Gun Range Employees

[Adionik]

I seriously can't wait to get my own land.

What is it with range employees? Atleast here in San Antonio, they are flat out rude jerks. I'm getting tired of if quite frankly, I've already stopped going to one a mile away from my house because they don't know how to treat a customer, and now the one a few miles away that I go to pulled the same crap last night.

Now, i'm not talking about rapid firing or something and getting yelled at, I mean just paying at the counter or asking a question they act like an ass. I realize you're sooooooo cool if you work at a gun range, but give me a break. If I acted like that for a second in any retail position i've been in, I would've been fired in a week, if even that long.

 

[cougartex]

The ones at the range I use have been nothing but nice and very helpful.

 

[swsmailman]

Thats why I am glad I have a lot of family land that i can shoot on. Plan on building a good range once I inherit it, There is already a iron ore road that the oil company built so i wont have to worry about when it is muddy getting back to my range. And whats not to like about getting some friends together and shooting skeet all day while you have a bbq smoking away.

 

[randmplumbingllc]

Oh..... we could go on for days about "range nazi's". Can anyone even voice a reason for "no rapid fire" ? I don't get it. As long as I am not getting wild, what is the point ? The same goes for the "no Title II weapons". Why don't most ranges allow them ? Even more absurd is the "no suppressor" rules. What in the hell could be the reason for that ?

I blame most of the nasty employee's on the owners of the range. They continue to employ them. You can have rules and not be rude about it. The owners have to realize that there are other options for shooters to use. I don't have to shoot or buy supplies from your range if you are a ass to me every time I use your range. What they don't realize or care about, is that you can spend your hard earned cash anywhere you want. They might not loose any sleep over one customer, but will feel it at the end of the year when their bottom line is lower because of how many "one customers" they treated like crap and never came back.

That is why I only have a membership to the "desert range" I shoot at. No range nazi's and it is free.

 

[Texas1911]

Oh..... we could go on for days about "range nazi's". Can anyone even voice a reason for "no rapid fire" ? I don't get it. As long as I am not getting wild, what is the point ? The same goes for the "no Title II weapons". Why don't most ranges allow them ? Even more absurd is the "no suppressor" rules. What in the hell could be the reason for that ?

I threw someone out yesterday for handing loaded firearms to their girlfriend. While it seems like a harmless issue, the real issue is that I had warned the person twice not to do it and they continued to do it. If they cannot follow a simple command then they are a liability and a safety risk to other shooters and me. I'm sure that person is going to go tell all their friends that I am an asshole and a range nazi for doing that.

Rapid fire is problematic for numerous reasons. For indoor ranges the rounds will strike the ceiling, walls, and other barriers, and damage to the target system is almost a guarantee at some point. The fact is that the vast majority of the people that go to ranges can barely keep their shots on target with slow cadence firing. Add speed to that and you are sending bullets everywhere, and into everything. Sure, it's fun ... but it's not fun for the range operator when you cause $500 in damage to the range for a $10 range fee. For an outdoor range the problem is shots going over the berm, all it takes is one or two bullets going over the berm to put them, and their investment, out of commission. Think of where you can fire a round with elevation and not have a chance of hitting anything? No where near a populated area (Austin, San Antonio, Houston, etc.) can you do that. No offense to any MG owners, but any swinging dick with money can go buy one. That's why we don't have Full Auto night any more ... they'd bring their buddies and friends and proceed to destroy the range. By about the 20th time you see some guy that's never fired a gun before fire a burst into the ceiling with an AK47 it's not worth it.

There's always going to be the 5% that are going to have to deal with strict rules even though they are not a liability with safety, rapid fire, etc. I know how you feel, but just remember that public ranges deal with the public.

Being an ass is a personal problem. We have a few guys that think they have to crawl all over someone for any infraction.

With the NFA items, alot of ranges don't want to deal with the ramifications of illegal weapons, and some of them may not even like them (suppressors, etc.). There are alot of Elmer Fudd's out there that get all worked up when you start getting into tactical stuff, and they'd just assume see no AR/AKs on their range, much less any stamp collection variants.

 

[Dirt]

I have been very happy with the three ranges i've been to so far. Garland"s Public Shooting Range isnt as nice as some of the others but the range officers have all been pleasant and have even hit me with some greenhorn humor.

Quail Creek out by Texas Motor Speedway is a nice range. The RO there(atleast the two there that day) are super helpful and really seem to enjoy their job. They have two guys that make sure the lanes are cold and let you know when they are hot. They even went as far as to help my wife and I on our stance. My wife may have had something to do with that.

Last but not least I've been to Target Masters in Garland off of Jupiter I think. Its an indoor place and its expensive, if I remeber correctly we had to use their ammo, but not completetly sure about the ammo. Nevertheless, it was a pretty expensive day using their range. The employee's were all super nice and answered all my questions with no problem.

I am new to all this so, I am sure I will run into a nazi at some point, and Im not looking forward to it!

 

[robocop10mm]

I am sure most range employees deal with more morons every week than you and I will encounter in a year. Dipsticks that have no business handling a soft air gun but show up at the range and spray ammo all over the place.
Working the line for LE quals is bad enough. Shots into the dirt 4 feet down range, fingers on triggers, muzzle sweeps, not having a clue how to clear a malfunction, etc. These are people with a minimum of 40 hours formal firearms training and they still are STUPID when it comes to handling a gun. Imagine that X100?

I always try to have an intelligent conversation with the range employees to let them know I am not a mall ninja and they tend to leave me alone. Red's north puts me on the far right and ignores me. I mind my own business and make sure I plainly display a locked open action when I move my guns to and from the line.

 

[Adionik]

I am sure most range employees deal with more morons every week than you and I will encounter in a year. Dipsticks that have no business handling a soft air gun but show up at the range and spray ammo all over the place.
Working the line for LE quals is bad enough. Shots into the dirt 4 feet down range, fingers on triggers, muzzle sweeps, not having a clue how to clear a malfunction, etc. These are people with a minimum of 40 hours formal firearms training and they still are STUPID when it comes to handling a gun. Imagine that X100?

I always try to have an intelligent conversation with the range employees to let them know I am not a mall ninja and they tend to leave me alone. Red's north puts me on the far right and ignores me. I mind my own business and make sure I plainly display a locked open action when I move my guns to and from the line.

I agree completely, i'm sure they deal with idiots daily.

But so do I. And what i'm talking about is the morons behind the counter. As a matter of fact, i've had nothing but pleasant experiences with range masters. Can't say the same for the "counter masters". They need to take a course in manners...atleast here in San Antonio. The customer is not always right, but I have a hard time dealing with someone who is an ass out of the box before i've had a chance to do something stupid.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

I have never had a bad experience at any of the four ranges I have gone to in my area, maybe I am not doing anything I shouldn't be, dunno.....


EDIT: Inside or Outside.

 

[Young Gun]

All I know is I shoot at Winchester Gallery in Ft. Worth every week if I can afford it, and have been doing so for the past few months. I've never had a single problem with any of their employees, and have more than once asked for their help with my gun or just asked for advice and got a good honest answer every time. I'm not an experienced shooter, and have only been to 3-4 ranges...but Winchester is a solid favorite for me.

 

[Dirt]

I know I am breaking rules unintentionally, I dont even know what a muzzle sweep is or all the little gun terms. It would be nice to just insert a flash drive and download all this stuff to my brain! I sure hope I pick this stuff up the easy way and not the hard way.

Sorry for your bad experience at the range down there in SA.

 

[Texas1911]

I know I am breaking rules unintentionally, I dont even know what a muzzle sweep is or all the little gun terms. It would be nice to just insert a flash drive and download all this stuff to my brain! I sure hope I pick this stuff up the easy way and not the hard way.

Sorry for your bad experience at the range down there in SA.

Essentially it is pointing a firearm (loaded or unloaded) at someone inadvertently. It breaks one of the major rules of shooting; "Never point a gun at anything you are not prepared to destroy."

 

[ZX9RCAM]

I know I am breaking rules unintentionally, I dont even know what a muzzle sweep is or all the little gun terms. It would be nice to just insert a flash drive and download all this stuff to my brain! I sure hope I pick this stuff up the easy way and not the hard way.

Sorry for your bad experience at the range down there in SA.

Imagine your gun is a broom & your sideways movement of it "sweeps" across objects (people) in its path....

 

[Ride4TheBrand]

Not just other people. You can easily sweep yourself if you draw from concealment incorrectly.

 

[Young Gun]

Gotta' admit to breaking that rule myself at the range. My gun was jamming repeatedly so I unloaded it, put it in the case and took it up to the counter. I asked an employee to take a look at it and he asked me to un-case it, so I popped open the case, and in the process of picking it up and handing it to him (he had walked around the counter and was standing directly to my left) I sweeped his stomach with it and he kind of took a step back from me and gave me a funny look. I felt like a fool, but he didn't ride me too hard about it. I think the embarrassment alone of making such a "rookie" mistake has made me ultra conscious to where the gun is pointed at all times both at the range and at home now. I thought I was careful with it before, but now I make absolutely sure every single time, as to avoid embarrassment (and also for the safety aspect of course).

 

[Oldfalguy]

I guess I have been fortunate as not to have run into any range nazi's and I ignore assholes completely as if they are not there-
At Red's north I haven't had a problem at all. Truth be told I have not seen any stupid moves either- I pay attention to my business at hand so I don't pull a stunt myself.
As far as needing help from someone at the range, whether you need to take the weapon to them or not, I think at all times if you are not behind the gun, loaded or not, if its possible, its best to leave the breach or cylinder int he open position and the chance of you sweeping anyone is reduced to zero- At mg shoots we always have open chamber indicators=flags on sticks stuck in the breech.

 

[Al Swearengen®]

OK. I recently worked at an indoor shooting range...IN CALIFORNIA!!! I worked as a range officer part time and ended up being a shift boss while working my other full time job. We made a lot of money because it was near the Movie Studios and a lot of regulars would put down at least $100-$500 a session...plus we would get commission.

Management is a huge factor. Thankfully I worked with great people who had excellent customer service...the best requirement that we looked for were restaurant experience. Not so much, gun knowledge but knowing how to help people. We've hired folks that didn't know the difference between a Glock and a Ruger PC9 carbine...but those that did get hired ended up knowing how to detail strip a Ruger Mk II, and still treated the customer as if they were our special guests.

REMINDER to those viisting an indoor shooting range: You are a guest at their house!!! So treat your range as if you're visiting the parents of the girl you want to marry. Yes I'm stretching it.

Here's what the average range officer has to deal with:
Cleaning the range: Sweeping brass, inhaling some lead, intense maintenance of the backstop by removing all the slugs and rehashing the backstop materials, emptying trash, repainting the walls, changing lead filled filters, cleaning each shooting booth, fixing the target hangers and maintaining the lights and air circulation. That's just the range alone.

The best part, The CUSTOMERS:
-Guests and members not paying attention to the range rules.
-Politely kicking customers out for pointing their guns anywhere but the backstop to pose photos with. Rapid firing and damaging the facilities. Bringing steel core ammo that not only goes through the backstop walls, but causes FIRES...I witnessed it. (On a side note, before banning steel core ammo...one guest came in shooting steel core out of his 1911. He took a break, went back in and his 1911 went off by itself. The steel core ammo was just sitting and went off by itself, thankfully the gun was pointed downrange.)
-Boyfriends showing off their skills to their first-time-to-shooting girlfriends by shooting a Desert Eagle in .50AE--therefore making it experience traumatic than fun.
-Wanabe gangsters and Playstation/XBOX wanting to threaten the range officers for not allowing to rent the pistols because they're under 21.
-etc.

I worked at a rental range where you HAVE to know what you're doing in order to rent out the firearms. A lot have been turned away, because they fail to handle an unloaded pistol safely and usually leave on positive note. But some have left all puffy because they just got humbled. I WILL NOT LEND OUT FIREARMS TO THOSE WHO ARE UNSAFE. I always had the thought that the one I turned away has made the range a safer place.

Don't get me started on the suicides.

 

[Drs2288]

Why do some indoor ranges not allow steel case ammo? I wish i knew that before i purchased a 500 round box of it.

 

[hkusp1]

I go to dfw gun range and they have never been nothing but nice, heck one of them even came and worked with my fiancé at no charge. (I'm a horrible teacher)

 

[armadillo]

I don't go to the range to have some stranger endanger my life by breaking gun safety rules. I have met rude range employees too, but I'm glad they have someone on the line enforcing the rules.

My range now requires shooters to be NRA members - that may help.