Last day at the range

[hotfxr]

You have heard folks say, repeatedly, that you can't have a bad day shooting. Well guess what? Yes, yes you can. The club/range I used to belong to underwent some changes in the past year. With the old board ousted due to embezzlement and nepotism, plus some fraud concerning lead cleanup, they have a new, supposedly honest and upright board. That's nice. I hadn't been up there with the Frontloaders since fall and was looking forward to a good shoot. I was also invited to bring up Bruce to let him roar a bit. So Saturday night I was up late prepping everything and early Sunday morning we took off with Bruce firmly strapped down on a trailer. When we got up there much to our surprise, the fees for non club members had gone from $5 to $20. For each of us. The black powder guys were directed to a tiny auxiliary range in the back. The problem with this range is there is only enough room for three shooters on the line. In the past we had half the rifle range where we could line up 10 at once. I thought that was what the fee was for. Then the next surprise. We were forbidden to shoot the cannon, even with just powder loads. The rangemaster came by and wouldn't even let me take it off the trailer. I asked if I could at least fire off one of the friction matches just to show the guys how they work, and was told no. And if I didn't like it, I could leave right then. So with 12 guys (and one gal) crowding the line ,all I wound up doing was loading up the Howdah and the ducks foot and let some of them shoot them. Guess what, the range master came by again and told me the ducks foot was an illegal firearm and if I didn't put it away immediately, he was going to call the cops on me. That's when I said (along with several expletives and a couple of promises of physical violence) I am out of here. I told our club leader to take my name off the rolls and headed home. When I got home I called another BP club and joined up with them, which I was planning on doing anyway. They only have a $2 fee for shoots and they are 25 miles closer to home. Plus they would love to have Bruce come out for a workout. Another plus, a friends ranch where we blow things up from time to time is only about a mile from the ranch where my new improves muzzleloader club has their shoots.   

[Patocazador]

They only have a $2 fee for shoots and they are 25 miles closer to home. Plus they would love to have Bruce come out for a workout. Another plus, a friends ranch where we blow things up from time to time is only about a mile from the ranch where my new improves muzzleloader club has their shoots.

Man, that's a long way to drive just to shoot. Is "25 miles closer" less than 15 miles from your house?

Glad you got away from those Nazis.

[Watauga]

 hotfxr I am Sorry to hear of all the Trouble... I drive 45 minutes to my Black powder club and am glad to do it! Because it is so good and so are the Officers and Board and most importantly the Members! And since they only do BP Muzzle-loading I don't have to go to the side ranges like the more close to home Gun clubs that focus on Modern Shooting.....  I am Glad you have found a new home!

[beowulf]

I`d have told him ,call the cops , and when were done you`ll be out of work !  even in commiefornia the ducks foot is not an illegal weapon ! 

[bmtshooter]

Yep .......... a perfect example of what happens when you mix ignorance with authority.

[Papa]

Ignorance and authority has become all to prevalent in many organizations and many shoots.
Mark

[Hanshi]

Long, long ago there were apes, then ape people then very primitive "humans"; and soon we came along.  We've reached the zenith, guys; now we're going back the way we came.  Only this time it's faster; as evidenced by the subhuman ape man thing hotfxr reported on.

[hotfxr]

They only have a $2 fee for shoots and they are 25 miles closer to home. Plus they would love to have Bruce come out for a workout. Another plus, a friends ranch where we blow things up from time to time is only about a mile from the ranch where my new improves muzzleloader club has their shoots.

Man, that's a long way to drive just to shoot. Is "25 miles closer" less than 15 miles from your house?

Glad you got away from those Nazis.{/quote]

That range is 75 miles from my house and takes almost an hour and a half to get there. I gave up my membership 4 years ago for a variety of reasons, all due to the ever growing rules and restrictions.

[hotfxr]

I`d have told him ,call the cops , and when were done you`ll be out of work !  even in commiefornia the ducks foot is not an illegal weapon !

While he was pontificating, I asked myself "What would Hanshi do?", then stopped myself from ripping his arms off and just let him know what I thought of him. I left of my own accord since I didn't want to be arrested for the preferred arm ripping and didn't want to make things worse for the other BP shooters. They did nothing wrong and don't get the respect they deserve already.

[hotfxr]

Bmtshooter and Papa, it is the "Peter Principle" manifested. Not unlike the intellectual troglodytes the TSA hires as screeners. Idiots mad with misplaced authority! 

[hotfxr]

Long, long ago there were apes, then ape people then very primitive "humans"; and soon we came along.  We've reached the zenith, guys; now we're going back the way we came.  Only this time it's faster; as evidenced by the subhuman ape man thing hotfxr reported on.

With the notable exception of you and I. We are becoming more advanced, more intellig... intall...install...smarter, and better looking each day.  IMHO

[hotfxr]

Of course the day started with high hopes. Look at these two macho cannon guys.




The slightly dorky guy on the left is my buddy that is moving to Denver, eventually.

Bruce didn't get to roar that day, but at least it got a good tour of two counties.

[William]

I feel your pain and have seen two ranges and one rendezvous site get shut down or made off limits because of such petty attitudes. One CAS range had to be completely moved because the neighbor claimed that bullets were wizzing over her head and went judge shopping to find a local liberal to issue a temporary injunction against the club. Nevermind that we could prove mathematically that it wasn't possible for bullets coming from our shooting alleys to even reach her house where she claimed this was happening. It wasn't financially possible for us to fight the lawsuit. Same kind of thing at another range after the patriarch of the family died leaving the children on a "board" to manage the property. One daughter was a gun hater and caused so much trouble that it was better to ask us to leave rather than let her cause constant trouble.

Hopefully your new club won't encounter such problems.

[Dogshirt]

I am blessed with a range that is 4 1/2 miles away, has no range Nazis, and I can shoot ANYTHING. There are even 2 days a month for Class 3s and full auto. I'm not sure about cannon, no one around here has one. The only real restrictions are no AP or tracer rounds due to fire danger.

[Patocazador]

I'm lucky. I have a 200 yard "range" in my pasture. Tree stumps from Hurricane Irma and old farm equipment make up the backstop. I just have to leave a 16' wide gate open to utilize it.
My cannon is a down-sized Napoleon model that shoots .690 balls and the range owner doesn't restrict anything.