Curious things seen at local gun shop or shooting range

[GardoneVT]

GardoneVT

You might enjoy this.

I'm at the indoor range shooting my 1911 when a derp sees me shooting my 1911.

Thanks to my electronic ear pro I hear this conversation between "Fur years" and the RSO.

Fur Years: what kind of 1911 is that guy shooting real fast?

RSO: oh that's (redacted) he's shooting his Wilson Combat, really sweet gun

Fur Years: *huff* never heard of them, my buddy has a Colt and I got a top of the line Kimber Custom .45




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I confess a variation of this dialogue has happened with me before.

However the ending is a little different.

...."At a range somewhere in the cold wastes of South Dakota..."


I finish my drills for the day, including a 25 yard pass with my practice Beretta.

I re-enter the range lounge and check in area to find two older men deep in discussion. It ends with one of them saying this :

"Aw man real nice shooting ! I can't even hit what I aim at in 7 yards. Whatcha shooting?!"

'Beretta 9mm'

His face scrunched up with a funny look like he's an actor on set of a Guy Ritchie action movie.

"Oh"

I could almost hear the crickets chirp.........

[Poconnor]

I saw an old S&W model 10 ( no model number stamped on frame) that was marked model 26. When I asked they showed me an old gun digest and pointed to the picture. They wanted 2000.00 buckets for it. They went out of business

[HCountyGuy]

Just got back from the range by my in-laws. While working on some accuracy fundamentals with my sister-in-law, a couple arrives in the lane to our left. As their target reaches their preferred distance, I see a red laser appear and start dancing around on the paper. After a few rounds, which were all over the place, I overhear the husband complaining about he doesn't think the laser is accurate.

I took a step back out of my lane and stared a hole into the back of his head as I contemplated informing him that the laser was likely sighted correctly and he just sucks. I finally just shook my head and returned to instructing my SIL.

[Jim Watson]

My club used to have open range the last few days before deer season to allow nonmembers to sight in. A few:
1. The scope sight mounted to present an "X" reticle instead of "+" .
2. The guy who complained that he needed to adjust to the left but the "L" knob only moved his shots down. You got it, scope mounted at 90 degrees. (Actually I have one like that myself, but that was what it took to keep empties from hitting the knob and bouncing back into the action.)
3. And my favorite, the intrepid woodsmen who showed up at the range late morning of Opening Day because they had already missed their deer.

[Lester Polfus]

2. The guy who complained that he needed to adjust to the left but the "L" knob only moved his shots down. You got it, scope mounted at 90 degrees. (Actually I have one like that myself, but that was what it took to keep empties from hitting the knob and bouncing back into the action.)

A friend of mine in Connecticut got a smoking deal on a Winchester Model 70 with the scope mounted like that. The guy thought it was a POS because he couldn't get it sighted in. The screws on the mount were all pretty loose too.

[BehindBlueI's]

The indoor range I shoot at holds your driver's license on a peg board in the office until you are done with your lane. They showed me a guy's license where he put a piece of tape on the back and wrote "I am a paranoid schitsophrenic and have delusions." (Spelling recreation may be a touch off, but it was definitely misspelled) It was just written with an ink pen. Seemed...odd.

I've also walked in on this conversation:
Clerk: I can't sell you a gun, you reek of weed.
Sum Dood: That ain't weed.
Clerk: Dood, it's weed. I can't sell you a gun.
Sum Dood: *bitch fit about how it's something that's totally not weed but just smells like weed*
Clerk: Detective, what do you think? Does this guy smell like weed to you?
Sum Dood scoots toward the door and disappears.
Clerk: Regular lane?

[ACP230]

The outdoor range I used most sometimes features bear tracks between
the range house and the 25 yard berm. One wet spring there was a puddle to
the left of the same berm with a mallard drake swimming around in it.

[Drang]

The outdoor range I used most sometimes features bear tracks between the range house and the 25 yard berm....

Friend of mine told me they came out of a club meeting and witnessed a cougar taking down an elk.*


(*For the locals, it was Bob Coval, RIP, at the Ravensdale clubhouse.)

[Corey]

Memories flooding back. I go to Cabela's and they have SW 632 (327 mag) marked as a 22 LR. I tell the young clerk. He gets huffy and says the model 63 is a 22. True and there is a 63-2 which is 22 but this is a 632 (no dash). Older clerk comes by and says the tag comes from corporate distribution. It was still there a few weeks later.

It would have been fun to see some load it with 22 LR. Wonder what would happen?

I can promise you this was a BS excuse. I'm a part timer at Cabela's and I regularly print tags. We have never received a single tag from corporate.

[Corey]

I no longer go to public shooting ranges. I became so hypervigilant I just stopped enjoying it. In part because:

I would go to a local indoor range on late mornings on weekdays and usually have the place to myself, so I felt fairly safe. I went one day, and a guy I knew also happened to be there. I trusted him, so we were having an enjoyable time shooting.

In walks a guy with what was probably a .32 or .380, some sort of small pistol with a hammer. We can't see him very well because of the dividers, but it's clear he's having trouble. In the process of loading a live round goes sailing across the deck. One fired bullet hits the target stand, etc.

Me and my friend both look at each other at the same time, and he says "let's go get lunch." We pack quickly, and have to walk past the third guy on way out.

As we walk past he reaches up to adjust his ear muffs with both hands. Unfortunately, he still has the pistol in his right hand, with the hammer cocked, and HIS FINGER ON THE TRIGGER.

At exactly the same time, me and my friend both say something like "AHHHHH" and reach out toward the guy, and at the exact instant also realize we shouldn't touch him and draw back. We both later admitted we just didn't want to get any brains on us.

He managed to adjust his muffs without killing himself and we left. On the way out we told the single employee, who was supposed to man the register and be RSO at the same time, what was up.

I never went back.

Similar story but it happened in the last century.

I was teaching the Arizona CCW class back when that was a brand new thing. The course required a marksmanship test and a judgemental shooting test. For the judgemental shooting test I would take the students out on the range one at a time. I had a simple turning target system with appropriate shoot and no shoot targets. I tell a student who was much older than me out on the line and tell him to load and make ready. After loading his gun, but before decocking, he realizes his hearing protectors are still hanging around his neck so of course he reaches up with both hands to put them on. I did a little duck and cover until he gets the gun pointed downrange again and then the next range command I gave him was unload and show clear. He was a little confused since he hadn't shot yet and so I explained to him, "You failed the judgemental shooting test before it got started."

I explained to him what he had done and he had a shocked look on his face and quietly replied, "Wow, I really fucked up". He was one of those people that could actually learn from a mistake. He surprised me again by telling the others in the class exactly what had happened as a warning to be careful and think before you act. That almost made up for what he had done in my eyes.

I have a few other good ones that happened this century that I will post later. The gun store experiences I have to try to remember, I've used some strong medications to help me forget them.