I was at the range yesterday shooting a little. We have about 20 covered firing points. When I showed up, there was one other guy shooting, at the far right end. So I set up on the far left end. A little while later, a third guy shows up. Where would you set up if you were him? Wrong. He set up directly beside me, leaving 18 or so empty points between him & the other guy. (I should've sensed something at that point, but I was just thinking about shooting).

He proceeds to set up his 300 Ultra Mega Mag of some sort, and cuts loose. After about his 10th shot in rapid succession, I started looking for Taliban in the trees that he must've been firing at. After his 20th shot (he had to stop briefly to open a new box of ammo), he reached up & touched his barrel. He snapped back like he was stung by a wasp (no surprise). He gave a little yelp, and shook his hand to cool it off, before promptly diving back into the second box & killing a whole tribe of bad guys out there (I still couldn't see them, but I knew it was because he was laying down such a volley of suppressive fire that they were afraid to lift their heads). By now, I had quit shooting, as the noise & entertainment were just too much to ignore.

When he finished his second box, he stood up amongst all of the brass laying on the ground & walked over to me. "So, whatcha shooting there?". I told him that it was a 222. He gave me his he-man laugh and said "Ya wanna shoot a REAL MAN'S gun?" I politely declined, and was met with "Yeah, most guys are afraid of it too. Not me though!".

He headed downrange to "check" his target. I thought to myself, "this is worth the walk", so I strolled downrange as well. (I had stepped behind my bench to "escape", so I wasn't watching his target through my scope). I casually glanced over at his "target" and could hardly keep from laughing. He had a 2 foot by 2 foot piece of paper, with eight 3" Shoot-N-See dots on it. There were a bunch of holes, randomly scattered on the 2'x2' backer, and a few actually in the dots. (Most dots were clean, some had one hit each). He proudly proclaimed, "Yep, she's shooting good today. Kept 'em all right in there". (This is at 100 yards, I kid you not).

I just kinda mumbled an "uh-huh". Then he stepped over & looked at mine. My Hart barrelled 40-X had drilled nice little round clusters on each target face. He started the double-bumble talk, saying his usually shot like that, that's why he was out today trying new ammo, apparently his rifle didn't like it as much as his "normal" load, etc, etc.

As soon as we made it back to the line, he packed his stuff in his truck & was gone!

I frequent the rifle range almost every weekend, and sad to say have had far too many of the same experiances.

Ego-idiots............ simple as that.

He most likely figured that if he hit the paper, "it was shooting good".

Hope he burnt his fingers.

Not all the goofs out there shoot big magnums.I have seen the same type of behaviour from people shooting 308's and 270's.They usually only shoot once or twice a year so they try to get in as much shooting as possible by rapid firing a box or two usually with the same results you describe.

UGH!
Guys like that are truly annoying but not as annoying as guys with an ego who can, in fact actually shoot. There is a guy who hangs out at one of the local ranges in Salt Lake City with a Rem 40XR and is constantly talking about how well he and the gun shoot . . . unfortunately he is right. DAMN!

Best Regards,

JohnTheGreek

I had a similiar experience with a guy shooting the then new Weatherby Accumark in 30-378. His new rifle wore a new Leupld LPS scope and 5 boxes of factory ammo stacked on the bench. "We have to shoot at 500yds to kill elk in Colorado" he kept exclaiming. He also stated " Yea, its at 500yds, we used a laser rangefinder to range it." His target was set at 50yds with a a couple of paste it dots. This guy fired his rifle also without letting it cool. The target looked like several rounds of 12ga buckshot had hit it. I grin when I think about it, the idiot burned up close to 5 boxes of 30-378 ammo, never let his barrel cool and never touched it with a cleaning rod! I love it! MtnHtr

Cold Bore, your story was hilarious to read but unfortanantly true. Reminded me of the time the guy showed up at the local range. He took his rifle out of the case, made a loud speach educating us all on the balistics of his 300 WinMag and how he could kill anything that walks within a half mile of the end of his barrel, then proceded to "shoot at" tree limbs on the trees behind the range. Needless to say he wasted alot of ammo shooting at the big White Oak limbs and most likely did nothing for the throat of the rifle that most likely had a new owner after the local deer season.

Got another good range story!
A one-time good friend of mine who's father owns a Salt Lake City gun store actually witnessed this at Holladay Gun Club in Utah. Sounds like some wierd gun club urban legend but he swears he watched it happen!

Two guys who spoke just a little English and, obviously, had never hunted before in their lives pile out of their car with a gun case getting ready to sight in their weapon for the upcoming deer season. They get set up and one guy pulls out a rifle while the other gets his binoculars on the target previously placed at the end of the 100 yard range. BOOM!! The guy with the binos says "too low . . .HIGHER". BOOM! Again the guy with the binos says "a little lower and more to the right". BOOM! "YOU GOT IT", says the spotter "Let's go!" and both men pile back into the car and drive away.

The amazing thing about this story is that while there were scope rings mounted to the rifle there was, honest to God . . . NO SCOPE. This guy was sighting his rifle in through the rings!

True Story!

Regards,

JohnTheGreek

Just remember, some of us who shoot earsplittinloudenboomers can shoot them. I would never dream of rapid firing my .300 win mag. The ones who annoy me are the guys that set up right next to you at an empty range with a muzzlebraked something or other. Even for a petite woman I see no need for a brake on a 30'06.

I think that guy showed up at the Emerald Empire Club a couple of years ago. Set up right next to me and couldn't stop bragging about his new custom 7mm STW. He had the whole works, two-foot long scope, $500 benchrest stand etc, etc. Very pretty rifle I must admit.
He then proceeded to launch a profanity-laden tirade at my $400 M700 Bi-mart special, "how can you hit anything with that plastic POS" and so on. I listened to this tripe for about ten minutes and threw down a $20 and politely told the moron to put his money where his mouth was or shut the f**k up. Needless to say macho-man shot a twelve inch group at 100yds. I put a quarter over my 5 holes. Then the guy had the nerve to claim I was cheating because I was using handloads(okay, I was using Matchkings and a real mild accuracy load but He-Man didn't specify ammo).
He refused a double or nothing challenge with his choice of factory ammo at 200 yards and stormed off in a huff, twenty dollars lighter.
Fortunatly these knuckle-dragging neanderthals are the exception rather than the rule.

ZM

Well this happened to me at a local gun shop about a year ago.

I'm out one evening just to get out for a bit and relax so I head over to the gun shop. While there I over hear a gentleman asking to see this Rem. 710, that Savage 10 FP in .223, the Weatherby in .300 weatherby, and a few others. being in sales myself I see the clerk just running around showing guns but not really qualifying the client. After a bit longer I can't stand it any more and ask what his intended purpose for the rifle is. Shockingly his reply was that he was going to visit his cousins in Alaska for a brown bear hunt. The clerk about fell down behind the counter(he never asked). So I tell the guy , look I have no practical experience with hunting yet and certainly not bears but I have been doing some reading on the subject. Why don't you take a look at the Marlin 1895GS stainless in 45/70. you can get hot loads if you need them and the stainless will help with the weather.[the clerk moves down the counter and removes the GS from the wall] the gentleman handles the rifle and proclaims,"Now that's what I'm talking about!" obviouslly wowed by the beautifull wood and stainless. I said considering the randes this should be perfect. Or you may wnat to consider a rifle in .338 Win. Mag to serve more universal needs like elk, and moose too. He nods his head in agreement and then I say of course the best thing to do is call your cousins and find out what they will be using, what ranges they typically shoot at and get something similar. "Yeah yeah that's a good idea." he says. "Besides," he tells me," I'm taking my full auto AK 47 as my back up!" At this point I am about to leave and he turns to the clerk and says well I'll hold off on the (GS) for now, but give me that one (Rem. 710) I am guessing that the bears in AK weren't too worried when this guy canme to town. After he left the clerk tells me on the side , " I had no idea he was going to Alaska to hunt bears." I probably should have told him that he didn't qualify his customer, but I figured I'd almost blown a sale for him too...come to think of it i actually helped him sell two higher dollar guns than he would have without me.

[ 11-09-2002, 22:56: Message edited by: Dave In LB ]

Cold Bore: Yeah, we get 'em here in the interior of Ak. too. Some nim rod always sets up next to you with the latest & greatest .300 Eargensplittenloudenboomer & begins to touch off. Can't hit the broad side of a barn & trying to sight in at 100 yds. Also, there's a local guy who has a .30-378 who's always consierate to his neighbors. One thing though, this guy can shoot it & hit. He shoots the darn thing prone & yeah, he has a brake on it. He's very knowledgeable about what he's doing, seldom "socializes" but will answer questions if you have them. Bear in Fairbanks

That was GREAT!!!

Here's one that always tickled my funny bone. A few years back at the range a fellow showed up with a 300WM he'd just bought. This rifle was to be his "mountain rifle" for elk. As I remember the thing shot ok, though nothing exceptional. Accuracy however was not this gent's priority, rather it was to have the ultimate light weight rifle. To save weight, he swithched to a synthetic stock and chopped the pencil thin barrel down to a (no kidding) 20". Anyway the punnishing recoil was too much for the guy so he had the thing Magna-ported. Long story short, the muzzle blast was as deadly at the bullet. And, one could only guess at the *real* velocities of his bullets. But he was convinced he had "THE" elk gun.

This happened many years ago before I switched to handguns. I have my own range on my farm and many of my neighbors sort of show up to shoot a couple weeks before the deer season starts. This young man was there with a Savage 99 in 243 that made my mouth water,wanted to sell it cause it wouldn't shoot worth a lick. It was scoped and really well kept. Asked him want was wrong aand was told that it just wouldn't hit deer (running in front of dogs), missed four last season real close up. I asked if something had happened to the scope after he had sighted it in. Nope but you could see the trout look coming. Suggested we shoot it at paper to see. First shot at 50 yards was upper left corner of backer about a foot high. Next shot I called 6 inches low 6 o'clock. I was funny to see the look on the kids face. Find out sight in was "can" shooting and close counted. Didn't get to buy that Savage but it was sighted in when he left.

"Sight In Days" at a local gun club the weekend before opening day rifle deer season in Michigan. This event really brings out the strange ones. My pal is one of the range officers, and sees a guy at one of the benches bleeding from an obvious scope cut above his eye. The guy proceeds to put another round in the chamber, sights at the target by putting his eyebrow area in direct contact with the scope, and cranks off another round (with a horrible flinch of course).

Even more blood come from the cut. My buddy asked "doesn't that hurt?"

The guy said "it's okay, ...it happens every time I shoot this rifle".

He must be one of those guys that lives by " if it don't hurt we ain't having fun!"

The funniest incident I've witnessed at the range was two guys who had a rebarreled M77 in 300win mag. and a No.1 tropical in .375h&h. The guy with the .300 shot a five shot group that was more of a pattern.At each shot he flinched.the group was at least 6 inches in size. I asked him about the M77,he said it was shooting great. He'd just had it rebarreled with a douglas barrel,because the factory ruger was a piece of shit. The guy shooting the No.1 fired about 10 rounds off a sleeping bag rest. I later was unable to cover that pattern with a eight inch paper plate. This guy said he just takes a rifle and practices for 3 or 4 years before using it on game. But the groups he was shooting were right on the money according to him.

Years ago when I lived in Winnipeg, I was at the range one night. I was in the rifle range which was next to he handgun range. While shooting, I heard these loud booms from the gun range. curious, I go over to have a look, expecting someone to be shooting some custom hand cannon.

Boom!!!! the fellow (who had only a 44 mag) shot again. 3/4 of the other handgun shooters had stepped back nervously watching this fellow and the loud reports got the attention of the range manager who came over to see what this guy was shooting.

To make a long story short, the shooter had just taken up handloading. When he loaded the measured mount of powder into his .44 mag casings, he thought they didn't look quite quite full enough so he just sprinkled a bunch more powder into each casing before crimping the bullet and heading for the range.

Can't say I have shot on a public range more then once or twice. Listening to your storys makes be glad for my private 700 yarder.

I went to the range with a couple of friends one afternoon with a few guns, one needed sighting in, and the others for fun. My buddy asked if he could sight in the -06 so I said go fo it. He started "walking" them on target and as soon as he got within 6" of center he said, "that'l hit a deer" and set it aside to cool. I new I would be back in a few days so I never said anything. I then went over and picked up my .338 WinMag and sat on the ground facing the 150 yard backer with three 4" clay targets on it. Three 200gr BT and 3 dead targets. I stood up and said that'l kill a bear with that smart ass look friends give each other. I got a quick reply of, "I don't shoot very far anyway" The sad part is the guy really can shoot with a sighted rifle, he just doesn't bother getting it perfect.

With over 45 years shooting behind me I have seen and could write volumes about those things I have seen at the rifle range. One comes to mind that always brings a smile and shooting can be very simple or very complicated depending on who is behind the rifle.
Just got my stuf set up to test some loads when this middle aged guy shows up with a Savage 110 package rifle from Wally World and one box of ammo and nothing else. He said, "Ok if I put my target up Bud". I said, "sure go right ahead". He walked to the 100 yard target board and put up a 5x9 white piece of small note pad paper with ablack 1" dot in the middle. He sat down at the bench next to me and put his box of ammo on the bench. Loaded a round in the chamber looked at me and said Ok if I shoot Bud. I said, "sure I am ready to".
He fired eight rounds slowly and after round eight said to me, "I don't understand whats wrong, I can't see one hole in my target". I had this scope bore sighted and the guy told me it would be good to hit the target at 100 yards. Now mind you he firing with no rest at all just resting his elbow on the bench. I said to him would you mind if I helped you, "he said I guess I need some help.
I went to my truck and brought him a three foot square piece of white card board with a three inch blaze orange dot in the center. I told him to take my staple gun and put the target up while I bore sighted his rile if it were Ok with him. When he got back to the bench I let him use my spare set of sand bags I always keep in the truck. The barrel was warm but not to bad, so I told him to hold dead center of the blaze orange target and fire a round. The bullet hit four inches to the left of the bull and only needed to come right. I adjusted his scope by running the cross hairs to the bullet hole, and told him to fire another round. He fired another round and hit just on edge of the black center on the blaze orange stick on target. Now that's what I'm after he said, and turned and left the range. One of my great days at the range helping a fellow shooter with his equipment who appreciates the help and is not afraid to NOT SAY thanks for your help Bud. Have never seen the guy since that day. Some people could not find their own butt without help no matter what venue they try.

Another story:

A couple years ago, I was visiting a cousin in Nevada. He was a college student then and has always been jazzed about hunting things with bows and rifles and shotguns. Most of his hunting was with bow and shotgun. Anyway, we got to sharing stories and he was telling me about his first antelope he shot a month prior. The part that floored me was that it took 8 shots to kill that buck! I knew something wasn't right. I also knew the rifle he was using was an accurate 7x57 he'd inherited, and the hunt should have been over in 1 shot. My cousin shot that rifle with a turkey choke pattern maybe 6inches at 100yds. Well, one culprit was some old 175gr loads. Though accurate, they were better suited to heavier game and were probably not expanding. Recoil in the little gun was stout. Another problem was the trigger pull. A gritty 6.5lbs and a mile of travel. No problem, that was a 5 minute adjustment. Incidentally, the rifle WAS sighted in just fine and shot inch groups. I was able to prove it inspite of the trigger.

Anyway, we got some 140gr NBTs and developed a new load. With some coaching from the bench, the rifle was soon hitting in the same place for him as it was me with fine accuracy. Then we went out on the BLM and had a plinking session on random targets at random long ranges.

Since this day my cousin has dropped the hammer on several more antelope, a muley, and a whitetail. To his credit, they have all fallen to a single bullet. I'm glad I had the chance to play around with him that afternoon

A couple of years ago, I was getting a handgun ready for deer season. 2 other guys were shooting at the range. Both of them had these superduper longrange killing machines with 2 foot long scopes. I was using an open sighted .357 Max with an 8" barrel. When we went down range to see our targets at 100 yds., I had 2 groups of 6. One was about 2", and the other 3". These 2 guys had shotgun patterns with no discernable grouping. They actually asked for help and within a few minutes of coaching, these guys were shooting respectable groupings.

Matt Norman,

Just wondering if you refer to the new Island Lake rifle range -- I've witnessed a few things both hilarious and scary there, and now avoid it like the plague at this time of the year.

I saw an elderly woman (give her credit for being out there, at least) learning to shoot a revolver, who would take a shot in standing target stance, then rotate 90 degrees left to ask her 'instructor' how it was, WITHOUT LOWERING THE GUN, meaning it was pointed at the row of shooters to her left (and obviously still loaded). She was giving the RO screaming fits, chest pain, and urinary incontinence at the same time.

When I go to that or any public range, I shoot and enjoy myself until some menace manifests him/herself, then beat a very hasty retreat. Sometimes I can stay for hours, sometimes 5 minutes.

May God protect us all from idiots.

Todd

Let's see, which is the funniest scenario I've witnessed/experience?

Was it the guys with the Marlin 336 .35 Remingtons with see-though scope mounts and 3x-9x scopes? (This is very common around here.)

Was it the guy with the .300Win.Mag. who said if 'he could see it he could kill it' and couldn't shoot better than 3" groups because of the flinch he was exhibiting?

Was it the guy with the Baikal tip-up single-shot shotgun who was shooting Foster slugs into 12" 'groups' at 50yds. and pronounced himself ready for deer out to 200yds.?

Was it the 'sniper' who had the Remington 700PSS with Tasco 8x-32x and was sighting in his rifle at 100yds. because 'the .308 shoots flat out to 1000yds.'?

Or, waas it when the same asshole when he said that his .75" groups from his 700PSS were good enough for benchrest competition, then saw my wife's .3" groups from her Savage 112FLVSS .22-250.

Was it the guy who pulled a brand new M-700 .270 out of the box, and without cleaning it first proceeded to shoot an entire box of ammo through it within 10 minutes before surrendering to recoil and his frustration at his failure to sighting the gun in?

Was it the guy who said his .458 was the "most awesome cartridge around" and that few people could handle it(he was having trouble hitting the backboard at 100yds., let alone grouping his shots)? I showed him my .470 Capstick and blasted three large rocks at 105yds. with it, then did the same with his .458 to show him the difference.

No, it was the 'manly men' with their .300Win.Mags. who were shooting all around 12" bucket lids at 200yds. and cheering each other for every hit.
I set my then-girlfriend up behind my 14" T/C .30-30 barrel, told her where to hold, and had her hit the lids 5 times in a row. The 'manlies' looked down the firing line, saw the shit-eating grin on my face, realized it was my girlfriend doing the shooting, and left the range!

George

I was practicing shooting a 500/450 double rifle at the Alpine Rifle Range just South of Fort Worth, Texas, a few years ago, getting ready for a June Buffalo hunt in Zambia. It was a week day so I mostly had the range to myself, when two Airforce Full Bird Col, dressed in their flight suits, eveidently from Carswell AFB, showed up.

They both stopped at my bench to look at my rifles, and asked if I was going to Africa. When I answered in the afermative, they told me they were going to Zimbabwe for their first big game hunt as well. I thought they meant their first hunt in Africa, but as it turned out their first hunt "EVER"!

After the usual chat they started to set up at a bench about two places away. Seemed like nice guys. They unboxed a pair of those ugly brand new 500 A-square Hannibal rifles with a scopes mounted on them at the gun store. The choice of rifles should have been a clue, but they were nice guys so I went on with my practiceing from a standing rest. The first shot the guy fired, was off a bence, and the guy ended up on the cement behind his overturned stool, the rifle on the cement against the chainlink fence. The guy got up, and his right index finger was turned at a strange angle. The finger was broken, and his right elbow was bleeding. Come to find out neither of these guys had ever fired a rifle bigger than a GI carbine in the AF.

The next week I was there and they both had new rifles again, and you would not believe the flinching when they fired there new Whitworth Mk-X African express 375 H&H, that sombody, with a little more sense, reccomended for thier first Buffalo hunt! This is a case of people reading a Shooters Bible, and believing they need the biggest, and most expensive thing they can afford, then listening to a salesman who wanted to rid himself of these two cannons. I felt sorry for these two, and helped them get their scopes zeroed in on the fifty yd range, then let them use my stand up rest for their shooting.

The redeeming factor with these two was, they weren't know-it-alls, they just didn't KNOW, but were willing to listen, and learn. I don't know how their hunt turned out, but I wish I did!

Cold - I think I know this guy...or else there is one just like him on every shooting range in America. He's always fun to watch. Just bring plenty of ear protection and stay light on your feet as not all of his bullets go down range. I've seen him put a couple thru the roof of the firing line.

Our local fish&wildlife club lets our local rcmp use our range free in order to do their qualifying.I was fortunate enough to be at the range during one of these qualifying sessions and was treated to quite a display of marksmanship.While a few of the officers were competent with their handguns some were absolutely horrible and were lucky to even hit paper at 25 yards.Some of the officers were so bad we could not keep a straight face and had to walk away from the firing line to keep from breaking out in laughter.They were so upset that they complained to the club and asked that the range be closed to the public when they wanted to use it.The club decided it could not deny use of the range to paying members while the police shot for free so the police now use the range during the middle of the week to avoid as many other shooters as possible to limit their embarassment.Our canadian government is telling us that we don't need guns for protection because the police will protect us.If they are this incompetant with their guns they can't protect themselves let alone anyone else.

One more story.

While working at a local gun-store and pistol range in Utah while in school I am talking to some cutomers and hear this RAT TAT TAT TAT TAT from downstairs. My buddy looks at me from across the store and gets this funny look on his face. Just then we hear another RAT TAT TAT TAT TAT. I run downstairs and see these three guys with some cheap plastic wanna-be submachine gun that they have obviously converted to full-auto on their kitchen table. These guys spoke ZERO english but they did manage to understand me when I pointed to the gun and said "ILLEGAL, get it the F*&K out of here"!!!!

I can't tell you how often you see stuff like this when you work in a gun store! I have had so many loaded guns pointed at me by customers that I lost count. It was almost routine to have guys come in, pull a gun out of the case, point it at me and say "what can I get for this" only to discover that it had been loaded. We had the above mentioned machine gun incident and also one incident involving the proverbial "little old lady" rolling into the store with a gym bag full of guns to sell because her husband recently died. One of these was, of course, a double bbl shotgun that had been cut down to about 8 inches and converted to a pistol!!!! JEEEESSSUUUUSSS!!!!!

JohnTheGreek

I guess I'm pretty lucky. There is usually either nobody at our range, or just one or two other guys. We try to be considerate to each other.

We allow the RCMP to use our range as well, and when I saw them shoot a couple of years ago it was the same as what Stubblejumper is describing. There were a few good shooters and the rest where quite poor. They often leave a mess, as well (They don't pick up their brass and shotgun hulls, and ometimes leave their targets stapled to the wood.

One thing about these sighting in stories...When I started using scoped rifles, I had an idea about how to sight them in, but nobody had actually shown me the right way. I boresighted it as best I could, then tacked up a target at 100 yards and started shooting. Half a box of ammo later, after trying to see where the bullets where impacting, and failing, I was smart enough to quit. I should mention that I was using a pice of 2X6 with a towel wrpped around it as a rest.

At least I was smart enough to go to the store and by a magazine with a "How To Sight In Your Rifle" story in it. After visiting the store, I returned to the range with sandbags, stuck the target at 25 yards at first, and was sighted in properly at 100 yards within about 6 rounds,and I've been going strong ever since!

Not everyone has the benefit of a mentor that shows you how to do things right the first time, and if the guy will accept your help, you should offer it. I would have taken someones help that day if it had been offered, that's for sure!

Just a couple of weeks ago I was at our local gun club, when 2 guys got out of their truck and brought a brand new, still in the box, muzzle loader up to the firing range. The proceeded to wipe off the outside of the rifle, poured a measured amount of powder down the bore, then seated a bullet, and put a little powder in the frizzen.I don't shoot muzzle loaders, so bear with me if my terminology isn't right. The shooter settled in for his first shot, and there was just a little puff of white smoke, and obviously no discharge of the weapon, an obvious misfire. The guy proceeds to stand up and pour another load of powder down the bore, and started to seat another bullet when I stopped him. He said he was going to shoot out both bullets with the new charge. After I explained the basic rules of life and death to him, he kind of shrugged, picked up his stuff, and left. God help us all.

I remember once a couple of guys (cops i think, but not sure) were at the range shooting one of those snubbed nose 38 spls at like 15 ft. Well, the one fella says to the other (shooting) lean over the bench more it'll make the holes bigger...i couldn't have been more than 10 yrs old and still a walked quickly away laughing to myself...

About 25 yrs ago a couple of us were at the (then new) local range when a group of local college types showed up and began to fire a revolver. One of the other guys noticed some strange behavior and noted that they were rubbing the bullets on the cement. My friend George (now gone on) walked over and asked what they were doing. It turns out they had just started reloading and were shooting a Smith model 28. They were filling the cases with powder and pushing the bullets in the cases. When the bullets were too long for the chambers they just rubbed the excess lead off until they fit. These were Aeronautical Engineering students that knew everything. We left them to their own devices and left the range to them.

At the range I usually set up downwind and at the end of the line if possible. I often shoot a Sharps ( blackpowder ) and know what it's like to have smoke wafting in front of your scope. It also puts some distance between me and some of the goofs.

Yesterday I took a friend to the range; he hadn't been shooting since a teenager when his dad passed and showed some interest in taking it up again. Normally I stay clear of the range at this time of year as everyone is coming out to sight in for hunting season, but my friend was anxious to go.

Sure enough, during the first hour-and-a-half of range time we would be interupted every ten minutes or so by the arrival of someone with new rifles/slug guns, expensive cases, scopes, shooting jackets, etc.

I had brought an assortment of rifles in different calibers and action types for my buddy to try out. A few of these were well-worn so some of the new yuppie shooters assumed I was rather long-in-the-tooth with this sort of thing and began asking lots of questions. I was amazed that someone would go to the range without first knowing how to adjust their scopes, work the safeties, etc.

One guy had a new Browning A Bolt in .338, I believe, with some fine european optics on it. After asking me how to adjust his scope he proceeded to crawl up on the stock. I suggested that he might not want to do that and he harrumphs that he "will be all right."

You guessed it, one shot later and a loud howl of pain. A dandy scope cut and blood dripping on his nice new shooting jacket. This was followed a couple minutes later with an AD from someone else down the line.

We beat the heck out of there and went down to road to a gravel pit and plinked at cans for the rest of the morning. Safe and sane at last.

This has been one of the MOST entertaining posts in a long while .

Anyway, my own story is quite mild compared to most. I had just gone to the local outdoor range to burn off some .300 WM ammo that my Sako didn't like and practice some off hand shooting. I also took my CZ .22 and a couple hundred rounds of .22LR. After burning up the big ammo, I moved the bench out of the way and brought up the mat to shoot the .22 sitting and prone. During one of the breaks I see this pair of middle aged guys, obviously from a rural area. They were sighting in a new Rem 7400 .30-06 with some kind of cheap scope and see-through rings. I figured since these were country guys, they must know what they were doing. I stopped by to chat, as they had taken a break as well, and asked how it was going.

Imagine my surprise when they say "dang, we just can't seem to get on target!" This at 100 yds. My first question was: "how was the scope boresighted?" The blank stares I got were all the answer I needed. At first I thought, these guys are screwed, since I don't have an optical boresighter, and you just can't take the bolt out of a 7400 and look down the bore. I then noticed the iron sights and see-through rings, and I said: "well, what you ned to do is make sure the scope is adjusted to point where the bore points." I had to explain to them HOW to use the windage and elevation knobs to get the cross hairs on target once they had the rifle lined up using the iron sights. Amazing.

It goes to show, you can't assume anything. These guys weren't city slickers, but they still didn't understand a lot of what they were doing. At least they did listen and pay attention. In about 20 minutes later, they had their deer rifle all squared away. First time I've ever seen see-through mounts be useful.

I usually get looks and snide comments from people like those posting here. I shoot big noisy smoky loads, and get all excited when I hit the paper at 5 yards. Hell, I get excited when I hit the target stand.

I go for fun, and I really don't care if you old farts don't see anything practical in propelling a hollowpoint so fast it disentegrates and peppers the target. Or blowing the stand over with the blast. I really don't care if laughing and joking bother any of you. If you want quiet, take up fishing.

I don't care if I don't have a clue what I am doing, if I don't hit anything except the chrony, if there is a fireball coming out of the end, or if it offends any of you that I may shoot two loudenboomers at once, one in each hand.

Hell, I may even finish up by throwing a knife at the target just for good measure. If it ticks someone off, too bad. You can tell stories about me here. Just remember, I will have a great time, you will be the one whining

Working in the gun shop made me have horror stories that I was afraid to go out into the woods (Well Almost) I had one guy who had a custom built rifle (I think Brown Prescision if my memory is OK) and couldn't figure out why it wasn't shooting. I checked the scope mount first - tight, then the action screws - good. Then I look in the barrel. DIRTY DIRTY DIRTY!! So I grab out some bore solvant and start scrubbing the bore with a bore brush. He asked me what am I doing? Cleaning I say with a puzzled look. He had never scrubbed out any of his rifles with a bore brush before. Not a range story but funny

Then there is the time that I guy brought in a rifle I believe a Remington auto that was put away wet maybe even in a wet case left in the trunk of his car, that was rusted shut. I mean rusted shut. Could do anything with it. He was showing it to us by having the but of the gun on the floor and pushing down on the bolt. It won't budge. Then he bang it on the floor a couple of time. His face is above the barrel - Yes you guessed it. I asked is that maybe loaded. He goes well most likely he was hunting with it when it was put away. (It is illegal to have a loaded weapon in Wisconsin)

Or how about the time some guys bought- yes bought .338 magnums on the way up to deer camp the night before. Bore sight them they will be close enough (that actually happens a lot) they told the saleman. My salesman asked where they going. They said come over and meet them. The saleman responded that he wanted to be way on the other side of the state from them.

Let me think I know I have more stories too

Hcliff

[ 11-12-2002, 00:47: Message edited by: Hcliff ]

Fellas,

ScottB is just jerking your chain. He is one of the best 200 yd shots I have ever known with a 454 Casull. He is a goof though. Some of the most fun I have ever had at the range is with him.