indoor range shooting / practice

subway · June 15, 2006, 03:31 PM

oooh boy, this is gonna get me slammed, but…

I need some “what to practice / how to practice” type advice.

I’m a rifle shooter who makes it to the local outdoor range almost every Friday and blasts away at targets from 100 to 400 yards.

I’ve never shot a pistol and with zero chance of every getting a carry permit in LA, I don’t see much use for one. But I like the idea of being able to shoot indoors at one of the many local indoor pistol ranges, so I purchased a 9mm Ruger Police Carbine. (especially after missing several outdoor range days due to rain earlier this year).

So I finally got my PC9 yesterday and went down to the local range and signed up for their yearly deal; $150 for unlimited free range time for one year. I grabbed five paper targets, a 50 round box of ammo and got set up on one of the lanes. What happened next has little to do with me, as I had never fired the gun previously. But firing a carbine with a 16 inch barrel at a short indoor range requires some type of handicap to make it interesting, as a total first timer managed to hit 47 of 49 rounds dead center in the 10 ring. Two rounds were dead center just below in the 9 ring and one round jammed and had to be tossed. (when I removed it from the chamber, it was about ¼” shorter than when it had gone in!).

Obviously, I can drag the carbine up to the outdoor rifle range and shoot at more distant targets, but that’s not what I bought it for. I’d rather find some type of more challenging way to shoot indoors. (effortlessly burning a big hole through the center of countless targets at the indoor range will get old fast.) Are there some sort of competition rules that could make things more challenging? Unfortunately, they do not allow “fast shooting” - you are supposed to allow one second between shots, so trying to shoot faster (while remaining accurate) is not an option. I guess I could make up my own rules, like aiming for different areas on a target, but if there are some sort of existing “games” that will make indoor carbine shooting more challenging, I’d like to learn about them. Otherwise, that yearly membership is gonna look like a dumb idea.

Please don’t bother flaming me for bragging, that wasn’t the point. the good score resulted from using a rifle barrel on a pistol range, not anything special that I did. thanks.

gdeal · June 15, 2006, 05:39 PM

You are only going to get slammed for NOT using the Search function.

Dust_Devil · June 16, 2006, 05:32 PM

Search function? Ewww. Using that requires work.

I use indoor ranges for much of my shooting and the main thing an indoor range takes away is the ability to manuever around and take shots from different angles and body positions, unless you are given the whole indoor range area to set up mutiple targets in an indoor shoothouse type of setting with walls, obstacles, etc.

June 15, 2006, 03:31 PM	#1
subway Junior Member Join Date: March 28, 2006 Posts: 12	indoor range shooting / practice oooh boy, this is gonna get me slammed, but… I need some “what to practice / how to practice” type advice. I’m a rifle shooter who makes it to the local outdoor range almost every Friday and blasts away at targets from 100 to 400 yards. I’ve never shot a pistol and with zero chance of every getting a carry permit in LA, I don’t see much use for one. But I like the idea of being able to shoot indoors at one of the many local indoor pistol ranges, so I purchased a 9mm Ruger Police Carbine. (especially after missing several outdoor range days due to rain earlier this year). So I finally got my PC9 yesterday and went down to the local range and signed up for their yearly deal; $150 for unlimited free range time for one year. I grabbed five paper targets, a 50 round box of ammo and got set up on one of the lanes. What happened next has little to do with me, as I had never fired the gun previously. But firing a carbine with a 16 inch barrel at a short indoor range requires some type of handicap to make it interesting, as a total first timer managed to hit 47 of 49 rounds dead center in the 10 ring. Two rounds were dead center just below in the 9 ring and one round jammed and had to be tossed. (when I removed it from the chamber, it was about ¼” shorter than when it had gone in!). Obviously, I can drag the carbine up to the outdoor rifle range and shoot at more distant targets, but that’s not what I bought it for. I’d rather find some type of more challenging way to shoot indoors. (effortlessly burning a big hole through the center of countless targets at the indoor range will get old fast.) Are there some sort of competition rules that could make things more challenging? Unfortunately, they do not allow “fast shooting” - you are supposed to allow one second between shots, so trying to shoot faster (while remaining accurate) is not an option. I guess I could make up my own rules, like aiming for different areas on a target, but if there are some sort of existing “games” that will make indoor carbine shooting more challenging, I’d like to learn about them. Otherwise, that yearly membership is gonna look like a dumb idea. Please don’t bother flaming me for bragging, that wasn’t the point. the good score resulted from using a rifle barrel on a pistol range, not anything special that I did. thanks.

June 15, 2006, 05:39 PM	#2
gdeal Senior Member Join Date: October 30, 2005 Location: Southern California Posts: 748	Home on the Range You are only going to get slammed for NOT using the Search function.

June 16, 2006, 05:32 PM	#3
Dust_Devil Senior Member Join Date: August 5, 2005 Location: Arizona Posts: 235	Search function? Ewww. Using that requires work. I use indoor ranges for much of my shooting and the main thing an indoor range takes away is the ability to manuever around and take shots from different angles and body positions, unless you are given the whole indoor range area to set up mutiple targets in an indoor shoothouse type of setting with walls, obstacles, etc.