BAD at the range.

N

nemohunter

Guest
let me start by saying that this partialy my fault at least in my eyes. here is the situation. public ranges are crowded this time of year (2 weeks till deer season). lots of folks with questionable range technique and weapon hadling skills. usually no problem i watch them so they dont need to watch me. well i'm shooting a couple ML's and a 25/06 no. 1b. moving from rifle to rifle as they get hot. i'm on the far right end at the hundred yard bench. this puts my back to the rest of the line while i stand to load. i'm loading up my dads smokey in line. powder, and bullet go down good. set gun in the bags. sit down and look around. range clear everybody good. i turn and prime the rifle. fumble with the priming tool maybe 10 seconds. sight on target. flip off saftey. squeeeeze. just as the shot breaks i catch movement out of my periferal on the left. pistol guy four benches left was checking his 25 yard target. he walked down range while i was fumbling with the priming tool. never called an "audible" nobody else at the other 2 benches warned me nothing. this scares the hell out of me and pisses me off at the same time. the guy was at my 10 when the shot broke. the reality of him getting hurt was nill but still could have happend. after the fact he came over and was an ass about it. i appologized and said he should have given an "audible". he acted like he had done nothing wrong. what do you think guys. i might get raked over the coals for posting this but if one person benifits from my bad then it's worth to me.
 
Good reason to avoid the public range at any time of year......
 
wish i could but it's taht or an hour and a half drive to Stlouis bench rest. did not have the time or the $$$ to join. this thing is a non issue at matches since you always have an RO.
 
nemohunter said:
let me start by saying that this partialy my fault at least in my eyes. here is the situation. public ranges are crowded this time of year (2 weeks till deer season). lots of folks with questionable range technique and weapon hadling skills. usually no problem i watch them so they dont need to watch me. well i'm shooting a couple ML's and a 25/06 no. 1b. moving from rifle to rifle as they get hot. i'm on the far right end at the hundred yard bench. this puts my back to the rest of the line while i stand to load. i'm loading up my dads smokey in line. powder, and bullet go down good. set gun in the bags. sit down and look around. range clear everybody good. i turn and prime the rifle. fumble with the priming tool maybe 10 seconds. sight on target. flip off saftey. squeeeeze. just as the shot breaks i catch movement out of my periferal on the left. pistol guy four benches left was checking his 25 yard target. he walked down range while i was fumbling with the priming tool. never called an "audible" nobody else at the other 2 benches warned me nothing. this scares the hell out of me and pisses me off at the same time. the guy was at my 10 when the shot broke. the reality of him getting hurt was nill but still could have happend. after the fact he came over and was an ass about it. i appologized and said he should have given an "audible". he acted like he had done nothing wrong. what do you think guys. i might get raked over the coals for posting this but if one person benifits from my bad then it's worth to me.
Click to expand...

It depends, you have left important information out of this scenario;

Is this public range controlled by a range master that calls all line breaks or are the shooters responsible for calling line breaks? Are there written and posted rules and regulations at this range explaning the exact procedures for line breaks?

Regardless, you were aware that mistake prone shooters were at the range at this time of the year, and happened to miss a mistake by one these types. Probably could happen to alot of us in that situation, but still, when you are aware of less than carefull fellow shooters, you either have to go the extra mile and check your surroundings before every shot or pack up and leave because things are just too chaotic and unsafe.

I have some relatives that are absolute idiots when it comes to gun handling and gun safety, no amount of thoughtfull explanation, preaching, or yelling will make a difference to these guys, they treat guns like "pool cue" toys, and the only way to maintain sanity is to stay away from them when they around guns. Its a sad thing to say, but probably the only way things will change about these guys is when someone gets hurt or killed. Its a sad thing to say about family.
 
check the range rules.the range i shoot at clearly states make shore the line is clear and safe before crossing the firing line.this is the persons job who is crossing the line.this person has to go to every shooter on the line and make shore the line is clear before crossing the firing line!!!!!
 
When a cease fire is called only an idiot goes down range without making eye contact with every other shooter at the line.
 
thats the problem it is a MDC public range. no rules posted. no RO. it was a HOT line with firing going on while i was loading the ML. not a fast process. i check the line to make sure i was safe to prime. this makes the ML able to fire. by the time i was ready to go he was down range checking his target. he walked down range while i had my back turned priming the rifle. i was concentrating on my target 100 yds away. did not see him till he moved.
 
Very good post

Nemohunter,

You may save someone a lot of grief by having told this story.

You were both wrong even if you were right on a technicality. You know this because you said you were partially responsible in your original post.

This is not unlike driving defensibly. We have all avoided accidents when someone else is in the wrong and we have been saved from accidents by other careful drivers at least once.

We all have to be thinking for those who are not.

Boy Scout Motto: Be prepared!

Concho Bill
 
Ranges during deer season

I stay away from ranges during deer season; too many unknowns. Once it's over, the normal experienced shooters return.

Lou Baccino
Chino69
 
Why don't you turn this into something positive by seeing if you can do something about getting some rules posted at the range. Who would object? Make sure that the rules are approved by what ever agency is in charge. As a former board member and president of a local range, I am not surprised that people always think that it isn't their job to volunteer for such things, but that is how they get done. Even with rules, without an RO on the line, most don't have the stones to insist that others follow the rules. It is a sad truth that most people are not really personally invested in all of the range rules, and, if left to their own devices, will try to pick and choose which ones they follow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top