rant

[free1954]

yesterday was the first time in a few years that I shot at the public range a few miles from my home. my grandson and I took a couple of vintage military pistols with us to shoot at the 25 yard targets. there were about half a dozen young guys with their high capacity plastic pistols who would walk up to about 5 or 10 feet from their silhouette targets and empty their magazines as fast as they could. just exactly what were they practicing for? I could understand if they shooting multiple targets, but if you cant hit with one shot at that range you shouldn't own a gun.
the only good thing about it was they all left brand new brass laying on the ground.

[joem]

Yes free brass is best. I hope you reload. That's one reason I like private clubs, no yahoos for the most part. And if dues are high enough you see a nicer group of shooters.

[free1954]

I do reload. but none of the calibers I picked up. i'll just give them away to someone who does. I usually shoot on a friends property but we couldn't get in yesterday due to storm damage on the road from a couple of days ago. and all the private clubs around here you have to wait for someone to die to get in.

[joem]

The club I belong to is limited to 250 members and isn't cheap either. But the facility and amenities are fantastic!

[kcw]

They're more into "self defense" shooting than conventional target shooting. My club noticed a demand for that type of shooting about ten years ago with the increase of members having CCW permits. Our rules demand that there be no one forward of the shooting line when the range is "hot", but we were set up so that only targets of 25yds and beyond could be accessed from the line, nothing shorter. Also we prohibit that "fast as you can pull the trigger" stuff. Fortunately we had the land to install a short handgun range specific for the type of shooting those mostly younger shooters were looking for. We inserted it into a U shaped berm; 15' high. We call it the 10' range. There is no bench setup in there to sit at. They can go in there and bang away to their heart's content and only bother others of their own kind.

[barretcreek]

We have a great club, indoor pistol, outdoor pistol, 200 yd, skeet, trap, action pistol stuff, training. Don't like the way the 600 yd is set up but at least we have it.
$75 year. And there's lots of people who won't join 'cuz I can shoot on BLM where ever I want for free'. And then they get p'o'd because the BLM west of here only lets people shoot on a range they constructed. Sign in. With ID recorded.

[free1954]

They're more into "self defense" shooting than conventional target shooting. My club noticed a demand for that type of shooting about ten years ago with the increase of members having CCW permits. Our rules demand that there be no one forward of the shooting line when the range is "hot", but we were set up so that only targets of 25yds and beyond could be accessed from the line, nothing shorter. Also we prohibit that "fast as you can pull the trigger" stuff. Fortunately we had the land to install a short handgun range specific for the type of shooting those mostly younger shooters were looking for. We inserted it into a U shaped berm; 15' high. We call it the 10' range. There is no bench setup in there to sit at. They can go in there and bang away to their heart's content and only bother others of their own kind.





I guess I should just be happy more young people are getting into shooting sports, but I've never been a fan of the spray and pray mentality. years back we used to practice the double tap method on multiple targets at 15 yards. that's about as close as I've come to that type of shooting.

[IditarodJoe]

Just exactly what were they practicing for?
I think that's the whole point . . . they weren't practicing at all. Learning to do anything well takes time and effort. The sort of young people you describe have no interest in setting a goal and then working hard to achieve it. Possibly they don't even have the capacity to do so. For some folks, life is all about "instant gratification". Sad. :(

[seagoatami]

I think that's the whole point . . . they weren't practicing at all. Learning to do anything well takes time and effort. The sort of young people you describe have no interest in setting a goal and then working hard to achieve it. Possibly they don't even have the capacity to do so. For some folks, life is all about "instant gratification". Sad. :(
joe. what they are doing is , what we called playing cowboys and indians , when I was a kid so long long ago. You gotta bare in mind that they were never allowed to play with cap pistols or rubber band guns. so this is the way they are making up for it. guess you can blame their over protective parents

[joem]

I had some of my pistol sights changed to adjustable sights with a red fiber optic front sight. It's great. I can hit smaller steel plates at longer ranges. I guess these old eyes are not what they used to be. Getting old is not for sissies.

[emmagee1917]

We practice with semi-auto pistols a lot . We do a lot of steel 6X6 inch plates @ 15 yds , man on man . We do IPSC targets from one pace to 25 yards . We bounce plastic bottles from 15 yds to past 50 yards . It takes a lot of practice to do this on demand , accurately , quickly , and safely . If one was to see us doing 3 shot drills at a couple of paces , they'd prob'ly think we were just blasting and wasting ammo . Would not be true .
My eyes have been getting older too . Also the time may come when I'm not wearing my glasses nor in good light . I've gone to Trijicon HD ( High Definition ) night sights on all my guns they're available in , standard where I have to , and a Burris Fastfire III on one ( VERY nice out to 50+ yds , but bulky , good house / truck option ) .
I'm an old dog who has not paid attention to the advances made in the last 30 years , but now I'm playing catch up on this new ( to me ) stuff , and I am learning new tricks .
Chris

[free1954]

I think that's the whole point . . . they weren't practicing at all. Learning to do anything well takes time and effort. The sort of young people you describe have no interest in setting a goal and then working hard to achieve it. Possibly they don't even have the capacity to do so. For some folks, life is all about "instant gratification". Sad. :(




i'm afraid sir you may be right.

[free1954]

We practice with semi-auto pistols a lot . We do a lot of steel 6X6 inch plates @ 15 yds , man on man . We do IPSC targets from one pace to 25 yards . We bounce plastic bottles from 15 yds to past 50 yards . It takes a lot of practice to do this on demand , accurately , quickly , and safely . If one was to see us doing 3 shot drills at a couple of paces , they'd prob'ly think we were just blasting and wasting ammo . Would not be true .
My eyes have been getting older too . Also the time may come when I'm not wearing my glasses nor in good light . I've gone to Trijicon HD ( High Definition ) night sights on all my guns they're available in , standard where I have to , and a Burris Fastfire III on one ( VERY nice out to 50+ yds , but bulky , good house / truck option ) .
I'm an old dog who has not paid attention to the advances made in the last 30 years , but now I'm playing catch up on this new ( to me ) stuff , and I am learning new tricks .
Chris




there were no kind of drills that I could see, they were just blasting away as fast as they could.

[joem]

I like trying to hit steel at 150 yards with pistols. I'm getting better and with new distance glasses it's better yet.

[free1954]

it is a lot of fun. I got into the silhouette shooting years ago with an iron sight contender. those turkeys and rams never stood a chance. every once in a while now I try to hit the 300 yard gong with a 9mm or a 30 tokarev.

[emmagee1917]

there were no kind of drills that I could see, they were just blasting away as fast as they could.

Well , even with all the above practice , I've been known to do a 50 or 100 round Thompson dump as well as a midnight 250 rd belt of pure tracer 30-06 FN long burn in one trigger pull ( which started 17 little brush fires on our range .....a club record that will prob'ly stand forever ) .
It was tension releaving , for sure .
Chris

[free1954]

Well , even with all the above practice , I've been known to do a 50 or 100 round Thompson dump as well as a midnight 250 rd belt of pure tracer 30-06 FN long burn in one trigger pull ( which started 17 little brush fires on our range .....a club record that will prob'ly stand forever ) .
It was tension releaving , for sure .
Chris



not my kind of fun, it bothers me to just piss away all that ammo. but glad you enjoyed it.

[bruce]

Re: OP. Understand. Nevertheless, the world has changed. Lots of folks go to the range who have no interest in more formal type target shooting. They are more tactical and action oriented. Fine. Years ago servicemen fired at bullseye targets. Nowadays their training is not shooting targets in another time zone but hitting reactionary targets at the ranges they will more likely engage with the enemy. Good. Such training is more practical. It has more utility.

The range of which I am a member has provision for shooting paper targets at 7, 15 and 25 yds. This is a improvement over simply having 25 yd. target frames. Membership has grown from about 125 to over 400; most of the new members much prefer the less formal shooting. Steel plates have been installed at 25yds. On the rifle range a plate has been installed at 200 yds. This is a good thing. Better will be when these plates are installed at shorter ranges as appropriate. It is no different than when the Army went from shooting at odd looking silhouettes of the post indian-war era to the more common bullseye targets. JMHO.

There is good reason to hope that the shooting sports will show a increase in participation. Young people in school or just married with small children do not typically have piles of disposable income. Guns and ammunition are expensive. Places to shoot are not easily found. Many local govt.'s are not sympathetic to the idea of building ranges due to the issues of land usage, objections of adjoining land owners, zoning, etc. It is a very good forward thinking idea for clubs/ranges to offer more than just traditional target shooting. Reactive targets, combat/tactical type shooting has a much wider appeal. Sincerely. bruce.

[John Sukey]

You are missing the point. The fact that more young people are getting into shooting.

[blackhawknj]

When people get all their instruction in firearms from movies and tv......

[free1954]

When people get all their instruction in firearms from movies and tv......



you may be right.

[ridgerunner]

They were learning, if nothing else, the operation of their firearms. They were also, getting a start into the shooting sports.

While, they may not fire their weapons in the same way you or I, do, they are still getting involved, and, they will probably, change their shooting styles.

My first handgun, was a little .22 single action, for fast draw, as much as anything. ( remember Paladin? ) Then I started using it for hunting. the year was 1957.

[free1954]

They were learning, if nothing else, the operation of their firearms. They were also, getting a start into the shooting sports.

While, they may not fire their weapons in the same way you or I, do, they are still getting involved, and, they will probably, change their shooting styles.

My first handgun, was a little .22 single action, for fast draw, as much as anything. ( remember Paladin? ) Then I started using it for hunting. the year was 1957.


there were some great leather rigs on those old gunfighter shows. encore western channel runs them all day long. if you like to see a lot of trapdoor carbines watch wagon train with ward bond.

[RED]

Old thread but I'm surprised that nobody has pointed out that most CCW and even many PD courses require you to qualify at 7 yards (21'). I think pistol practice at 7 or 15 yards is more important than starting at 25 yards. Dumping rounds down range at any distance may be entertaining, but not very educational.

[joem]

I did my CCW at about 7 yards I think. Not much of a challenge since I mostly shoot pistols at 25 to 35 yards and sometimes to 150 yards. I shoot for small groups except at 150 which is a challenge to hit a gong.

[free1954]

I shoot for small groups except at 150 which is a challenge to hit a gong.


probably the most fun you can have with a handgun. we used to have a big strip mine garbage pit close by when I was a kid. it always had a standing pond of water in it. we would throw empty bottles in the pond and then see how far away you could hit it. I miss that place. my favorite trash gun was a .22 stoeger luger. later on I got into the sillouette shoots with a TC contender.

[free1954]

thanks guys for all the replies. I guess I learned a few things. after all those years of practicing to rapidly draw my weapon and hit what i'm aiming at at any practical range, i'm to advance as close as I can and empty my magazine.
just kidding, i'm to old and crippled to rapidly advance, and as I said in the title it's just a rant.