What to do if someone shoots your target at the range?

[Lucky45]

Just got back from the range and I'm ticked off. I haven't been to the range in weeks and mostly dryfiring, so finally got a chance for real recoil. Anyway, this guy sets up next to me and during the rounds I could have sworn that I saw my target move, but I figured backsplatter from berm. So I count my hits and doing fine after a long layoff and when I go back to my other target, I had to pause for a sec. I saw holes all over my target and I'm thinking that I don't remember I was on that count. So after thinking for a sec, I realised that this guy was shooting at my target. Now I was ticked. So I told him, and he was like huh, I'm sorry was an accident.
HUH!!...1 or 2 holes is an accident. 6 or 7 means you are blind and shouldn't be handling a gun. If you can't figure out a target at 25yds then Lord help you. I had 2 inclinations to give him a hard slap for crossing the line.

Has this ever happened to you guys and what have you done?

[txinvestigator]

Just got back from the range and I'm ticked off. I haven't been to the range in weeks and mostly dryfiring, so finally got a chance for real recoil. Anyway, this guy sets up next to me and during the rounds I could have sworn that I saw my target move, but I figured backsplatter from berm. So I count my hits and doing fine after a long layoff and when I go back to my other target, I had to pause for a sec. I saw holes all over my target and I'm thinking that I don't remember I was on that count. So after thinking for a sec, I realised that this guy was shooting at my target. Now I was ticked. So I told him, and he was like huh, I'm sorry was an accident.
HUH!!...1 or 2 holes is an accident. 6 or 7 means you are blind and shouldn't be handling a gun. If you can't figure out a target at 25yds then Lord help you. I had 2 inclinations to give him a hard slap for crossing the line.

Has this ever happened to you guys and what have you done?

Not everyone can be an expert at shooting. 25 yards is a good distance for handguns, and a person with no formal training (or none at all) could easily hit a target next to his. (considering they were at least in the next lane).

Slap? Really? You would resort to violence over something like this? If you are exaggerating you should probably not do so in a public forum.

Your temper and arrogance caused you to miss a chance to educate and help out fellow shooter.

I would have told him that I have been shooting for a long time, or that I seem to have better luck, and asked if if I could offer some pointers.

If I was not confident that I could offer assistance, I would just move down some.

[cxm]

Worse than that...

During CHL Instructor qualification firing the first time we shot the new DPS range I had a Harris Co. deputy of the female persuasion shooting next to me.

We fired semi auto first... Now understand, I was shooting .45acp and she was shooting 9mm... so it is pretty easy to tell whose shots are whose... the guy to my right was also shooting .45 acp.

Anyway, when we finished firing the semi stage, we walked forward to score our targets... and in the white part of my target in the lower left side were two 9mm holes. Unfortunately the very green trooper who did the actual scoring was not able to tell the between a 9mm hole and a .45 hole... and in fairness I suppose he made the correct call anyway. The range master came by and sort of laughed and said it didn't matter anyway as everything else was in the -0 zone. Still I was seriously burned up over the incident.

Next we fired revolvers... curiously the deputy had a very nice five round group in the lower right of her target... which also didn't make much difference as she didn't qualify with the revolver anyway... I assume she re-shot... though using a 2" bbl revolver didn't make things any easier for her... of course she thought my 8 3/8" barrel S&W revolver looked "funny."

Anyway, be glad your encounter was not a "for record" shoot.

FWIW

Chuck

Just got back from the range and I'm ticked off. I haven't been to the range in weeks and mostly dryfiring, so finally got a chance for real recoil. Anyway, this guy sets up next to me and during the rounds I could have sworn that I saw my target move, but I figured backsplatter from berm. So I count my hits and doing fine after a long layoff and when I go back to my other target, I had to pause for a sec. I saw holes all over my target and I'm thinking that I don't remember I was on that count. So after thinking for a sec, I realised that this guy was shooting at my target. Now I was ticked. So I told him, and he was like huh, I'm sorry was an accident.
HUH!!...1 or 2 holes is an accident. 6 or 7 means you are blind and shouldn't be handling a gun. If you can't figure out a target at 25yds then Lord help you. I had 2 inclinations to give him a hard pimp slap for crossing the line.

Has this ever happened to you guys and what have you done?

[Lumberjack98]

Not everyone can be an expert at shooting. 25 yards is a good distance for handguns, and a person with no formal training (or none at all) could easily hit a target next to his. (considering they were at least in the next lane).

Pimp slap? Really? You would resort to violence over something like this? If you are exaggerating you should probably not do so in a public forum.

Your temper and arrogance caused you to miss a chance to educate and help out fellow shooter.

I would have told him that I have been shooting for a long time, or that I seem to have better luck, and asked if if I could offer some pointers.

If I was not confident that I could offer assistance, I would just move down some.

^ Agreed and well said.

It's only target practice. Don't get so worked up about it.

[Lucky45]

cxm wrote:
Still I was seriously burned up over the incident.

Hey CXM,
I guess you and I are in the same boat. I guess it is a crime to be ticked off that some contributed to the wasting of your time and .45 ammo and not being able to figure out what correction you need to make in your practice session.


Also, TXI
Then don't assume that they were new either, these guys came in with the swagger, their gear all decked out and the cocky look. So you think they would advice and schooling from me.

Plus, I know deep down you love me ,TXi that is why I speak my mind. For some reason, you think that it means I will act on it. So I feel like a target now. Anyway, don't take confidence for arrogance. Don't take my silence for ignorance.


Thanks for the advice, Stupid. I will shoot their target next time.

[jbirds1210]

ummm, how bout we just live to shoot another day and make the choice not to slap anyone at a shooting range (or elsewhere for shooting a target)

Remember, you can say anything with a smile on your face....instead of leaving mad......you could have left with a new friend!
Jason

[jimlongley]

I was training the 1911 .45ACP in the Navy and took my people to the range for qualification. One of the boot reserve officers managed to not hit his own target once, 50 rounds, slow fire at 25 yards, timed fire at 15 yards, rapid fire at 10 yards.

He was in lane 2 of 10 lanes, and the rounds that we could account for ended up in the lanes 1 target. I gave the guy in lane 1 a reshoot, but denied him one, as he had fully failed to follow instructions and procedures.

He claimed he was confused and tried to get the Chief Range Officer to grant him a reshoot, and then the exec and then C.O. of our ship, every one of them turned him down. How does one confuse the lane 2 target with the lane 1 target? I can see confusing lane 5 with 6 for a few shots, but not 2 with 1.

[Stupid]

Lucky45, I meant to say "shoot him instead!"

Come on, what's the big deal? As long as they are shooting down range, not at me, I wouldn't make too much of a fuzz.

[Tote 9]

Just got back from the range and I'm ticked off. I haven't been to the range in weeks and mostly dryfiring, so finally got a chance for real recoil. Anyway, this guy sets up next to me and during the rounds I could have sworn that I saw my target move, but I figured backsplatter from berm. So I count my hits and doing fine after a long layoff and when I go back to my other target, I had to pause for a sec. I saw holes all over my target and I'm thinking that I don't remember I was on that count. So after thinking for a sec, I realised that this guy was shooting at my target. Now I was ticked. So I told him, and he was like huh, I'm sorry was an accident.
HUH!!...1 or 2 holes is an accident. 6 or 7 means you are blind and shouldn't be handling a gun. If you can't figure out a target at 25yds then Lord help you. I had 2 inclinations to give him a hard slap for crossing the line.

Has this ever happened to you guys and what have you done?

You had 2 inclinations to give him a slap?? Were you serious?
If you were serious and suppose you did slap him and he traded you a
9mm bullit for that slap, then what? Just wondering.

[G.C.Montgomery]

There was a time that I found it quite irritating to the range with a game plan for the time I had available only to find someone else poking holes in my target. Having said that, I'm older and allegedly wiser now. I have learned to use it as an opportunity to make a new friend or find a new customer/student.

Don't let the other guy's attitude or gear fool you. I have several guys who show up to shoot with my club who have WAY more gear than skill. One guy showed up a few weeks back with a HK UMP in 45 as well as a USP Tacticool in a thigh rig with all the go fast, burning helicopter gear you could ever want. He wanted to run the courses with it. We let him and it was quite entertaining to see this mop-headed idiot doing his best TJ Hooker impressions with an MP5. When the smoke cleared, this guy had completely missed targets as close as three yards away and taken longer than the slowest noob to complete the course. And this was after using three times as much ammo as anyone else.

Ah but, he was an expert and former Navy Seal...Aren't they all Apparently his red-dot was knocked out of zero and the gun was just back from the armorer...Uh, huh. Well the armorer must have taken this guy's staple-gun skills and forgot to return them with the gun. The point lurking here is that I don't let someone elses swagger or gear intimidate me or stop me from pointing out their problems. More often than not, people thank me for helping them.

[9mmGuy]

do you really think he was doing it just despite you. if you were that mad just go tell the range officer. im sure he would ask the person to move to another lane and may give you another target. no harm in that...

[Lucky45]

Thanks G.C.Montgomery for the comments. Glad to see someone not acting like they are completely passive in this world.

You know what is amazing is that some people in here can't recognize sarcasm and are such sheeple. I can't think out loud for heaven's sake!!!

To think that was going to slap someone for real is crazy.



P.S. Especially without doing an administrative reload first.

[MTICop]

I have seen this happen a few times as a range officer where I worked. I have also had this happen to me at both a military range while qualifying and at a public range while getting in some practice. Both thimes it was annoying but nothing to get more than a little aggravated about. I understand you want the most accurate accoutn of how you shoot but things happen.

And we can't assume that just because people walk in looking like they know what they're doing, that they do. My advice would be to just take a breath, inform them of what they did wrong, then watch for a minute. If they are indeed a novice, you could offer to help or just move to a more suitable location. If they are dangerous, let the range control people know.

I am one to take for granted you weren't being serious about slapping anyone, but it really isn't worth getting worked up over at all.

Anyway, that's my two cents *(or one cent) for what it's worth.

[Lucky45]

do you really think he was doing it just despite you. if you were that mad just go tell the range officer. im sure he would ask the person to move to another lane and may give you another target. no harm in that...

No. Just that after not going to range in a long time, he just messed up my experience and I was reduced to shooting at one target for the rest of the session. Do you know what a paper target looks like when hit my multiple 45ACP rounds. It starts to tear apart with big holes. Not small hole like 9mm. So where did my bullet go; through the hole, through the tears, off the target????? I was just contributing to the lead poisoning of the backstop and wasting my time and money. That was why I was ticked.

[KBCraig]

When we shoot our annual qualification at work, I seldom see people confuse targets on the pistol range, but it happens all the time on the rifle range. We shoot reduced-size targets at 50 yards (to simulate 100 yards). All shooting is offhand, unsupported. Those M16 sights cover quite a bit of the target, and block a lot of the peripheral stuff... like lane numbers.

I think the record high score is 58 out of 30.