Strange range things

[rio grande]

I'm a Range Safety Officer at our club's range, which is members and guests only, so most everybody is safe and experienced and doing my time there (we volunteer) is about as exiting as watching the paint dry with hearing protection on.
But one time a guest there was shooting a revolver and he had his off hand supporting the revolver where the barrel meets the cylinder - at the gap! and when he shot it, he'd go "ouch"!
Of course we stopped that, and explained to him you don't do that.

  And today, I applied for a weekend job at a public range (700 visitors daily on weekends before hunting season!) and my hopefully future boss man was telling me about how 3 times in the last month or so he had folks loading their rounds into the magazines backwards!!! 

Anybody got any similar range stories?

[Questor]

Wow! That guy with the revolver is lucky. If the timing of the gun is off or there is some defect in the bullet, then rather large lead shavings will fly through that gap to cause a pretty serious injury to the hand. In any case, if it was, say, a 357 magnum, the pressures are high enough so the gas can damage the hand.

I've had quite a few strange things happen at the range, I'll just give a few:
1) A man died of old age while we were both shooting there one Sunday morning. Nice fellow. Nice family. He was elderly and just passed away doing something he really liked to do. He and I were the only Sunday morning regulars there. Technically it was heart failure, but he had just put his head down like he was taking a nap and was gone. Very peaceful. Quite shocking too when I thought he might not be napping.

2) Some Russian guys wanted to become members so they could shoot at the range. I made sure they got the info they needed so they could join. These guys had a ball with their shooting. They had bought some Mosin-Nagant ammo, lots of it, and a rifle to shoot it with. They were having a great time shooting targets and sharing the gun. I've never seen three guys have so much fun shooting. It was a flash in the pan, though, I never saw them after that year.

3) I learned something through experience during the Fall sight-ins (when the range is open to the public for deer season sight-in). When somebody comes to the range with the gun in a cardboard box, watch that person. These are the guys most likely to have a safety infraction.

4) There was a guy shooting a 44 magnum Ruger Blackhawk from the seated position, using sandbags as a rest. He was obviously afraid of the gun. He touched a round off and the hammer hit is forehead and cut it. Thankfully we had some bandages and disinfectant.

5) Then there was the time when we had a plague of woodchucks under the range house. I had the range to myself and I was there with my bullseye 45 shooting them. Muzzle was pointed downrange, but not from by the benches, but from the parking lot. They are tough critters. The target 45s are not good stoppers on chucks. 22 hollow points are better, in my experience.

6) I was at the big public range at Casper, Wyoming sighting in for a pronghorn hunt. This big pronghorn buck climbed up on the berm at the 300 yard line. That helped me judge the size of a pronghorn at that distance.

[45-70.gov]

i  have  heard  of  a finger  being  cut  off  at the cylinder gap

i  have  scares  on my  hand  today  form when  i was young and  dumb
the  greese from  the cylinder gap   on a ball and cap  percussion

i was assisting in a fire arms  safety class put on  by  city police
a  woman  had hot brass  go under her safety glasses
she  was  yelling and  pointing  the gun in unsafe directions....i  dont  like  autos


i  once bumped  the trigger  on my  full auto.....3 rounds went  off  into  the backstop
why  we  keep the muzzle in a safe direction  ..redundent safety  saved the  day
did  i mention  i dont  like  autos

[GRIMJIM]

I was shooting my 44 mag desert eagle from a sitting position and it ejected an empty case up over my head and right down my pants into the crack in my butt.

Don't laugh it hurt.

[45-70.gov]

I was shooting my 44 mag desert eagle from a sitting position and it ejected an empty case up over my head and right down my pants into the crack in my butt.

Don't laugh it hurt.

i  have seen that one  too

i  laught  at  him  too

[rio grande]

Wow, what a good way to go, peacefully, at the range.
And now I remember too, years ago, a deer walked onto the rifle range - probably the safest place in the world for it! Everybody just stopped shooting.
Another strange happening at a public range - there we were shooting away, lots of people - and two guys just started walking downrange to post targets! 
The cardboard box, is that like the guys who show up with all their reloads in a Crown Royal bag? we always laugh about that.
And the flying brass, ask my wife! When we were dating a .45 case went down the front of her blouse!  She still talks about that....apparently the cases ARE rather hot on sensitive areas...um..I didn't know what to do!  my fault of course. 
I love the range, our club range is really peaceful, and the people are great.
Now this public range - looks like work!  Hope I get the job.
Don't y'all hate applying for jobs? You have to be nice and everything. 

[Oldshooter]

I was shooting my 44 mag desert eagle from a sitting position and it ejected an empty case up over my head and right down my pants into the crack in my butt.

Don't laugh it hurt.

Sorry i was laughing before I read the dont laugh part, I'm really sorry about  laughing really i am 

[Questor]

Boy oh boy! I can relate the the 44 Desert Eagle post. I've never gotten it that bad, but I've had many a case go into the space between my neck and my t-shirt. It's like one of those cartoon characters dancing around saying ooch ooch ouch ouch!

I was shooting offhand standing with a scoped 44 revolver and the scope mount screws sheared off and the scope hit my forehead, bounced up and landed on the concrete. That made me a devoted Leupold customer for life. The scope dropped about 7 feet onto concrete and just got a minor scratch. I quit using Weaver bases on hard-recoiling guns after that.

Then there's just fun stuff. I like to shoot clay pigeons set up at 100 yards with my iron-sighted 22 revolver. When you hit one, it usually just disappears. Gosh I like doing that. I'll have to go do that this weekend.

Then there's the occasion where me and another guy get to the range late and we chat so much that we run out of shooting light. Oh well. I enjoy it. Usually we talk, and then realize we better get in about ten rounds before the sun goes down.

[Sourdough]

My wife and I have been volunteers at the military ranges for recorational shooting after hours.  One day when the commander for the Arctic survival school fired a round something hit her in the face.  She was not sure if it was hot gasses, or particles from the gun.  He was having a hard time ejecting the empty.  When it finally came out it landed in the floor.  He just loaded another one into the chamber.  She picked up his brass and saw high pressure signs.  She went up tapped him on the shoulder and told him to make safe and secure his gun.  She informed him his reloads were unsafe.  He said "No" and was preparing to shoot again.  That little Staff Sargent started yelling, and everyone on the range heard her.  Everyone else grounded their guns, made them safe, and stepped back.  She finally got his attention, and once he realized she was in charge and he should listen, he unloaded, picked up his gun and started leaving.  As he left he stopped and asked me who she was, he was going to have a talk to her the next day with her commander.  I gave him her name, and he left. 

This clown stopped at a local gravel pit and tried to shoot some more before going home.  Some hikers found him later that evening and called an ambulance.  The gun had come apart and he was seriously injured.

I've seen way too many to recount them all.  Have had many people walk up, hand me their gun, while hiding their hand.  They then go get into their car or truck and leave without saying a word.  Looked at the gun, always a semi-auto pistol, and found blood allover the rear of the slide.  I instantly know they had their thumb sticking up on the back of the slide when they touched it off.  I have seen this many times.

At the local unmonitored rnage have seen  few fellows shoot themselves in the foot or in the hand.  Some of these guys are dumb.

[no guns here]

yep, the old bloody thumb...  Saw that one again earlier this year.  African guy that had enlisted in the Army.  Well, most young soldiers don't fire the M9 unless their job demands it.  Funny, I'm in a joint unit and the Army guys in charge of our training ask me to help with EVERY range.  I act as a roving safety and instructor.  I get to help the guys who can't qualify...  anyway the dude with 13 letters in his last name was having problems.  So I took him to the last position on the line.  Got him into a good stance.  Showed him a good grip and then the left thumb started sticking up behind the slide.  I pushed his thumb back forward and on the side.  I told him to move his thumb or it would get cut.  The range officer was standing behind us watching the whole time.  Soldier Stupid starts to shoot and doesn't get cut but his thumb was back up.  I moved it down again.  After three times he finally had blood streaming down his thumb, hand and arm.  The range officer just shrugged and said "oh well, he's stupid".  We still make fun of that guy.

[Gun Runner]

Several years ago wife and I were at the range. Was shooting my 40 cal and she was standing behind me.
YEP you guessed it, hot brass up and back and down the front of her blouse and caught in her BRA. I dint know my wife knew all those fancy DANCE steps.   

Gun Runner

[Mohawk]

  The gun range I worked was for tourists. I have had everything from the Brits that forgot the US was independent and guns were normal here and arms were in our Constitution when we sent the Brits back across the Atlantic, to persons that could not handle a full-auto climb of a Mac sub-machine gun and chewed up ceiling tiles, light ballasts, bulbs, etc.

[GRIMJIM]

  The gun range I worked was for tourists. I have had everything from the Brits that forgot the US was independent and guns were normal here and arms were in our Constitution when we sent the Brits back across the Atlantic, to persons that could not handle a full-auto climb of a Mac sub-machine gun and chewed up ceiling tiles, light ballasts, bulbs, etc.

I'd like to hear more about the Brits.

[gypsyman]

Our club had just put up a cover over the firing line. Less than a month, one of our members, who had been warned about keeping his finger off the trigger, put a hole in it, when he levered a round in the old 30-30. Fined him $50. At the next meeting, he just walked up and gave the treasurer, a $50 bill. Treasurer said, you already paid for your mistake. He said, this is for the one I just did earlier today, before the meeting. There was 35+ guys laughing so hard, we didn't get the meeting started for 10 minute's. He ended up quiting and moving to Arizona. I figure if he would have stayed, our dues wouldn't have gone up for 6-8 years.  gypsyman

[rio grande]

When the machine shop business was booming, we had Brit temp workers.
Real good guys for the most part, of course interested in firearms.
One of them came with us to the range, you should have seen the BIG smile on his face when he got to shoot the .45 1911!
And the Limeys just could not believe their eyes at the gun shows - like kids in a candy store!
One guy though, it's funny - couldn't eat guacamole - he said it reminded him of 'smushed peas'.
Another Brit told me about a trip to Thailand, where for a fee you could shoot Chinese RPG's.  Imagine that.  THAT sure would stir up things at the old shootin' range.

Hearing about problems and incidents at the shooting ranges is really helpful to me. That story about the commander of the Arctic survival school shook me up. Scary.

[Dand]

Once during a winter turkey shoot the last shooter was taking forever to aim and fire. The light was falling quickly. and we don't limit time. Finally he opens his bolt and rests his rifle without firing, turns and says there's a guy past the end of the range grubbing around in the brush. Our shooter was seeing motion in the edge of his scope and couldn't figure out what the distraction was - hence the long wait. We marched down to find a guy checking some fox traps  (range was next to the dump). All the trapper said was he had survived 'Nam and 22's didn't worry him at all "just go ahead and shoot, I'll be done soon."  He was at about 200-225 yds.  Needless to say we waited for him to be done and made sure he was gone before finishing the match.  Sure rattled our shooter though. I still see that trapper around town and wonder about him.

Same range one summer our long time, somewhat elderly gun club secretary / treasurer tries out an old Walther PPK and it jams on him (he was mainly a shotgun man).  I was behind him about 4 feet.  He turns and walks back to me with the jammed gun pointed straight at my stomach asking me if I could  help him with the jam!!! I freaked and leaped out of the way. His hand was on the grip, I don't know where his trigger finger was. He was pretty shook up and extremely apologetic. He got the gun pointed the right way.  Someone else cleared the jam for him and I think he quit shooting immediately and kind of slunk away deeply ashamed. Never saw him fire a gun again at the range. Fine with me, some clubs would have kicked him off the range permanently for that one.

[Mohawk]

  The Brits wrote a nasty complaint email to our boss stating how they were "shocked" that we had live ammunition on the shelves and guns behind glass display cases where anyone could get them at anytime. My boss, a great guy and former soldier, simply answered that it was our policy to keep arms at-the-ready since the last English ships left Yorktown.

    Of course since we ran rentals up to and including class III guns every staff member was visibly armed and then some...... The Brits were astonished that we wore sidearms around the range and store. Welcome to the USA! And for some reason every other nation that visited never had a problem, actually they were looking at us like movie stars being able to freely have firearms, ammunition, etc at the disposal to US citizens. The Brits thought all those WW2 Victory revolvers, Webleys, Enfields were melted down at the end of the war. They though we were kidding when we told them they are still in public circulation in this country for defense and hunting arms. But, just a guess here, the Brits still seem a little sore about 1776.