Post your shooting range horror stories.

[DeltaM]

What is the 180 rule?  I've been around guns since my first at age 10, bird hunting, deer, etc. but only time I've been to a range was with my CCW permit.  I've always lived in the sticks and just go outside to shoot.  Strange how nerve racking it was being with all those pistol going off just to my right and left.

[Pathfinder]

What is the 180 rule?  I've been around guns since my first at age 10, bird hunting, deer, etc. but only time I've been to a range was with my CCW permit.  I've always lived in the sticks and just go outside to shoot.  Strange how nerve racking it was being with all those pistol going off just to my right and left.

The 180 rule is that the muzzle cannot break an imaginary line running from 90 degrees to your left when facing the target to 90 degrees right. while shooting you are not supposed to point the muzzle of the weapon anywhere behind that line.

[Texas_Bryan]

A few years back, was hunting at the Grandma's house, last day there, went with some of the little ones to shoot the Marlin 60's.  Had a good time explaining safety, teaching some technique, and more safety.  Shot a few mags, tubular mags, after the bolt locked on the last round, I dropped all the way the racked it again.  Pack up and go home, few hours drive, get home and I'm cleaning guns right after we get done unpacking.  Then I take out the one of the 60's and rack the bolt and a .22 round falls out, rack it again and again, and there's five rounds at my feet.  I'd had taken it for granted that the 'last' round was the last round, when in fact, the weapon fail to feed, I think its empty, drop the bolt, rack it again to make sure its empty, as if that's good enough or even made sense, and unintentionally loaded another round in the chamber.  Lesson learned, I remove every mag to verify if its loaded or not, always look for the orange pusher on 60's and shotguns, and rack every action at least three times on a gun before storage.

I've made safety part of the fun while shooting now, and tell every little one or any inexperienced shoot I take to the range to, 'slow down.'  Because if you have a problem you'll naturally what to fix it, but you don't know how.  So you'll start pressing buttons, racking things, and dropping mags.  All the while you've forgotten the basic safety rules and are going to town trying to fix the gun, you get frustrated and stop thinking about you actions and you surroundings.  Take it easy, stop, put your safety on, set the weapon down or hold it in a safe direction if we're in the field, and come get me.  I never rush new shooters at the range on anything, I do things on their time.  If I take someone to the range, or the field, I take their safety as my personal responsibility.

[m25operator]

When I was married, or at least dating, I took my wife to the range. The pistol she was shooting had some kind of jam, misfire, whatever. She turned around and pointed the gun right in my face and said there was something wrong with it. I took it away from her and didn't care whart was wrong as long as I wasn't looking down the muzzle.

Good for you, muzzles in the wrong direction, especially at yourself, is always a bad deal.

[MAUSERMAN]

I was at the San Gabriel valley gun club and I was next to some old fart with a muzzle loader. After about half an hour they called a line break, not even 5 seconds after that i hear what i thought was car wreck behind me. What had happend was the old guy blew is gun apart like a banana and knocked all his gear to the ground. That shit makes me a little uneazy about muzzle loaders and older shooters being rushed.

[Sponsor]

[ellis4538]

Had a nasty one yesterday...shooting at our monthly USPSA match I had an AD during a reload from slide lock or maybe a slamfire from slide lock, no one is sure.  Round went DR into the berm and I was still in the shooting box so no DQ.  Neither RO or RM saw a problem.  I stopped because I thought the RO said STOP! but he said GO, GO, GO so no DQ.  Never happened before.  Might have had finger in triggerguard but no one is sure of that either -- including myself.  Happened so fast I didn't have time to reflect on it.

Richard 

[tombogan03884]

Crap happens, I highlighted the important part.

Had a nasty one yesterday...shooting at our monthly USPSA match I had an AD during a reload from slide lock or maybe a slamfire from slide lock, no one is sure. Round went DR into the berm and I was still in the shooting box so no DQ.  Neither RO or RM saw a problem.  I stopped because I thought the RO said STOP! but he said GO, GO, GO so no DQ.  Never happened before.  Might have had finger in triggerguard but no one is sure of that either -- including myself.  Happened so fast I didn't have time to reflect on it.

Richard 

[DeltaM]

This happened to me when I was 14 or so.  I was showing a friend (not a gun person) my new pump 12 ga in my bedroom at home.  He loved the sound of the pump going click-click.  Next thing I knew was he had 2 shells in the magazine watching them eject onto the bed.  After doing this a few times, there was a loud noise with a hole through the wall.  Thankfully, the first rule my dad taught me was never ever point any gun, even my cap gun, at anybody or allow one to be pointed at you.  It is a bad habit that gets easier to rationalize away the more it is done.  I figured on getting a good butt beating when my parents came home but didn't.  I guess they figured I had learned my lesson.

[m25operator]

Ellis, I have been a range officer for a very long time and teach RO school, of course I can't tell you what happened, but NROI, and myself both teach, the same thing, as an RO, you don't watch the range as the name semi implies, the RO watches the gun, ALWAYS, that is the pointy end where bad things happen, if your RO can tell you where your hitting or missing, He/She is not watching the firearm, it is easy to become complacent as an RO, but bad business. Your RO should know what happened in your event, I have seen it happen over and over, slide go's home after a hard mag charge without the slide release being tripped, light trigger and the hammer falls, or more often, finger in the trigger guard, things are happening so fast, you as an RO say trigger, but the competitor is doing something that takes 1/2 second, too late for the shooter to hear and recognize, before completing the task.

I myself had a squib on a very fast stage, 5 targets in 2 1/2 seconds, big steel and up close, splits are .15 - .20, target 3 had no hit and target 4 had 2 hits, as the next bullet drove the squib out, revolvers can do that, RO did not have a prayer in warning me, with the splits that fast. Ringed my barrel, but it still shoots just as good.