Range trip cancelled due to careless shooters.

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Hillbilly77

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I was planning a trip to the indoor range this afternoon with my daughter.
Our gun club puts on a Sunday morning all-you-can-eat breakfast every Sunday in January & February at the clubhouse.

At breakfast this morning I saw a sign posted that the indoor pistol range is closed until further notice. The club Pres. told me that an unknown genius had put 4 bullet holes into the ceiling. There is a line that you cross where "accident" becomes "negligent" and this crosses that line.
So, thanks to a careless fool, the range is closed for an estimated couple weeks until the ceiling can be fitted with protective steel plating. IDIOTS!
 
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Sorry to hear of that. It is the same old story of a few ruining things for everyone.

I recently had call to read a bit about design of small-arms ranges intended for use by the public (as opposed to a military facility where supervision is much more rigid and strict). I was quite surprised to see the extreme length to which designers went to insure that all bullets fired from the line could only end up in the backstop. That is quite an undertaking - and extremely expensive. Even the best design can be rendered ineffective if the shooter takes just a few steps back from the line.

After reading all this, it suddenly seemed incredulous to me that not all ranges are operated the same as a military range since even the best design is no proof against an idiot, and the only thing to do is to remove that idiot before he can do harm.

Hope your range gets back in operation soon.
 
A few weeks ago some guy got tossed out of the range for failing to leave his handgun alone while the range was cold. He was warned multiple of times but figured the rules only applied to other people -- not him. I'm glad they kicked him out.
 
We have cameras, but they are placed to catch vandalism and/or trespassing, not to babysit the range floor.
 
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This is why i am so thankful to have a buddy with 110 acres
and a pole barn, ( for inclimate weather ).
I enjoy shooting but not so much to trust my
life with some idiots like this standing right next to me.
And some wonder why they want guns banned.......

Chuck
 
Man that bites! Your club sure looks & sounds like a nice place to
shoot. What, if you don't mind saying, does a place like that cost per
month or year to shoot at?
 
Thoughless actions can happen in the twinkling of an eye. It can turn into tragedy in less time, if guns are involved. That's why safety must come first and for some unknown reason a select few just don't get it. Even after years of drilling safety into shooters minds, accidental discharges occur. We are all human, after all. It dosen't take an idiot to have a problem or AD. The reason we hear folks saying "YET" when addressing this subject is due to the fact that even the most careful,seasoned veterans are human and are subject to a lapse.

At any rate I am one of the fortunate one's. I too, have a very nice private shooting facility to use at anytime my heart so desires. It's not off my back deck, but almost. It's only15 minutes away, even if I get caught by one of the two traffic lights. I know that someday the property will probably be sold, so until then I will use it and let the owner know how much it is appreciated.

I am a member of a gun club that is 53 miles away , 106 round trip. I was making this trip at least once a week , sometimes twice a week if I was ram-rodding (acting RO) a week-end rifle or pistol match. So, I am glad I no longer have to drive the miles just to use the facilities. I put in 4 to 5 years of doing the matches. It's good to move along if some new blood is willing to replace you.

Sorry to see the stray, destructive shots have inadvertently shut the range down for a while. Good thing is, no one was hurt.
 
chud333 said:
This is why i am so thankful to have a buddy with 110 acres
and a pole barn, ( for inclimate weather ).
I enjoy shooting but not so much to trust my
life with some idiots like this standing right next to me.
And some wonder why they want guns banned.......

Chuck
Click to expand...

I live on 72 acres in a VERY gun-friendly small town. Most of the year you can hear several neighbors target practicing at any given time.
Nobody cares about me shooting at home, (and thats what I do the rest if the year other than using the club's rifle range) but it's cold and snowing right now and a heated indoor range is nice this time of year.
 
This reminds me of a indoor range I gave a try to. The range was nice and overall it was conveniently located compared to where I normally go. Once I got into the shooting area I walked out asked for a refund and never went back.

The problem was there where holes in the booth divider's between shooting stations. There where holes int he table's in the booth's and there where holes in the roof. They also did not have a range officer on duty. They just had someone who sat behind a desk and watched the range when not waiting on customer's.

I value safety over convince really sad to here about recent issue's at your club. One thing yall might wanna look into for the club as far as membership goes. Have a 4hr-6hr safety handing class. I bet that would help to weed out a lot of the immature idiots.
 
timn8er said:
Man that bites! Your club sure looks & sounds like a nice place to
shoot. What, if you don't mind saying, does a place like that cost per
month or year to shoot at?
Click to expand...

The facility is great. 50' heated indoor pistol range, 50 yard outdoor pistol range, 200 yard rifle range, trap & skeet ranges and an archery tower. Plus the kitchen & common area of the clubhouse. The trap & skeet ranges require a few dollar donation per round. Everything indoors is open 24/7. Outdoor ranges from 9AM to 9 PM. Target stands are provided on the rifle range for free use and paper targets are available for the indoor pistol range for only .10¢ each.
All this for only $50 for your first year membership and $45 a year to renew.
Members can bring up to 5 guests at a time to use the facilities.

Oh, and all this is a 10 minute drive from home.
 
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Understood completely Hillbilly my friend.
I fully realize some are not so fortunate as we are
to be able to shoot on private property. I've been to
a few public ranges and for the most part had a good
time. Then invariably some "wannabe" shows up to see
how fast he can pull the trigger on an AK or semi-auto
pistol. Just spraying bullets downrange with absolutely
no idea what he's doing or shooting at. Hopefully all the bullets hit
in the backstops for this type. I've heard too many horror
stories and seen too much bullet damage to go to these
kinds of places anymore. When i go to my buddies farm
i know it will be just me and possibly him and his son, who
i have hunted and shot with for 20 plus years. I have and
do trust these guys with my life. I am a lucky guy.

Chuck
 
The last time my wife and I were at a range the guy next to us had 3 kids with him. They were shooting an M-1 carbine that kept jamming. After a couple of tries to clear it he turned the gun sideways and pointed it at our heads.

There was a range officer there and we got his attention. He took the guy aside and do not know what was said as we packed up to leave. Have never been back to a public range. Now I own enough land to shoot in my backyard.
 
Hillbilly77 said:
The facility is great. 50' heated indoor pistol range, 50 yard outdoor pistol range, 200 yard rifle range, trap & skeet ranges and an archery tower. Plus the kitchen & common area of the clubhouse. Everything indoors is open 24/7. Outdoor ranges from 9AM to 9 PM.
All this for only $50 for your first year membership and $45 a year to renew.
Members can bring up to 5 guests at a time to use the facilities.
Click to expand...

I am stunned! And I pay $75.00 for six months, still have to pay a range fee, & I sure haven't seen a breakfast buffet around the place.:(
 
That's too bad Hillbilly. Luckily, no one was injured. Like everything else, it's the actions of a few that ruin it for the rest. Pretty sad.

I quit after less than 100 rounds at the outdoor pistol range and just a quick round of trap on-a-count-a-dah cold weather today. Hardly worth the effort and the clean up afterwards.
 
timn8er said:
I am stunned! And I pay $75.00 for six months, still have to pay a range fee, & I sure haven't seen a breakfast buffet around the place.:(
Click to expand...

I might as well brag on our breakfast.
$7 per adult, $5 per kid.
Pancakes, eggs to order, sausage, ham, toast, coffee, orange juice.
All you can eat. ;)
 
Our club is nice and we have a long waiting list to join. Used to be ya had to be recommended by 2 members in good standing of over 5 years , have a state LTCF or submit/pass background check , be an NRA member and pass a FTF meeting with the board of directors.

Problem was we do have 'family' memberships and some kids brought their dumb friends (no-no) were caught doing dumb stuff.
 
Our club has a 50 foot indoor pistol range/meeting room with the same type of bullet stop as the OP. the top of the steel plate is visible where it hits the 9 foot high ceiling.

Recently we've seen multiple bullet strikes on the edge of the plate, into the ceiling tile and roof joists plus marks from strikes on the floor. Luckily none went through the roof. Our closed circuit monitoring showed a couple younger part time LEO members trying out their best video game moves with their pistols and pistol caliber carbine! They were running, then hook-sliding on the smooth concrete floor while shooting! Also practicing the tumble roll and come up shooting.
Their electronic buzz-in card time stamp along with the time on the footage identified them. We all thought it was someones kids until the club president checked the tape.
 
Re: Range trip cancelled thanks to careless shooters.

As much as im for safety and all i'll take my chances at an unsupervised range vs one with an RO. I'd rather become a anti gun lefty hippy if the only ranges were with RO. A little too nazi for me

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
 
It's a epidemic that afflicts all ranges. I started taking care of the rifle and pistol ranges at my club, mowing, picking up trash etc. All the steel target stands have holes in the supports, purposely done.
I built new pistol targets out of scrap 2x4 and about 2 months later, so jackwagon put a target up right on the corner, pissed me off. The latest trick has been shooting at them with shotguns so there is nothing to staple a target to.
When the snow melts, I will be putting up new centers
 
I belonged to an indoor range for many years when i shot Bullseye.
It was a 50ft only for any caliber pistol (lead bullet only and no Magnum caliber brass), + 22rf rifle.

The backstop steel plates couldn't handle jacketed or fmj bullets w/o dimpling. That would send lead bullets back at the shooters if struck just right.
I caught a couple of those in the head while B/E shooting,,not a pleasant evening.

Anyway,,there were always holes in the ceiling,,holes in the side walls, in the benches,,ect. A 24hr/7day wk key card system was convenient, but being on your own made it easy for some to let the rules slide.

When they finally did put cameras in,,they found some of the violators of the rules were a few of the local constabulary officers shooting in the middle of the night.
Other members were involved too, but afraid of loosing memberships ($$),,the powers that be only issued warnings over and over again and never really did anything about the problem children.

The conditions got worse to the point where members volunteer work parties were asked for to come in & patch up the place and repair or replace the backstops on regular occasions.

With that I opted out of the OK Corral Range and I still have my eyesight to prove it.

Such nice convenient things always get ruined by a few.
 
sorry to hear about your range hillbilly, i want to come by for breakfast some time.
our club has a nice indoor shooting facility 60' long, 8 bays wide.there is always a r.o. on duty . if you cant hit your target you get sent to the outdoor range to practice!
new members are watched closely and still you can see evidence of unintended discharges or just poor marksmanship.
the top of our steel backstop is painted red and is monitored for misses if there are too many we start watching for the culprits .the r.o. on duty is kind of given the stink eye if it happens on his watch, because were supposed to watch for that sort of thing, safety being rule#1.
i brought a guest and his two kids one time .the boy about 12 had shot bb guns before and did ok with the handguns, his daughter a shy 16 year old young lady, was a crack shot! had never even held a gun before. it was awesome to behold!dad on the other hand was putting rounds about 4-5' over the targets removeing red paint at an alarming rate i was taken aside by r.o.on duty and was asked to keep an eye on my guests. after the session was over, i was shown where the ladder and red paint were kept.
 
Holes in the ceiling are often the result of those who double tap without knowing where the gun is pointed. These clowns have a beat in their head that drives their trigger finger rather than learning what works with the gun. I saw a review of a 9mm carbine where the author whined that his double taps were well off. Well DUH! The inertia in a carbine is totally different to shooting a pistol. Is the recoil cycle the same shooting a 9mm Shield as it is in a 9mm 1911?
 
This is why I shoot later at night or on sunday mornings. Range is empty just my girl friend and I. No worries and all the brass on the floor is mine that way!
 
Although I am a member of the local club, their range has the dubious honor of an "accidental" shooting about 20 years back. A man plopped his cased--and loaded--shotgun on the roof of his car and when it "went off" it killed his wife standing on the other side. Sloppy and unsafe gun handling is still common at that facility. Scary at times.

I much prefer to shoot on a friend's acreage or off in the sagebrush. Better to keep an eye out for the odd rattlesnake than worry about getting shot.
 
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