So labor day my dad wanted to go shooting at his local club outdoor shooting facility about 30 minutes away. He's a member and I'm going as a guest. I though it would be a good time to sight in my Ruger 10/22 with a new scope and my Diana Pellet rifle with a small 4x scope.
Along with the above guns, I brought my custom PVC target stand I put together. Nothing fancy but good when you need to adjust for distance less than 50 yds (in the case of my pellet rifle).
So we get there at about 9:30 and setup. I set the stand at 25yds to get started on the pellet rifle. Scope was way off and is no good at 25 yds. I then switch to my Ruger and sight in the scope at 25 and then 50 for now with plans to sight it in for 100 another day. So far we have the whole bay to ourselves (bay holds about 15 shooters split between 50 and 100 yard distances with a berm behind.
After a bit I decide to go back to the Pellet rifle after re-mounting the scope and set my stand at 15 yds. Finally start getting somewhere and have it reasonably sighted in. I then switch back to my 22 and start taking shots at a swing target I set at 50 yds when a range officer stops by.
At this time, I was clearly shooting my Ruger at the 50 yd berm/target. My stand was 4 feet to the right of where I was shooting. The range officer gives me a dirty look and then squats down, looks back at me (not firing, was loading a magazine) and then comes over to my table setting both hands on the table and glares down at me with crazy eyes telling me i'm not hitting the berm.
I calmy reply that I'm shooting at the 50 yd berm/target. He asks who's stand it is at 15. I tell him it is mine but I am not using it right now. He says its too close and causing ricochets. I again tell him I am not shooting at it right now and was using it to sight in my pellet rifle, which cannot even reach the 50 yd berm. He tells me then I have to remove it now. I calmly reply I'm not removing it while the range is hot. He with pure anger says he'll shut down the range so I can remove it. (A few people arrived about a half hour previous with AR's)
At this point I'm pissed. He clearly doesn't understand that I wasn't shooting at the stand with my Ruger and accuses me of shooting low and causing ricochets when he wasn't even on sitewhile I was shooting and only basing that assumption on my stand placement.
As he walks away my temper gets the best of me and I state that he didn't need to have the attitude. He then turns around and yells for my membership card, and I mean yells to where the other folks have stopped and are stairing at him. I told him I'm a guest here with my father who is the member. He replies that he shouldn't even be talking to me and goes and reams my Dad. My Dad tries to calmly explain the same and that he will talk to me about it also to try and get the ranger officer to calm down. No luck, the range officer suspends my dad and bans me from the range.
I tell him I don't plan on coming back any way and if this is how you treat members I wouldn't pay to be one. I pack up my stuff and we leave.
My Dad's pretty pissed but doesn't know what to do since the Range Officers are gods but this guy was clearly nuts. The fact he even has access to firearms concerns me.
I know alot of people write stories like this and you would think there is more to the story but I swear this is exactly what happened. I'm still really confused and not sure what I could have done to not get this douchnut to go ape shit like he did.
What sucks is this is the only out door range reasonably close and we have only 2 indoor ranges that are limited to 25 yards. So now I can't sight in my new AR/scope and am pretty bummed out.
Cliffs: People are nuts.
Along with the above guns, I brought my custom PVC target stand I put together. Nothing fancy but good when you need to adjust for distance less than 50 yds (in the case of my pellet rifle).
So we get there at about 9:30 and setup. I set the stand at 25yds to get started on the pellet rifle. Scope was way off and is no good at 25 yds. I then switch to my Ruger and sight in the scope at 25 and then 50 for now with plans to sight it in for 100 another day. So far we have the whole bay to ourselves (bay holds about 15 shooters split between 50 and 100 yard distances with a berm behind.
After a bit I decide to go back to the Pellet rifle after re-mounting the scope and set my stand at 15 yds. Finally start getting somewhere and have it reasonably sighted in. I then switch back to my 22 and start taking shots at a swing target I set at 50 yds when a range officer stops by.
At this time, I was clearly shooting my Ruger at the 50 yd berm/target. My stand was 4 feet to the right of where I was shooting. The range officer gives me a dirty look and then squats down, looks back at me (not firing, was loading a magazine) and then comes over to my table setting both hands on the table and glares down at me with crazy eyes telling me i'm not hitting the berm.
I calmy reply that I'm shooting at the 50 yd berm/target. He asks who's stand it is at 15. I tell him it is mine but I am not using it right now. He says its too close and causing ricochets. I again tell him I am not shooting at it right now and was using it to sight in my pellet rifle, which cannot even reach the 50 yd berm. He tells me then I have to remove it now. I calmly reply I'm not removing it while the range is hot. He with pure anger says he'll shut down the range so I can remove it. (A few people arrived about a half hour previous with AR's)
At this point I'm pissed. He clearly doesn't understand that I wasn't shooting at the stand with my Ruger and accuses me of shooting low and causing ricochets when he wasn't even on sitewhile I was shooting and only basing that assumption on my stand placement.
As he walks away my temper gets the best of me and I state that he didn't need to have the attitude. He then turns around and yells for my membership card, and I mean yells to where the other folks have stopped and are stairing at him. I told him I'm a guest here with my father who is the member. He replies that he shouldn't even be talking to me and goes and reams my Dad. My Dad tries to calmly explain the same and that he will talk to me about it also to try and get the ranger officer to calm down. No luck, the range officer suspends my dad and bans me from the range.
I tell him I don't plan on coming back any way and if this is how you treat members I wouldn't pay to be one. I pack up my stuff and we leave.
My Dad's pretty pissed but doesn't know what to do since the Range Officers are gods but this guy was clearly nuts. The fact he even has access to firearms concerns me.
I know alot of people write stories like this and you would think there is more to the story but I swear this is exactly what happened. I'm still really confused and not sure what I could have done to not get this douchnut to go ape shit like he did.
What sucks is this is the only out door range reasonably close and we have only 2 indoor ranges that are limited to 25 yards. So now I can't sight in my new AR/scope and am pretty bummed out.
Cliffs: People are nuts.
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