Incident at the range

[405FileFound]

Ok here's the deal. I served in the Army from 1996-2000 and never had a safety issue with my rifle. I purchased my current handgun (SW 649) in 2005 and have been to various ranges several times a year since then. Never had an issue. I've witnessed several incidents, from patrons doubling up on a lane, horseplay, picture posing violations, absent mindedly removing ear and eye protection, unsafe acts, aiming the gun unwisely, etc. On one occasion I saw a party of six people escorted off the range.
Two weeks ago I went to the range for my birthday with 10+ people. Assembling a dozen people, some coming in from various parts of the state, taking fone calls from those who were on the way or stuck in traffic, arranging to pay for the lanes, having to keep an eye on a friend who was "acting up", etc, in a busy and crowded gun range on a Saturday morning, two novice shooters in the bunch... it was a handful to organize. Ive never gone to that range with more than three people.
We got onto our lanes and everything went fine. When we finished, I directed my buddies (Some of my buddies aren't 'gun guys' so they were just standing around) to help me throw out trash, empty boxes, and pick up shells. We were all running late for the dinner afterwards, so time was getting crunched. I boxed up the rented Ruger .22 pistol and turned it back in to the front desk---

I forgot to inspect the Ruger 22 to make sure it was totally empty. Im a revolver guy, and unloading and inspection is easy. The employee politely indicated that there was a round still in the magazine - at least it was unchambered. He pretended to take a round in the stomach and said "Make..sure...the gun is..unloaded...when you turn... it in..Sir.." and slumped across the counter all dramatically.
It was embarrassing, but he dint make a stink about it. Theyve seen me at the range over the years and Ive always heeded every rule. I did feel like crap days after, knowing that all I needed to do was to check the Ruger and remove the magazine before turning it in. I just boxed it up when finished and headed to the counter. It was the only safety violation Ive ever had in all my years of shooting but ive been beating myself up over it since then. Plain and simple I was distracted with the whole birthday operation but it shouldn't have happened.

Has anything like this ever happened to you at the range? Backing into parked cars, leaving the stove on, forgetting appointments, its happened in some form to all of us. Thoughts, comments, criticism?

[Nick_C_S]

Yeah, there was a couple layers of safety shed off there.

We're human. That makes being perfectly safe all the time rather difficult.

What happened isn't okay. But you've obviously internalized it; and it would seem you'll always remember what happened and be more careful in the future. And that's what makes the difference between someone who truly cares (you) and someone who doesn't.

Lesson learned. Enjoy your next trip out to the range.

[JohnKSa]

These incidents can be a tremendously constructive influence if they are used as teaching tools, either personally or when recounted to others.

It seems that many people don't really "get" gun safety until they have their own incident, or until they hear of or learn of an incident that somehow resonates with them.

There's the temptation to put our mistakes behind us and to move on as if they never happened. In some situations, that makes sense. But when gun safety is the topic, our mistakes should never be forgotten. They should be used to train ourselves and others.

[Nick_C_S]

Now that I waxed philosophical in my previous post; if I may take a more practical approach:

(I have since re-read your post and realized that some of this post didn't apply. So two paragraphs have been redacted here.)

If I were planning a large party to a range trip, I'd make sure there were several experienced range shooters among them. And I would coordinate with them that we would be the leaders and our personal shooting would take a back seat to the overall supervision of the party.

I don't know if that would have helped with your specific infraction, but I do think the overall hustle n bustle of the day contributed to it. I'm certainly not an authority on range safety. But that's my two-cent's-worth.

[405FileFound]

Thanks guys for the scolding. There's nothing more important than safety esp. on a gun range. Good news is that the shooting portion of the visit was fine - all of the safety rules were followed, the two novices followed our instructions, and we all had fun. I loaded the semi mags for the friends with the spring loader and give tips helped them with fundamentals, grip, stance, etc. I was busy with many tasks. I went through a few mags of the 9mm CZ75 that a friend had, since I fully knew how to clear it and hand it off to the next shooter bone empty.
To clear a semi auto pistol, its drop the mag, inspect the mag, pull back the slide, inspect the chamber and take any remedial action. In the hustle to gather up our stuff, coats, bags, trash, i was stuck in revolver mode where inspecting for loaded/not loaded is a one step process - swing out the cylinder and look. Its even more frustrating since I know how to operate a semi, during this trip and prior visits... this one dang time in a super rush forgot to check the pistol and clear it (I did put it to safe)... And I was one of the more seasoned shooters out there.

Damn.. damn-damn! (like Doc Emmet Brown in Back to the Future)

[Billy the Kidder]

The good part is that the range employee evidently did his required safety check upon being handed the weapon, found the unsafe condition and things were corrected.

[pax]

Thanks so much for posting this and helping us all learn from your goof.

To quote the great philosopher Homer Simpson: "You can't keep blaming yourself, Marge. Just blame yourself once, and move on."

It's important that you understand what happened, but you don't need to keep kicking yourself over it. Instead, focus on 'how' and 'why' questions. That will help you (and the rest of us) learn from it. It can help prevent you, and the people who hear your story, from doing something like that in the future. Sounds like you're doing that, and all's well.

pax

[shooterbob]

Wasn't at the range but I was hunting once and decided to change locs. I slung my rifle over my shoulder and realized I hadn't engaged the safety. Instead of unslinging, I reached back and was trying to feel for it and somebody Shot real close to me. I am on my property and wondering who was hunting on my land when it dawned on me. I had touched the trigger on my 300 h&h. I didn't feel it and thank god for that 26 in barrel over my head.
I was out a range last week and an older gent was shooting a 9 and he turned the gun and popped one over our heads. He didn't say a word. We quietly left asap.

[guruatbol]

Our church group organizes turkey shoots and other gun oriented outings. I have been the range master most of the time. Everyone seems to be very safe. We do the safety talk at the beginning and there are usually three of us designated to watch everyone.

You have reminded me that we need to make sure everyone's weapon is unloaded when it leaves the line. We are pretty good about that, but not mid-evil about it. We should be!

Thank you for sharing your incident and for learning from it. By you sharing there will be good reminders to us all about basic range safety, regardless if it is a field in the country where we shoot or an organized range.

Mel

[g.willikers]

One of the first things learned as a match director and range officer, was that it's important not to over burden those who are conducting the proceedings.
Like Nick_C_S said, You had too many participants for just one guy to over see.
A live fire range is no place for multi-tasking.
With your obvious sense of responsibility, betcha' you won't do that again.

[Pahoo]

Has anything like this ever happened to you at the range? Backing into parked cars, leaving the stove on, forgetting appointments, its happened in some form to all of us. Thoughts, comments, criticism?

Yes and directly propositional to one's age. The elements of this experience, overloaded your game-plan and you missed one detail. Your intentions and procedures may not have been perfect but were reasonable. As soon as I read; party of "ten" it raised a red flag for me and not sure if I would have performed as well as you did; so don't beat yourself up. .....

During our M/L classes, I do all the loading and prior to starting, I tell the students that I will be tuning them out and to either save their questions for later or ask one of the other instructors. On average, I load for 50-students. I have often gotten in trouble when I don't follow my own rules and lose track of my loading steps. .....

Carry on and;
Be Safe !!!

[McShooty]

You are lucky they did not ban you immediately from the range. A shooting range is no place for a birthday party. With ten people, some of whom are not 'gun guys' anything can happen, and the distractions caused by the large group just may be why you ended up being dangerous.

[TailGator]

What I got out of your story is a reminder to maintain focus and do everything to completion. You had too many things to think about and had too many distractions. Handling firearms isn't a good time to have that problem. You learned, you owned up to it, and you shared it for other folks to remind themselves. Shows more than a bit of character, IMO. Thanks for the post.

[bedbugbilly]

If you had screwed up in the service, your drill instructor would have chewed you a second one (regardless of what the infraction was) . . . you'd take it, learn from it . .. . and move on.

You sound like a good guy with a good head on your shoulders . . . remember something . . . . we all have screwed up at one time or another. If a shooter has shot for a long time and says they haven't . . . they're a liar.

There is one thing about the situation . . . you learned from it . . . as we all have learned from our mistakes . . . and I guarantee it will never happen again for you . . . because you are a mature and consciences shooter.

I have a lot of good friends, but that's not to say that I'd want to shoot with all of them. If you do it again, I think the suggestion of having several experienced shooters act as safety officers is a good one - and if someone is screwing around . . . out they go.

Learn from it but don't let it haunt you and eat you up. It's a learning lesson and regardless of what age we are, we all have 'em. That's what makes us human. Good luck to you and good shooting!

[Buzzcook]

There but for the grace of John Browning go I.

Stuff happens, kick yourself, learn from it, and move on.

[SIGSHR]

I can see how a large group of people and a festive atmosphere can be distracting. I have a pretty good sense of humor but I do my clowning around away from the range. Unfamiliar firearms require extra attention. You are an Army veteran , I recall hearing repeatedly that the largest number of people
anyone can supervise unattended is 6-10, 10+, you need an assistant-your own safety officer. Think of him as the Designated Driver-someone who is to be present but has another function to fill.

[Brotherbadger]

Goofs happen to us all. Just learn from your mistakes and it won't be a wasted lesson.

[DannyB1954]

Everybody screws up. It is a good idea to keep an eye on everybody, and not get offended when someone is keeping an eye on me.

I went to boot camp in Orlando Fl. the outdoor gun range had a cover over the shooting area to keep the summer sun under control. You could see lots of white spots on the ground from the little round holes in the roof.

[coldbeer]

Don't beat your self up over it 405. If all pork was perfect there wouldn't be any hot dogs.

[madmo44mag]

I organize and put on monthly shoots here in Dallas and it is a real undertaking to watch all the shooters.
We are allowed to call our own range which means any time the range is called COLD we have to inspect each gun to be sure it is unloaded, slide back, mag out or cyl open.
So I really can appreciate what it is like dealing with a large group of shooter and some of them being novice shooters.
There was a day when we were getting ready to pack up and two new shooters were asking me questions as I loaded up my range bag.
When I got home and started emptying my range bag one of the 45 acp pistols I had carried to the range that day fell out of the bag and hit the floor.
When I picked it up I noticed it was heavy as in too heavy to have a 14 round empty mag in the mag well.
You guessed it; gun had a full mag and one in the pipe and the slide lock was OFF.
From that day forward I do not talk to anyone while loading my bag.
That distraction could have been very disastrous.
The moral of the story is this: when dealing with large numbers of shooters you are reasonable for do not get in a hurry, do not get distracted and always double check everything you do.
This is also true for any time you are dealing with firearms.
Be safe, be watchful, and pay attention.
Mistakes happen and so do accidents but it only take one bad mistake to create an accident you may not be able to live with.

[Marty8613]

Yeah it has been a bit weird at times. I sometimes shoot at an indoor range here in Grapevine, but I don't like the separator wall that doesn't allow you to see the shooter next door. There are lots of people that turn their guns to inspect them and point right at the person to their left. I trained my wife and other folks how exactly to turn your body for inspection at the range in order to keep that barrel pointed down range.

I'm in madmo44mag's group now, and he does have his work cut out for him, overall it is a fun group, even with the strange folks. The range he uses is very nice for group activities. Bonus that the range had a female range officer there that kept my wife occupied while I shot, since we were stuck sharing a lane.

I got reminded for not opening up my slides quick enough, but them's the rules. Range was hot at the time.

[Yung.gunr]

Perfect example of why I don't like taking large groups of people or my Dad to the range.
My Dad has been around guns and woodworking tools all his life. I still don't know how he is still alive with all appendages. Just not the most careful or deliberate in his safety procedures.
And well, large groups are large groups, not a fan to begin with, adding gun's makes it worse.

[BigJimP]

I appreciate you posting this error ....it should cause all of us to pause, and think about our own safety procedures as we are packing our gear up at the range.

It was your responsibility to check that gun ...and you know it ...and you were lucky the range guy caught it and no one got hurt. Count it as a blessing...but don't ever forget you're the one that screwed up ! Own it --- don't try and justify it --- because you can't / you always have time to check those guns as you case them up. I understand you were running late - but that's for a lot of reasons...not because it takes you 5 sec to check a gun....

Big groups are tough / and I must admit I get sucked into a big group once in a while as well - and I often regret it. My range has a limit of no more than 4 shooters per booth .../ no more than 2 people can be in the firing lane at one time.....and I like the rule ( if my range didn't have it / I'd institute it myself ).

I follow a lot of extra rules when I have a group....only 1 type of ammo on the shooting bench. If I have more than one gun on the bench / they have to be unloaded...(and checked) ..and cased if they're not being fired. It just takes a few seconds to check them, case them, set them aside on shooting lane bench. Example: clear all the 9mm ammo, etc - case guns - put them behind the line in a range bag.....then take the .45 acp guns out to shooting lane and ammo, etc....

I know you didn't have any problems when you were shooting and that's great...

...My scary story....a buddy and his girlfriend asked to come to range with me, wanted instruction and to fire several guns that he knows I have - and he invited another buddy at last minute.../ despite all the extra precautions, one round at a time in a gun, get comfortable, when we went to 2 rounds in the gun ( the buddy's friend - fired one, as gun recoiled, he fired a 2nd round into the overhead of the range ). Scared the heck out of me.../ I grabbed the weapon / no one got hurt ( sheet rock dust in the air from the baffles )...and his range day was over .../ he was embarrassed, I was frustrated.../ but like you, I own that mistake ! It was my fault ! I consider it a lucky break that no one got hurt ! It means I need to be more demanding next time.../ I thought he was ready to fire 2 rounds, but he wasn't - he was too amped up and I should have realized it ...but I didn't ... !

[Quadpod88]

Honestly, I love this story. Not only are you willing to share your mistake, but you are very descriptive with how the employee treated you. I like this employee he isn't afraid to make his point in a nontraditional fashion. Sometimes it takes some embarrassment to get the picture. You beating yourself up about it isn't the worst thing, it tells a lot about your character. Just let the lesson sink in learn from and keep it as a reminder of a problem that should never repeat itself. Be proud of the fact that you're man enough to admit you made a mistake. As far as embarrassing stories go, I'll use an oldie but goody. A few years back me and a buddy were at a firing range with his ruger superhawk(spell check that please). The day had grown long and we had run several hundred rounds through it(not making excuses). When it was time for me to go up again, he dared me to shoot it one handed(i was young and stupid, and i'm a small guy). The part that will make you all weep, I was at that time still active duty and (definitely) should have known better. I accepted the challenge, not only did I shoot one handed but I also had a misfire and shot 2 rounds instead of just 1. I had to pay for a light because the second round went high. I got a profile for my next PT test for bruised tendons in my wrist. Thank god that was the only injury. I have learned from that lesson, I make sure to have both hands on any firearm and positive control over them at all times(well maybe not when reloading or performing functions, but you know what i mean).

[old bear]

405, it sounds as if you had WAY to much on your plate. We all make mistakes, make this one a learning Experience and see that it doesn't happen again.

It would also be a good idea to stop by the range and apologize again. That should go along way in smoothing troubled waters.