Stuff you've heard at the range...

[ijosef]

What kinds of odd comments or questions have you received (or simply overheard) while at the range? I was shooting my Colt Lawman MkIII next to an old timer who was actually very friendly and extremely talkative. After I'd been shooting my revolver for awhile, he said "I see that you're still shooting single action there. A lot of men have gone to their graves trying to thumb that hammer." I told him that I shoot double action as well, but when I'm at the range and picking my shots I really like shooting single action. My comment seemed to fall on deaf ears (perhaps literally as well as figuratively) because he kept going on... "a lot of guys have been killed because they wanted to shoot single action. That's why they train all the cops not to thumb that hammer."

I didn't have the heart to tell him that the vast majority of police across the country have switched from revolvers to autos, and that I wasn't planning on getting in a shootout with my DA/SA Colt anytime soon.

[goalie]

There is no IQ test required to shoot at any indoor range in the twin cities.

[Dave Pendleton]

"Why do you need a gun like that?"

Asked of me while shooting my AR at OGC by some old fart in a TSA hat.

[centermass40]

I always hear guys that are shooting semi-auto pistols talking about their CLIPS

[Seismic Sam]

Last year some time at OGC i was shooting my Colt Gold Cup series 70 (with the big, hand filling target grips) and this guy comes over and asks me what I'm shooting. I was a bit baffled seeing as I had a box of what was very clearly 45 ACP ammo open on the bench, and I said: Uhhhh, It's a Colt 45 Automatic?? The guys looks startled, and says "Geez, I shot one of those in the war, and the damn thing kicked like a mule!! Why isn't yours doing that??"

I then told him I had been shooting a 50 caliber Desert Eagle for 10 years and a Smith 500 for 5 years, so the 45 feels about like a 9mm to me, if that much. Sadly, I had neither big 50 with me, so I could have demonstrated what "kicks like a mule" REALLY means. He wandered off, but I don't think he had any real appreciation of my my 45 wasn't kicking like a mule..

Another time at Oakdale, just after I got my Desert Eagle, I was shooting during public hours on the comp range, and touched off a full power (32.5 grains of 296 under a 325 grain JHP) 50AE load, and the concussion was so spectacular that this old range officer came running over because he was convinced my gun had blown up and there was probably pieces of me and gun everywhere. He asked me if my gun had blown up, and I just said "Yeah. It blows up like that with every shot!!"

[down10ftn]

My youngest and I were at Metro Gun Club to shoot some 9mm and a couple fun little .22 revolvers and a Ruger MkIII he got for Christmas (mom's idea, God bless her)

While waiting to sign up for a lane, a great number of these old guys come in with shotguns cracked and hanging over their shoulders. Trap had just begun. My son sees one old timer approach another and say, "Looks like you ate well this winter."

Gotta love the camaraderie among gun guys.

[gyrfalcon]

Happened a few times:

Some guy: "Wow what sort of ammo is that?"
Me: Oh just some ___ I reloaded with x, y, z...
Some guy: Reloaded!? *look of fear*
Me: Yeah it works quite well, want to try a few shots?
Some guy: No that's okay. (either flinches with every shot I take, or tries to more as far away as possible even though I've been shooting it for an hour)

[White Horseradish]

Heh. I was sighting a Mosin carbine with some ammo that is later production and is loaded for the shorter carbine barrels, so it doesn't produce the massive fireballs people are used to. Still, out of a shorter barrel you do get a significant bang, and some dust was drifting off the ceiling a Bill's. I had a couple of guys run over and be all aghast at the massive power I was handling. Geez, guys, it's just an old .30 caliber...

Back when Bill's North was still Armored Fire there was an amusing guy working there. He had a different story every time I heard him. One time he decided to give me s4 about wearing a t-shirt with a hammer and sickle (which I thought was appropriate to what i was shooting that day). He got into this long story about how he "spent his life fighting communism", which then somehow parlayed into stories of him storming some beaches somewhere. I strained to remember what beaches the US stormed in recent memory, since he obviously wasn't out of his 30s. He wasn't specific, must've been covert ops. Bet he surprised the hell out of the beachgoers, too.

One time I was out shooting with my wife. We had one lane and took turns. So there she is with a plain GI 1911, blowing out the center of a small pistol target at 15 or 20 feet. I'm off to the side. This really intense guy taps me on the shoulder and asks if that's my girlfriend. I say that you could say that, but I'm married to her, too. He then proceeds to tell me that I really shouldn't be teaching her, it's a terrible idea to teach your spouse, and I am doing it wrong, and she is shooting wrong, her stance is all incorrect, and so on, and I really should get her to a qualified instructor. I look at the missing bullseye on the target and shrug. Guy goes off to shoot. A little later I go get a pop and pass the guy in his lane. I stop and say hi, to be polite. He has a plastic 9mm of some sort and a full size silhouette about 8 feet out. The target looks like a shotgun pattern. He then launches into this speech on how he took this wonderful class where the instructor told him that the one true way to win a gunfight was to point shoot. And that only a hit to the central nervous system was the only true stopper. And there is a high chance that a bad guy would be wearing body armor. So, what he is doing is practicing point shooting headshots. This class is so awesome, I must get my wife there post haste. He even handed me a booklet. I looked at the patterned silhouette, shrugged, and thought that maybe this guy isn't doing his instructor any great service by advertising him that way. And maybe my wife can keep doing what she's doing.

[gman1868]

"Mind if I take your brass?"

or the alternative

"Silence" as they pick up your brass without asking....

[gyrfalcon]

There is no IQ test required to shoot at any indoor range in the twin cities.

Do they tell you that often?

[EJSG19]

"WHAT?!?! Your wife shoots a .45?????" *look of pure shock on their face as they stealthily hide their 9mm from sight*

not that there is anything wrong with a 9mm... other than your children will be born with 6 toes and puppies will hate you.

[1911fan]

"This is a Forty Glock, its too much gun for women to shoot, so the FBI went back to nine...." Male shooter to his less than impressed female companion, who was even less impressed with him when my daughter started shoot some .45 Colt loads...

[White Horseradish]

"This is a Forty Glock, its too much gun for women to shoot, so the FBI went back to nine...." Male shooter to his less than impressed female companion, who was even less impressed with him when my daughter started shoot some .45 Colt loads...

Man, you were lucky he wasn't a professional. If he was, toes would've been in danger...

[goalie]

There is no IQ test required to shoot at any indoor range in the twin cities.

Do they tell you that often?

I don't shoot indoors.

[Dave Pendleton]

"This is a Forty Glock, its too much gun for women to shoot, so the FBI went back to nine...." Male shooter to his less than impressed female companion, who was even less impressed with him when my daughter started shoot some .45 Colt loads...

I've also heard that the FBI adopted the .40 because the 10mm was too much for female agents to handle.

I'll bet it sucks to be a woman in the FBI.