Would you all be willing to post what you understand to be, or would like to have as, good manners at the range, be it an indoor range or out-of-doors?

I have yet to find a good, thorough list.


I had to request at the women's fun shoot I went to, that no one talk to the shooter while she was shooting. Some took it for granted that every one knew that, and others had never thought about it.

Could we cover the whole spectrum?

Thanks, again. I do appreciate all your help. :)

That one is certainly not universally known. A few weeks ago, I was shooting in a booth, alone, with the strap closed across the back. I'm lining up a shot when suddenly this voice is shouting right next to me. Turns out it was a young, volunteer ranger officer wanting to know where I got the forearm on my AR-15.

On the other hand, maybe it is good training to keep your nerve amid distractions like that :)

I think one of the most important rules of etiquette is to clean up after yourself. I am sometimes amazed.

In my view,you should NOT distract or disturb a shooter in the act of aiming/shooting,except for an emergency cease fire.
This is a routine decision you make when you want to go downrange.
A Range Officer,if he suspects that you are not following the rules,can interfere,however.
Our Club has a different problem.Some Shooters consider their time on the range as a "social" affair,and spend more time talking then shooting.
I am never bothered,because I am hard of hearing,but it is a distraction to some Shooters,and should be held to a minimum,or removed to the rear.
Frank

If there are only one or two shooters (little activity) on the range we normally announce "fire in the hole" before taking a shot just to keep from surprising someone.

It's been so long now since I've been at any kind of supervised range. I don't remember the rule list anymore. I shoot at our local gravel pit and If there's someone else there we usually wait til they are done or simply come back at another time, especially if the local machine gun club is there. Those 50 caliber Ma Duces's are just really loud and distracting.

Here's my grand daughter at our local gravel pit range. It's narrow enough that only a couple of benches can be set up at a time.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Guns/Shootingrelated-149.jpg

It's a bring your own target and shooting bench thing.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Guns/Shootingrelated-136.jpg

On one edge a fella has about a hundred bee boxes with busy bees making honey all summer. He has posted a sign that says please don't shoot my bee hives.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Guns/Benchrestattherange.jpg

Our range rules here are pretty simple:

Pick up your brass and garbage when you leave.

Don't shoot the bee hives.

It's OK to watch other shooters, but wait til their done to BS.

The rules at most ranges that have range officers on duty are usually posted for all to see. Ranges that don't have supervision usally have some abbreviated rules posted, but often folks pay little attention to them. We had an open range like that in Lewiston for a few years and even the bathrooms ended up being shot full of holes. The volunteers that maintained it finally closed it and tore it down. Such a shameful way some folks act.

Oh, here's another one: don't stand so that other people's targets are behind yours. I normally place my target on the 100 yard line, and odds are that one of the people next to me will be shooting at 7 yards. If they don't stand in the center of their booth, their line of fire tends to cross over into the next lane.

Faucettb: Looks like you live in beautiful country. Florida, where I live, is flat swamp, flat scrub pine, or flat condos. Usable open land is at such a premium, the sort of space I see in your pics would be snapped up by a developer lickity split. Maybe I'll retire to Idaho! As for rules at my range, pick up all brass and it is basically understood that you don't talk to a shooter when he's shooting - best wait until the line isn't hot (although this last rule is often broken, but it sort of marks a man with the "regulars"). --Mykal

We have places here where you can shoot a thousand yards or multiples of if you want. This country has prairie country and mountain country. I used to kid folks about there only being two directions here, straight up and straight down along with our rivers being either a mile wide and an inch deep or an inch wide and a mile deep.

One thing for sure if your going to shoot longer ranges you really need to practice at those ranges and from real field shooting positions instead of off a bench rest.

LBR if your shooting at a public range that's monitored by range personnel then there should be posted rules. If it's a public range with no personnel there may be posted rules, but getting folks to follow them is an iffy proposition.

When I shot at that kind of range I found that if you have range slobs there's nothing that your going to do except raise your blood pressure past limits it shouldn't be. I've left several times when that happens. Ranges that have monitors on staff usually cost money, but are often well worth it if there's no other places to shoot.

Faucettb: Range slobs - I like that. I go to a very well regulated range with a bunch of range officers and rules, which I like. It keeps the kids showing off with their new Glocks (and the like) off the range and generally sort of moves the "range slobs" along. Some folks don't like the regualtions, but I do. It makes me feel safer, like I won't get shot by some yahoo taking a potshot on a supposidly cold line when I'm downrange checking on a target. -Mykal

Faucett: the posted rules at the range where I shoot cover safety, but not good manners.

I'm starting to be able to identify certain types of shooters. Naturally, there are always exceptions to categories.

I leave when I think someone isn't being careful enough for me to not be distracted. I'd rather shoot my air rifle at home than be worried about what the person in the next lane is up to.

It looks like the main things are keeping a safe distance, being quiet, and cleaning up after oneself.

theres no way to avoid danger .. not long ago i was watching an young fella with his dad..
he would shoot then swing the gun all over the place .. and my pet peeve was he never took his finger off the trigger .. the owner was setting with me and finally he just smiled and told the young fella he needed to open the bolt and leave it open until he was ready to shoot..
these younguns are what we need but they still gotta be taught safety..

I shoot at the rifle range but hand-gunners shoot there too. The thing I absolutely insist on during a cease fire is - don't handle your gun for any reason whatsoever when there are people down range. Leave it on the bench and step away from the bench. No exceptions. I've left the range a couple of times when people are not following safe gun handling procedures and told them exactly why I'm leaving. Most are very safe to be around but you do find the occasional A-hole that isn't. A much appreciated courtesy is to make sure everyone has their ears on before you start shooting.

The range I use is a very nice county owned range, but since it's part of a 1700 acre park, the ranger seldom has time to police the range....and we have more of our fair share of slobs that use target material that's specifically banned and the rules are very visible.....and of course they never clean the material up. And of course, only the handloaders police their brass, the rest of the folks never clean up after shooting boxes of cartridges.

While I wouldn't specifically call an additional gripe of mine an etiquette problem, starting in the fall the black powder folks show up and none of them apparently can afford a spotting scope. So it's one shot and then walk down range while the rest of us wait....another shot and walk down range. I typically just pack up and go home.

My only gripe is people that don't look around to make sure the other shootersare wearing their ear protection. Our rifle range is only six stations wide, has a roof and a wall 4' high on three sides, so shots in there are quite a lot worse than outside. Again, it is not hard to look around after a lull in the shooting and just issue a warning you're going to shoot. Action pistol shooters tend to come to the rifle range 'cause they can set up their targets at various distances and don't seem concerned with the rifle shooters there. Until they get an earful of 30-06 when THEY have their muffs off. Only once, I haven't seen him again.

I shoot at unsupervised outdoor ranges. Generally if someone is shooting I ask if I can set up beside him. Usually there's no problem, same thing if I'm there first I don't mind someone shooting beside me. Did have a run-in with a young air force guy. He set up beside me and then moved back about 5 feet before opening up with an AK variant. He said my muzzle blast was too hard on his ears (no hearing protection). He never thought twice about his muzzle blast bothering me or the hot brass that was zinging my dirrection.

Guess another pet peave is a pistol shooter that ties up the 100-300 yard range shooting 30 feet from the berm, there's plenty of other places to set up that offers 50 yard shooting.

One other gripe is seeing all the trash left behind.... just makes my blood boil...:mad:
I don't mind the good brass though 'cause I load for lots of calibers.

I shoot two times a month for local USPSA matches at public ranges.

The Golden Rule applies to a lot of range etiquette. We announce that the range is going hot to allow people to put on eye and ear protection (we shoot steel & paper targets) when somebody else is shooting, the only thing that interrupts are safety situations or to stop the shooter in the event of a range failure, ie the wind blows down a steel target.

The best thing is to communicate what you want with the other shooters, don't be afraid to ask someone to be quiet or give you more room. If somebody else isn't being safe, its okay to tell them so, but be personable about it.

It hasn't happened very often but on a couple occassions, I have been downrange setting up reactive targets and had a "visitor" who no one knew step up to the firing line and start handling weapons without the owner's (me, in one case) permission. My first response was a polite "Please put the pistol down and step away from the firing line while people are down range." He responded, "I'm just looking. Is this a ....." Whereby I stopped what I was doing and moved directly towards him, using my best parade ground voice, "You do NOT have my permission to handle my pistols! Put it down now and step away!" This, of course, got the attention of the next group of shooters, some of whom had pistols in hand, and they moved towards our "guest" at the same time. Needless to say he complied, stepped back and was escorted away from the firing line.

After I had calmed down a bit, I explained to him the gross breach of etiquette and the fact that people downrange feel threatened when someone they don't know is on the firing line and starts handling a pistol (unloaded, but with a loaded magazine close at hand) without bothering to ask anyone for permission. After that, we paid closer attention to unsupervised guests and visitors.

You leave a gun unattended?

I'm curious about your statement - when we walk down range to check targets the guns are left on the bench unattended. Is your range different?

If we need a new target, have a question or are worried about safety, or if we need more bullets or to borrow a tool, the rules at the indoor range where I shoot include leaving one's firearm on the table in the lane. As far as I know, there has never been a problem.

I shoot at my own private range, so I can leave them, because there is nobody else around. With the action pistol stuff, you keep your gun holstered, and I make it a point to reload my magazines right after I shoot a stage. When I use the public range (very rarely) I always keep my pistol with me. If I leave my area I'll put my guns in the car and lock it up before I go check targets.

With an indoor range there is probably somebody there to keep an eye on things, but at a public range I don't even give some somebody the chance to steal one of my guns, whether its my $200 10/22 or one of my $900+ hunting rifles.

My only gripe is people that don't look around to make sure the other shootersare wearing their ear protection. Our rifle range is only six stations wide, has a roof and a wall 4' high on three sides, so shots in there are quite a lot worse than outside. Again, it is not hard to look around after a lull in the shooting and just issue a warning you're going to shoot. Action pistol shooters tend to come to the rifle range 'cause they can set up their targets at various distances and don't seem concerned with the rifle shooters there. Until they get an earful of 30-06 when THEY have their muffs off. Only once, I haven't seen him again.

At every range I've been to, the rule is to ALWAYS have your eye/ear protection on. It's nobody else's fault if you go out to where people are shooting, and aren't smart enough to protect yourself.

You leave a gun unattended?


Matt
I may be fortunate,but leaving guns unattended is normal,around here.
My favorite range is my Club range,and we have 1000 members,so I usually see strangers on the range.Breach of etiquette is common among these folks,but I have yet to hear of a case of something stolen.Something left behind is in great peril,however.
Frank

They're too valuable to leave unattended.

Spurrit, like I said, it is a very small range, and after a cease fire to check targets and so on, it is just common courtesy to look around and warn people you're going to fire. Some people will be scoring their targets and/or setting up to shoot and not ready to fire yet. At least thats the way it is here.

I'm sorry, I realize I used the word "lull" before, what I meant was a "cease fire". where people go down range to change targets and so on. After getting back it is normal not to have your ear and eye protection on until somebody calls the line "hot".

Matt
I may be fortunate,but leaving guns unattended is normal,around here.
My favorite range is my Club range,and we have 1000 members,so I usually see strangers on the range.Breach of etiquette is common among these folks,but I have yet to hear of a case of something stolen.Something left behind is in great peril,however.
Frank

Folks normally DO leave their guns unattended while checking targets or whatnot.

Spurrit, like I said, it is a very small range, and after a cease fire to check targets and so on, it is just common courtesy to look around and warn people you're going to fire. Some people will be scoring their targets and/or setting up to shoot and not ready to fire yet. At least thats the way it is here.

It's the rule on most ranges that eye/ear protection stays on at ALL times, on the range. Not just the firing line. On the whole range. The areas where you can do without them are obvious.