Let's hear your odd/ funny gun range stories

[Dawico]

Most of us have been to public ranges that present odd situations. Whether it be broken benches, bee's nests, or swamps, these range days seem to stick in our memories better than the normal days.

I have read a few articles on these issues but personal stories are so much better, especially ranges that other members have been to.

So post them up and let us share your pain or joy.

 

[Dawico]

I took my family to shoot at Hicksville gun range a few days ago. It was cold and windy and really a rough day to be out. I love the cold and was just happy to be shooting.

Shooting rimfires went pretty well but I had some rifle loads to test. My family waited in the truck while I shot but I parked so they could watch if they wanted.

Many of you have been there and know it is a fairly relaxed place to shoot, especially during the week. It is owned by a nice family and it is also their home. And they have dogs.

So I set up my target and get ready on the bench at the 100 yard rifle range. I get about halfway done and am shooting a group when I notice something moving. I alway shoot with both eyes open just for a situation like this.

One of the dogs decides to visit a puddle of water right in front of the target stands. He walks right across my line of fire and hits the puddle for a drink about 5 feet from my target.

So I wait. But apparently he has a big thirst. He drinks for what seems to be ten minutes. I even whistle but he doesn't hear it or care. After a minute he looks up and around but goes back to drinking.

Finally he gets his fill and starts on his way back. Ok, I will be shooting again shortly.

Nope, he proceeds to stop right in front of my stand. He lays down and starts licking his balls right there.

I throw my hands in the air jokingly and look back. My daughter in the truck thinks it is the funniest thing she has ever seen. I had to agree, it was pretty dang funny.

Besides that it was a fairly normal day at the range. I will always remember the range days with my family but this one will keep a special place.

 

[Moonpie]

Occurred at my gun club.

There had been a lot of rain.
Behind the firing line was a small creek that was normally dry but with all the rain, the little creek was backed up and full of water. About two feet deep.
I was moving shooting gear from the vehicle to the firing tables when I noticed "something" floating in the water just off the pathway.
Curiosity piqued I looked a bit closer. The something descended below the water! It wasn't a something. It was a HUGE alligator. A good 12footer. And here I was about 6ft away from it with nothing between it and myself! Y CARUMBA! Have you ever seen an old fat man do backwards flips? You would've had you been there.
The gator just sank down onto the bottom and sat there.
Being a kid at heart I just had to mess with that thing. So I looked around and picked up some empty brass that was lying on the ground nearby and proceeded to chunk .30-06 cases at the gator. Mr.Gator didn't like that. He came up snapping and thrashing every time I threw something at him.
Shooting it was a no go for many reasons. Least of which was instant expulsion from said club.
I kept throwing anything and everything I could get my hands on. After a while Mr. Gator grew tired of the barrage and moved off down the creek.

 

[Burnt Jeep]

I took my family to shoot at Hicksville gun range a few days ago. It was cold and windy and really a rough day to be out. I love the cold and was just happy to be shooting.

Shooting rimfires went pretty well but I had some rifle loads to test. My family waited in the truck while I shot but I parked so they could watch if they wanted.

Many of you have been there and know it is a fairly relaxed place to shoot, especially during the week. It is owned by a nice family and it is also their home. And they have dogs.

So I set up my target and get ready on the bench at the 100 yard rifle range. I get about halfway done and am shooting a group when I notice something moving. I alway shoot with both eyes open just for a situation like this.

One of the dogs decides to visit a puddle of water right in front of the target stands. He walks right across my line of fire and hits the puddle for a drink about 5 feet from my target.

So I wait. But apparently he has a big thirst. He drinks for what seems to be ten minutes. I even whistle but he doesn't hear it or care. After a minute he looks up and around but goes back to drinking.

Finally he gets his fill and starts on his way back. Ok, I will be shooting again shortly.

Nope, he proceeds to stop right in front of my stand. He lays down and starts licking his balls right there.

I throw my hands in the air jokingly and look back. My daughter in the truck thinks it is the funniest thing she has ever seen. I had to agree, it was pretty dang funny.

Besides that it was a fairly normal day at the range. I will always remember the range days with my family but this one will keep a special place.

One of the dogs out at Hicksville is deaf. Might be why he didn't mind you when you whistled.


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[Dawico]

One of the dogs out at Hicksville is deaf. Might be why he didn't mind you when you whistled.


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I would be surprised if they all aren't hard of hearing running around the range like they do.

 

[baboon]

I was shooting @ 300 yards one day when a guy pulls up & starts unloading a bunch of rifles. He had them out of the cases & lined up on his tailgate when they all just decide the ground was a better place to be. I asked him if he wanted to go post targets & he said yes & went about it. When the line was hot I noticed he had a wall of target down range, but seeing all his rifles I figured WTF.

He proceeds to take his first shot & hits his chronograph. As I'm letting my rifle cool off I get nosey & start looking @ his target with my spotting scope. For all the high end rifles he was shooting not a one had a group for shit. He had some cheap little spotting scope that might be ok for 100 yards or less. He walks over & starts to talking with me & ask about my rifle I was shooting. Without asking he walks up to my spotting scope & is getting ready to use it. I told him " Seeing you knock all them rifles over first, then blasting your chronograph why would you think I would let you look through my exspensive spotting scope especially without asking?" He started calling me names to which I laughed at him to his face. I told him that with all the money he had tied up in his vehicle, guns & scopes I would think he could afford a spotting scope of his own to break.

 

[ROGER4314]

My favorites all involved female pistol shooters who took an ejected (and HOT) case down her blouse. I try to be a gentleman but that's a riot and I do laugh.

Flash

 

[acorneau]

Something I had posted in an ASC range thread, October 2014...

Saw an interesting juxtaposition at the range today...

European family (Dutch, Swedish, ?) all dressed up in slim athletic wear with Dad coaching the teenage son and daughter on prone and off-hand use of their biathlon-grade Anschütz 22LR rifles...

... while on the next bench over...

Urban Commando guy with tactical boots and vest blasts away (verging on rapid fire) with his AR-styled, way-over-tricked-out Springfield M1A SOCOM... oh, and this was on the 50 yard lanes.

Finesse versus brute force... it was quite the sight for anyone that noticed.

 

[Dawico]

My favorites all involved female pistol shooters who took an ejected (and HOT) case down her blouse. I try to be a gentleman but that's a riot and I do laugh.

Flash

My wife did that once. I was quick to act to keep her from muzzle sweeping the entire firing line.

I can sympathize though, I was shooting a .22 in a deer stand once and took a hot case down my butt crack. Short story short, autoloader, shooting at an odd angle, and a very lucky bounce off the wall.

 

[TheMailMan]

I caught a piece of 10mm brass one time. Between the fingers of the support hand and the grip hand.

That stuff is HOT!

 

[mitchntx]

Was at my local indoor gun range and was shooting a S&W 686.
There was a couple a few lanes over which packed up and left.

When I came out of the range, the RSO told me that the couple wanted him to come tell me I was shooting too loud.

Too loud ... at a gun range ... that was a first for me ...

 

[acorneau]

Was at my local indoor gun range and was shooting a S&W 686.
There was a couple a few lanes over which packed up and left.

When I came out of the range, the RSO told me that the couple wanted him to come tell me I was shooting too loud.

Too loud ... at a gun range ... that was a first for me ...

A similar situation happened to me but I was on the other side from you...

First time to visit the newly-opened Athena indoor range. I'm plinking away with my 10/22 when one of the loudest things I ever heard exploded in the next lane over. Some folks had rented the range's 454 Casull revolver and started blasting away. I had to back away from the bench until they stopped to reload, then I would step up and try to get five or ten shots off before they started blasting again.

I usually double up on ear protection indoors but no amount of ear protection would save you from the shockwave traveling through your skull with that 454.

 

[rp-]

My wife did that once. I was quick to act to keep her from muzzle sweeping the entire firing line.

I can sympathize though, I was shooting a .22 in a deer stand once and took a hot case down my butt crack. Short story short, autoloader, shooting at an odd angle, and a very lucky bounce off the wall.

I bet your ass never moved so quick!

I was shooting my AK the day after Christmas with the in-laws. I had my left arm flat on the table holding the bipod leg... A few times a hot steel case would roll down the table up to that tender spot on the back of my arm. The one right on the back between your elbow and wrist...


My ex wife had a failure with a rifle once. I was scoping in my 1903a3 (fake) and handed it to her by the sling so I could take her rifle and clear it. She grabbed it by the barrel. Not a problem at home but I had been shooting it and had about 20-25 rounds down the barrel. Her hand seared slightly and we had to make the hour long trip back to San Diego to get treated. To her credit, she didn't drop the gun. She just made a funny sound :-)

 

[rp-]

Also, I have stopped asking to try people guns at the range unless it's something really cool. Many times I have tried out peoples pistols and made three great shots into a very tight groups. Then they get mad at me for shooting better than them with there guns.

Last one, when I did my last competition at Bracken I shot against 8 guys and a girl. All had AR type rifles for the rifle portion. I outshot them and won the match with my AK :-) they all kept asking how I did that with an AK and were saying its impossible. A few got really made and refused to let me talk to them. This was the second one I won out of the 2 I did. Strangely, Bracken doesn't have those competitions anymore.

Eta: the 12 year old girl came on 3rd which pissed them off two

 

[vmax]

I got shot in the shoulder with a jacket from a 30.06 at a private range.

I was on the line shooting pistol and some guy was banging a gong at 50 yards

the gong did not have a downward angle on it and the jacket came back right at my throat area, making a whistling sound, I started to duck and it got me full in the shoulder. Cut my shirt and stuck in my skin. I had to pull it out by hand.
It was like taking a hard punch.

 

[rp-]

That's pretty hardcore man.

 

[Texasjack]

I was at a range on a nice day and a guy down the line had a Coke on his bench. All of a sudden, he jumped up in the air and started running around and making weird noises like a crazy man. While he was shooting, a bee went inside his Coke. He took a swallow and the bee stung his tongue. They had to take him to the hospital for fear he would choke on it, as it swelled up so much.

There used to be a range on Gosling road that I shot at. Many times deer would walk out onto the range in the evening. One day I was shooting and noticed something moving. I stopped and looked, figuring it might be those deer, only to see an older man and a young kid of maybe 5 or 6 walking straight down the range from the 100 yard targets towards the shooting benches! I ran down the line yelling for cease fire and got everyone to stop shooting. The pair calmly walked on down the range and then kept walking off without stopping. I don't know if they ever understood where they were or what danger they were in.

 

[Texasjack]

I was at Carter's Country a number of years ago and was having a nice day shooting. The guy next to me was teaching his granddaughter to shoot. He was a former LEO and a terrific shot. (He was shooting hearts in a 25 yard target with a .38.) He told me a sad story about a good friend of his on the police force that bought a new pistol and took it out to show some other officers at a restaurant where they were eating dinner (on duty). For some reason, he cocked it and looked down the barrel. It accidentally discharged and he died right there.

After a while, a group of new shooters came out and occupied the benches around us. I think there were 6 or 7 of them. All were carrying new pistols still in their original boxes. One of them, a woman, sat on a bench next to me during the cease fire and proceeded to pull the trigger on the revolver as fast as she could, while pointing the gun 90 degrees to the range - i.e., directly down the line of shooters! It wasn't loaded, but that was a horrible breach of safety! The guy and his granddaughter packed up and left. I tried to get the range officer to speak to the woman, but he wouldn't. After the ceasefire, the new people started blasting away. Bullets were hitting the ground all over the place, including 3 feet in front of me. I packed and left, stopping only to complain to the managers inside. The range officer seemed to be badly intimidated by these people.

 

[Texasjack]

There was an older lady at the range one day who was practicing to get her CHL. She complained to the range officer that she couldn't get her new Glock 9 mm to work. Turned out she had managed to load the bullets backwards into the magazine. No, I don't know how she did it, but I did see it and she managed to get them in.

 

[MetalCutter]

There used to be a range on Gosling road that I shot at. Many times deer would walk out onto the range in the evening. One day I was shooting and noticed something moving. I stopped and looked, figuring it might be those deer, only to see an older man and a young kid of maybe 5 or 6 walking straight down the range from the 100 yard targets towards the shooting benches! I ran down the line yelling for cease fire and got everyone to stop shooting. The pair calmly walked on down the range and then kept walking off without stopping. I don't know if they ever understood where they were or what danger they were in.

Shooter's Cove. Used to shoot there a lot. They had a pistol silhouette range next to the creek where you could practice all day long for five bucks, although you did have to set your own targets. Thinking back on it there was a lot of weird along with some fun stuff that happened at that range.

It's all overgrown now but remnants of the shotgun range and silhouette range are still there in the trees.