I moved away 10 miles from my shooting range friend , so he uses a range nearer him , and visa versa. I thought I found a wonderful range where almost nobody is around to bother you. Was sighting in a new .40 cal. rifle , alone , and a car pulls in. Two guys get out and come over. One carried a Mac 10 , and the other an extended mag. 9mm pistol. They asked if they could try their guns out , and would I sell them a target? I told them they could use my 25 yd . target , so I could take a break. (yea right , like ya need a break from the fatiguing experience of a black powder .40 long rifle). they each fired their guns a few rounds , thanked me , and left. That was the last time I went there.
Another time , I joined a more popular , larger local range. All usually goes well at that one. Once I went there to sight in a long rifle , almost finished the sight in , and five guys from a local swat team came and took up positions , occupying three benches to the left of mine , and two benches to the right of where I was positioned. I was shooting a .62 using 90 gr. FFFG , lotsa fire and smoke. I only had about 4 shots to finish up , so asked the guys if they minded? They were all using heavily "tricked up " M 16's that were not loud at all. I sorta had to look at the ground , while I finished my four shots , so they wouldn't see my faint smile. As I packed up my stuff they got all jovial , and mighta been glad old pops was leaving with his noise , and smoke machine.
