Fun at the range--sight in days!!

[Thunder50]

You could say it was an interesting day. Most of the guns were bolt guns, but had 5 BAR's today. Cannot remember more that one, ever. Finally got 4 of them sighted in, but the last one just wouldn't group over 8" with the ammo he had.

Wish I would have had my XLR with me. I could have shot rings around some of those bolt guns. Most of them were 300 win mags or 300 weatherbys. Plenty of flinches after about 8 rounds. The muzzle brakes were punishing.

Best one was the 7mm mag. BAR. Guy was having fits with his gun. To start off, he had it bore-sighted, but it was hitting 4 ft right and 2 ft high. Got him close, but he was all over the paper. 12" from shot to shot. I was wondering if he was flinching, but asked to check his scope mounts. Mounts were OK, but the Buttstock was loose!! Got it tightened, and he shot again. Little better, but not much. I was on his left, spotting, and a guy on the right side looked at me and asked how his 7mm Weatherby mag was shooting. I said "No, its a 7mm Rem Mag". He looked at me and replied that the guy is shooting 7mm Weatherby ammo through it. Looked closely and sure enough, he had pulled out the wrong ammo to shoot. Sure enough, the Weatherby ammo was fireforming to the Remington chamber, but the necks were about 0.030" longer than the 7mm Rem ammo he had started out with.

He pulled out a fresh box of 7mm Rem Mag ammo, and had him dialed in in five shots. He shot the 200 meter gong and the 300 meter gong on the first shot. Shot real well with the right ammo. That BAR must be one tough rifle.

[Rusty]

A friend of mine is a range officer at a local range as well. he see all kinds of stuff out there. One time a guy went and bought a brand new rifle. It was a 7mm Mag. he messed around with the rifle trying to get it to shoot with no results. when the RO went to look things over, the guy at the gun shop had sold him 7 mm Mauser ammo.

[J Miller]

I find it really depressing that grown shooters cannot read the caliber marked on their guns and purchase the correct matching ammo. I seem to have difficulty understanding that.

Joe

[TedH]

I find it really depressing that grown shooters cannot read the caliber marked on their guns and purchase the correct matching ammo. I seem to have difficulty understanding that.

Joe

+1

Idiots

[Nath]

Dear Lord

Nath.

[Jaguarundi]

Some people work real hard for the "Darwin Award" Had a gent several years ago walk into the local gunshop and purchase some 300 Win Mag ammo for practice.He was happy to buy several boxes."The 300 mag ammo was cheaper to shoot in his Weatherby MkV rifle factory chambered in 30-378 magnum"he said.

[jhrosier]

Hmm. Where to start.
The fellow was leaning as much of his self over the muzzle of his in-line muzzle loader as he could while loading. He said that he ALWAYS primed the gun before loading, to save time!

The shooter was hollering to someone that I couldn't see while he was sighting in the new scope on his Ruger .44 autoloader. When I got up to the firing line, I noticed that his companion was standing next to his 100 yard target spotting for him.

When I see stuff like this, I usually just get back in the car and leave, before the 'accident' happens.

Sometimes the results are less than humorous. An 8 year old boy died at a local machine gun shoot last week. Someone let him shoot a (full auto) micro-Uzi. The gun got away from him in recoil and he shot himself in the head. The incident was declared to be an 'accident' by the local police.

Jack

[jdad]

We do "public" sight-in days the first 2 weekends in September. We get about 700-1000 shooters over the 2 weekends and these are not club members.

Some of the usual and unusual highlights.....

$1000+ rifles, with sub $100 scopes.

Shooters expecting sub-moa groups out of a "hunting" rifle and then looking at you funny when you say."...if you can hit a 6" target at 100yds, with your .300 superduperubermag, it's dead."

Russian/Ukranians showing up with their tricked out scoped SKS's, that they hunt with, and then proving how accurate these rifles actually are.

The hunter that shows up with a partial box of ammo that is so old that the cases are corroded and "green" and didn't know that they weren't safe to shoot.

The rifle that won't hit paper because EVERY screw, from the action to the scope rings, is loose.

A mid-40's German engineer (I asked where he was from and what he did), with a beautiful Blaser .243 singleshot and Swarovski scope. He only fired 4 shots to confirm his settings. He shot sub-moa and when I complimented him he said, "...I have $6,000 in my hands, so it better shoot that well."

[AJMD429]

He pulled out a fresh box of 7mm Rem Mag ammo, and had him dialed in in five shots. He shot the 200 meter gong and the 300 meter gong on the first shot. Shot real well with the right ammo. That BAR must be one tough rifle.

What kind of gong can take a hit from 7mm Remington Magnum factory ammo and not get destroyed? Even a .223 nearly goes through the soft steel ones I've had...

[jnyork]

I used to go out and help with sight-in days and quit going, to scary!!

Our club has a chicken gong at 200 meters that is 3" thick armor plate. Pockmarked but still going after many many years.

[donw]

not a 'sight in' horror story, but equally as shocking:

i read in an NRA book about a gentleman who brought home a 'trophy' japanese arisaka rifle from WWII and wanted to use it to deer hunt. he proceeded to ream the chamber BUT NOT THE BORE or do a barrel change to 30-06 the round he rechambered the existing barrel to.

it seems he hunted with it and shot it for years before some one told him he should'nt be doing that.

[marlinman93]

I have to compliment those who are able to help at hunter public sight in's! I tried it once at our club and found it both scarey and frustrating. I've never been back to help since, as I just don't have the patience and fearlessness to do so!

[Thunder50]

Hear that about the $1000 rifles with the $100 scopes. Seen plenty of that. Or the 4 guys from Texas, all with 300 weatherbys that their neighbor loaded their ammo (corroded, uneven neck length, different bullets) and wondered why their guns wouldn't group. Those hotshots that think they are so good and can't hold a 5" group at 100yds from a rest!! Usually at least ONE good story per sight in day (we had three this year). Safety is paramount at our range. We won't hesitate to boot someone if they are unsafe.

Our gongs are 1/2" hardened plate at longer range, 1" hardened at closer.

I am sure there are some stories out there that would curl your hair, if told.

[2ndovc]

Was at our range a few months ago shooting my Marlin 39a at 50 yds when these two dudes
sit down right next to me( why do they do that, i was the only one there) with their brand new stainless steel, synthetic stock, monster scoped magna whatsit. Fourty rounds later they still weren't on the paper at 50 yds!

I called clear and went down to retrieve my targets and dude # 2 has his rifle in his hands and loading the mag.

Well I had a few words for these 'tards! Including the fact that they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if they were standing inside of it!
( one of these days my mouth is really going to get me in trouble!)

It's a members only range that even on a Sat. morning I usually have to myself. Don't know where these geniuses came from but haven't seen them since.

Years ago I when I was at Ohio State I was an R/O for the Pistol Club. We had an open range day where students could come and shoot after a short safety talk.
I was walking down the row of shooters and one stops me, turns towads me with one of the club's .22 in his hand pointing it at me while pulling the trigger and says "My gun's jammed".
My reflexes got the better of me. Grabbed the pistol and pushed the dork from the bench so hard he landed on his butt. He got up kinda confrontational like and was going to cause a scene when the club director told hime to get his stuff and get the heck out. He'd seen the whole thing but was too far away to do anything. Later he commended me for Not kicking his butt! Boy did I want to! Thought I was done!

There's some real idiots out there.
Like the guy at the Louisville gun show trying to get in with a loaded pistol! The he got mad when they wouldn't give him his bullets back!

Be careful out there!!!


jb

[Ben_Rumson]

Helped a guy that put his scope on 90* off..Lol.. elevation was windage & vice versa.. Trying to sight in with one box of ammo also... Just bore sighted it for him @ 25 got it within a couple of inches windage and elevation..Minute of deer as far as he was concerned.. Left the range with three rounds.. dunno if bought any more
The 3006 in Arisaka.. The amazing thing was it the 6.5mm bore & the action showed no signs of distress... However the nut behind the butt did report heavy recoil..

[Chuck 100 yd]

I R.S.O. at our club. Last month there was a certified NRA instructor there teaching 3 new shooters to shoot. One of them fired a .243 round through his .30-06 Husqvarna. Lots of blow back and no hole in the target!!. I suggested to the instructor that there should only be one caliber of ammo on the bench when a shooter is firing. Maybe she got the hint.