Range safety - shooting with strangers - ND

[JohnP82]

Wow! Glad you are ok! I would probably need to change my pants after that one. I was mad enough when I was once downrange hanging a target and I hear a pump shotgun get racked, I turn around to see some idiot plaing with it while I was downrange on a cease fire . But to hear a shot ring out, yeah that is a whole other level of

I always study shooters I don't know very closely, if I do not like how they handle their weapons, I get the hell out of there.

 

[Fenway]

Shooting at Pops used to scare the S out of me with the gun handling. Ijust stopped going there because of it.

 

[sporter]

I tend to always let the people with poor gun handling skills know about it.

Last year we had several that were shooting from a bench while people in their own party were walking down range.

Muzzle discipline is usually the typical violation. If it's only once I wont say anything. If their pointing a loaded gun right at me I am on them like stink on shxx.

 

[jbrooks19]

At the indoor range i shoot at if anyone has to go down range; everyone is required to set down ALL firearms and step back from the firing booth.. This is a pretty effective way of keeping idiots from firing down the range while you are down there!

 

[85t5mcss]

Not necessarily. The idiots still pick the guns up after sitting them down. Short attention spam maybe. Forgot why they set it down to begin with.

 

[wetidlerjr]

You NEVER know who will obey range rules and who won't. Many don't bother to even read them and then get upset when they are told that they are not in compliance. Yesterday, on the range where I am an officer, I told a member that he must be "signed in" to be on the property. He told me he didn't know that despite it being a part of the "Grounds and Range Rules". This was after he had passed three signs saying to "Sign in" to get to the range he was standing at which also had the rules posted about six feet from him. While not a safety issue in itself, this shows that many people just don't care enough to even read, let alone obey, range rules.

 

[looney2ns]

You'd be surprised at how many do read the signs, but don't comprehend what it says for whatever reason.

 

[savage308]

I take the stance that anyone at anytime can kill me with a gun. Friend or stranger, I always keep an eye out for improper handling when firearms are around. Like another person posted, assume they are idots and can not handle the weapon properly, it will keep you on your toes.

Glad you were not injured or worse.

 

[Scutter01]

They were packing up.

If the range was cold, then they should not have even been touching their guns.

 

[Kagnew]

A while back I was involved with an ND at a range and I am just tossing this out there as a point in being and remaining safe.

The scenerio: Private indoor range, 50 ft, walk and hang targets. Arrived to find 4 other shooters in progress. Based on log time, they had been there approximately an hour. I entered and notified them that there were others waiting for range time as is the proceedure and they were sort of wrapping up anyway. They said they would clear a booth in the mean time. I exited and waited about 10 minutes while chatting with the guest I had brought.

I checked in again and they had cleared a booth and were sweeping up brass. At that point we loaded in our stuff. I then informed that I was going down range to hang targets. After hanging a few targets, the unthinkable happened. A round went off while I was standing there hanging targets.

Let me just say that I was in total disbelief that it even happened. I wasn't even sure how to process it. The first thing I did was spin around looking for a shooter in a booth, but there was none. This confused me even more. Everyone was still standing and seemed to be as confused as me. Unbelievably, after assessing this, I turned around and hung 2 more targets before walking back.

This is when I went from shocked to pissed. I confronted the party and the response was "i don't know, it just went off". Of course we all know that crap happens, but the issue is not the ND. The issue is that the ND took place while I was down range. Thankfully, the round went into the floor and not at me, but there was an injury to a person as a result of flying cement from the ND.

This leaves me with some strong issues now going to any range and shooting with people I don't know. You just never can trust someone not to be doing something stupid while you are not looking.

So, what do you do at the range when there are "strangers" present?

And, yet, people gripe about the "range Nazis" at Atterbury!