Stupid range rules . . .

[GoldWinger]

I used to belong to a small pistol club in Maryland, Safety concious but not obsessive. Everyone watched the new guys and trusted the old guys to know what to do.

I hadn't been around for a while and I had a free Sunday when there was a pin match scheduled. Boy had things changed. The safety Nazis had taken over.

If you were carrying your pistol holstered, you could no longer re-insert your empty magazine or leave the hammer cocked. Why? It made the new members nervous. I don't know what the rules were at other ranges but we'd been working that way for over 50 years before the new guys got nervous.

Then it's my turn to shoot. For pins, I have a compensated 1911 with a dot sight. Bang, bang, etc. I'm done. My scope keeps me from using the serations on the end of the slide so I have serations on the front of the slide. I drop my mag, rack the slide to eject the round and show the RO my empty gun. "You can't do that," I'm told. Huh? "It's dangerous to put your hand close to the front of the gun to rack the slide." "Huh? What am I supposed to do to empty the gun?" Hold onto your hat . . . . wait for it. . .

Fire the last round into the dirt.

I told the head Safety Nazi that he was an idiot, packed my gear, left and never went back for anything but bullseye.

[DaveBigelow]

Quite possibly the dumbest rule ever... safety last in my book

[27hand]

Dormont/Mt Lebanon Sportsman's club is right there with the old "NO HOLSTER PLAY" rule.

There are absolutely NO presentations allowed from a holster.

I believe all of you can see the importance of enforcing a rule such as this.

I would like to be a fly on the wall at their defensive pistol training classes. It's a gun club so they probably teach this WITHOUT holsters.



Next is the 3 round in a rifle rule. This little jewel is enforced at a local range (Clairton) "for obvious safety concerns". If you happen to shoot CMP at this club, the rule does not apply because anyone shooting some style of military rifle automatically knows how to fire a military style rifle safely with more than the maximum of 3 as dictated to the dumbasses who go there to shoot anything other than those weapons.


6 rounds in a pistol. See above.


RFI stands for Request for information in the construction industry.

As applied to some gun clubs, it stands for Rampant F--king Idiocy


27hand

[TonyF]

Dormont/Mt Lebanon Sportsman's club is right there with the old "NO HOLSTER PLAY" rule.

There are absolutely NO presentations allowed from a holster.

I believe all of you can see the importance of enforcing a rule such as this.

I would like to be a fly on the wall at their defensive pistol training classes. It's a gun club so they probably teach this WITHOUT holsters.

Next is the 3 round in a rifle rule. This little jewel is enforced at a local range (Clairton) "for obvious safety concerns". If you happen to shoot CMP at this club, the rule does not apply because anyone shooting some style of military rifle automatically knows how to fire a military style rifle safely with more than the maximum of 3 as dictated to the dumbasses who go there to shoot anything other than those weapons.

6 rounds in a pistol. See above.

RFI stands for Request for information in the construction industry.

As applied to some gun clubs, it stands for Rampant F--king Idiocy

27hand

It usually begins with some untrained club member having an ND. Then instead of doing something about the lack of understanding of safety protocol, the club officials in power at the time institute a "zero tolerance" policy.

That dynamic (zero tolerance) is understandable in the current social climate but the curious thing about it is these things came about when you and I were just pups (e.g. back in the 60's and 70's).

[Steeltown]

I had enough of the public ranges for a primary place to shoot. I shot last month at Dillsburg and there was a game warden on the top rifle range bullshitting to whoever wanted to listen to him, the guy next to me lets about 8 rounds loose on his glock when all of a sudden the GW comes down bitching about how you cant shoot more than 3 or 4 (or whatever the fucking rule is) at a time, I had to ask why so I did, his answer? "It's the range rules"

I joined at the New Freedom range and could not be happier.

[Iron Sights]

If the Game Warden is reviewing the rules, everybody should be listening. It’s not BS, it’s the rules. If you don’t like them there are other options, obviously you found one and it works for you and good luck. Please don’t support those that think they can do what they want and end up closing the public range for those that do follow the rules. Your comment about the guy next to you speaks volumes about his ability to follow directions.

[hzox221]

I used to belong to a small pistol club in Maryland, Safety concious but not obsessive. Everyone watched the new guys and trusted the old guys to know what to do.

I hadn't been around for a while and I had a free Sunday when there was a pin match scheduled. Boy had things changed. The safety Nazis had taken over.

If you were carrying your pistol holstered, you could no longer re-insert your empty magazine or leave the hammer cocked. Why? It made the new members nervous. I don't know what the rules were at other ranges but we'd been working that way for over 50 years before the new guys got nervous.

Then it's my turn to shoot. For pins, I have a compensated 1911 with a dot sight. Bang, bang, etc. I'm done. My scope keeps me from using the serations on the end of the slide so I have serations on the front of the slide. I drop my mag, rack the slide to eject the round and show the RO my empty gun. "You can't do that," I'm told. Huh? "It's dangerous to put your hand close to the front of the gun to rack the slide." "Huh? What am I supposed to do to empty the gun?" Hold onto your hat . . . . wait for it. . .

Fire the last round into the dirt.

I told the head Safety Nazi that he was an idiot, packed my gear, left and never went back for anything but bullseye.

The firing in the dirt rule is stupid. The hammer down and magwell clear is very common in organized shooting events. Look at USPSA for example, the last range command is hammer down and holster. This is done as a final check to make sure that the chamber is clear.

Some sports require the chamber to be flagged.

As mentioned before if you don't like the rules don't go back.

[NP1724]

Dormont/Mt Lebanon Sportsman's club is right there with the old "NO HOLSTER PLAY" rule.

There are absolutely NO presentations allowed from a holster.

I believe all of you can see the importance of enforcing a rule such as this.

I would like to be a fly on the wall at their defensive pistol training classes. It's a gun club so they probably teach this WITHOUT holsters.

DML is much closer to me so I joined, very nice ranges, but 27 is right. I still go from time to time, but I joined PMSC for a club that fits more with how and when I want to shoot. DML does shut down all ranges often for activities which I don't have time to shoot, whereas PMSC typically has additional bays to use even when club functions are going on.

[P-11 shooter]

The firing in the dirt rule is stupid. The hammer down and magwell clear is very common in organized shooting events. Look at USPSA for example, the last range command is hammer down and holster. This is done as a final check to make sure that the chamber is clear.

Some sports require the chamber to be flagged.

As mentioned before if you don't like the rules don't go back.

Exactly. I can completely understand the clear magwell and hammer down rule for a USPSA type competition. I personally don't like cold ranges and think holstered is safe ehough but it's how USPSA runs shit.

As for the firing into the dirt that's dumb as hell. Unless you're sweeping your hand when you rack the slide then the guy is just being a dumbass.

[scoutjoe]

Does the RO give you a spare round in your caliber of choice after you follow his rule of idiocy?