Range Courtesy

Today, A Thursday morning, I decided to head off to the public rifle range to check a ladder load for its accuracy.

At the range I shoot at in the Houston area shooting benches are built in pairs with a table on the left and a table on the right separated by a wooden divider. The benches share a common substructure.

I picked a table in the middle of the range with 2-3 benches on either side of me that were open.

Each round of shooting is approximately 25 minutes between cease fires. During those 25 minutes I normally fire 6 rounds in two groups of three. I had enough time to shoot a complete ladder for a rifle before I needed to leave.

Shortly after the cease fire ended I started my firing sequence. Another shooter walked up and started placing his stuff on the empty table connected to my table. Totally empty benches were available on either side of me. He would climb in and out of the shooting table, drop sandbags over and over on the table and do it seemed to me everything he could do to shake the table.

I glared at him several times during the shooting period. At the cease fire he and I spoke. He commented that it looked like I was a pretty good shot, since he had checked my target a few times using the range provided spotting scope. I explained to him that I was checking a rifle for accuracy and that a shaky table is very difficult from which to shoot accurately.

After the cease fire ended I tried to continue shooting. I finally gave up, because it seemed that after we spoke he was even more determined to give me the experience of shooting through an earthquake.

There’s the slight chance that he was oblivious. Some people are social creatures and he may have sit by you for that reason. I try to avoid public ranges if I can. Everyone there seems to be the authority on what you’re doing. My favorite was when I was shooting groups with it dialed off center so I wouldn’t obstruct my view of the target. There was a guy there who decided to spot for me and he told me to dial left and down, left and down every shot for about 35 rounds. I explained to him twice what I was doing but it didn’t seem to register.

Why not just politely explain the issue to him and ask him to move to one of the open benches?

The obvious is not always obvious to most.

park your new truck at the far corner of parking lot, no one around, come out and guess what???

Most everyone I've spoken to at any public range have been nice enough folks, but there are a ton of folks out there who are so self absorbed they're oblivious. Range etiquette seems to be a non-item far too often.

I also try to avoid most public ranges. It depends on who frequents them though. My guess is the guy was utterly clueless. I would have bluntly asked him to move. Then explained that he was gumming up your program and what you are doing requires uninterrupted focus.

I bet that’s the same guy who will take the urinal next to you even though there is a whole wall of unoccupied ones.

Been in the fire service for 20 years, this year. One thing I've learned, especially trying to drive lights and sirens among them, is many, many people don't get it. They go around all day, every day with their heads up their _____. Every day I wonder how they have lived as long as they have. Then I remember, I am part of that problem.

Most people have never been TOLD what to do, the rest have no common sense.

I see it every time I go to the range. I think allot of it is they are inexperienced and don't know what to do. They are nervous. When I see this at the range, I will start up a conversation and try to guide them on what to do. What the cease fire means, like DONT GO BACK TO THE BENCH after the "range is clear" call is given.

I usually end up chatting with them, they ask about all my chit, I try to get them excited about shooting. I don't "big time" anyone.
One of the WORST, is the poor guy who stacks up the front sandbags with nothing under the butt stock. How the H you gonna get anything from that except an empty box of shells??

This made me chuckle

I try to be courteous at the range (Elm Fork). I try to show before they open so I can be one of the first on the lanes. I use this time to shoot my less pleasant weapons such as my 500 S&W or any rifle with a muzzle break on it.

Once it starts getting congested I just switch over to my fun guns like my suppressed AR9 or my little suppressed 22. I try not to bother those next to me though I will admit it seems most people have never seen a SBR Suppressed 9MM ar with an echo trigger so the curious are always stopping to ask me questions.

I do push the range shot rule a little with that echo trigger but once they ask me about it I take it as a sign to slow the shots down a bit so the RO does not get in trouble for losing control of his area...which happens frequently (always keep an eye out for muzzle sweep).

Sounds like a lot of hunting/shooting forums. I had no idea that for 40 years I have been handloading the wrong way, shooting the wrong calibers and buying the wrong brands till the internet came along. Thankfully, I don't have to go to public ranges or I might find out I don't know how to shoot either.

I've learned the same things Bar-D.

As far as the OP, I think most people that do those things aren't doing it intentionally (that may be my feeble attempt to salvage a scrap of faith in humanity after 23 years in LE, but I'm gonna keep on believing). I would bet a lot of them were never taught the proper etiquette and probably learned most of what they know on their own. It's hard to ask someone to move away from your bench without sounding rude, but if you explain why maybe he would understand. You could combine that with giving him some pointers to help him out. Who knows, he may end up being a pretty good dude.
Of course, there is also a chance he's just a douche nozzle that needs a throat punch.

It's happened to me when I was doing a ladder for the 6.5 x 284, the person next to me kept shaking the wooden table and I went to my truck behind our table and got another rifle, a .338 Lapua with a muzzle brake and set it down next to him, and the gun politely spoke and he just upped and moved down a few tables. Easy wasn't it?

There are some people who have no regard for others who are trying hard to shoot accurately on a table.

I did this once with a guy who had a really nice, really expensive .338 w/brake. I was shooting my 6.5 Weatherby. After his guns blew my cap off my bench, we made a deal to take turns shooting.

It was a Saturday at Garland, so we couldn't move. So glad I can go during the week now

Yes, it's brutal on the weekends with so many people packed so closely together. Makes it hard to concentrate. I can only stand it for about 2 hours.

A+ for being open-minded!

I signed up at Lonestar for that reason, but then they got shut down. Thankfully Garland is only about 15 mins from the house.

Two trips in a row there I had somebody with either a 18" 308 or a 16" 556 with a brake on it next to me as I'm trying to do load development. Ended up building a little wall with the sandbags so that the muzzle blast didn't hit me in the face every time.

LOL!

I built a wall of rifle cases to my left when a guy cam and set up next to me shooting an AR15 just last weekend. I wish folks would be more considerate and use brass catchers.

I got branded with some .300 BO brass last fall, same circumstance. It's just not cool slinging hot brass around like that in such close quarters.

My braked 6.5 CM is loud as all get out. I don't have an issue with people sitting too close to me.

I remember one time shooting pistols with my wife; she was to my left, and there was a guy to her left with some sort of Range Ninja gat with a RMR and a can on it. It was so operator that he had to put on his Oakley hard knuckle gloves just to shoot it. His brass kept hitting her in the head/neck/face, so I switched places with here, and made a big show about stepping out of the way every time he'd shoot, but he was utterly oblivious. And we're talking 3-4 feet away, not next table over.

I usually hit the range during the middle of the week. The range I go to, Clear Creak Gun Range, has screen dividers that separate the lanes and prevent brass from hitting your neighbors. I shoot a couple of rifles with muzzle brakes. So, I try to be polite and sit away from folks when I can. If it gets to crowded at the 100yrd line I just move on down to the 200yrd line. It's empty most of the time, even on weekends.

Most folks at the range seem to be polite, but there seems to always be some new folks. I see a lot of new shooters who don't know how to zero their rifles. Or, they'll blast away and get patterns instead of groups. You can always tell the re-loaders and precision shooters, as they'll fire off a round, sit and chat for a while, get behind their rifle and look for a few minutes, and fire off a round. It takes them 20 minutes to fire a 3 shot group. LOL And, there's always the guy who's breaking in his barrel, fires a shot, clean, fires a shot, clean, fires a shot, clean. Makes a day at the range interesting.

At times I'm not sure what would be more interesting to watch - a day at the range or a day at the boat ramp. Boat ramp probably wins...but not by much.

Hey Marty, is that girl still out there distracting you? The RO you were telling me about.

I've seen interesting things at the range, but what I've seen at boat ramps was definitely more entertaining. Saw a guys entire rig roll back down the ramp and submerge at Eagle Mountain one day. Glub glub.

I still think once I retire, I'm gonna spend spring, summer, and early fall at the boat ramp. A chair, a table, a cooler, an umbrella, and a sign "Trailer backing service $5"

Don't forget the camera!

Back when i used public ranges, i tried to get there real early and get the table on the far end of the 200 yard range. Usually only the non-dufus folk would be down there with me. A fellow just has to understand that most of the shooters aren’t picky reloaders with accurate rifles and they have little knowledge of much of anything but trigger pulling a couple of times a year. You can look at a shooter’s table and gear and tell pretty quick if he’s a real shooter or not.

But one time i was a bit later than usual and the end table had a guy I hadn’t seen before. I went ahead and spread out my stuff, arranged the sand bags, put up my targets in the cease-fire, and settled in to shoot at the next-to-last table. I wasn’t watching that other guy, but when he cranked off a round it sounded like a sonic boom. Practically bounced everything on my table. I asked what that gun was, and found that it was a Weatherby 460 Mag with a muzzle brake. Ouch! Luckily, he was just checking his scope POI before he went up to Alaska for bear.

FJG...you need to price your launching services by the footage of the boat, or sobriety of the driver...You could prolly make a decent living at Texoma....
Ron

Discount if he has a hot wife or girlfriend sitting in the middle, smelling good.

FJG, setting in the middle of what smelling where?

Front seat middle. Do you not remember things up to the late 90's?

Where? Everywhere.