I'm sorry if this gets long or is overly negative, but I did give myself some cooling off time before I decided to post this.
My buddy and I decided to go to the local outdoor public range located in the state land today. I knew we were in for a unique experience when we pulled into the parking area and saw some other shooters on the line standing around another shooters Maxim machine gun set up on its tripod.
Yes, I said machine gun. This range is popular with all types of "marksmen", and the local class III holders are no exception. Usually the most interesting thing they bring out is submachine gun or two, so it was pretty cool to see something different.
We exchanged greetings with some other shooters and started unloading our gear and guns just about the time the Maxim owners son, (about age 10,) picked up a compact .22 pistol and started firing it-completely unsupervised.
My warning buzzer started going off immediately, but I didn't see him doing anything unsafe at that time. I decided to keep an eye on him, but to not let it interfere with my day of shooting.
Soon, however, the bells and whistles were going off as well. We had called a ceasefire so some people could go downrange and set up targets and I happened to look at the Maxim. It had a belt of ammo laying in the feed tray, which immediately put me on edge. I walked up to it to take a closer look, and to my horror I saw that it had already been charged, a fresh round on the bolt face, waiting to be chambered and fired with one bump on the thumb triggers.
Now, I'm not normally a pantywaist when it comes to firearms and firearms safety. I just believe that there is usually no such thing as too much safety.
Anyone familiar with automatic weapons, especially belt-fed guns has probably heard of "cook-offs". This gun had just gone through two sessions of approximately 200 rounds each, with about a five-minute break in-between. So, you can probably understand how the combination of a belt of ammo laying on top of the open feed tray, the steam still rising from the leaky water jacket, and the charged bolt waiting to fire had me a little nervous. To compound things, there were now four people walking around downrange of this thing, not to mention all the yutzes that were getting within the "blast radius" of a cooked off round- any one of whom could bump the thing and send at least one round downrange.
I have to admit, it took me a minute to muster up the gumption to say something- I'm not too proud of that, in hindsight. Upon pointing this condition out to the gun's owner, he walked over to it and pushed the live charged round out of the bolt face and gave me a "are you happy now?" kind of look.
Needless to say, that was about the end of our shooting session, and the straw that broke the camel's back, ending our visits to this range. To top everything off, when we left, my buddy told me about seeing the kid with the .22 covering everyone on the line with its muzzle as he tried to clear a jam.
I don't have a problem with people owning automatic weapons- there just not for me. Apparently idiots have no problem owning them though, cause every time I see one out there, they always exhibit some sort of "bad behavior", ranging from potentially unsafe tactics to downright rudeness like spraying and praying a full magazine while standing next to someone trying to zero their hunting rifle. Every time I've ever said something, no matter how tactfully, I've been treated like a killjoy. It's like these idiots believe the rules don't apply to them.
There are so many things wrong with this, I know. I also know that I could have been a better positive influence, and should I ever decide to go out there again, I will.
Like I said earlier, I'm sorry if this got longwinded. I just felt like posting here to get the opinions of other shooters. So, blaze away.
My buddy and I decided to go to the local outdoor public range located in the state land today. I knew we were in for a unique experience when we pulled into the parking area and saw some other shooters on the line standing around another shooters Maxim machine gun set up on its tripod.
Yes, I said machine gun. This range is popular with all types of "marksmen", and the local class III holders are no exception. Usually the most interesting thing they bring out is submachine gun or two, so it was pretty cool to see something different.
We exchanged greetings with some other shooters and started unloading our gear and guns just about the time the Maxim owners son, (about age 10,) picked up a compact .22 pistol and started firing it-completely unsupervised.
My warning buzzer started going off immediately, but I didn't see him doing anything unsafe at that time. I decided to keep an eye on him, but to not let it interfere with my day of shooting.
Soon, however, the bells and whistles were going off as well. We had called a ceasefire so some people could go downrange and set up targets and I happened to look at the Maxim. It had a belt of ammo laying in the feed tray, which immediately put me on edge. I walked up to it to take a closer look, and to my horror I saw that it had already been charged, a fresh round on the bolt face, waiting to be chambered and fired with one bump on the thumb triggers.
Now, I'm not normally a pantywaist when it comes to firearms and firearms safety. I just believe that there is usually no such thing as too much safety.
Anyone familiar with automatic weapons, especially belt-fed guns has probably heard of "cook-offs". This gun had just gone through two sessions of approximately 200 rounds each, with about a five-minute break in-between. So, you can probably understand how the combination of a belt of ammo laying on top of the open feed tray, the steam still rising from the leaky water jacket, and the charged bolt waiting to fire had me a little nervous. To compound things, there were now four people walking around downrange of this thing, not to mention all the yutzes that were getting within the "blast radius" of a cooked off round- any one of whom could bump the thing and send at least one round downrange.
I have to admit, it took me a minute to muster up the gumption to say something- I'm not too proud of that, in hindsight. Upon pointing this condition out to the gun's owner, he walked over to it and pushed the live charged round out of the bolt face and gave me a "are you happy now?" kind of look.
Needless to say, that was about the end of our shooting session, and the straw that broke the camel's back, ending our visits to this range. To top everything off, when we left, my buddy told me about seeing the kid with the .22 covering everyone on the line with its muzzle as he tried to clear a jam.
I don't have a problem with people owning automatic weapons- there just not for me. Apparently idiots have no problem owning them though, cause every time I see one out there, they always exhibit some sort of "bad behavior", ranging from potentially unsafe tactics to downright rudeness like spraying and praying a full magazine while standing next to someone trying to zero their hunting rifle. Every time I've ever said something, no matter how tactfully, I've been treated like a killjoy. It's like these idiots believe the rules don't apply to them.
There are so many things wrong with this, I know. I also know that I could have been a better positive influence, and should I ever decide to go out there again, I will.
Like I said earlier, I'm sorry if this got longwinded. I just felt like posting here to get the opinions of other shooters. So, blaze away.