MESSED UP STUFF YOU’VE DONE AT YOUR RANGE

Edsel

Gunny Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Jun 9, 2013
814
368
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I’ll start.

I once lubed my pistols and rifles with Sesame Seed Oil.

Made the place smell like Chinese take - out :ROFLMAO:

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EDIT: I once thought Peanut Oil was best due to its thermal properties, but looks like there are other options :ROFLMAO:
 
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I tried to give a guy advice about not resting his barrel on the blocks while trying to sight in his new deer rifle. I finally sat back with the RO and we watched him shoot 2 full boxes of cheap blue box Federals thru his rifle and never getting 2 bullets close to each other. He left telling us he was going back to the store that sold him everything and get his money back.
 
There I was ... setting up for a day of load development on my 300-WM MPA rifle. I shoot everything suppressed, and all of my rifles have ASR Brakes so I can move suppressors around (I have 7 of them). As I was screwing my SiCo Chimera 300 onto the ASR brake, I remember saying to myself "That seemed like it was fewer rotations than usual ... oh, I'm sure it's OK." I let round #1 go, and watched in horror as my $1,000 suppressor took off and embedded in the sand about 30-feet in front of me. Imagine my embarrassment when I had to call a "Cease Fire" to retrieve my suppressor. A couple of guys even took photos on their phones of it as I dug it out of the hole. Bad news: The baffle strikes were enormous and the can was useless. Good news: SilencerCo fixed it for free even though it was clearly my fault. That's my best "messed up at the range" story.
 
There I was ... setting up for a day of load development on my 300-WM MPA rifle. I shoot everything suppressed, and all of my rifles have ASR Brakes so I can move suppressors around (I have 7 of them). As I was screwing my SiCo Chimera 300 onto the ASR brake, I remember saying to myself "That seemed like it was fewer rotations than usual ... oh, I'm sure it's OK." I let round #1 go, and watched in horror as my $1,000 suppressor took off and embedded in the sand about 30-feet in front of me. Imagine my embarrassment when I had to call a "Cease Fire" to retrieve my suppressor. A couple of guys even took photos on their phones of it as I dug it out of the hole. Bad news: The baffle strikes were enormous and the can was useless. Good news: SilencerCo fixed it for free even though it was clearly my fault. That's my best "messed up at the range" story.
Wow, was about to post a very similar story.

First suppressor, first time at the range with it, screwed it on and thought “gee, seemed like there were a lot more threads when I checked it out at home for alignment.

First shot and hear loud noise and feel a big gust of wind in my face. Look up…no suppressor.

3 of us searched for 45 minutes before we found it in the high weeds at the end of the 50 yard berm! I was shooting at 100 to re-zero w the can on but that sucker went a full 50 yards and was maybe 15-20 degrees off of the line of fire.

We thought it was aliens as how could we not find it on the nicely mowed grass along the line of fire. I was taking one last look and swinging a bit of 2x2 when I walked past those weeds and just happened to brush them back enough by happenstance to see it.

What happened was the lanyard at the back of the can cover was caught on the bottom (where it wasn’t visually obvious) between the can and the shoulder of the 419 Uni Adapter I use. I can guarantee I’ve not forgotten this lesson and ALWAYS check the lanyard. lol.

I lucked out with only very minor strike and TBAC said go forth and shoot it so I have been.

TBAC also said you can launch one as far as 80 yards and I guess they know that because you and I aren’t the only ones who played toy rockets with our suppressors. Haha
 
There I was ... setting up for a day of load development on my 300-WM MPA rifle. I shoot everything suppressed, and all of my rifles have ASR Brakes so I can move suppressors around (I have 7 of them). As I was screwing my SiCo Chimera 300 onto the ASR brake, I remember saying to myself "That seemed like it was fewer rotations than usual ... oh, I'm sure it's OK." I let round #1 go, and watched in horror as my $1,000 suppressor took off and embedded in the sand about 30-feet in front of me. Imagine my embarrassment when I had to call a "Cease Fire" to retrieve my suppressor. A couple of guys even took photos on their phones of it as I dug it out of the hole. Bad news: The baffle strikes were enormous and the can was useless. Good news: SilencerCo fixed it for free even though it was clearly my fault. That's my best "messed up at the range" story.
I had a weld failure and launched my entire bafflestack 120 yards downrange in a mowed field at a match. Worst part is I had to wait 3 hours to go look for my can innards because the match was on-going. Lucky I found it, and SilencerCo had it repaired and back to me in under 2 weeks.
 
Looked forward to spending a day at the range with my 50 cal Cadex Tremor. Packed up and drove the hour+ to the range, unpacked everything only to realize I got everything except the shooting mat… can’t back out now since the 50 cal has now drawn a crowd.

Used a blanket as a “mat” against the concrete floor… 15 painful rounds later, deep scraps on both elbows, all bloodied.

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Painful lesson…
 
Looked forward to spending a day at the range with my 50 cal Cadex Tremor. Packed up and drove the hour+ to the range, unpacked everything only to realize I got everything except the shooting mat… can’t back out now since the 50 cal has now drawn a crowd.

Used a blanket as a “mat” against the concrete floor… 15 painful rounds later, deep scraps on both elbows, all bloodied.

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Painful lesson…

Keep a cheap moving blanket in your vehicle...

Or a beach towel.

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Believe it or not, the towel stays put on the artificial turf much better than a shooting mat.
 
Looked forward to spending a day at the range with my 50 cal Cadex Tremor. Packed up and drove the hour+ to the range, unpacked everything only to realize I got everything except the shooting mat… can’t back out now since the 50 cal has now drawn a crowd.

Used a blanket as a “mat” against the concrete floor… 15 painful rounds later, deep scraps on both elbows, all bloodied.

View attachment 8496967

Painful lesson…
What state is that range? Looks familiar.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Edsel
At a rimfire match years ago we were on a heart breaker stage, the one where you start at the gun, run back, get a token, flop down, shoot a shot, get up, run back to get a token, etc.. For the shooters the requisite number of tokens was spread out on the top of a bucket but they had a bunch of extras in separate bucket too. So, I grabbed a handful and every time my friend ran back and grabbed a token I'd set one down in the same spot so it looked like he still had the same number of reps to do. I figure he did two extra reps running back and forth before he caught wise haha. He was the match director so it's not like he was shooting for points anyway and he deserved it for putting a heart breaker stage in.
 
I had a weld failure and launched my entire bafflestack 120 yards downrange in a mowed field at a match. Worst part is I had to wait 3 hours to go look for my can innards because the match was on-going. Lucky I found it, and SilencerCo had it repaired and back to me in under 2 weeks.
SiCo is awesome about quickly and freely fixing my stupid mistakes. I own seven of them, and won't head to the range without them.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Edsel
There I was ... setting up for a day of load development on my 300-WM MPA rifle. I shoot everything suppressed, and all of my rifles have ASR Brakes so I can move suppressors around (I have 7 of them). As I was screwing my SiCo Chimera 300 onto the ASR brake, I remember saying to myself "That seemed like it was fewer rotations than usual ... oh, I'm sure it's OK." I let round #1 go, and watched in horror as my $1,000 suppressor took off and embedded in the sand about 30-feet in front of me. Imagine my embarrassment when I had to call a "Cease Fire" to retrieve my suppressor. A couple of guys even took photos on their phones of it as I dug it out of the hole. Bad news: The baffle strikes were enormous and the can was useless. Good news: SilencerCo fixed it for free even though it was clearly my fault. That's my best "messed up at the range" story.
Rob is this you? If not don’t worry it happened to my buddy Rob too.
 
I tried to give a guy advice about not resting his barrel on the blocks while trying to sight in his new deer rifle. I finally sat back with the RO and we watched him shoot 2 full boxes of cheap blue box Federals thru his rifle and never getting 2 bullets close to each other. He left telling us he was going back to the store that sold him everything and get his money back.

Sounds about right
 
At a rimfire match years ago we were on a heart breaker stage, the one where you start at the gun, run back, get a token, flop down, shoot a shot, get up, run back to get a token, etc.. For the shooters the requisite number of tokens was spread out on the top of a bucket but they had a bunch of extras in separate bucket too. So, I grabbed a handful and every time my friend ran back and grabbed a token I'd set one down in the same spot so it looked like he still had the same number of reps to do. I figure he did two extra reps running back and forth before he caught wise haha. He was the match director so it's not like he was shooting for points anyway and he deserved it for putting a heart breaker stage in.
That is a dick move, and I fully approve! 🤣

One time a group of us were doing pistol drills with dummy rounds mixed in. Someone else would load your mag, so you never knew how many or how often you'd get a malfunction. It was my buddies turn (he was the instructor) and I loaded his mag with probably 75% dummy rounds.

It was a good time. 🤣
 
Maybe not the best one but funny as hell as the recipient didn't know how to respond to it.
Myself and another buddy were shooting a 2 week pistol course at the Northwest Annex in Chesapeake. Al Clark had invited us to run with his Team as we were going to be driving to some place in NE NC soon. Well, civilian vehicles were not allowed on the ranges or on the connecting road, an unmarked "official" car was though. Any how at some point I have to take a piss so I clear my pistol and start walking towards the pisser a few ranges down the range road. Half way there I see a Marine, full kit running with his MP5, screaming something, what, I don't know. He gets closer and now I can hear him, asking why that civilian car is parked by the range. Me, not giving a fuck that he's a Marine officer(Maj) and being a perpetual wise ass respond with "There's no running on the ranges with a loaded weapon!" The look on his face as I walked by laughing my ass off, went on my way to take a whiz, he skulked back to wherever he came from.
When I got back, Al asked what he was yelling about and what I said--well all I can say is the Marine inspecting the range later was "fairly strict" picking brass from gravel is a pain in the ass-more so when their boss was pissed. It was a good laugh though! That major didn't know what to say
 
1. Watched a buddy of mine take his brand new golf ball launcher attachment for his AR and shoot at a steel plate at 100 yards. The ping when hitting the steel was impressive but the sound of the golf ball screaming past our heads as it aimed for the windshield of his brand new truck was not so fun. The golf ball went through both his windshield, back windows, and even took out the back window on his cap.

2. I was shooting at a state range with a couple friends. We were shooting pistols at 15 and 25 yards. The guy in the lane next to us was trying to sight in his AR at 100 yards. He started losing his shirt screaming at us that our rounds were bouncing off the ground and hitting his target. He complained to the RSO and tried to get us kicked out. My friend was a RSO at the rage as well but he didn't know that so we got to stay. At the next cease fire I grabbed a clean target and set it up at 100 yards for him and 1 for myself being nice and all. I then took my .338LM with a Badger FTE brake and set it up and waited to start shooting. I watched him forget to put his ear plugs in so I scooted as close to his side of my lane as I could and then fired off a round. He dropped his brand new rifle on the concrete and was holding his ears screaming at me that I blew out his ear drum.
 
Learned you can ED a brake with copper by cleaning it in CLR for 20 mins… soaking with copper cleaner is removing it, but I’m still scratching my head on this one

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Had a shooter complain about the plates being angled after he shot my stage… I got back on glass, confirmed they were hanging perfectly fine. He persisted on the matter, so I quipped “You understand that’s why they’re called diamonds and not squares?” Next shooter!
 
Lets see... we used to have a pit we could shoot at.

Blew up an old shitter with a shotgun. That was fun.

I used to work in satellite comms and had a bunch of dishes. We shot a lot of those for keks. Oh also dual wielding 1911s without ear pro (very dumb).

Got my old jeep high centered on snow trying to get into that pit once. That was a real hoot. Had to have my old man show up with boards and shovels.

Some general hooning around like shooting a Keltec KSG from between our legs (Being as safe as possible while being an ass).


Don't act like an dumbass at the range like we used to.
 
Not a range but did make the mistake of shooting a toilet at a junkyard with a 45 35 years ago, it was nice enough to return the bullet to me and into my foot, word to the wise shitters can be temperamental.
I had a 45 ricochet and hit me right on the nose…. Luckily my oakleys took the brunt of it… I cleaned out my shorts and went home for the day… and ordered another pair of oakleys…. Always wear eye protection! 😎
 
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I’ll start.

I once lubed my pistols and rifles with Sesame Seed Oil.

Made the place smell like Chinese take - out :ROFLMAO:

EDIT: Peanut Oil is best due to its properties.
I thought we established years ago that sperm whale oil was best.
 
While heading to a pistol training course, my vehicle's master brake cylinder failed as I was attempting to slow down from high speed on Montana I-90 onto an exit ramp- when I realized I had almost no braking, I started pumping the brakes furiously while I put her into an oversteer sliding hard right turn onto the access road- my light was red at the top of the ramp and luckily I had a big gap in oncoming traffic.
 
I once bought a colt python for 350.00 at a pawn shop (what a steal even back then) that the prior owner had done a trigger job on. Had to be 3/4 lb pull single action, anyway was at the range one day and had fired two or three rounds at the target and the target fell over ,I had already pulled the hammer back for the next shot , so I started walking downrange to set the target backup , I was the only one on the range that day so I carried the python with me and had my thumb on the spur hammer and pulled the trigger to lower the hammer. Wrong move , that hammer fell like I wasn't even touching it and almost blew my big toe off my right foot , had a hole in my tony lama,s that was hard to explain.
 
My range is at my house, but the worst thing that happened to me was when I wanted to sight-in a new LPVO that arrived about 5pm via UPS on a suppressed AR. The sun was about to set, so I rushed out, took one mag and quick-loaded it with 20 rounds of 77gr AAC polymer tipped stuff. Got the thing satisfactorily sighted-in and popped off the last few rounds in the mag. Gun was dry, no more ammo around, when a yote darts out of the bush, runs over and squirts on a steel hog target just to the right of my 100y paper, stops, looks at me for 5-10 seconds, then dashes back into the woods.

Heard him and his buddies laughing at me all night.
 
I like the ol’ school foamie ear plugs which I tend to leave in for the whole time I’m at the public range. People tend to want to chit chat about something. :mad::mad: I’m just there to shoot. :unsure::unsure:

So I deliberately yell when talking to people without any regard to what ear pro they are wearing. 🤬🤬 Guys with the electromic stuff tend to stop talking to me. Like I wanted a conversation with them to begin with….:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
My range retard tricks:

-forget ammo
-forget rifle
-forget shooting partner
-show up late
-forget ear pro
-forget targets
-left stapler somewhere, not w me
-forgot close toe shoes
-forget chrono


Follow me for more tips on how to waste your own time
One time I went night skiing after work. Got to the ski area, realized I left my boots under my desk... :rolleyes:
 
When I got my AR-10, I had not fired it with the collapsing stock. Instead, I ordered and installed a rifle tube and the Magpul PRS Gen III adjustable stock. Well, that rifle tube came with a different buffer that turned out to be lighter than the original. I did not realize this, being a moron. By the way, the gas is mid-length and non-adjustable.

So, I go to shoot a few rounds at an indoor range. Then I am getting incomplete ejection and double feeds. Symptoms of overgassing. Well, I clear one stuck cartridge and and the press the BCG release but my finger was still inside the trigger guard. So, the gun fired and I hit a baffle.

An RSO asked me if I had a negligent discharge. I had to admit that I did. Which ended my visit for the day. And I would have to pay for and take a safety class before they would consider me eligible to shoot there again.

I did not book a class right away. I spent a week kicking my own butt. Every time I wanted to say it happened because of this or that, I would review the instruction manual. I checked out videos on overgassing. Not a single one of them said to solve the problem while keeping your finger in the trigger guard. There was no excuse and this is serious business.

Finally, I booked a class with one of their instructors. I was the only one in the class for that. I fit the profile. A guy in his 50s at the time, shooting for most of his life ( I had shot on and off since I was 10.) There are two types of shooters. Those who have had an ND and those who will have an ND.

The one thing I did not say, and this was a big plus for me, was "at least no one got hurt."

That is not the point. The point is, that round could have gone anywhere. Or caused a ricochet if it something that fragmented.

He told me guys have shown up and you can smell booze on their breath and they refuse the visit.

So, after some safety instruction, he handed my an AR-15 practice rifle and asked me how to aim and shoot and the first thing I did was pull the charging handle and out popped a dummy round.

Never assume a rifle is unloaded.

So, I got cleared to shoot there again.

Do I win the idiot of the range award?

Ediited to add: I ended with a total of 3 buffers and took out the weights and combined until I got 6.1 ounces, which solved the problem.