An unusual day at Elk Neck...

sgt23preston · Sep 17, 2014

Sgt Preston here...

It was truly great weather for a day at Elk Neck's Rifle Range...

My long time shooting buddy EZRacer & I arrived at the range at 08:30 & promptly set our target...

At 09:00 there were about 9 of us on the line, we got everyone's attention & announced that we were going "hot" & shooting started promptly at 9...

There are regularly scheduled line shut downs at 9:30 & each half hour there after...

EZRacer was on the far right shooting position & I was 2nd for the right...

At about 09:20 the guy in the 3rd position from the right gets up walks to the far right hand side of the line, takes 2 steps forward of the line &
blows a referee type whistle & without saying a word to anyone he goes down range & removes his target..? WTF..?

EZRacer & I Heard the whistle & ceased fire, but NO ONE ELSE did...

People had rounds in their chambers & were ready to pull the trigger...

Somehow the other shooters saw this guy moving downrange & he did not get hurt...

This guy was 55-65 & definitely old enough to know better...

He fired a total of 6 - 10 rounds before he Whistled & then left for the day..?

This is NOT SAFE or OK BEHAVIOR...

In order to call a cease fire for any reason:

Step 1. Talk to all the other shooters on the line & ask to go "COLD"...

Step 2. When everyone one the line acknowledges the request,
everyone removes the magazine from their rifles,
everyone removes the bullets from chamber of their guns,
everyone latches the breeches of their rifles OPEN,
Everyone steps away from their shooting bench,
And then the line is jointly declared "Line is Cold"...

BE SAFE..!

fleaman64 · Sep 17, 2014

Sounds like an ol' tard who never learned proper gun safety or range etiquette. I would have called DNR and reported this guy if there was time. Anyone witnessing an unsafe act should call a cease fire.

Bertfish · Sep 17, 2014

Good way to get shot is what it is. What a nut

bohman · Sep 17, 2014

Did anyone tell the guy how close he was to dying? And did he believe them?

PapiBarcelona · Sep 17, 2014

fleaman64 said:
Sounds like an ol' tard who never learned proper gun safety or range etiquette. I would have called DNR and reported this guy if there was time. Anyone witnessing an unsafe act should call a cease fire.

I don't get the logic of calling some secret squirrel phone number on absent minded safety violation that 99% of the time are resolved with having good social skills.

Are we calling the secret squirrel phone for statistics, or is it for someone to "respond"? Serious question.

Say someone shows up (Police? DNR employee?), people point at impromptu referee and then the impromptu claims he never did that. He said, she said. Basically, a big waste of time.

Common sense applies to calling for assistance, such as if you see someone damaging property on purpose or some other illegal activity. I don't see it when people want to be anti social and at least not talk with someone, polite ly at first about what they are doing.

BossmanPJ · Sep 17, 2014

I have seen things like this happen there a lot. Shame of t is that if there is a tragedy there evacuee of stupid behavior or not it could shit the range down for the rest of us.

PapiBarcelona · Sep 17, 2014

I was there my one and only time in the late 90's and two people that were there said the same exact thing mirrored here about some of the behavior and clientele that frequents.

Back then, there were only 3 people there during a summer Saturday. I bet its a lot more crowded now!

fleaman64 · Sep 17, 2014

PapiBarcelona said:
Common sense applies to calling for assistance, such as if you see someone damaging property on purpose or some other illegal activity. I don't see it when people want to be anti social and at least not talk with someone, polite ly at first about what they are doing.

I would agree with this. The other point in calling would be to have a nut like this banned from the range in the future.

dad4 · Sep 17, 2014

Stupid is, as stupid does! I was shooting at Elk Neck on the pistol range last Friday. My wife and I got there with enough daylight to shoot for an hour. Just as we were about to wrap up two groups came rushing in to shoot at dusk. We packed up and left before someone got shot. Nothing worse than being around people with guns in a hurry! :crazy:

mcbruzdzinski · Sep 17, 2014

I wish we could have more volunteers to be weekday RSOs, even if just a few hours a day.

It may cut down on incidents like this.

BossmanPJ · Sep 17, 2014

It's a shame because it's a nice range and Shawn honestly makes it as nice as he can. RSO's all the time would be great. Guess it's hard to get people to volunteer.

sgt23preston · Sep 17, 2014

fleaman64 said:
Sounds like an ol' tard who never learned proper gun safety or range etiquette. I would have called DNR and reported this guy if there was time. Anyone witnessing an unsafe act should call a cease fire.

"Retired Steel Worker Tom" talked to the culprit & told him in "No Uncertain Terms" what he did wrong...

The guy removed his target & was gone within 5 minutes...

The Range Rules are quite clear & effective as is (IF THEY ARE READ)...

sgt23preston · Sep 17, 2014

bossmanpj said:
It's a shame because it's a nice range and Shawn honestly makes it as nice as he can. RSO's all the time would be great. Guess it's hard to get people to volunteer.

The range was in absolutely perfect shape today...

Shawn was overseeing having the Range Road graded & re-crowned when we arrived at 8:30...

And everyone else there was polite, friendly & shot in a safe manner...

embermage · Sep 17, 2014

mcbruzdzinski said:
I wish we could have more volunteers to be weekday RSOs, even if just a few hours a day.

It may cut down on incidents like this.

Still waiting on someone to run the NRA RSO class........

moojersey · Sep 17, 2014

Elk Neck can be hit or miss. We have to self police it the best we can. I would avoid sat / sun mornings as they can be busy. I tend to shoot after 3pm Saturday / Sunday after the morning crowds all leave and go out to lunch. Often have the pistol range all to myself. It's a nice range aside from the occasional wack job ...

marko12 · Sep 18, 2014

sgt23preston, Thanks for bringing this to our attention, perhaps the person is reading the results of his action on the forum right now.

I stopped one day to check out the new pistol range and afterward went to the rifle range, within ten minutes I had to mention to two different people to NOT HANDLE their weapons while others were down range. I did this in a polite manner and both accepted the critique with embarrassment, I told them I would do the same for them if they were downrange.

Shawn and his crew do an absolutely fantastic job with the range and especially with the road leading to the range.

Afrikeber · Sep 18, 2014

He would not be firing anything on my range again. I will not assume the responsibility of range officer with a nut like that in my presence period.

Vile Shadow · Sep 18, 2014

Afrikeber said:
He would not be firing anything on my range again. I will not assume the responsibility of range officer with a nut like that in my presence period.

Problem is, someone has to be the one to do it. When enough nimrods like that get told not to do that anymore, the word will begind to get out.

marko12 · Sep 18, 2014

Sling Blade said:
Problem is, someone has to be the one to do it. When enough nimrods like that get told not to do that anymore, the word will begind to get out.

This is the motto we have to go by while at the range.....any range. Elk Neck is an open State range so all are welcomed both good and the bad.

We need to step up more often and let some of these people know that their actions are not only unsafe to themselves but to others also.

iH8DemLibz · Sep 18, 2014

I'm surprised that people are surprised by this.

All joking aside, Elk Neck is a dangerous place to go shooting.

It's just a matter of time...

And pumpkin season is right around the corner.

An unusual day at Elk Neck...

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