Modern Gun Crowd

hunter24605

hunter24605

Handloader
Apr 30, 2016
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Maybe I'm just an old crank, but I cringe at the younger firearm enthusiasts these days. When in the world did we start calling guns "pew pews" and ammunition "freedom seeds"? All these memes about claymore mines on the porch for when the feds show up. And any cartridge that wasn't released in the last 15 years is useless. Then there's the guys bolting on 20 pounds of accessories on their Ar-15's with cool acronyms that makes it look like something out of star wars. I see guys at the range dropping and rolling around in the dirt and rapid fire at steel targets 20 feet away and maybe make 3 hits, then crawl back in their chevy spark with a Door Dash sticker on it. And don't get me started on the fingerless gloves!!! Pardon me, but now I need to shake my fist in the air and run the neighborhood kids off my grass. ;)
 
It's not just the young fellows... I had a fellow, probably 4 or 5 years older than me who was so proud of his AR-10 308 Win with a huge scope and bipod. He assured me that he had great long range data and asked if I'd take him to my gun club where he could smack steel at 600 yards...

Admittedly it was cheating - I'd actually been doing a lot of shooting with my ol' 308 Green Machine...

He banged away at 600 and the steel remained silent & untouched. I think the target was bored.

I pulled the ol' bolt action 308 out of the case, looped the sling around my arm, went prone, dialed 15 MOA up for my 600 yard zero and sent one 168 gr Nosler HPBT into the target... Clang!

Then I put the rifle away and went back to trying to help him get on target. My buddy Jim was there on his nice spotting scope. He tried so hard not to laugh. :)

Guy
 
salmonchaser said:
Whats fun, when they are banging steel from the bench, ask if you can try a couple of shots, then proceed to bang them from standing with your 375. Then just walk away. Thats’ fun.
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Dad did that years ago with his 30-06 Springfield and peep sights at 300 yards... Two guys were banging away and hitting the 16" gong now and again... Dad shot five from standing, hit five, smiled and walked away. It was awesome. I was maybe 19 or so and trying so hard not to laugh...

Guy
 
Guy Miner said:
Dad did that years ago with his 30-06 Springfield and peep sights at 300 yards... Two guys were banging away and hitting the 16" gong now and again... Dad shot five from standing, hit five, smiled and walked away. It was awesome. I was maybe 19 or so and trying so hard not to laugh...

Guy
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I did it just the other day, three middle aged guys showed up with their full dress Ar 15s, set up a dooling tree at 100 yards. Missed it about 1/2 the time. Gotta love the 375.
I’ve known some guys who could shoot like your dad, all those old boys who got it done in WW11 And Korea; I think they scoff in our general direction when it comes to shooting. That being said, I really enjoyed watching them put on displays like that.
 
hunter24605 said:
Maybe I'm just an old crank, but I cringe at the younger firearm enthusiasts these days. When in the world did we start calling guns "pew pews" and ammunition "freedom seeds"? All these memes about claymore mines on the porch for when the feds show up. And any cartridge that wasn't released in the last 15 years is useless. Then there's the guys bolting on 20 pounds of accessories on their Ar-15's with cool acronyms that makes it look like something out of star wars. I see guys at the range dropping and rolling around in the dirt and rapid fire at steel targets 20 feet away and maybe make 3 hits, then crawl back in their chevy spark with a Door Dash sticker on it. And don't get me started on the fingerless gloves!!! Pardon me, but now I need to shake my fist in the air and run the neighborhood kids off my grass. ;)
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Until it gets dangerous - I try to take it as amusement...

Four guys showed up with their AR-15's for an AR-15 class. They'd gotten together ahead of time. They assured me that they all had 100 yard zeros and reliable rifles... Whoo Boy...

I had to revamp the course in progress as we spent a lot of time re-zeroing the rifles and getting them to shoot reliably... Sigh... Then, talk about the gear bolted on! My goodness. Three were okay, one was a bone stock 16" AR-15 with no accessories. Excellent! Another pair had a couple of minor and useful accessories bolted on. I can't remember what they were, just that I had no problem with them at all. It was the fourth fellow... Sigh... It looked like he'd shaken the Brownell's tactical catalog over his AR-15 and stuck everything on it! :)

Rifle weighed twice as much as it should have because of EVERYTHING he'd bolted to it. Worse... It wasn't even close to being zeroed. We went to 25 yards and got it hitting paper then eventually got a 100 yard zero.

Later while I had the guys on the 100 yard line standing (that was a first for all of them) I noticed the flashlight on Shooter #4's rifle was slowly loosening while he was shooting. Eventually it fell off. He didn't even notice. After they'd finished the drill and had unloaded rifles they walked back to the ready area to get more ammo and I asked ol' Shooter Number Four if he'd please police up the equipment he'd left at the firing line. LOL! :)

Poor fellow - I'll never name him 'cause he's a good guy. Actually came to my house the next day to thank me for helping him square his rifle away. He was embarrassed after having spent so much on accessories for it. Confided to me that it was his "home defense" weapon and he was appalled that it wasn't working right! So we had a great talk, and he's improved his shooting a lot. Still has a LOT of gear bolted onto his once-lightweight AR-15 though...

I try to remember that all these guys are Second Amendment supporters. I don't belittle them when I'm at the range with them. Time to time I'll offer a suggestion.

When something is unsafe though - then I draw the line and call for a cease fire. I haven't had to do that often.

Guy
 
I'm guilty of doing the "one hit and put it back in the truck" thing with my 280 AI.... people all down the line blasting away trying to hit the 600 yard steel... did it for my pre deer season sight check this year, 1 round, 1 hit, and good enough lol.

Makes some people mad... instead of asking for help they get mad and leave, most often blaming the gun, and sometimes it is the gun, but more often than not... it's not.
 
I don't miss the club life but I did enjoy unleashing 2-3 rounds of the 338 RUM. The muzzle blast kept them at bay and I'd usually stack my hits on the 6" gong at 400 yards. Those hits were easy to see because they were the only shiney hits on the smaller gong.
I get a kick out of Sue when we teach Hunter Safety. We always give demonstrations showing the power of a firearm vs. gallon water jugs. She shoots the jug at 200 yards with her 30 Nosler. She tells the class she is shooting a 30 Nosler which is a little more powerful than a 300 Win Mag. The fun part is the facial expressions on some of the Dads and again when she smokes the jug.
I always enjoy that.

JD338
 
I know that I was impressed many years ago (about 30 years back) when a fellow and his young teenage son showed up at the range to check their rifles for an upcoming hunt...
The father pulled an old, worn, but well kept, 270 out of his case, and rang the 400 yard gong 5 times in a row standing freehand.
Then his son rang the 200 yard gong 5 times in a row standing freehand.
They policed their brass, put the rifle back in its case and went on their way.
Was the finest display of rifle shooting I have witnessed to date.

I know that I cannot do that...not steady enough, and shake like a leaf in a high wind...longest standing freehand shot I have ever made was on a moose at just over 200 yards (no rest available from my position, shooting into a young reforested area where I had to be high enough to clear the brush and young trees). Otherwise, anytime I need to take a shot over 100 yards, I find a rest. And I always carry a shooting stick now when a field rest may not be available.
I do need to practice offhand more often with my bolt actions, as I have usually reserved this practice for my lever actions.
 
Public sight in..... Guy sits at the bench with a "modern sporting rifle". He Cant get his gas block adjusted so he can shoot a five shot group. Scope seems off by about a foot. I know nothing about this so I sit back and watch and try to ask reasonable questions. He Offers to let me shoot while he works on his rifle. I slide in with my Mosberg 500, chamber a federal trophy copper, turn the VX-II up to 7, get a grip and settle in. When the recoil is over there is a hole at 12:00 on a one inch dot 100yards away. He says he's ready to try again and I offer, "just use my target - there's plenty of room." I slide the "Mooseberg" in the case and move out of his way. I can be such a snot some times.....:p:) CL
 
Okay, since this is story time. Was at a public range with wife, brother and his wife. Guy to our left was blazing away with his AR at - 50, if I remember - stopped and just watched my wife start popping off her Gunsite Scout in 308. So, completely innocent, she notices him watching and asks if he'd like to try it. Guy shakes his head, mumbles something about being able to feel the muzzle blast from where he was, then packed up and left. I thought it was funny.

About half an hour later, there is a guy on the other side of me trying to impress (read intimidate) his girlfriend with his AR shooting skills, while talking down to her about how difficult it was to hit a 100 yard plate - from the bench - with an optic - and a bipod. I got so sick of listening to him that I lit up his target with my Whelen (plates were brought by individuals). While unintentional, the impact broke the plate free of the chains it was hanging from and it went careening across the range. He had no idea what the heck had just happened, and I decided it was time the four of us packed up and sought other things to do.

I am not really a fan of public ranges, though I have met some most excellent gentlemen at them before. I recall fondly taking turns with a couple of national guardsmen trying to ring a 10 inch plate at just over 100 yards with pistols and irons. It can be done, though I am not very good at it.
 
Did somthing similar to a friends 10" plate with my 12 ga. He was a good sport about it, but he had to borrow a metal detector to find his plate back. Serves him right for setting up on the edge of a slough. 🤣 CL
 
Two guys with AR’s on a public range. They are doing the military thing blowing through clips as fast as they can at a human shaped steel target at 25 yards ish. Bullets are bouncing all over the place so I kindly walk over when they are reloading. I pointed out that their ricochets are going all over the range. The guy tells me to F off and mind my own business. I had barely finished casing my gun when a ricochet came back and loudly penetrated their car.
They stared at me and I at them. I wanted to report that I was going to F off now but instead I just got in my truck and left. Idiots deserve holes in the sides of their cars.
 
On another occasion a couple guys shooting steel at close range with handguns. It looked ok to me, self protection training or whatever. At some point a bullet fragmented and came back off the steel plate. Hit the shooter in the eye. I’m a paramedic and was close by so went to help. Not much to do, bandage mostly as the eye has shrapnel in it but no bleeding. The guy took my number and later texted me the recovery process. He did not lose the eye and not much worse for wear. He got very lucky and learned a lesson that day!
 
Last one-. Different range but still public property. It’s a closed road along a river with a big dirt mound at the end. When I got there a car was pulled right up the the dirt but lights still on, might have still been running, time has dulled the details. They weren’t picking up brass or out shooting so I walked up. Standing at the drivers window had knocked once before I realized I was looking at a man’s ass. He was more surprised than me and his girlfriend was mortified. I just blurted out -move
Your car you’re parked on the shooting range! They left post haste and I felt stupid for a long time-I would’ve happily let them finish had I figured it out a little quicker!
 
Firebird said:
Two guys with AR’s on a public range. They are doing the military thing blowing through clips as fast as they can at a human shaped steel target at 25 yards ish. Bullets are bouncing all over the place so I kindly walk over when they are reloading. I pointed out that their ricochets are going all over the range. The guy tells me to F off and mind my own business. I had barely finished casing my gun when a ricochet came back and loudly penetrated their car.
They stared at me and I at them. I wanted to report that I was going to F off now but instead I just got in my truck and left. Idiots deserve holes in the sides of their cars.
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That's a great story Firebird.

JD338
 
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