Wacky Gun Range Rules

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 9/7/2018 | N Perna

[w1n1]

As an avid shooter, I’ve had the pleasure (or displeasure) of shooting at a wide variety of ranges throughout the country. Suffice it to say, the operations and rules vary greatly from one range to the next.
They range from “Hold my beer while I shoot” type establishments to places with a rules manual as thick as a New York City phone book.
As with most places that are more “rule-intensive,” the most likely reason they have so many regulations is because of a phenomenon that I refer to as the LCD factor.
LCD stands for lowest common denominator.
-You know, "that guy." The guy who looks down the barrel of a loaded gun when he has a misfire.
-The guy who loads 9mm into a .40.
-The guy with a hole the size of a 12-gauge slug in the bed of his truck created during an "unloading gone wrong incident" after a deer hunting trip.
-The guy who handloads his own rounds with enough propellent to try to get the projectile to travel at the speed of light.
-The guy whose favorite target for confirming zero is a bottle of propane.
He's the LCD. He's the reason we can’t have fun at the range.

HERE ARE SOME RULES I have seen that are most likely a byproduct of the LCDers who came before me.
At one range I shoot at, they have a rule that when driving your vehicle on the range you have to keep the speed below 3 mph. Next time you are in your car, try driving it at 3 mph.
It's almost physically impossible to do and you’ll probably get passed up by an old lady with a walker. Read the rest of this Wacky gun rules here.

[BenLurkin]

“Is there a walking dead population in the area this range is located that has a strong political voice?”

Yup.

[BenLurkin]

SKS Rifle “How to Prevent Slam Fire” - DIY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y5t6zMC13Q

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Most of these “rule-intensive” ranges are accompanied by grumpy old men whose sole function is to watch you with a jaundiced eye and wait for you to run afoul of a regulation. They are like the “church ladies” of the range world with their “safer than thou” attitude. “Hey, son, that was four seconds between your last pair of shots. One more violation like that and you’re outta here!”

Yep. Won't shoot at a range like at,.period.

[dljordan]

“Yep. Won’t shoot at a range like at,.period. “

Good. I’m one of those grumpy RSOs and the rules at our range are to keep the Boulder city government from shutting us down and so you won’t go home with more holes than you came with. On our public days we get all manner of absolute clowns at the range who believe they are geniuses.

[circlecity]

Guess I’m lucky. The range I usually go to has a limited number of reasonable safety rules which are very strictly enforced by the range master. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

[Larry Lucido]

Shooting your wife in the chest would be one, I presume?

Pimping a trash blog would be another.

[ThunderSleeps]

The local range I go to has basic common-sense rules plus several extra. In short:

• When range is "cold" no handling of firearms, period.
• You can reload mags "cold" but only if you previously removed them from the firearms while range was "hot."
• You can only unpack firearms from range bags or pack them away while range is "hot." When they say no handling firearms "cold" they mean it.
• Muzzles downrange at all times, period.
• No handing weapons, loaded or unloaded, to another shooter. All weapons exchanged by placing them on the bench and the other person picking it up. Prevents slips/mishandling.
• When range is hot, no stepping in front of the bench for any reason - no matter what fell down there.
• When range is going cold, all weapons unloaded and actions opened for inspection.
• Only paper targets - no steel.
• No tracer rounds. The range is surrounded by usually dry grassland...
• No weapons in holsters while range is cold - the exception being LEOs, they may have a holstered firearm during range-cold.

There is at least one RSO on duty, sometimes 2 or 3 on busy weekends. They enforce the rules equally/fairly and with enthusiasm. Unlike some places apparently, here silhouettes targets and zombie targets are welcome (even sold in the shop). After 9/11, they were even selling ah "middle eastern" looking photographic targets for a while...

[RandallFlagg]

Which one to you work at (if I may ask)?
I’ve been a member at Shoot Indoors in Broomfield for about four years now.
Sadly, busy life stuff has prevented me from turning money into noise for way too long. I still need to test fire my binary trigger on my AR.

[circlecity]

At my range not only to the chambers of uncased rifles have to be open when the range is cold, but a yellow chamber flag has to be inserted in the open chamber. They can be purchased at the counter for a buck. It makes it much easier, and quicker, for the ranger masters to inspect each shooting bench before the “all clear to go replace targets” signal is given.

[Hot Tabasco]

You can reload mags "cold" but only if you previously removed them from the firearms while range was "hot."

What does that mean?

[GaryCrow]

Fortunately for me I don’t have to shoot on a public range. My range is the pipeline right of way that runs through my land and I can shoot out to 1100 yds on it. I spent 10 years in the Marine Corps so I’ve shot on their ranges a lot and know how a professional range is ran. The times I’ve been on a public range it’s always seemed like the folks running it have an exaggerated sense of their own importance and delight in making up “safety” rules that do nothing to enhance safety. They seem to be ran a lot like a HOA, busybodies making rules just to see how much they can screw with others.

[SkyDancer]

Do not fire unless fired upon.

[umgud]

I use a local indoor range if I’m just doing handguns. For long guns I go to a remote location where I’m alone. The only one to call a range break is me.

I always clean up my mess.

[aomagrat]

The most violated rule at the range I’m a member of is No Shooting Into The Ground - All Rounds Must Impact The Berm. Hardly a month goes by without someone getting expelled.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Oh, I get concept and I don't object to legitimate safety enforcement, but the holier-than-thou, ready to jump down anyone's throat attitude some RSO's display is what gets under my skin. Trigger discipline, flagging, general stupidity, fine. Laying a firearm with mag in, slide locked open, on the table pointed down range (on a hot range), for example? Come on now. While I'm getting dressed down some dummy four lanes down is making fireworks on the backstop with his steel core Russian surplus.

My current range is close enough tgat I have the luxury of just going home if I can't have the place all to myself, and that's how I,like it.

[Yo-Yo]

No rapid fire. You must wait a full five seconds between shots. My first thought when I read this one was that the “I hate SKSs” guy came up with this rule.

After doing a little research, I came to find out more than one range had this rule. This is a great rule, if you are muzzle loading … But again, I can see how the LCD guy made this a necessity.

He was probably blazing away with some cheap ammo, spraying and praying, getting his aggressions out (probably with the evil SKS). But five seconds! Give me a break.

The Michigan DNR ranges all have this same rule. I recently built an AR and went to the Dansville range to sight it in. Rule: Only 6 rounds in the magazine allowed. Rule can be suspended to only one round in magazine at RO's discretion. Rule: Minimum of 3 seconds between shots. The good part is that it saved me money. It took me 2 hours to go through 2 20 round boxes of M855.

[Yo-Yo]

You can reload mags "cold" but only if you previously removed them from the firearms while range was "hot."

What does that mean?

That means you are not allowed to touch your firearm while the range is cold. If you didn't remove the magazine while the range was 'hot,' you cannot touch your weapon to remove the magazine while the range is cold.

[dljordan]

“Which one to you work at (if I may ask)?”

Boulder Rifle Club the South Range. We’re volunteers but RSO training is required.

[RandallFlagg]

Nice. Thank you.