Dear old Dad was a small bore competitive shooter in late 1940's and early 1950's. He took me to the range with him , and when he would practice , my job was to spot his bullet holes , with his ever present 20 power Lyman spotting scope. To this day , I would never go to a shooting range w/o a spotting scope. I'm amazed so few folks use a spotting scope . I guess I'm the odd guy out. I don't care , but other shooters wanting to frequently shut the range down to fiddle with their targets , while several guys have to stop shooting , is a bit distracting. As long as they warn me not to fire , and that they are going down range , I'm happy.
An incident involving a Pa. State Game Warden scared Dad and Me while Dad was practicing on our home range. Dad had fired a few rounds through his mod. 52 Winchester target rifle off the bench , with 2 lb . trigger pull . While sighting for another shot , the Blame warden stepped in front of the muzzle of the rifle and stood there. Though I was a young child , the sight of that near catastrophe mortified me. Boy did Dad get smokin' mad , Wowww. I didn't see what happening , while looking through the spotting scope until it happened. Blame Warden said he heard shooting , and decided to investigate. Pop and him never got along well after that. It was a time , back when Wardens used to come to all the sportsmen club meetings ,and from then on the Warden sent a deputy to fill in. I think everybody in town knew about what a stupid thing the Warden had done , and he was very embarrassed. Ever since , I've tried to be safe as possible at a range. .............oldwood