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People you meet at the indoor range


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Last weekend I went to the indoor range to try out a new toy. As I was shooting I became aware that someone in the lane next to me was shooting an AR. I looked over and saw his target placed at the 7-yard line. Sure enough, when I looked around the divider I could see the dude was resting his elbow on the shooting table to steady himself, putting round after round from his 5.56 AR into a group the size of a large watermelon.

 

At least he's trying.

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I may have met his brother at a CCW qualification.  The fellow was shooting a 45 Colt handgun and could barely hit a target at three yards.  I said nothing and thanked him when he gave me his empty brass.

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1 hour ago, Rip Snorter said:

Hope you were wearing plugs and muffs!  Typically, when it got really loud, I left ASAP, but still lost a lot of hearing,

 

Yes I always double up on the ear pro when shooting indoors. Often somebody with a short-barreled M1A SOCOM and a sideways muzzle brake will park in the lane next to me. Even then I'll usually feel the skin try to peel off my face whenever he touches one off.

.

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There is an indoor range near me that allows rifles up to 4000 ft/lbs of energy. I recently went there to test fire a rebuild of my Mossberg 12 gauge and was happy to discover they installed baffles that keep the Indoor Nimrods with tank muzzle brakes on their AR-15s from annoying the hell out of everyone.

I am quite sure the 12 gauge is loud, but at least it doesn't have a sideways blasting muzzle brake.

 

Last week at my usual indoor range I saw a guy put a silhouette target out about 2 yards and then shoot about 40 rounds at it creating a fist sized hole in the target with his pistol. He then retrieved the target then put the target back out at the same spot. I then noticed his target had "15Yards" written on it with marker and he was taking a photo of it. :blink:

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One of the local indoor ranges here has an alley set up for heavy rifles.  I was there recently and there was a shooter with a Barrett .50 trying it out.

 

The whole building shook every time the guy fired it! I wouldn’t want to be in the range area when he was shooting it.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

Last weekend I went to the indoor range to try out a new toy. As I was shooting I became aware that someone in the lane next to me was shooting an AR. I looked over and saw his target placed at the 7-yard line. Sure enough, when I looked around the divider I could see the dude was resting his elbow on the shooting table to steady himself, putting round after round from his 5.56 AR into a group the size of a large watermelon.

 

At least he's trying.

That's about the right distance-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

for a short barrelled 410 derringer.

kR

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Haven’t been to an indoor range in years and years thank goodness.

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32 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

I saw a guy shoot a 45-70 derringer at an indoor range, knocked himself silly and lacerated his forehead.  His friends were howling, the rest of us tried to look concerned.

I have never seen a 45-70 derringer. 
 

Holy Crap!

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I go to indoor ranges because outdoor ranges around here are a long ways off. Soooooo looking forward to this summer. ;)

 

For the most part, my visits to my indoor range are fun and uneventful in regards to goofy stuff that happens often at indoor ranges. I usually go twice a week. 
 

One of my favorite things that occurs occasionally at my range is someone will show up with a .44 Magnum or even better, for entertainment, a .500 S&W or one of the other big bore Crowd Pleasers. One round of big bore fun and the whole place goes quiet. I always step back and look at the people staring open mouthed at the magic giant BOOM they just heard. It’s freakin’ hilarious. :lol:
 

One day I quickly unleashed 8 rounds of Hornady American Gunner .357 magnum from my 327 Night Guard and that pretty much shut the range down. The wet behind the ears “range master” came scurrying to find out what I was shooting. I guess the giant fireballs and the noise from that snubby N frame must have “skeered” him. :D

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19 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

Holy Cow…45-70 from a 16 ounce mini gripped head banger. Oh what fun!…he said sarcastically. :rolleyes:

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1 minute ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Holy Cow…45-70 from a 16 ounce mini gripped head banger. Oh what fun!…he said sarcastically. :rolleyes:

Just look at the recoil stats on the attached spec sheet!  You know that gene pool thing...

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There are only indoor ranges close by. If there are more than a few people shooting I will leave and go back later. Lots of folks out there now days definitely need some training.

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Some guys at the LGS/Indoor Range my wife worked at came in with a Desert Eagle.  They were shooting nice 20 yard 12 ga. patterns at 5 or 7 yards.  I went over to look at it and they naturally offered to let me try it.  

 

Now, I almost always take the first shots with any handgun offhand.  I think it gives me a better feel for it.   Shot a group about the size of a mayo jar lid, a little bit low at 6 o'clock, maybe the 3 ring.  "He's shooting the hell out of it!" said one of them.

 

The loudest was at an outdoor range.  The guy next to me with a bolt action .50 BMG wasn't bad.  The guy 4 lanes over with the Moisin Nagant shook my innards.

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48 minutes ago, Smokin Gator SASS #29736 said:

Shooting rifles at 7 yards and handguns at 3 yards? Maybe they were practicing to become SASS shooters?

 

Can't be, too much powder and targets are too far away.:o

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3 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

Actually, only the best indoor range I ever patronized allowed black powder and that only for a few hours at the end of a day a week.  Do many indoor ranges allow it?

Granted , I have not been in very many indoor ranges , but none that I have been in allowed BP.

Rex :D

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26 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

Do many indoor ranges allow it?

The indoor range near my house used to be carpeted. Sound absorption I believe was the rationale. And over 10 or 12 years the carpeting collected a lot of unburnt powder. And then one day someone came in with a black powder rifle. He put out about a 8-foot streak of flame, which ignited the unburnt powder in the carpeting.

 

It was a pure dee mess.

 

The range is still there, and now you shoot over bare concrete instead of carpet, but they don't allow black powder anymore.

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4 minutes ago, Alpo said:

The indoor range near my house used to be carpeted. Sound absorption I believe was the rationale. And over 10 or 12 years the carpeting collected a lot of unburnt powder. And then one day someone came in with a black powder rifle. He put out about a 8-foot streak of flame, which ignited the unburnt powder in the carpeting.

 

It was a pure dee mess.

 

The range is still there, and now you shoot over bare concrete instead of carpet, but they don't allow black powder anymore.

The range in question had concrete floors in the range area and were scrupulously clean.  I don't think I ever saw carpeted floors ahead of the line in any range. Unburned powder a risk factor I would not have thought of, but should have!  Thanks!

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There's a nice indoor range not far from my house.  I used to belong, but gave up the membership as it was getting too crowded and some of the guns fired in there were too much noise.  I was an assistant range master for a while in the army and some of the stuff I saw there was making me nervous.  I now belong to a outdoor range further from the house, but 1/3 rd the price.  Usually no one there when I go, which suits me just fine.

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1 hour ago, Rip Snorter said:

Actually, only the best indoor range I ever patronized allowed black powder and that only for a few hours at the end of a day a week.  Do many indoor ranges allow it?

I’ve never seen an indoor range that allowed bp or anything over 45 cal. Our indoor police range didn’t allow shotguns or rifles either.

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1 minute ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I’ve never seen an indoor range that allowed bp or anything over 45 cal. Our indoor police range didn’t allow shotguns or rifles either.

This one was pretty remarkable,  Two long term shooting guys / range operators with a following of serious shooters built it and ran it.  There were two 25 yard bays for pistol, 8 positions each if I recall and two 50 yard lanes at the far end of the building that were heavily sound  insulated where you could shoot most rifles - don't recall the limitations, though I think there were some, but most rifles were a go.  I don't recall shotguns, though I think there were some police training exercises.  Unfortunately they somehow got scammed, I think by a business partner and a bank.  The fellow who took it over ran it out of business in a year. I stopped going because it was sad, and soon after relocated.  No good indoor range near, but endless outdoor opportunities.

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BS (before SASS), I bought an 1851 Navy. My GF was in a running club with a range owner that had a range in Compton. (You know Compton right?) She asked him if we could shoot the 1851 at the range and he said sure, just come by some evening. So we went up there on a Sunday evening. The only patrons were cops and gangbangers. 

 

I loaded and fired a round and everyone in the place stopped shooting and looked to see what made that strange sound and made all of that smoke! 

 

I fired the other cylinders and left.:rolleyes:

 

 

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18 hours ago, Dusty Wyatt said:

There are only indoor ranges close by. If there are more than a few people shooting I will leave and go back later. Lots of folks out there now days definitely need some training.

 

Same here, living in Suburbia indoor ranges are the only ones within close proximity. I first visited this particular range just three days after they first opened to the public. There were already several bullet holes in the overhead baffles.

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At the range I belong to they will not allow BP or any ammo but fully jacketed or all lead. No SP or HP due to their insurance requirements. Overall it’s a good range and there aren’t too many knuckleheads that show up. 
I have noticed in the past 3 years that there are a lot more ladies at the range. There are a lot of new shooters too. Overall everyone is pretty courteous and I haven’t seen to many major faux pas. 
 

A couple weeks ago I had some extra holes in one of my targets. At first I thought something was wrong with my Glock until I retrieved the target and realized someone else was shooting my target. The young lady in the lane next to me was shooting at the wrong target. :lol:

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20 hours ago, Rip Snorter said:

I saw a guy shoot a 45-70 derringer at an indoor range, knocked himself silly and lacerated his forehead.  His friends were howling, the rest of us tried to look concerned.

 

Did you say .45-70 DERRINGER?????

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