Congratulations, you’ve got yourself a gun and you want to use it! As a new gun owner, you might be a bit in the dark about how to handle things around the indoor gun range. You want to take your new gun to the shooting range, but you’re feeling a bit nervous, because you don’t know the firing range etiquette? You know your gun safety information, you’ve read the manuals and you remember what your gun dealer told you, but you still feel a bit nervous about going to the indoor gun range for the first time?
indoor gun ranges are great because they offer protection from the elements, so no matter what the weather is like, your shooting experience will be undisturbed. Here are some other things that will ensure that your experience remains undisturbed.
Let’s begin with clothing and what is appropriate on an indoor gun range. Because there’s no sun, you can forget about sunscreen, but we recommend that you wear long sleeve shirts with tight collars. The shells are quite hot and you wouldn’t want any of them on your bare skin or, even worse, in your bosom. Try to wear comfortable clothes and shoes, that aren’t too baggy or too colorful. Think about wearing clothes that would not distract people from shooting and will not offend anyone. You wouldn’t want to offend folks who are carrying loaded guns, would you? Ladies, remember, that you will be spending a lot of time on your feet, so leave your high heels at home!
When it comes to targets you should know that most indoor gun ranges sell them, but just to be sure, you should have a few paper targets on you, just in case they don’t have. Also good to know that some ranges don’t allow targets that have human silhouettes, so stick to bull’s eye ones.
Indoor gun range safety
One of the most important things you need to know about being inside an indoor gun range is that you must wear eye protection due to empty shells that are being discarded from guns. You can bring your own or you can get ones from the range; in case you want to bring your own, we suggest investing in a high quality product. To be honest, we recommend you bring your own eyewear, because most glasses that gun ranges offer are too big and they need to fit perfectly.
Let’s move on to ear protection, because it is vital that you have it. Even if your own gun isn’t too loud and you might think you don’t need ear protection, you may be in for a surprise when you hear your neighbor’s gun. Again, you can bring your own or get the ones offered by gun ranges.
If you’re shooting a rifle, then we recommend you buy a spotting scope, to help you see your target and perfect your shot. Even a cheap spotting scope works, so if you’re not planning to use it for anything else, such as spying on your neighbors, then get an inexpensive one that has enough magnification for what you need.
Another very important thing when you get to the shooting range is to read all the rules posted there and talk to the range officer about them. Every indoor gun range has their own rules and particularities and it is important to know them before you start having fun with your gun, even if you’re not new to indoor gun ranges in general, but a particular shooting range.
One last thing… do yourself and the others a favor and get a gun case. You’re not in a movie to walk around holding a gun or tucking it in your pants. This is the real world and you should store your loaded gun as safely as possible.
Tell us about your experience at a new indoor gun range. Were you nervous? Did you make any rookie mistakes? Anything you would like to share with us and our readers? Drop us a line in the comment section below, we would love to hear about it.
Article sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/ranges/
https://wheretoshoot.org/index2.cfm
https://voices.yahoo.com/things-youll-shooting-range-guide-for-1545427.html?cat=27
I would like to add a comment about gun range safety.
Distraction’s:
You are there to shoot not to hold distracting loud conversation’s with your friend’s.
You are not at a range to huddle three to four people in one lane to the point it
distracts the person next to you. A range should be enjoyable but not a party.
I was at a sporting goods store having a conversation with an employee and we were
talking about ranges and ammunition. He got on a subject of being distracted while at a range. The story is it was an outdoor range and the man next to him had a muzzle loader. the man with the muzzle loader got distracted and set his muzzle loader down for a couple minute’s ,came back,loaded it and fired. When he fired the muzzle loader the barrel of the rifle blew up and all that was left was the stock and the trigger and four of his fingers were hanging off , a piece of the barrel skinned the man I was talking to and stuck in a wooden pole behind him. I don’t know if the man with the muzzle loader lost his finger’s or if they were able to be reattached. What happened? The man with the muzzle loader loaded his rifle, got distracted and when he came back to his rifle he forgot he loaded it and re loaded it resulting in a double load and the rest of the story go from there. So just as a reminder,at a firing range a person should be just as focused as anywhere else. A firing range should be enjoyable yet don’t distract other’s by bringing all your friend’s. A firing range isn’t play time. I go to practice my natural point of aim to impact. I go for my own enjoyment. I don’t go to relieve stress and I am a strong believer no one should ever go to a firing range if they are mad or just got in an argument or fight with their boyfriend,girlfriend or spouse. Anger, goofing around , show and tell and gun’s doesn’t mix…Just my opinion…