Stuff seen at the gun range

[Jay Cunningham]

Does anybody else reflexively let stuff drop and pull their hands back?

I do this whenever I drop anything and I’m certain it comes from my internalized attitude to gun handling.

I also do the finger off the drill/spray bottle thing.

[Jim Watson]

I was at this same match as a vertically gifted left handed shooter who only started USPSA this year. I simply ran around the Cooper tunnel. I shot the stage clean but inadvertently knocked over one slat while unloading and showing clear as I leaned left and jutted my hips right to make it easier for the RSO to see my weapon was clear since he had to approach from the left - my mag carriers just barely nudged it and it fell about 5-6 seconds after I was done shooting. They gave me a penalty since it fell before he said range clear. It was what it was. Everything was safe and proper. I didn’t like the Cooper tunnel gimmick but we all had the same stage to shoot and one safely shoots the stage one is given, one does not “protest” and do wonky stuff on purpose, is how I see it, carried over from other sports.

Seems kind of petty to me. I have seen much more slack cut for new shooters at club matches.

If they put up a Cooper Tunnel or Rhodesian Wall at any of the places I shoot, I will negotiate a Procedural and rethink my compatibility with their approach to shooting.

Many uspsa guns are not drop safe.

I don't know what the other people are using, but MY guns do not have pinned grip safeties or long firing pins, etc.

I have fallen on the range twice. Once was a "walk the plank" challenge with a 2x12" x 10' on tires. I went off and landed in the grass, gun safely oriented. I got up and climbed back on the board to finish the stage... eventually.
The other time was as RO, I was chasing a fast moving Lady and went down in the gravel. Unfortunately, the timer was not drop safe, it cut off and they had to give her a reshoot. Somebody else as RO, while I recovered my breath.

[Duelist]

Does anybody else reflexively let stuff drop and pull their hands back?

I do this whenever I drop anything and I’m certain it comes from my internalized attitude to gun handling.

I also do the finger off the drill/spray bottle thing.

Grew up in a blacksmith shop. Hot/sharp/heavy stuff falls or gets dropped, you get out of the way or you’ll be sorry. When I got more seriously into shooting and someone suggested letting my expensive gun drop it it started to go, the initial reaction of “no way” readily and quickly morphed to, “oh, that makes sense” and adopting viewing a falling gun just like a red hot, heavy piece of steel: you really don’t want it touching you.

So, jumping back with hands pulled back is now my reaction.

[Medusa]

Yup. I do it with the game controller trigger as well.

Does anybody else reflexively let stuff drop and pull their hands back?

I do this whenever I drop anything and I’m certain it comes from my internalized attitude to gun handling.

I also do the finger off the drill/spray bottle thing.

[BaiHu]

Does anybody else reflexively let stuff drop and pull their hands back?

I do this whenever I drop anything and I’m certain it comes from my internalized attitude to gun handling.

I also do the finger off the drill/spray bottle thing.

I was beaten for dropping shit, so I just don't drop things [emoji16]

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[Kyle Reese]

No, tall stocky guy with a mustache. Not albino looking. I’ll PM you.

Years ago I had a few thousand rounds of surplus Danish 9x19 ball ammo. It was brass cased and Berdan primed. Perfect once fired empties for your brass rat.


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[Borderland]

Years ago I had a few thousand rounds of surplus Danish 9x19 ball ammo. It was brass cased and Berdan primed. Perfect once fired empties for your brass rat.


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Damn, that's just sick. Who has that many decapper pins laying around?

[UNK]

Ive never seen an indoor range that didnt have holes in the ceiling. I cant help but wonder what they do to keep the bullets from going all the way through the roof.

[hufnagel]

True.

On the other hand, how would you deal with a shooter in a wheelchair?

Or a amputee who is shooting a stage with a prosthetic device?

I think the sport has to weigh these challenges against the physical abilities of the competitive shooting population and evolve accordingly. I don't see any issue in folks making comments to the MD after the match, so that the people running the match can consider and where it makes sense, adapt the stage design guidelines for next time. The time for suggestions is after the match, not during.

I agree with the ethos of completing "the shooting challenge" as laid out on the Stage in front of you. As long as everyone who shows up has the same shooting problem, that seems fair to me. At my level, I'm not exactly shooting to win the match, I'm just trying to be better than the guy I was last time. My goal is to be safe, not endanger anyone, have a fun experience, and maybe, get a little better at shooting under the stress of a Match.

I look at it both ways.
Yes, it's a "sport" or a "game" and it should be made "fun" for as many people as possible. That's just good for everyone.
On the other hand, there is to me a level of training and education by doing it, and as Clint puts it so eloquently... how do you fight a cripple chick in a wheelchair? dump her ass on the ground. Learning how to deal with the problems of the real world has value.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

I've adopted throwing my hands up if I drop a gun. Never try to catch it. Holes in the ceiling are seen in all the ranges I've shot it. The scariest one though is (said this before) is in a new indoor range with bulletproof glass(? whatever) partitions. When I went to it to run some rounds through a gun, the SO showed me how to work the gadgets and I pointed to the ceiling. He said it took a month to get that and then said look down the line, there was a star shaped pattern in the glass. Now that would have scared the crap out of me.

Shooting not at targets. We had some doofus do that on the rifle range - and the round came back and truly shot someone. Not fatally but badly. The shooters tried to sneak away but were stopped to wait for the arriving law.

One of our matches has a pretty good safety lecture and emergency procedure briefing before we start. Who is trained, where are the trauma packs, how to call 911.

The latter is interesting: Don't say there's been a shooting at the club. Say there has been an accidental wounding. If you say there is a shooting, they roll an active shooter response.