Author Topic: A day at the Range (Read 856 times)

Xargos · « **on:** September 16, 2005, 03:15:48 AM »

I decided to go to an indoor range yesterday and practice my draw and marksmanship with my S&W model 60. Brought a couple of hundred rounds of reloads, blank paper and some tape. For the first half hour or so I practiced my draw from a belly band from under my shirt. I put two blank papers side by side and set them out to about 25 feet. I would draw, fire one round into each target then bring targets back in to patch wholes with the tape.

Enjoying the peace and quiet of being by myself for the first half hour, other then the range master checking on me once in a while, I desided to tuck in my shirt, put on my pancake holster and sportscoat. Three young punks came in with their pants hanging to their knees and a bag full of firearms while I'm practicing clearing my coat, drawing and shooting.

Between the three of them they took two lanes that where to the right of me and proceeded to pull many guns out of the bag. They put out two of the silhouette type targets, one on each lane. The guy closest to me grabs a Sig 9mm and shoots at one of the targets one handhanded then hands the Sig to the next guy when he finishes the clip. The next cat stands at a 90 degree angle towards the target and proceeds to shoot at that same target with one hand but this dude is holding the thing sideways and moving his body up and down. Now I'm thinking to myself "No wonder so many driveby shootings result in the wrong person getting hit". Then they proceed to play with the other firearms in the bag.

I'm in my lane doing my thing when a round hits me in the chest and drops to the floor. I bend down to pick it up but end up droping it when I realize it's still hot. I look over at the hoodlems, real pissed, and am thinking to myself "Should I go over there and show these clowns how to shoot", but I decide against it when I realize these jokers were dangerous enough as is. You should always shoot with both hands because many people shoot their own free hand in the heat of battle plus you should keep your body bladed so that you are a smaller target. So I step off the range for a min to tell the rangemaster about what happend.

I was feeling hot so I took off my coat and they started to realy look at me then, got tattoos up and down on both my arms. I pulled out my hot loads and started shooting at my targets that where set all the way out to 25 yards. I pulled the triger a few time and one of the guys asked me if I was shooting a 44 Mag, I told him no that it was ammo that I had made. One of them started to rag on me about the fact that I was using a wheel gun and that I only had six rounds. I informed him that if he was paying attention he would have noticed mine only had 5 rounds and that I did not need more then that.

I went back to doing my thing and about 5 min later the rangemaster came on and ran them off for not keeping the weapons pointed down range. The dummies didn't even wash their hands before they left.

Nilsen · « **Reply #1 on:** September 16, 2005, 04:36:47 AM »

LOL

Why didnt you just put a few rounds smack in the middle of the forehead on their silouette target.

then you scream:

BOOM ! HEADSHOT!!

SkyWolf · « **Reply #2 on:** September 16, 2005, 07:14:30 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Nilsen
LOL

Why didnt you just put a few rounds smack in the middle of the forehead on their silouette target.

then you scream:

BOOM ! HEADSHOT!!

I actually did that once on an outdoor range (well... not the screaming headshot! part) after two kids keep messing around missing a silhouette about 100 times and then doing something stupid that resulted in a Remington Rand 45 hitting the floor behind them. Some people are friggin stupid.

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #3 on:** September 16, 2005, 07:27:22 AM »

How the hell did one of their rounds hit you in the chest?

And why the hell didnt you promptly shoot at 3 of them back?

Edbert · « **Reply #4 on:** September 16, 2005, 07:39:01 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by DREDIOCK
How the hell did one of their rounds hit you in the chest?

He meant spent casing I am sure, after all he wrote the AAR and all.

Nilsen · « **Reply #5 on:** September 16, 2005, 07:43:26 AM »

Or the bullet bounced off something first.

Xargos · « **Reply #6 on:** September 16, 2005, 08:46:08 AM »

It was a bullet, it must have bounced many times before it hit me.

Edbert · « **Reply #7 on:** September 16, 2005, 09:43:06 AM »

OMG...an actual bullet?

I don't care how many times it bounced, I'd have packed up and left that instant!

Jackal1 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 16, 2005, 09:55:06 AM »

You sure you were at a range or in the alley behind Tirty Tird and a Tird? "-

Waffle · « **Reply #9 on:** September 16, 2005, 09:59:33 AM »

Actually I think it was at the corner of Stabme and Run.

lazs2 · « **Reply #10 on:** September 16, 2005, 10:02:25 AM »

I went to the range wed and had just the oppossite experiance... I was shooting my M1 garand at 50 yards to sight it in with some new reloads and there was a WWII vet there with his grandson and we all met and had a good time .... the kid was clean cut and polite and I let him shoot the garand.... he loved it and was a good shot (gramps taught him well)

latter I was shooting some hot new loads at the 25 yard range from my DW 44 mag and he said he had never shot a 44 mag... these were hot loads full of WW 296 behind 250 grain slugs and were grouping about 2 inches at 25 yards... the DW has a 1 3/4 lb single action trigger pull... after some instruction I let him have at it...

smiles all around.... the day was sunny and pleasant and everyone was friendly and having a good time.

lazs

Xargos · « **Reply #11 on:** September 16, 2005, 10:03:13 AM »

I think with them playing around they must have shot the wall to the right then it bounced off the steel that holds the target, I did hear a bullet strike the steel.

Jackal1 · « **Reply #12 on:** September 16, 2005, 10:51:47 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by lazs2
I went to the range wed and had just the oppossite experiance... I was shooting my M1 garand at 50 yards to sight it in with some new reloads and there was a WWII vet there with his grandson and we all met and had a good time .... the kid was clean cut and polite and I let him shoot the garand.... he loved it and was a good shot (gramps taught him well)

latter I was shooting some hot new loads at the 25 yard range from my DW 44 mag and he said he had never shot a 44 mag... these were hot loads full of WW 296 behind 250 grain slugs and were grouping about 2 inches at 25 yards... the DW has a 1 3/4 lb single action trigger pull... after some instruction I let him have at it...

smiles all around.... the day was sunny and pleasant and everyone was friendly and having a good time.

lazs

Always puts a smile on my face when I see a kid and his granddad doing things such as this together.
Some of my most ingrained and fondest memories are from the time when me and Popaw would load em up and take off.
I learned a lot about gun safety and shooting in general. (He was probably the best all around shot I have witnessed to date)
I also learned a lot of other, very important things on these outings as well. Some, I`m sure have saved my hide many times.

lazs2 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 16, 2005, 11:05:29 AM »

yep... losing our guns and losing our families is not good for America.

lazs

Chairboy · « **Reply #14 on:** September 16, 2005, 11:49:14 AM »

My sons are 19 months old and 3 years old, and I look forward to taking them shooting. I've got a .22 bolt action rifle (Sears Roebuck) that I got from my dad, and he got it from his dad. Sadly, it has a blocked barrel, but here's hoping a gunsmith will be able to do some magic.

Barring that, I have my good ol' pre-ban Ruger 10-22 they can fire without getting knocked backwards. I'd rather they learn on the bolt-action so they're forced to spend a little more time between shots getting reset. Seems like 50 rounds through a bolt-action is better for developing skills than 50 rounds through a semi-auto, since you have to set up 50 times instead of twice when you run through your 25 round banana clip.

Of course, when they're older, they can fire the big guns. "Marcus, you'd better believe me when I tell you to put that Mossberg all the way against your shoulder, or else you're gonna....... well, I told ya, didn't I? Clear the gun, head over to mom. She brought the icepack just in case."

Still haven't bought my wife her pistol yet, we haven't been shooting in a few months. We're still zeroing in on the Beretta 9mm or the Walther P22, but we've gotta go test some more out.