I’m spoiled.
I live a short distance away from a great shooting range. It has a 100 yard sighting-in range, a 200 yard range with a thick steel plate at the end, a 50 yard pistol range, and numerous “action bays” (where competition shoots of all types are held every Saturday and Sunday) that range from 5 to 50 yards. Most of the ranges have covered shooting platforms, which is really nice in the summer. The rangemasters are proficient, friendly, and hardworking. A yearly membership is very affordable compared to other ranges I’ve seen or heard about. Ladies: it has flush toilets!
I really shouldn’t be complaining. But I’m not really complaining about the range itself, so I guess it’s okay.
What bothers me is when people speed down the access road to the range. This road goes first through a neighborhood, then down a hill, around a blind corner, and past a ranch. I know that, like other ranges in the county, this one will probably be shut down because of complaints from the neighbors, whether that’s in ten years or fifty, and whether it’s about traffic or noise. Beyond that, I’ve had to slam on the brakes a number of times after people came flying around that blind corner at me.
As for the neighbors, it certainly doesn’t help the public view of the range when people drive twice the speed limit past kids walking home from school or people riding horses from the ranch. They know you’re “not from around these parts” – and where you’re going. I have to say that some of the worst “speeders” have been off-duty LE. I guess that when you’ll always have access to a range somewhere, being polite to the neighbors isn’t high on your priority list.
I’m especially nice to the people from the ranch, because they pulled my stuck Cobra out of a wash (that the access road crosses) once. When I wave at them now, they just smile knowingly and wave back. But that’s okay with me.
Any of you guys have shooting range pet peeves? Mine is probably pretty minor in comparison. Feel free to share.
My local range only goes out to 100 yards. i really wish it went to 3 or 4 hundred and had a few steel plates. Thats my range pet peeve! lol
Please excuse my ignorance, but what exactly does a rangemaster do? There arent any at my local range.
At the ranges I’ve been to, the rangemaster is there to ensure you’re shooting safely and blast anyone that decides to start shooting customers
We have a 900 yard range out here(in Southern Cal of all places!), close to where I live. My biggest pet peeve when I go there is dudes who don’t have the common decency to prevent their brass from raining down on the people at the table next to them. I actually had a guy thank me for setting up a brass catcher one day.
The thing I hate the most when I go to the indoor range is when some ninja shows up with his AR and a LOUD muzzle brake and proceeds to blast away and rattle everyone’s brains while shooting 75′. Funny thing is that’s probably as far as they’ve ever shot.
It irritates me just thinking about it!
Poor baby. You don’t like loud guns?
Get over it. People don’t go to shooting ranges to quietly sip tea. They go to shoot the guns they’ve worked hard to acquire. If someone wants to put a muzzle break on their firearm and take it to their local indoor range, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Quit being so judgmental about people who have different tastes in guns or shooting styles. If it bothers you, double up on the hearing protection.
I don’t care for the “how do you use this?” to turn and see someone pointing a gun at you.
I don’t care for the guy in the lane next to you that is so bad that he’s hitting your target.
I don’t care for the guy that has an expensive AR with every piece of kit imaginable hanging off it and he can’t hit anything, or the guy with that same kit plus a bipod shooting off the bench and can’t hit or group anything.
I don’t care for the guy there showing his girlfriend how to shoot when he’s absolutely terrible or his polar opposite which tries to impress his girl with how much he knows and she’s clueless both ways.
I don’t care for the outdoor range near me that only allows shooting to be done from the bench, i.e. no offhand shooting.
Jason – you wouldn’t like me, I do blast away at 25 yard targets doing drills with my FSC556 brake for 3 gun practice. Sometimes I’m doing hammer pairs; sometimes two to the body, one to the brain; sometimes I set up one of those targets that has 4 targets within it and move from one to the next. I am working on my speed because I suck at low ready to on target, followup shots and side to side transitions. However, I have shot out to 550 yards and would prefer to be outside with my own “course” that ranges from 15 to 300 yards with steel plates being my favorite.
I’m all for bringing your wife/girlfriend/mom/whatever to the range with you, but if they don’t really know what they’re doing have the damn sense to at least explain the Four Rules and point out which end of the gun is the dangerous one BEFORE handing them a loaded gun at the range.
Also, regarding said new female shooters: I’ve had nightmares about getting my ass shot off by a girl who decides to wear a low-cut top to the range and gets hot brass down her shirt for the first time.
That’s funny you say that. My wife made the mistake of wearing a tank top to an IPSC match. She had a piece of brass go right between her boobs. She had the sense to just suck it up and finish the stage. My pet peeve is unsafe shooters. I really hate people with poor muzzle awareness or that like to handle their guns while there is a cease fire and people are down range checking targets.
My favorite has to be the suburban commando. I love my tactical gear, but I’m not wearing a fully multicam’d out rig to a range where I’m bench shooting. Every time I go to the range here in Vegas to sight in a rifle, there he is; most of the time giving advice that he picked up from Call of Duty.
Haha. I’ve reacted to this phenomenon by being anti-tactical. I wear flip flops to the range.
Same lol!
I wear six inch heels and a nice skirt. People leave me alone that way.
I know exactly what you are talking about at PPC. I only go once a month for competition as it’s on the complete opposite side of town but I am gonna go the other way. Yes I hate the speeders cuz they aren’t safe on the dirt road but…
I’ve been stuck behind the ‘local’ driving 15 mph under the limit on those same roads…
I wonder how many ‘outsiders’ they have done that to?
Oh, and I wear jeans and a band teeshirt or nice button down when is shoot 😉
I will say though that while I did try and stay away from ‘tacticool’ I did cave and get a (universal for AK/AR) mirco rig set up for competitions….but I’ll rock my button down:)
I also shoot in the desert, I hate ranges…
Funny you should mention that, today I got stuck behind a PT Cruiser that went 10 past Coronado (signs were down and school was out), then 25 in the 35/40 zones. Didn’t turn down Bowman though.
Yep, I only hit that road on that one sat morning each month and run into the same thing. One guy did turn down Bowman and went even slower… Needless to say, I was a little pissed lol at least he had AZ plates…
My biggest peeves have to do with being a bit young compared to most members of my private club. I’m 26 and since there’s no RO, a lot of guys feel the need to give me a “safety briefing” before I even have my gear unloaded.
Generally I grin and bear and sometimes it can even be a nice ice-breaker to talk with my fellow club members. But one time this old fart with his grandson came along while I was already shooting and sat down in the bench next to me. As I was the only one there before he came, I stopped shooting, cleared my rifle, and (rather courteously, I thought) asked if he’d like me to stop shooting so he could set up his targets. I’m not sure why, but this prompted him to give a 10 minute lecture on what I did wrong by not using the terminology (“cease fire” and the like) that HE learned in the Army.
Whatever, I can deal with that but after we started shooting, I noticed his grandson had no muzzle or trigger discipline and after being muzzled half a dozen times within 30 minutes (the last time with a loaded weapon) I had had enough. I politely asked the guy for a “refresher” on the 4 basic rules of firearms safety. He blustered a bit and it was clear to me he didn’t know what I was talking about. I stated the first three rules and pretended to forget the fourth, and then left to go to a different berm.
The other thing I hate is how some guys respond when I shoot with my .22 suppressor. “You know, son, that’s illegal,” is the most common. Most guys are amenable to learning about the NFA process after I show a copy of my tax stamp, but some just can’t admit that they are wrong and insist that I should be kicked out of the club and/or thrown in jail.
Of course, these encounters are rare compared to the positive interaction I’ve had with most of my fellow members.
Posers piss me off.
Last time I shot there was this guy wearing a black polo, khaki shorts, and sunglasses. He had a G17 with labeled 17rd mags and a NRA range bag filled with three fifty round boxes of remington white box 9mm. and a caliper for his groups.
He was ready.
Until he never took his finger off the trigger and muzzled me. Then proceeded to get 6″ groups at 15 yards, probably because he was wearing shades in an indoor range.
Worst peeve (aside from that in Ohio there are few ranges over 100 yds) is the “range boss” – that is the guy who makes your business his business, but isn’t actually employed by the range. He corrects your jargon, yells at you when you yell “clear”, instead of “cease fire”, snatches your brass without asking, boasts about his “piece” which he’s toting around in a cowboy holster, and never seems to actually shoot a darn thing even though he’s spread his junk over 2 benches.
Scariest one was in PA where the range was unmonitored. Some guy trying to show his girlfriend how to shoot. Her first shot hit the ground right below the target, 2nd show hit the ground at 20 yds, 3rd shot hit the dirt at 10. Didn’t wait for a 4th, just left my target, grabbed my gear and split.
This post & comments make me glad I have the good fortune to use private land! I very occasionally patronize an indoor range but the staff are insufferably arrogant and it’s always crammed with people and I have a low tolerance for both.
Honestly, public ranges are my pet peeve. I don’t like shooting from a bench or the booth, or paying to shoot (ammo is expensive enough), or shooting with range masters watching, or shooting with the kind of people that make me wish there was a range master watching.
I will go to great lengths to avoid sharing a range with anyone I don’t know.
My shooter pals and I usually find a nice secluded area at a nearby rec. park that allows shooting, or if we drive a bit further out, a pal’s private rock quarry.
On rare occasion we’ll use one local range with next to no issues. I wonder if our good luck is due to our low frequency of visits or just less retards in the area…
The worst offenders with regard to safety in my 30 years of shooting have usually been off duty LEO’s.
They can’t hit shit either.
Its hard not to haul ass down that road to PPC after doing 80 mph for two hours to get there. I have reigned it in a bit.
My pet peeve is getting muzzle swept every single time I go to Ben Avery and them reacting like I’m the a-hole when I say something.
I hate ranges that dont have “action bays”. There are plenty of ranges with gucci shooting benches for the tight group masterbation crowd. What about those who actually want to work on practical skills?
I also hate shooting with civilians who complain when they show up to the 3gun, and there is a rifle stage that goes to 75 yards” ow man, i should have brought my ACOG instead of this Eotech.”. Really bitch? Im so glad you have enough money to whine like that. I guess RDSs dont work past 50Y. DURRR
Im pissed because there are no rifle ranges where i live..