Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Why did I suffer Calverton today?

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Why did I suffer Calverton today?

    Second thoughts filled my head this morning as I waited on the Calverton line, well before opening.
    Brookhaven is so much nicer. So much less to worry about.
    And no sand in my gear, which is nice.
    But Calvertoon it was.
    Got my spot. Debated about who had what target for a few minutes, as usual, and set up.
    But I wanted to be out in the sun today which left me little choice for 100 yard and better.
    Brought to different 168 grain .308 rounds and wanted a too see how the less expensive shot as compared to the Federal Gold Medal in 20" and 24" barrels.
    Plus, nothing is much better than backing right up to the bench.
    But there is a price to pay for such convenience, which smacked me in the face multiple times today.
    It started out fine. People on either side, but everyone looked like they were awake and aware.
    Two hours go by..........Then the fun began.
    Group shows up to my port side. One guy starts off by carrying his rifle around during a cease fire. I bark and he reacts a bit apologetically.
    One guy obviously had a couple of rifles and a (clown) car full of noobs.
    Guy with rifles obviously not too experienced as I watched in horror while he had a girl with no eye protection and even less of a clue rest the barrel of his Mini 14 on an ammo can to shoot. Scratched the hell out of the finish and could have easily warped the barrel. I tried to help - albeit gently with why that is a bad idea. Lent them a front bag, and kept a VERY close eye on the whole group.
    Same scenario with multiple rifles. Too many noobs and not enough guidance.
    To be honest, it was friggin nerve racking.
    Then comes AR boy with an absolutely punishing muzzle brake to my starboard. I sat out two round of fire and he and his pal packed it in after they managed to expend a zillion rounds. Thank you.
    New group shows up. 2 active Navy corpsmen and a couple of friends who all, thankfully, had their shit together.
    All the while I'm spending more time watching the group on my left.
    Had a word with the roving RO and apparently, he was keeping a close eye on the same group.
    Navy leaves and new group comes in. Noobs, but someone had obviously given them some experience and training, as they were non hazardous - whew. Plus, dad was with them sitting it out in the rear.
    Helped one sight in his new scope, which did end up on paper, but I'm suspect of the mounting. He was shooting 25 yards and likely had a 20 MOA base as I had to crank the poo out of the elevation.
    port group packing up to leave and the guy who brought them, Mark, came over and was a bit apologetic as he realized he brought more people then he could safely handle and said "lesson learned". That in and of itself made the day better as I'm confident he won't pack the car full of noobs again.
    Why am I droning on and on? Cause I'm tired and I'm cranky. I know - we've all been there and had the same experiences, but honestly, it was more work than I signed up for.
    So, Brookhaven - how are you feeling about installing a couple of skylights?




  • #2
    That is very nerve racking. Been there a few too many times with the "hey, hold my beer and watch this" type crowd. I am all for taking noobs to shoot, however, they get all of the safety instruction before we leave (with proper handling and dry firing) and I always go over it again in the car on the way there. Thank God you made it back with the same number of holes you went with.

    Comment


    • #3
      Just a typical day at the Wild East.
      "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction" R.R.

      Comment


      • #4
        Wow. You sure spent a lot of time there.

        Comment


        • #5
          On the other hand, he is taking people shooting. They seemingly had a decent first experience, albeit a bit harrowing from your perspective. I know it's nerve racking. But it's something we all must suffer if we wish to inject new blood ( perhaps convert a liberal ) into the sport.

          glad you made it out safe and offered some guidance rather than yelling at them. Everyone has a learning curve. Even new teachers.

          Comment


          • #6
            Oof, bad day, definitely worse than mine. Did you at least get some 168gr down range? Shooting the r700? Prone or bench?

            kudos to you for helping those folk out with the mini 14.

            If it makes you feel any better, my range day was pretty shit. Saturday morn I watched a documentary on the Mauser brothers, then had a total brain fart and took a pair of 22's to Brookhaven. I spent 2 hours wishing I'd brought the Mauser. Couple that with being placed between two shooters who each wanted to throw 100 12ga slugs down range in 40 mins, and barely hit anything. Constant shock waves. grr. It threw me off my game.
            NRA LIFE | SAF | GOA | UTAH / NH / PA / NY CCW | APPLESEED RIFLEMAN | RSO | FREEPORT R&R | NSCA | NYSRPA | PECONIC | GET INVOLVED!

            Comment


            • #7
              Ha Ha. I went to Brookhaven today and it wasn't that crowded. Got right in at 9:30 on the 200 yard line with no one on either side. Mike was off today and the policing and the cease fires were definitely shorter than usual. Only disadvantage is my crap wasn't right behind me but I concentrated on shooting one new build so it was that bad. Didn't hear anybody get yelled at today

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Genghis Khan
                Wow. You sure spent a lot of time there.
                And I have that baked look to prove it.
                maybe a bit too much sun.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by SteveT
                  Oof, bad day, definitely worse than mine. Did you at least get some 168gr down range? Shooting the r700? Prone or bench?

                  kudos to you for helping those folk out with the mini 14.

                  If it makes you feel any better, my range day was pretty shit. Saturday morn I watched a documentary on the Mauser brothers, then had a total brain fart and took a pair of 22's to Brookhaven. I spent 2 hours wishing I'd brought the Mauser. Couple that with being placed between two shooters who each wanted to throw 100 12ga slugs down range in 40 mins, and barely hit anything. Constant shock waves. grr. It threw me off my game.
                  Shot bench all day.
                  700 and the Sako.
                  And tip of the hat to Capt K for the nice deal on the Freedom Munitions .168 grain Match. Damn nice shooting ammo.
                  Federal Gold Medal wins by a nose, but the way I suck, err I mean shoot, they were really close.

                  Time to lay in more ammo........................

                  palletof762ammo.jpg

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    you should've shot the steel match at LIPSA today.
                    PRAY FOR PEACE. PREPARE FOR WAR

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Nice story. Glad everything worked out lol

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by pandm

                        And I have that baked look to prove it.
                        maybe a bit too much sun.
                        You could have attached an umbrella to the bench. I do that when my wife comes out... It's nice to be in the shade when the rest of yahoos are suffering...
                        SHADAP VARMINT!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          I had a guy point a loaded 12 gauge at me...finger on the trigger. Hey, still a good place to shoot in my books. I usually bring 3-4 beginners with me at a time and work from there. One of the RO's even helped them sight in a new scope of mine.
                          “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are." - Benjamin Franklin

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            At least no one was yelling at you to clean up your brass.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              I had a friend that had a problem there with a bunch of asshats that were acting stupid and dangerously. The guy that I know is a nice guy, but doesn't really have any kind of diplomatic way with words, and maybe they were behaving so dangerously, no diplomatic words were called for. Obviously, gun safety is no joke, and since I wasn't there, I don't want to judge what happened, but as Pandm posted, you can at least try to be polite, at least at first. If you are ignored, and someone can get hurt, then stepping it up is perfectly acceptable. Anyway, the aforementioned asshats took my friend's suggestions as some big insult, and at any other range, they would have been tossed. Although I mentioned I wasn't there, and my friend might not be that diplomatic, he is a decent guy, and would have only tried to correct them in unsafe handling, etc., if he truly thought they had a high probability of hurting someone. He might have barked at them (that's a guess) but his suggestions only caused more problems, and even more animosity. My guess is it was a mutual combination of them being real morons, and him maybe starting off with what sounded like a semi-sarcastic comment. He is not a sarcastic guy, he just doesn't realize he comes off that way. He should have just tried to find an RSO right away, but he tried to point them in the right direction, and if you are not able to do that in a certain way (sort of a mild version of "know your adversary") you should find the people that's job is to do that, as well as keep everyone there safe. This is not me bashing the range. They may have not had any idea things were getting heated. At Uniondale, you are more, or less, under both video and audio surveillance, which is fine if you have nothing on your agenda besides safe shooting. Of course you aren't sighting in, or target shooting, at 100 yds, but I grew up with that place, and it is my "go to" range.

                              Back to my story out east. This thing escalated to the point where someone actually could have gotten hurt. The guy I know is not a bullshitter, so I believe him when he said it got so ugly that someone was going to get hurt. At minimum, it would have been fists flying, and at maximum, a lot worse! This was a while ago, and I think they all got thrown out, because LE was called, and both sides split (he was alone) before LE arrived. Perhaps the staff just wanted them all out of their hair, and just said they called the PD, but I don't think so. I am also surprised that there wasn't any off duty LEO's present (it was supposedly pretty busy), but it is possible that any words exchanged didn't get loud until the very end, and/or there may have been some LE keeping an eye on the whole thing, but assuming that things would just calm down. Don't know for sure, but I have never had a problem. Last, but not least, my favorite outdoor range was always the one of of Route 110, in I guess Melville, if not North Farmigdale, behind the huge sand pit. I don't even remember what it was called, nor did I even know it closed until I tried going there.
                              Last edited by MSA77; 07-21-2016, 04:19 PM.
                              NRA Benefactor Life
                              NRA Instructor & RSO
                              NYSRPA, SAF, GOA

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X
                              😀
                              🥰
                              🤢
                              😎
                              😡
                              👍
                              👎