[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Range rats (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 11/20/2009 4:47:39 PM EDT
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Does anyone else hate these douchebags? You know what I'm talking about. The guy that shows up to the range all the time, either bald or sporting a pony tail, unshaven scraggly face, and lets not forget the camoflage doo-rag on his head. He spends his time joking around with his buddies. Rare is it that he actually shoots, but boy oh boy, he never hesitates to come over and give his fucking opinion  I took a girl and two of my coworkers shooting today (No pics... sorry), and I'm instructing her pretty closely on how to shoot my FN PS90. She's never shot a gun before today, and she had only shot my .22LR prior to this. I click the safety off for her, have her line up the sights, tell her to put her finger on the trigger, and to start shooting whenever shes ready. Being the typical new girl, she pulls on the trigger delicately, as if it's going to break if she pulls it too hard. She says aloud "The trigger is really hard to pull on this", right as the "range rat" walks by. He very arrogantly says "safeties on" and keeps walking by to go stare at my other two buddies shooting next to me.  I tell her to ignore him and keep shooting. He then spends about 2 minutes staring at what I brought (Norinco 84-S, Preban M4gery, PTR-91, GSG-5, Mossberg 590A1 and Henry lever action .22lr) with the "Dees he-ear guns suuureee look illegal" look on his face, before he walks back and stares at the girl shooting. Then, while I'm answering one of her questions, he starts interjecting his opinion about how she should be holding the rifle. I'm getting pretty pissed at this point, and tell him firmly that she's just firing a few rounds down range to get some feel for it, seeing as it was getting dark and we needed to pack up soon (a full blown marksmanship 101 isn't really possible in 30 minutes, especially when I wanted to make sure we had time to shoot some clay pidgeons out of the trap house.). He saunters back over to my table of guns with the same arrogant look on his face  , then returns to his gaggle of fellow range rats that "came by to check out the range" (Their words  ). I move us over to the trap house real quick, so that everyone can shoot a few rounds of trap really quick (It's still pretty light out at this point). I give them instruction on how to operate the shotgun and the clay pidgeon launcher, and away we go. I let each of them shoot 8 rounds out of the Mossberg and we start to clean up, before range rat comes back, and again arrogantly says "Getting close to dusk, don't you think it's time to clean up". I again, sounding pretty irritated this time, explain that we're done shooting and just cleaning up (As if sweeping up shotgun shells and packing things up doesn't appear obvious to this). He walks away and finally leaves with his fellow rats. After we had everything packed up and put away, I explained the typical gun range phenomenon I had noticed (including range rats) and we all had a good laugh over it, but people like this just fucking grind my gears Am I alone in experiencing this "range rat" at the shooting range? |
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Quoted:
Does anyone else hate these douchebags? You know what I'm talking about. The guy that shows up to the range all the time, either bald or sporting a pony tail, unshaven scraggly face, and lets not forget the camoflage doo-rag on his head. He spends his time joking around with his buddies. Rare is it that he actually shoots, but boy oh boy, he never hesitates to come over and give his fucking opinion
? Damn, everybody on the forum tells me to get out of Mom's basement, away from the computer, and get some sun. Now you want be back in the basement? Theres just no pleasing some people... 
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agree with the gangbangers shit
usually white wannabes who go "OH SHIT SON" after every shot they shoot on their stupid buddies shit gun he probably stole when i go there i usually wait till the fags are gone before i pull out my AR or some such shit. out of sight, out of mind. ive already had to explain to these faggositos how it isnt a fully automatic "machine gun" twice. both times i get nervous when the putos start handling the gun and do the scarface impression with it
fuck gangsters.
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| I think every place has them. There's a couple where I go. Rarely see the second, but this one guy is a real pain. I could take out an AR and he'll say he's got 67 of them. Doesn't matter what it may be, he'll have multiples except I've never seen him firing. I can pull out a set of Remington 673's, though not rare, are certainly not common and you guessed it, he's got those X 6. And you know, he might, I don't know him from snot, I don't want to. He always pulls up a chair behind you and starts beating the drum. But the true motive is, what he really want's is the brass. That's it. Cut and dry. It's like having someone asking you if your gonna eat that sitting across the table. There's not much the club can do about him though members have complained a bit, he really hasn't violated any rules and he is an actual member. I can usually get rid of him by telling him before he even starts that noise that no, he can't have my brass as I reload. He then buzzes off to his next victim. I don't really like people hanging around at a gun range except the ones I go with. It's not that I'm stingy or one way, if someone has a real interest in what I'm using, then I'll let them through a few down range but I generally let Platt and Maddox come to mind. I always carry at the range and only half of whatever size our group is will go and change targets while the others stay behind as gear guards and to watch our backs. And this is in a private club, I can only imagine the public ranges. |
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I had a spotting scope at the range and have helped people spot rounds
Past that I let them shoot Had one guy checking a new scope on his 30-30 Bang I said "Don't touch it" He put it at the top of the Bull at 50 yards then put 3 more close to it Helped a few soldiers sight their ARs in too (just spotting rounds) Felt proud to be of service to them And if you shoot, buy a spotting scope for when I'm not there 
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I can't imagine tolerating anyone like that - at all. I've never encountered someone not employed by the firing range who took it upon themselves to interrupt my shooting or stick his nose in anything I was doing. I would very flatly tell them to shut up and leave. I do not know why you felt it was necessary to explain yourself to someone accosting your group.
The only time a fellow shooter interacts with me is during target changes. And that is completely fine - and it always involves friendly conversation. If I was giving instructions to a new shooter, I would not tolerate interruptions. No way. 
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Quoted:
I can't imagine tolerating anyone like that - at all. I've never encountered someone not employed by the firing range who took it upon themselves to interrupt my shooting or stick his nose in anything I was doing. I would very flatly tell them to shut up and leave. I do not know why you felt it was necessary to explain yourself to someone accosting your group. The only time a fellow shooter interacts with me is during target changes. And that is completely fine - and it always involves friendly conversation. If I was giving instructions to a new shooter, I would not tolerate interruptions. No way. There's no way in hell I would tolerate someone like that. Words would get heated real quick and I would run him off or whip his ass and either one is fine with me. |
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Your too nice.
That's why the douchbag is bugging you. The range rats typically avoid all confrontation with those that intimidate them. It's OK to be nice person ( I consider myself a nice guy ). Just put on a tougher image when around the range rats. Tell him sternly to mind his own fucking business next time he wants to chime in on you / your groups affairs. |
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I swear I read some of the most fucked up things that happen at ranges here..
My only problems have been douchebags that make me fear for my safety, that, honestly, could use someone in their business. Not my job though and I leave. I don't go to public ranges. If at all possible, which isn't a criticism of the OP, but if I'm taking a bunch of newbies to shoot, I prefer finding open land somewhere that enables me to not worry about douchebags. Then you have the bangers of course. They tend to be relatively excited by the things I've brought, but their stupid comments regarding them and bugging me about where I got them, etc. annoys the shit out of me. |
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I have seen those insolent wastes of skin. They usually leave me alone. I think that they are simply a lower life form and if they get a very clear understanding from your body language and demeanor that you are the alpha/apex predator they will go somewhere else. Of course shooting all kitted up might deter most of them as well (get mistaken for some alphabet soup "specopsoperatortacticalninjaassasin" all the time)...
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Our typical range rats are something of a different animal altogether.
Most are of the giggly persuasion....dragged along by their SO...and who A) Have no trigger-finger discipline whatsoever; B) Cannot figure out why people have a problem with them muzzle-sweeping the entire range area; C) Become seriously offended with you when you call their actions into question. I don't like to drag out the large-caliber stuff for purposes of making beginning shooters nervous, but for these clueless asshats I'll definitely make an exception. Couple rounds out of a big-bore T/C Encore in a closed environment is usually enough to send 'em packing, especially if they're not wearing a good set of muffs. What's worse is that the range monitors won't toss the offenders out. I've given up on a few area indoor outfits as a result.
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Quoted: I can't imagine tolerating anyone like that - at all. I've never encountered someone not employed by the firing range who took it upon themselves to interrupt my shooting or stick his nose in anything I was doing. I would very flatly tell them to shut up and leave. I do not know why you felt it was necessary to explain yourself to someone accosting your group. The only time a fellow shooter interacts with me is during target changes. And that is completely fine - and it always involves friendly conversation. If I was giving instructions to a new shooter, I would not tolerate interruptions. No way. Things work a little different down here in TX.  |
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Quoted: What's worse is that the range monitors won't toss the offenders out. I've given up on a few area indoor outfits as a result. The situation at the indoor ranges seems to be a lot worse than the outdoor ones. I think a lot of it is that since nobody ever has to go downrange indoors, and there is never a ceasefire where people can actually hear instructions, the rangemasters just don't even bother. |
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Quoted: Quoted: We don't have that kind of person at the range I go to. Not at the range that I fire at either. Where I shoot, shit like that is not tolerated. ditto. The range I did go to had a guy that did that. I stopped going there after I heard the senior resident range rat yell "Woooo, you shoot him in the ear hole! do eet agin!" and say to a first time female shooter: "Don't worry if you can't pull the slide back on that Beretta, get your husband to do it in the morning as once you have a shot ready, it reloads itself.".... That last one, I had to clear and bench my firearm as I started laughing/crying so hard. |
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Last time I was at the range, someone matching the OP's description of a range rat wanders on over to check out my ARs. I'll let someone take a look, handle them, maybe fire a round or 3 for kicks. This guy doesn't want to do that, he wants to tell me how horrible my Brown Bear ammo is. Seems he had some 24in bull barrel neuter-gnats-at-500-yards wondergun and Brown Bear didn't shoot .25MOA for him, so it must be crap for everyone. I thanked him politely for his advice and told him it was good enough for me and that I didn't want to spend $20 per 20 for plinking ammo.
I don't want unsolicited advice at the range. |
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Range rats? Hmmmm......
Not that i have noticed. Here on eastern LI We just have the crusty old "Toothpick suckers" people who also tend to hang out at the gun shop.
you know, they are usually overweight, smoke see-gars, really freaking old, hate hippies and hoodrats, etc. etc. I've also never really run into FUDDS either. I think here in NYS we are so under pressure from gun control assholes that even the "bolt action" only people realize that busting on "baby killer" rifles is self defeating. |
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I ran into a Range Rat at Bass Pro one time. He was just hanging around in the gun section.
I was looking for a brass shotgun brush to clean the inside of my BCG. I couldn't remember what size I needed and while I was looking at them a young guy that worked there asked me what I was looking for. I made the mistake of telling him, instead of just saying "I'm just looking". First he goes and asks another clerk what size shotgun brush will fit in an AR. The other clerk says he doesn't think a shotgun brush will fit an AR. 
I said no, I'm looking for one to fit in the BCG and thats when I got the blank stares. I tried to tell them that I would find something myself but he goes and gets Range Rat anyway, who returns and proceeds to give me the lecture of my life on how to field strip an AR and the bolt carrier group. I tried to make him understand that I already knew how to take apart a BCG and that I was just looking for a good way to clean the carbon from the inside of the BCG but it was like talking to a wall. This guy would not stop. Finally just had to walk away. This old guy was probably in his 70's. If he had a nickname I'm guessing it would be "Ol Sarge". Finally grabbed a 20 guage brush (which turned out to be the right size) and got the hell out of there. |
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I used to work at an indoor range in southern California. I have to say that we musta been lucky. All our "range rats" whom I called regulars were very nice gentlemen. They were polite, did not butt in to anyones biz, and knew a heck of a lot about anything firearms related. They were willing to help anyone who needed it as well. They did sit in the lobby a lot and BS but they also shot. They all were equal opportunity gun owners and owned almost everything under the sun.. most of them were into Garands, AR's of the national match heavy barrel styles, and sweet precision rifles. I got to shoot a lot of unique handguns in my 3 years working there. Pardinis, Webley-Fosbery's, Hammerli's, S&W model 52's and much more. I looked forward to the nights when they all would come in!
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| I shoot up at a "private" range north of where I live. Basically just pay $10 one time to shoot for the 6 months it's open, very secluded and not very busy. There was a middle aged guy at the range who set up shop right next to me, even though there were 15 other benches to shoot at. I had my M1a and was confirming zero. We made small talk. Then as I'm shooting he comes and starts policing up MY brass as if it was free game on the ground. I fucking went off, and he left about 5 minutes later. |