Great story Marlinguy and just goes to prove lots of LEO's lack the rudimentary skills or knowledge of firearms. I used to know a lot of cops who just hated being told they had to log in for the mandatory range time and prove minimal accuracy requirements.  Lots hate having to carry guns. 

About range noise I personally won't take a range bench close to high power rifles with muzzle brakes. That high pitched screaming noise just drills my ear drums if I get caught without my muffs on. I was once was about five stations down from a guy shooting a 378 Weatherby sporting an apprx four inch long brake on the muzzle. Had to wait him out

Rick

Deleted.

Went to the range many moons ago with two friends who are experienced shooters. I brought my .50-70 Shiloh Business Rifle, and we were enjoying ourselves shooting black powder loads. Big range but we were the only ones there until a spiffy little black car pulled up (you could park right next to the firing line). The driver set up a couple of benches away from us.

He had an AR15 that wore one of those Colt scopes perched on top of the carry handle, and during the cease fire, placed quite a few water filled milk jugs out at 100 yards. We watch as he proceeds to shoot all around the jugs, but never hits a single one. He must have fired two or three magazines and accomplished nothing. He was frustrated, but still trying.

I’m not sure what possessed me, but I very casually drew down on one of the jugs closest to us, and blam, blew it into smithereens….while he was shooting. That really got him going, he thought he had finally connected! Did it once more and the range officer strolled over and told me to knock it off.

The poor guy never realized what was happening, lol! 😂

Dellet wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2026 at 2:13pm:


My man…

The local PD have their own range down the lane from us. It is the most over-stocked mess one could imagine, courtesy of multiple federal grants. Here's the kicker: the range is 25 yards, there's a 24 inch concrete wall at the base of the line of automated twisting metal man targets, the range house is concrete block, the benches are under a steel roof. This place is custom made for hearing damage, not to mention back splatter from the  5.56 and 7.62 that they mag dump.

Anyways, I was invited to shoot with a group of officers who were doing their mandatory training one day. I didn't have a semi-automatic rifle, so I showed up with my M1873 44-40 loaded with 3Fg and plenty of Emmerts lube. I'd also brought my spring loaded lollipop that won't shoot back at you. My first shot caused an immediate ceasefire because they were sure my rifle had exploded. Muffs over plugs were not enough noise control. They ran through roughly 200 rounds each then fired up the power brass picker and dumped their brass in a 55 gallon drum for scrap. My tax dollars at waste. I'd be willing to say that if any of their bullets hit a target it was pure luck. Of course, they were all tatted up from having served one tour guarding REMFs in Saudi Arabia. These same guys are now senior officers, running the local police departments. We are in trouble.

I've shot metallic silhouettes off and on since the early 90s. After time away raising a family, work, etc., I started up again 5 or 6 years ago and learned the number of shooters who have brake equipped guns has increased significantly. I've sat out relays just to avoid the noise and concussion. I have since learned of a couple ranges that have lanes set aside for those with brakes with baffles that contain the sound and protect other shooters. Sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

There was an interesting gun at the range the other day for show and tell. It was one of those black plastic plumbers' nightmares. It had originally been a 7.62x51 but had been rebarreled to 45-70 with a muzzle brake. He was waiting on a sound reducer.