A while back I was involved with an ND at a range and I am just tossing this out there as a point in being and remaining safe.
The scenerio: Private indoor range, 50 ft, walk and hang targets. Arrived to find 4 other shooters in progress. Based on log time, they had been there approximately an hour. I entered and notified them that there were others waiting for range time as is the proceedure and they were sort of wrapping up anyway. They said they would clear a booth in the mean time. I exited and waited about 10 minutes while chatting with the guest I had brought.
I checked in again and they had cleared a booth and were sweeping up brass. At that point we loaded in our stuff. I then informed that I was going down range to hang targets. After hanging a few targets, the unthinkable happened. A round went off while I was standing there hanging targets.
Let me just say that I was in total disbelief that it even happened. I wasn't even sure how to process it. The first thing I did was spin around looking for a shooter in a booth, but there was none. This confused me even more. Everyone was still standing and seemed to be as confused as me. Unbelievably, after assessing this, I turned around and hung 2 more targets before walking back.
This is when I went from shocked to pissed. I confronted the party and the response was "i don't know, it just went off". Of course we all know that crap happens, but the issue is not the ND. The issue is that the ND took place while I was down range. Thankfully, the round went into the floor and not at me, but there was an injury to a person as a result of flying cement from the ND.
This leaves me with some strong issues now going to any range and shooting with people I don't know. You just never can trust someone not to be doing something stupid while you are not looking.
So, what do you do at the range when there are "strangers" present?
The scenerio: Private indoor range, 50 ft, walk and hang targets. Arrived to find 4 other shooters in progress. Based on log time, they had been there approximately an hour. I entered and notified them that there were others waiting for range time as is the proceedure and they were sort of wrapping up anyway. They said they would clear a booth in the mean time. I exited and waited about 10 minutes while chatting with the guest I had brought.
I checked in again and they had cleared a booth and were sweeping up brass. At that point we loaded in our stuff. I then informed that I was going down range to hang targets. After hanging a few targets, the unthinkable happened. A round went off while I was standing there hanging targets.
Let me just say that I was in total disbelief that it even happened. I wasn't even sure how to process it. The first thing I did was spin around looking for a shooter in a booth, but there was none. This confused me even more. Everyone was still standing and seemed to be as confused as me. Unbelievably, after assessing this, I turned around and hung 2 more targets before walking back.
This is when I went from shocked to pissed. I confronted the party and the response was "i don't know, it just went off". Of course we all know that crap happens, but the issue is not the ND. The issue is that the ND took place while I was down range. Thankfully, the round went into the floor and not at me, but there was an injury to a person as a result of flying cement from the ND.
This leaves me with some strong issues now going to any range and shooting with people I don't know. You just never can trust someone not to be doing something stupid while you are not looking.
So, what do you do at the range when there are "strangers" present?