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Public/Private range or public land shit show experiences

Roc Doc

Roc Doc

2A SNBI
Joined
May 20, 2020
Member Number
580
Messages
2,808
Loc
Way out West.
We've probably all been at a range where some dumbass is doing something extraordinarily dumb stuff, or some RO that doesn't know their shit but is on a power trip. Or that spot on public land, that is full of trigger trash, old TV's, etc.

We have a giant shooting facility here, Ben Avery, with 40 100yd lanes plus 20 200yd lanes, in addition there are small bore, silhouette, mounted pistol, a 1k range, etc. I rarely go there since my private club put in a dedicated 100yd zero range, but the last time I was at BA I arrived during a cease fire and like a good boy I put my cased rifle on the back bench behind the shooting benches, taped up my target and took it down range. I get back and the dude next to me is unzipping his case with the muzzle pointed right at me, so I light him up with, "Hey motherfucker don't point that thing at me!", and he comes back with "It's unloaded", yeah well I don't know that, so he's already broke two of the four common rules of firearm safety, and by this time the RO is reading him the riot act and threatening to throw him out, so I back off and wait for the live fire command. Then sometime later, he's behind the gun (AR), and his buddy is making adjustments to the red dot, and dipshit has his finger on the trigger and safety off, so there goes another rule broken, at least it was pointed down range. I finished up what I needed to do and got TF out of there.
 
I have had more loaded guns pointed at me from 3 ft to point blank while working at a gun shop than I ever have at a range. Everything from a .22 revolver to a 12 ga. Not that it hasn't happened to me at a range, but it's very rare there, and I shoot some form of USPSA, SCSA, outlaw CCW or night matches every weekend.

I do hate the mess that people leave on public land. I try to pick up some of the stuff but I don't have enough room for it to haul it all. I stopped going to those places.

I have full access to a local range from dawn to about 9:30pm, so I don't usually have to deal with idiots anymore if I just want to shoot out to 200ys.
 
non-OP said:
I have had more loaded guns pointed at me from 3 ft to point blank while working at a gun shop than I ever have at a range. Everything from a .22 revolver to a 12 ga. Not that it hasn't happened to me at a range, but it's very rare there, and I shoot some form of USPSA, SCSA, outlaw CCW or night matches every weekend.
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We always stage our rifles so that they're pointed down range, and have a flag in the chamber, but we'll still get some guy once in a while that will walk right in front of them. I get it, guns don't go off by themselves, but it's a bad look especially for the less experienced.
 
A year, or so ago, I decided to get a MO CCWP (I travel between states, occasionally, otherwise it's not necessary in MO). The class consisted of 8 hrs of total bullshit, no safety lesson, nothing about when SHOULDN'T you use a gun, the differences between a revolver and an auto AND two full hrs of USCCA pimping their shit by scaring the newbies. During the class I corrected the instructor on a few somewhat esoteric points and that pissed him off. The class was followed by range time, 15 rnds at a full size NRA silhouette target placed seven feet away. If 10 of those 15 rnds placed anywhere inside the silhouette you got your permit. He instructs everyone to take their time, aim and squeeze the trigger slowly. As soon as he gave the "fire" command I emptied two magazines, including a tactical mag drop :laughing:, as fast as I could pull that trigger. For the class I chose to bring my .44 Mag Desert Eagle (only because I could). He starts screaming at me for going WAY too fast and being careless. I point to the target and ALL 16 rnds are in the 9 ring. Elderly lady next to me called him an asshole to his face... :lmao:

Yeah, I got the MO permit, I've had a CO CCWP for almost 30 years. Now I just shoot in the lower pasture, which sounds good but when you shoot by yourself it ain't as enjoyable as having someone to have a friendly competition with.
 
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Public land shooting areas are always the worst. People shooting just off into the distance with no back stop or just into the unknown woods :eyeroll: or worse the backstop is so rocky you’ll be out in your 4x4 and hear all the damn ricocheting bullets off rocks

When I go i find a gravel pit in the mountains as far off the beaten path as possible. I was at a big pit one time up in the woods way away from anyone sighting in my buddy’s elk rifle and out of the woodwork comes some old man in his pickup from the road behind us that we came in on, drives past us and down range toward our targets. We had just gotten done resetting targets and had to wait for this old drunk to take a piss and fuck around in the bushes before driving back and asking us what we were up to
 
When I used to use the public range, I would try to get there first thing in the morning or on a weekday. And be long gone before the gang bangers and tacticool guys showed up. More than a few times I have been down range hanging a target only to look back and see some clown aiming a rifle:mad3: Mix in the "range officers" who were sometimes a whole nother problem.........Fuck that nonsense

I'll go hit up public land and get pissy if I see another person:laughing: That said, iI do try to go a bit farther out than most folks do. Those first couple gravel pits outside of town are always full of burned out motorhomes, pallet fires, and guys prepping for wwIII:homer:

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I forgot about tacti-cool time! The number of times I’ve seen guys with $1000’s of dollars worth of guns and gear destroying a target from 5ft away while my young kids are taking 50+ yd shots at cans with their .22
 
Well it kinda makes sense that they do that....considering how many folks cant even hit the berm at 100yrds:laughing:
 
Public lands= people suck
Pay to play ranges= people suck
Private property = I can tune you up and still be freinds

And yea I've watched a buddy loose a round at his feet a year 5' away...
He got a full serving of butthurt..
Stay safe guys.
 
I hate public ranges. I’m glad to have access to private land with targets beyond 2000 yards.
I keep meaning to scout out some public lands to shoot on where normal peeps wouldn’t be.
 
Public ranges are fine. You have to get there at sun up and get done when the mouth-breathing neck-beard types start showing up around 10AM.
 
300sniper said:
I hate public ranges. I’m glad to have access to private land with targets beyond 2000 yards.
I keep meaning to scout out some public lands to shoot on where normal peeps wouldn’t be.
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It is amazing how much steel is hanging year round on public ground around here. That shit is everywhere:laughing:
 
Steve300xcw said:
It is amazing how much steel is hanging year round on public ground around here. That shit is everywhere:laughing:
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There’s a lot of steel hanging around here on timber co. properties that we don’t talk about…

The devastating California wildfires do have an advantage, insane amounts of line of sight….
 
Tha first pic I posted, I can get out to 1900 on rocks. Face the other way and can get out way past that. Not that I have any business shooting that far:laughing:
 
Shooting around Phoenix on public land, no thanks. Too many people shooting in every direction and some without backstops. Ben Avery too crowded. Joe Foss range isn't bad. I have a little range out back with plates out to 1200 yds.. Need to put a few more out this year. Probably move my 1000 yd. plate. It's too close to a 2 track road and people tend to move it every now and then.
 
300sniper said:
I hate public ranges. I’m glad to have access to private land with targets beyond 2000 yards.
I keep meaning to scout out some public lands to shoot on where normal peeps wouldn’t be.
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Didn't you post up a Forest Service road, (or such), many years ago at the other place. IIRC it was a straight cut through the woods with a long downhill and a long uphill?
 
krttrkllr said:
Shooting around Phoenix on public land, no thanks. Too many people shooting in every direction and some without backstops. Ben Avery too crowded. Joe Foss range isn't bad. I have a little range out back with plates out to 1200 yds.. Need to put a few more out this year. Probably move my 1000 yd. plate. It's too close to a 2 track road and people tend to move it every now and then.
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Ever since the ammo shortage, BA is not crowded anymore, but they allow access in shifts, 7-8:30, 9-10:30 that kind of thing, it's no longer just show up and put your target out during the next cease fire. I used Joe Foss a lot when I first moved here, living in Estrella made it convenient. Did some LR shooting out near Tonopah one time, but it was a haul, now with a Cowtown membership I don't need any of those places.
 
I grew up at our local range. Helped build most of the firing line cover structures, did a ton of work up there over the years.

They want me to do several full day courses to be allowed to shoot there, and half the time the fuckin cops are there clogging it up anyway. And the cops had some of my buddy's thrown out, after inviting them to shoot their courses, and being thoroughly spanked. They asked what "outfit" they were with, and when they said they were civvies, they stormed off and now there's an ambiguous "no militia style training" rule. So on the multipurpose (3gun/tactical) range, no cover and move, no advance to contact drills, etc.
Also no more than 1 shot per 2 seconds or you're doing "rapid fire."
Range officers are either fudds or fat as fuck "ex military" mouth breathers.


We shoot in the bush.
 
I did go to one range one time... I had an AR and the fudd RO, while very congenial, said only one round in the mag. Meh, he let me borrow his spotting scope so I didn't have to walk down range. The range was close by, very convenient but I never went back. Probably developed into a subdivision by now.
 
I used to shoot at gravel pits in national forests a lot. Any given day I could have one of them to myself without anyone around. That changed around 2010 and there would be crowds at the lowest ones but the higher ones with rougher roads were still pretty empty.
The forest rangers were pretty cool, but they weren’t really happy with the mess the lower pits were getting to be. I asked the rangers if they had any resources for a cleanup if I got a group of people together to do the work. I got the people, they brought up a dump truck, rakes, shovels, water and six rangers to help. It was a great cleanup and the trash filled half the dump truck. The public had it back to shit condition in six months, but it was an effort. Without a way to make the whole thing cold long enough to safely clean up. I can’t really blame people for leaving their trash, but I saw that we can’t keep cleaning up after pigs. I have to work out of town too often to commit to a schedule for cleanups so I found a guy who said he could take over but it failed. It wasn’t much later they shut down the whole area for target shooting because of “fire danger” and it stayed that way for years.
Just a story of futility.
 
Steve300xcw said:
what do you mean?
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Shutting down an informal firing line and hoping you can be downrange without taking fire. I've had a minivan full of eastern europeans pull up, pile out, and start blasting at ransom shit. I was in my truck getting ready to leave, but they didn't even look.
 
weird. Around here unwritten rule is if somebody is in a gravel pit. They own it. Have never seen multiple groups shooting in the same pit before
 
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