Is the thread gone?
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The threat certainly is.
. . . . mysteriously disappeared. Has not been seen or heard from since.
I'd rather be lucky than good, but I'd rather KNOW I'm good than HOPE to get lucky.
I don't know if you are familiar with the berm layout out there as I have yet to see you there even just to visit and check the place out. ()
But long story short:
We had a guy working on the BACK SIDE of the uber-massive berm at the end of the 200 yard range. He was a full ten feet below the top of the berm.
We get a call on the radio from him saying in essence 'someone is trying to kill me!' One of our guys takes off full tilt to the rifle range.
Upon arrival he discovers the shooter standing, shooting offhand at a target 20 yards away.
The numbnuts had 30 minutes earlier watched a video and completed a written test making it absolutely unconditionally clear that he knew that what he was doing was NOT ALLOWED (or even close to smart). "The bullets MUST impact the berm."
What he was doing was: shooting at a target he had set up on the 200 yard range about 20 yards in front of him. Guess what his bullets were doing? Yup. Striking the ground about 30 yards from him, and ricocheting . . . . everywhere. You know that once a rifle bullet is bent there IS NO predicting which way it will go, these were hitting the top of the 200 yard berm, flying completely over the 200 yard berm, we even found fresh impact marks (baby craters) in the sides of the range 50 yards from where he was standing.
And of course, he was not shooting slow controlled groups, he was doing magazine dumps with a poodle shooter.
I'd rather be lucky than good, but I'd rather KNOW I'm good than HOPE to get lucky.
So the worker wasn't in immediate danger - but the shooter was absolutely breaking all kinds of important safety rules and the worker was hearing ricochets?
I was on the 200 yard range last weekend and as we were walking down to check targets we could hear a few zingers fly over our head - this was during the RAFSU event (was that 2 weeks ago?) - in any case - yeah, it was a little cringe-inducing but I didn't suspect anybody was trying to kill me.
Later when we drove down to the steel bay at the end (range 12 maybe?) we saw some of the RAFSU kids laying prone shooting what looked like .22's - so I wouldnt be surprised if a novice dinked a few off the ground short of their target which could explain the zingers.
How often do Talon employees patrol the ranges to make sure all the rules are being followed?
He certainly thought he was in danger. Kids these days just ain't as . . . . . robust, as the used to be. Send a little lead in their general direction and they get all excited.
What I found most surprising was that he didn't return fire. But don't worry, I have him in remedial education now.
The RAFSu event last weekend was a "membership drive". They had about 40 new shooters show up. I got the impression from watching them that the majority of them had never even seen a gun in real life before. That they didn't shoot a range officer (there were four on that single bay) is remarkable.
We DO do regular patrols. But we do not do them on a fixed schedule. I am still trying to get "management" to agree to allow at least one RO stroll the range FULL TIME, but damn, there is just so much to do and so few people to get it all done I can actually understand when they say to me "we just can't right now".
Well DANG! You gotta let me know who you are next time! And yeah, I call everyones poodle shooter a poodle shooter. Even my own.![]()
I'd rather be lucky than good, but I'd rather KNOW I'm good than HOPE to get lucky.
And Rumbler, I have seen you there several times - just never introduced myself. I figured out who you were when you referenced my rifle as a "poodle shooter" - I was like ... "Ah, I bet that's Rumbler" I got a laugh out of that.