About two weeks ago, I was at a local range with my .45 muzzleloader. (I was shooting my Lee cast 200 grain REAL bullets and getting good results with the 1-66 twist.) There are probably 40 people shooting a variety of rifles, so it's moderately busy.
I notice a car pull up and out gets five people - two men, two women, and a teenaged girl, about 16-18. They choose the shooting table one down from me and, during the next cease fire, they post their target.
"The range is hot".
They pull out a snub nosed revolver and one of the guys starts firing from a standing position. The revolver gets handed to one of the women and she starts blasting away. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the range safety officer moving toward them - not a run, but moving rapidly. I have my ear muffs on, so I cannot hear what he's saying, but I can determine the drift of what upset him.
By shooting at a target from a standing position, they were impacting into the ground behind the target and not into the berm. Common mistake - I've gotten chewed out for doing the same thing.
While the range officer is having his say, the woman turns and is mesmerized by what the RSO is saying. She strikes a pose that I've seen people strike many times before in ordinary conversation - they bring their hand up so it's under their chin.
And, with pistol in hand, that what she did. Muzzle up!!
I've got my mouth open and am sucking air in preparation to scream a warning when I hear a guy to the left of me yell, "Watch the muzzle!!" One of the husbands rapidly moves to gently grab her arm and lower the pistol out of harms way. Crisis averted. I have to step away from my muzzleloader and gather myself before I can continue loading. In my minds eye, I pictured the horrible events that might have transpired if that woman had ever-so-gently squeezed the trigger. I didn't want to be a witness to something like that.
I'm continuing to load and fire, but 1/2 of my attention is drawn to this group to my right. On the next "cease fire", I step back and wait for others to pull and post targets. I notice one of the husbands approach me.
"I've been watching you. Is that a 30-30?"
I don't THINK I said the word "jackass", but you can be assured I thought the word "jackass"! As in, "What a jackass you are!"
I very politely told him it was a .45 caliber muzzleloader, like the type of gun they used in the Civil War and that it was not, in fact, a 30-30. He listened, thanked me, and went back to his shooting table.
And pulls out a Bushmaster for the groups entertainment. I start throwing my stuff in my various bags and get the heck out of there. (I did tell the RSO to keep an eye on them and repeated the "30-30 story". He just shook his head.)
National Public Radio had an article about how experienced shoots are learning that they have to worry about the people rushing out to buy their guns before the gun ban takes effect. I believe every word of that article.
