Why I Avoid Public Ranges

[AzShooter]

There are times when I need to go to the public range to shoot. Mostly because my old shooting partner is getting up there, 75, and won't leave his house unless I take him to the range. Today was one of those outings and scared me to death.

Next to us there was an older gentleman shooting a .357 revolver. He pointed it at me at least 3 times. I yelled loud enough for the Range Master to come over and brief the man on safety protocol but it didn't sink in right away. I should have left then but I held out hoping he learned.

The next thing I notices was that he was holding his revolver in the palm of his hand with his thumb and most of his palm being covered by the barrel cylinder gap. He moved his left hand very quickly after one shot but didn't learn anything. At that point I contacted the RM again to look at what he was doing. He said they told him about it a number of times but he keeps it up.

I'm not a range Nazi but give me a break. I will call on someone that may hurt themself or others.

[0ddl0t]

Public ranges are where the guy flagging everyone complains about how unsafe it is for people to double tap.

[S Jenks]

Indoor public range- mine was last February when the chode in the lane next to me ripped off a mag through his comped AR pistol as fast as he could. Even stepping off the line as quickly as I safely could, wearing plugs and muffs, and a round of steroids after the fact, it feels like I have cotton in that ear.

[4RNR]

As long as he's pointing the gun down range I'm cool with him sticking his thumbs wherever he wants. That being said, overall it's not a good idea. These things tend to be blown out of proportion if they make the news and make the whole sport seem unsafe.

My only options are public ranges. Only one has an RO. The rest are RO via CCTV. In 20+ years I can't think of one incident like that. However, these ranges have bulletproof bays so I guess what you don't see you don't know

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[Glenn E. Meyer]

I've seen lots of scary things at public ranges as have most. I'll share this one. I go to a new range in San Antonio which is very techy. Nice. It has transparent partitions between lanes. Since I'm new to the range, the SO takes me to show how the gadgets work. I look up and the ceiling is pockmarked with holes. I comment and he sighs and then points to one of the transparent partition which has a big bullet strike in it. The material held but it was a big impact, obviously horizontal to the range lane direction!

Saw an old guy who refused to stop shooting during a cease fire as he knows how to shoot, being on San Juan Hill. After the second warning, his son had to wrestle the gun away from him and stuff him in the truck to go back to shuffle board.

Had a guy walk up with a Glock stuck out of battery, in his hand, asking why it was stuck. Pointing at all of us.

[Sig_Fiend]

I once worked an indoor range for just 1 year. The amount of stuff I experienced in that time was nuts. Fun experience but, it was very draining having to be that hyper-vigilant for that long. Here's a few of the highlights:

Almost got shot by negligent customers at least dozens of times. We had I think 1-2 suicides. The governor almost shot me. Best part was when I saw one of his DPS protection detail guys in the background cringe and shake his head at the negligence (that made me laugh). One time a guy came in and clearly cased the place for a robbery. Probably doesn't realize how close he came to getting filled in. Had to physically disarm a woman and kick her out due to negligence. Some dude tried to walk forward of the line on a hot range (he dropped something and guess it couldn't wait lol). Once met a guy that raised my spidey senses, who ended up becoming a school shooter a few weeks later. Trust your instincts. Saw an old dude, during hunting season, walk out to his firing lane calmly and without earpro, then calmly walk back out and say, "That was dumb". LOL Another old dude was "fishing" so bad with his punch out to the target that he shot the brim of his ball cap and knocked it off his head. Seen dozens of people scope themselves. One dude had his girlfriend shoot a malfunctioning semi auto Mac11 clone. It went full auto, she lost control, ended up riding it into the ceiling sending shrapnel everywhere. Had a customer rent a Glock 17 and proceed to yank the trigger and flinch so hard they 100% missed EVERY shot (low left) for an entire mag on a B-27 target at 3 yards. A freakin B-27! Once had to stop a dude from dropping the hammer on his .300 winmag. His young son was forward in the bay because of the 1/2 bench and his head was only ~1ft from the muzzle brake. I was livid after that one. Once had a tour bus come in with ~30 Japanese tourists, I think none of which spoke English. The tour guide was former JSDF, clearly a switched on dude, spoke English, and easily kept everything under control. We got lucky on that one. LOL

It wasn't all bad though. Gained some good friends. Got to see and shoot a lot of cool stuff. Was able to meet some interesting and really nice people.