yelling things that would force Lee to ban me from here for life.He said you should warn people before you fire something like that (I normally do especially when young folks are around) This guy was a mature adult with a 45 SA on his hip. I said I was sorry but he wouldn't let up. I lost my temper and finally asked what kind of moron sits next to a rifle 5 feet long with a brake that looks like it belongs on a tank. He then pulled his 45 and started waving it around. Lucky for him I noticed it was not loaded (my other friend was pulling his Kimber it was loaded). I removed the SA 45 from his hand and was about to see how far I could throw it when another guy hops out of his car a yells hey thats my dads gun. I am thinking crape! But he turned out to be very polite. Maybe because I had all the guns at that time.

Anyone else ever have days like this?

 

[84CJ]

Ever meet one of these?

One reason I enjoy shooting is fellowship at the range. I have met some really great people (luckyderby is one)and made some good friends.

However one day i went shooting with a friend he brought another friend that wanted to shoot my AR 50. A fellow came and sat next to us while we put up our targets and set up the 50BMG . Took a while for my friend to get up the nerve to pull the trigger and I forgot about the fellow next to us. When my friend pulled the trigger it removed the gentlemans hat from his head and probably peeled his eyelids back. He jumped up yelling things that would force Lee to ban me from here for life.He said you should warn people before you fire something like that (I normally do especially when young folks are around) This guy was a mature adult with a 45 SA on his hip. I said I was sorry but he wouldn't let up. I lost my temper and finally asked what kind of moron sits next to a rifle 5 feet long with a brake that looks like it belongs on a tank. He then pulled his 45 and started waving it around. Lucky for him I noticed it was not loaded (my other friend was pulling his Kimber it was loaded). I removed the SA 45 from his hand and was about to see how far I could throw it when another guy hops out of his car a yells hey thats my dads gun. I am thinking crape! But he turned out to be very polite. Maybe because I had all the guns at that time.

Anyone else ever have days like this?

 

[Cruiser RN]

Thankfully I never had a day like that.It was very good you had noticed that the 45 SA wasn't loaded because the very action of drawing the gun would have been at the least considered menacing and at worst could have consituted a deadly threat resulting in the guy being very dead.I can never figure out what motivates these testosterone fueled jackasses.....God Bless...Mike

 

[mwtdvm]

Don't know the size of your range firing line but when I take my 50 out to shoot, I deliberately set up as far away from other folks as possible, because of the muzzle blast. In any case, before the first round is fired, I ask everyone in sight if their ears are "on". Helps prepare them for what follows.

So I guess I do warn them. You should also. Just my $0.02

 

[roundgunner]

We had a guy get a month off at our club for shooting a 50BMG round. He came to me as the range safety officer and asked why. I told him it was a BS call and went to the club prez. Nowhere does it ban a 50 so they rewrote the range rules to ban 50BMG. It is BS but it is only 2 miles from my house so I just go along.

As far as waving a gun around

loaded or unloaded I would give him a year to cool down at our club. It is the unloaded gun that kills a friend at the range.

 

[Out West]

This one is hard to speak to. At the range where I have a membership its against the rules to fire 50 cal. The noise is probably one of the reasons for the rule. But I also know that other ranges allow them. Assuming that is the case with your range. Therefore, as unpleasant as that 50 cal. blast might be, I can't understand the guy waving his gun at you. Was it your impression that he was mad enough to use the pistol? Angry or not, waving a gun would get you kicked out of our club. Very strict rules on muzzle control where I shoot.

Anyhoo, that sounds like one weird day at the range.

Out West

 

[jkc]

At the range where I usually shoot, anyone wildly waving a gun around as I think you're describing would probably be immediately shot, by an RO, if the rest of us didn't do it first... guns and lost tempers are a bad mix. On the other hand, some people are just plain rude on public ranges, and some ROs are thoughtless about bench assignments. My local range has a bench or two reserved IIRC, for 50s, to spare other shooters the concussion from side-blasting muzzle brakes. I set up a clamp on screen on my bench to catch ejected brass when shooting semi-auto rifles, but some jerks obliviously crank 30 round mags through their AK clones, showering everyone to the side with hot brass (or more commonly, hot steel...) It seems that it's my bad luck to always set up next to somebody who's wringing out something like a Magnaported Ruger Alaskan, while I'm trying to concentrate on the minute, precise aiming adjustments of some new rifle/scope combo... I'm envious of anyone who has a private, personal place to shoot.

 

[84CJ]

I too set up at the last table and try to watch out for others. That day i was occupied with my friend assuring him he would not die if he pulled the trigger. Just forgot about the other guy behind me.

 

[Douglas Haig]

My range doesn't allow them. Apparently for good reason. I think it was rude to set up and fire the thing without warning / asking permission of the others. Sort of like someone coming up and blowing a whistle behind your ear. Who wouldn't be a little PO'd.

 

[m1gunner]

Originally posted by 84CJ:
what kind of moron sits next to a rifle 5 feet long with a brake that looks like it belongs on a tank.

Pretty much sums up the hothead's powers of observation.

While many in the shooting sports are polite and considerate, the average "ugly American" is being found in our midst more and more. Public or private ranges are getting their fair share of folks who are somewhat out of control.

 

[benmcc]

yelling angrily and waving a handgun around does not yield good results.

 

[kmyers]

I lost my temper and finally asked what kind of moron sits next to a rifle 5 feet long with a brake that looks like it belongs on a tank.

Kind of my thought on it. Much like the woman who orders hot coffee at McDonalds and sues after getting burned, or people who cross fences/boundaries at zoos and get attacked, the ones(we have a lawsuit in this area over this) who cross multiple boundaries, ignore warning signs and fall off of cliffs. I would have been a bit away from you with both earplugs and muffs on.

 

[84CJ]

I normally shoot at Forest service ranges. No RO's. I have only had this one problem. Most encounters are very positive. After we put up our targets we did warn everyone (There was only him,my two friends and me) that we were going hot. There was only 4 people on the range and one in his car. It just took a few min for my freind to get up his nerve. This guy didn't even bring earplugs.
I dont ask permission to fire. I do warn people how load it is. And have to tell them not to look into the brake while I am firing. I stop when people ask I know this thing shakes the tables. Most everyone there stops what they are doing to watch the show anyway. I let any one shoot it that wants too. Not normally too many takers. They think it kicks.

Douglas If you saw someone loading and aiming something that big would you cover your ears?

 

[tom turner]

As a former board member of an area club, I assure you . . . every club has one, or several azz-zoles. In the end, they get booted out of the club but in the meantime they can surely ruin a good thing for everyone!

In this case, I imagine just about anyone would be upset if someone touched off a .50 cal round from a muzzle-break barrel, five feet from their unprotected ears. I know I surely would! Proper range rules always require around here that folks proclaim loudly when the line is going hot.

That being said, although that guy was truly stupid to set up next to a .50 . . . he had no reason for being a total jerk. His actions could have resulted in someone getting killed.

Thank goodness you say he was empty . . . as well as his son being concerned about inheriting a dinged up .45SA in case you guys blew his dad into that big range in the sky!

I applaud you for maintaining your cool, while doing what you had to do to make the range safe from that unstable idiot! His actions could have landed him in jail . . . or the morgue.


T.

 

[Bacon]

84CJ - I see you live in the Upstate and it sounds like the incident was at a public range. Was it in the National Forest range by Clinton? If so, then I need to watch out for that guy. There is no excuse for waving around a firearm. I don't care how pissed off he was.

 

[tom turner]

I had a bad incident at our club years ago, while on the board.

A new member had joined and he kind of creeped everyone out. As a matter of fact, after he joined we changed the rules requiring all new members be "sponsored," vouched for to the board, and then voted in . . . to prevent others like him in the future.

His problem? Never could pin it down. He had this far away "battle field stare" and was obsessed with his legally owned M-16 and MP-5.

One day I was alone at the rifle range and he showed up . . . shooting the M-16 from the line. After he's shoot, he would lock and load a fresh magazine, throw it over his shoulder, and walk down to check his targets . . . like he was afraid someone would come in and attack him I guess. Weird.

Next time I saw him there I was also alone and he brought a friend to let 'em shoot his M-16. He went to the high bermed pistol bay areas (about 50 yards deep) and they proceeded to blast away at bowling pins on our heavy steel pin table . . . FULL AUTO.

His friend was clueless how to fire an automatic rifle and his multiple rounds were "walking" all the way up and over the berm! There are houses in that direction about 3/4 of a mile away and the firing angle was steep enough to be deadly where ever those hot bullets landed.

That's when I lost MY cool and went over there and booted those guys off the range after chewin' a little butt . . . also in words ya shouldn't say here. At the next board meeting we booted the guy from the club. Dangerous actions cannot be tolerated! Ever!!!

Glad I didn't get shot too! The nut job soon left our area, much to our relief. Something about that guy didn't seem right . . .

T.

 

[84CJ]

I doo shoot there but this happened at the beaver creek range down in Mcormick I think its called Beaver Creek. Clinton is my go to place never a problem there. None at Pauline or Rose hill either. RO there got a blast out of it. It cleaned out the rafters and tunnel. Havn't been to pauline in a while though.

 

[tom turner]

Originally posted by 84CJ:
I normally shoot at Forest service ranges. No RO's. . . .

Wow, I'm glad you didn't get shot. We have a Wildlife Management Area that has a public range and I've gotten to be quite picky about even getting out to shoot there. It is amazing how stupidly dangerous a lot of guys are. It almost seems to be like an accident just waiting to happen.

A couple of months ago I went to that range to sight in a new S&W M&P15 AR-15 . . . and the lone shooter looked like he was gonna run out of 9mm ammo pretty soon, based on how fast he was shooting. So, I just waited safely in my car.

He left and I'd just started unloading my stuff when two yahoos fly up in a pickup truck . . . plus one girlfriend to tote their beer cooler to the line. I decided to just get in my car and wait 'em out.

Pretty soon . . . lots of shooting . . . several times when one would go down range while the other kept shooting pistols, etc. Then one tossed a beer bottle over the berm on the side of the line.

Finally, the two guys come up . . . get a skeet thrower and a rusty shotgun out and head back down to the RIFLE RANGE to shoot skeet. By then the sun would set in about thirty minutes and I was pissed. Alcohol and guns don't mix . . . toss in poor range etiquette, lack of respect of others and very low IQ levels and you've got a disaster waiting to happen.

T.

PS: A couple of weeks later, a game warden came by while I was shooting there and I told him what happened. I now have a number to call. They've been trying to catch these idiots and he said he'd be there in a real hurry next time!

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

He wasn't an irate person, just an idiot. What I call a chained cur. Sounds like you handled it very well. Lucky for him his son was there, if that was me, that .45 would have been mine and he'd have a hard time describing whoever took it away from him-if he awoke from his coma.

 

[truckemup97]

Originally posted by tom turner:
Something about that guy didn't seem right . . .

T.

I wonder how many people say that about us?