The two indoor ranges that I sometimes shoot at have similar rules. It's their places, so I abide by their rules. When it comes to having one gun on the bench; I wouldn't really have a problem with that since I typically only have one gun out at a time anyways. But I will admit that it's been a long while since I've been back to an indoor facility. The last time was spoiled by some morons with extremely dangerous safety habits. Even though the RO had them pack up and leave, that experience as well as a few incidents that happened in previous months was enough to convince me to not renew my membership at least for now, although I do like the people who operate the range and the overall physical qualities of their place. But some of their customers just plain suck.

These days the majority of the time I choose to shoot outdoors, sometimes at organized ranges but more often on private and select less traveled spots on public lands. Those last two are the only places where I can practice live fire when drawing from a holster. Helps that the weather has been good this summer. Not as convenient as going to the indoor ranges and the drives to and frome sometimes suck, but one has to do what's needed.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
This is a timely thread.

I went to my local indoor range last week. I was the first one on the range, went to my lane and noticed that the hanger was missing. There was just a simple hook. OK, maybe they're doing maintenance on this lane. I went to the next lane, same deal. I walked back out and the clerk gave me a cardboard hanger that attaches to the hook. You attach your target to the cardboard hanger. There's a horizontal line drawn near the bottom of the hanger. When you return the hanger to the clerk, every bullet hole above that line costs you 5 bucks.

The hangers they used to have up had bullet deflection shields over them and I guess the range guys got tired of having to repair these hangers. Man, I've been shooting at indoor ranges for 40 years, and I have never shot the wall, ceiling, floor or a ding dang target hanger.

I was at the range a few months back and there were a group of twenty-somethings on the rifle range who had rented a Draco AK pistol. They kept hitting the concrete with rounds, sparks flying up, concrete dust all in the air. What a trip. I finished up PDQ and left.

I was at a range and the hangers were made of angle iron. I was shooting a buddies 44 Mag, and I must have made a perfect shot on the angle iron, it angled off straight up, went into the ceiling and blew the light fixture to hell. The bulbs exploded, the plastic door was swinging by one side, and it was raining down drop ceiling dust and debris. Couldn't do it again if I tried.

The RO was right there, I offered to pay for it, but he said he was watching me and I didn't do anything stupid, just had a one in a million reflection of the round.

quote:

Originally posted by PorterN:
Not applicable at my range.

Same here, it's as many as I can fit on my tailgate....

quote:

Originally posted by az4783054:
Democrats should not be allowed to run shooting ranges...

I've seen everything mentioned in this thread and more. There are a lot of ranges that take the safety culture to the point where I wonder about their clientele - and then refuse to enforce their own safety rules.

Nothing will lose me as a customer faster than giving me a hard time about drawing from the holster when the lunatic next to me is tearing up the range with a rifle caliber pistol, in clear violation of about six stated range rules, and the RO just stands there.

I stopped going to local (indoor) ranges after seeing some very stupid behavior. Yes, the RO very quickly and effectively handled it, but the fact that the stupid happened in the first place, two bays down from me, was enough to turn me off public ranges for good.

When I do want to shoot, I use a family private range.

I have no problem with ranges establishing *any* rules they see fit to implement. I'll have to dig and see if I can find the articles, but in at least two cases locally, within the last few years, someone discharged a round while holding a pistol *not* aimed downrange. In one of those cases, it resulted in injury and the range stopped allowing a cluster of people in the bay.

Their range, their liability, their rules.

After serving as an RO multiple years, I have to support rules like this for the general public. I am a member of a Gun club That is open to the public on weekends during the summer and every day during deer season. On the ranges open to the public, we prohibit more than one gun uncased At each firing point. We had to do this because people were taking uncased Weapons and moving them between firing points while covering other shooters with the muzzle and because they were putting Ammunition that was not the correct caliber in their firearms.

During public hours all ranges are supervised by members of the club Who serve as RO's. We may have 30 shooters on the line at a time supervised by five RO's. I can tell you that imposing this rule dramatically reduced the number of safety violations.

As an aside, if you want to draw from the holster or practice emergency reloads or shoot while moving you need to be a member And shoot either during member only hours or on a range set aside for members only during public shooting hours.

 
For safety reasons, I only use our local range (outdoor) for the sanctioned pistol matches. That is the bulk of my practice. If I need to shoot for pleasure, or working up a load, I just go into the desert and set up against a tank that has a 14 ft high bank (my berm). There are no indoor ranges here in Wickenburg. The last indoor range I used was back in MD, and that was 30-40 years ago. Things were not so restricted back then.
 

One indoor range allows multiple unloaded guns on the line/booth. Another, never more than one gun. All require uncased at the line amoung safety requirements. One indoor range allows drawing from a holster if you have their 'certication', others never.

quote:

I wonder about their clientele -

Many commercial indoor ranges attract new shooters. Allowing anyone off the street to draw from a holster is going to result in a incident at some point. While some are more than capable, who makes that determination?

It's a bit more difficult on a indoor range with the typical booth setup. The shelf is a barrier. If they can be moved out of the way like many can be, were is the ammo going to be stored. A bit too much movement for some. Meanwhile, I watch some come in the the typical ten dollar holster. Drawing and re holstering in those is a joke and going to cause problems.

A incident can cause the ownership a significant outlay in legal fees if not close them outright. While they have millions tied up in today's typical indoor range, I doubt they are going to take a chance.

I really don't get the ranges that rent FA firearms and let them go at it spraying rounds all over the place.

Most ranges are so eaten the fuck up with rules that I don't even go to them anymore.

I simply can't be bothered to worry about shooting too fast, having too many on the table, carrying, drawing, and so on. Too dumbed down to get my money. I'll just go elsewhere.

I have been known to shoot a 1911 in each hand at my range.

In God we trust. All others must provide video.

The range we go to also has the one at a time rule. It's supposed to keep people from getting the wrong ammo in the wrong guns.

They do let us draw and shoot from strong side holsters, though.