After the first shot the rest is just noise.

William Suter

Well-known member
That's AWS's signature line and it makes perfect sense to me. I was at the club yesterday working loads for my T/C and a couple of fellows were on the pistol range. It sounded like a war zone. Mag dump after mag dump after mag dump and this went on for a long time. Aside from burning up a few hundred rounds of ammo and probably their barrels, what was accomplished? Maybe they think they are GI Joe in a war or something. I watch videos of shooters doing the same thing. I call it spray and pray. I'm more of a one shot one kill kind of shooter. Does quantity over quality make up for poor marksmanship? Just seems like a terrible waste to me and it really tears up the targets that me and another guy have to replace.
 
To each their own when it comes to shooting. While I'm absolutely with you on your thoughts. I'm more about solid, accurate shooting under control. But If someone at a range wants to blow their wad acting like some movie gangster ripping off rounds, who am I to tell them not to? Unless there are rules in place on the range that prohibits rapid fire or round restrictions, I see no reason to grumble about what someone else does on the range. Their ammo. Their barrels. Their money invested.

There are a couple speed shooters at my club that are very good at what they do. Far more accurate than me under the same scenario. I assume they got that way with practice. Is it for me? No. Is it a bad thing? No. Does it matter at all to me? No. Should my opinion matter at all to your way of thinking? No.

Too many important things to think about in life. Someone else's shooting habits aren't too far up on my list of things to worry about. Just my opinion. YMMV?
 
Other than the destruction of target backs and the boards that are destroyed, I really don't care either. But usually they shoot up the 2x4 frames and the 4x4 posts and they are expensive when you have to replace them. No one pays to shoot on the rifle or pistol ranges so the club foots the bill. And FYI, we don't get paid to replace them either. Our yearly dues are $125. I had 84 hours last year in repair and mowing. That's about a buck fifty an hour. So it does have a tendency to make a guy wonder why.
 
We have a problem with this at 1 of the 2 clubs I belong to…amazingly the 50yd upright 2x4’s are riddled with .22 caliber holes. The wind flags are constantly being shot as well…it’s pathetic.
There’s no reason for it other than deliberate destruction. It’s discussed at almost every monthly meeting and in every newsletter.
 
i can understand the novelty of a mag dump for the cool factor but fail to understand the destructive nature of this type of person willfully shooting at supports and stuff. idiots
 
Change to bylaws and range use. Designate a specific range or specific stations to allow for rapid fire. Steel or member supplied targets/backers/frames on said stations that must be removed/cleaned up by member. Monetary penalty for intentional destruction of club property or membership termination.

There are ways to deal with it. Shouldn’t have to. Unfortunately, it’s something we have to deal with in today’s world.
 
They were on the pistol range, were they shooting pistols?

I've only been trying to learn how to shoot a pistol for a few months. But at this point, when I'm practicing, it's mostly practice to shoot faster. So, I'm usually shooting about 3 rounds per second and trying to push it ever faster. My typical training session is 300 rounds in a little over an hour. When I'm not mending targets or stuffing mags, but actually shooting, I'll go through my five mags one after the other mostly shooting them as fast as I can. I'm a noob, but I don't believe one shot one kill is actually a thing with a 9mm carry pistol.

Can't get a feel for where I'm breaking down and need to do better without trying to go faster and faster and forcing errors. And that means burning up a lot of ammo in a short time. And it's a lot of fun :D .

I don't shoot at a range either though. I don't know of any around me that allow the kind of pistol shooting I'm doing. But then too, I haven't hit any of my target frames yet either.

- DAA
 
LOL, you don't have to repair the targets.
I get your frustration, seeing someone tear up your hard work out of either ignorance or willful destruction (and there's more of that in our community than we'd like to admit) is really maddening. But like was said, maybe it's time for a rule change at the range.

I quit the paid public ranges 15 years ago when I found some property to build my own on, I hope to never go back lol.
 
I guess I am lucky as I have always lived in the country with my own range, mine to 200 and my neighbors to 370 (300 is as far as I shoot). He shoots out to 1200 from atop the ridge at his house into the hillside pasture across the hollow from our house.
 
I'd be making some of those supports out of metal is probably what I'd do. That way people ain't trying to shoot them but avoiding it instead. If not I'd tell people they probably need to plan on bringing their own targets and ways to hang them. If I was wanting to burn up ammo that bad I'd bring me some t-post and a sheet of plywood and build my own stuff to shoot up. If they can't help but be destructive I guess they can learn to shoot at a dirt pile.

I'm not a big target shootin guy in general. If it ain't got fur or feathers on it I really don't like shootin at it. But I sure wouldn't be picking up other people's mess if I did. They're mature enough to have a firearm, they can be mature enough to learn you either take care of what you got or don't have it. It's really that cut and dry. It ain't your job to babysit other people. Especially since nobody pays to go out there. At that point it's a privilege to be out there. Ain't nobody guaranteed they have to come back.
 
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They were on the pistol range, were they shooting pistols?

I've only been trying to learn how to shoot a pistol for a few months. But at this point, when I'm practicing, it's mostly practice to shoot faster. So, I'm usually shooting about 3 rounds per second and trying to push it ever faster. My typical training session is 300 rounds in a little over an hour. When I'm not mending targets or stuffing mags, but actually shooting, I'll go through my five mags one after the other mostly shooting them as fast as I can. I'm a noob, but I don't believe one shot one kill is actually a thing with a 9mm carry pistol.

Can't get a feel for where I'm breaking down and need to do better without trying to go faster and faster and forcing errors. And that means burning up a lot of ammo in a short time. And it's a lot of fun :D .

I don't shoot at a range either though. I don't know of any around me that allow the kind of pistol shooting I'm doing. But then too, I haven't hit any of my target frames yet either.

- DAA
go for accuracy first then speed. get the smallest groups possible out to 20 yards, then go back closer and work on the speed. dont go further out until you get the speed and groups you want at a closer range.

reason is...when the crap hits the fan, your groups are going to go all over the place, accuracy is out the window. if you have a private range, go back about 100 yards away from the 15 or 20 yard line, sprint as fast as you can, full speed like a lion is chasing you, up to that line, then draw, aim and fire with out stopping to catch your breath....you'll see what i mean :)
 
To reply to some of the comments. About the only "rules" we have is no tracers, no full auto and no 50 cals. Also no shot shells on the pistol range. Our pistol range goes out to 100yds so some members shoot both rifle and pistol there which is OK. As for steel supports. Some of the board members woulds have a stroke. The only steel is bring your own steel and it has to be placed inside our dinger berm which is a large opening surrounded by railroad ties. As for educating them.......most don't want to hear it anyway.
 
go for accuracy first then speed. get the smallest groups possible out to 20 yards, then go back closer and work on the speed. dont go further out until you get the speed and groups you want at a closer range.

reason is...when the crap hits the fan, your groups are going to go all over the place, accuracy is out the window. if you have a private range, go back about 100 yards away from the 15 or 20 yard line, sprint as fast as you can, full speed like a lion is chasing you, up to that line, then draw, aim and fire with out stopping to catch your breath....you'll see what i mean :)

Always appreciate any input on this, as I really am a noob.

I would say I've already achieved more accuracy than I hoped to get out of this pistol. Its a 3.1 inch barrel, "micro 9" carry pistol. I have already shot some varmints with it at beyond "defensive pistol" range, and hope to shoot many more. So accuracy at distance doesn't mean nothing to me. And I do regularly shoot a couple mags at 40 and 50 yards. I just don't think accuracy at distance realistically has the potential to be all that great.

But, anyway... Yes, I do agree completely, accuracy then speed. But I've surpassed my accuracy goals with this pistol and am now working on speed. I can group them tight enough to satisfy me at whatever given distance, when taking it slow. I just want to maintain that accuracy going faster. Or see how much accuracy I can maintain going as fast as I can. And for me, that's a lot more fun than trying to tighten up groups.

But I ain't running nowhere. If that gets me killed, well, at least I didn't die running :ROFLMAO: .

- DAA
 
My club needs to limit magazine capacity…I doubt that will stop the idiots, but would def curb it some.
We have National matches and it’s definitely embarrassing to have the uprights shot up like they are.
I’d like to stop the use of staple guns as well but that will never happen. I use large sized metal push pins. It becomes difficult to place targets with all the staples and chunks of targets left there. We use pine boards so it’s not hard to push pins in.
We have steel plates at 235yds if retards wanna blast ammo, but they’d rather shoot the uprights.
I’ve never personally seen anyone do it, but they were riddled within 2 weeks of the last board replacement
 
Here's a drill to play:



This is my first go at it. With about 300 rounds of experience. I have not tried it since, but have about 2700 rounds on the pistol now. I need to shoot it again and see how I do compared to back in October.

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When the weather is nice enough, my Daughter has been practicing with me too, using her P-365 .380. This was her go at it back on the same day. She's gotten a lot better since then but hasn't shot this drill again since either.

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A big part of the fun in all this for me is the fact my Daughter is really having fun with it too. This was her shooting for speed a couple months ago. I'm only barely keeping ahead of her and only because I'm putting in more time and ammo. Her young good eyes, reflexes and coordination are hard to keep ahead of.

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Her fiancé is a police officer. And he's pretty darn good with his Glock. Better than either of us. But we are kind of secretly practicing and not saying anything. Daughter and I are planning to bring him out like sometime in May after we both have two or three thousand more rounds of practice and surprise him by hopefully kicking his arse :ROFLMAO:.

- DAA
 
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