Brendan and I went to the range today and had a blast (whether or not a pun was intended has not yet been determined). We brought along the Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun, the Yugoslavian SKS, the Ruger 10/22 (with untried red dot scope), the Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, and I also had a Glock 19. We took some videos at the range today. I don't know why I never thought of this before, but today it dawned on me that our digital camera takes videos, so why not give it a shot (yes this pun was intentional)!
As you guys have probably figured out by now, I am a bit of a stickler for safety at the range (or anywhere else when firearms are involved). I guess that comes from 5 years of summer camp and lanyards across the thighs if I was unsafe while shooting there, 28 years as an LEO where I got my behind chewed out more than once, 14 years of which included collateral duties as a firearms instructor when I chewed out some people more than once, and because I know that firearms mistakes are often fatal. There are few transgressions of firearms safety rules for which I will not immediately correct someone with whom I am shooting; I like to breathe without extra holes.
Today, Brendan was pretty safe, as he always is when we go to the range. Take a look at the embedded video (I actually joined YouTube today to be able to do this, I hope it works) and watch him load, shoot, then check the 870 after he is finished shooting. Then think about whether or not he did anything wrong safety wise. Please exclude his not wearing a cap, I meant to bring a couple of them, but forgot them; and in our case today one was not needed because no one was next to us so hot brass was not a problem. If you are not a stickler for range safety you may not think he did anything wrong as he follows the basic rules of firearms safety; but he did do/or fail to do at least 1 thing; and had he done otherwise he would have been safer. No criticism of him from me over this, just told him about it; and he did all other things very well safety wise from what I could see. So don't get me wrong and think I am posting this to be critical of him or to embarrass him; but I am posting it to show you how easy it is to do something not safe, or to forget to do something safe. The truth is, he got me on a video forgetting to do something too. Take a look at that one, and see if you can spot it; and I do not mean my stopping to put on my safety glasses that I obviously had forgotten to don before picking up the rifle.
Comments welcome and anticipated.
Thanks,
Glenn B
8 comments:
Bill watched your video and believes he did not see you put your rifle on safety when you set it down.
I watched wondering what type of drink you had, then the air picking up the cardboard and dang it was over.
Bill says maybe also you did not clean up the front area up, so you have a distraction.
Oh and Bill also puts a disclaimer that he is not going to comment on what else is wrong!!!!
Let us know!!! Hope you know Bill is kidding!!!
Well, as for me, Bill is right on the money with my not putting on the safety when I set the rifle down to fetch my shooting glasses.
As for Brendan, I am not saying until someone gets it.
All the best,
GB
uh...uh... well, no Bill here to tell me anything!!!!!! I do like seeing the videos tho!
Glenn, As for Brendan, he watched the feed three times and thinks that he never removed his finger from the trigger well.
I of course only noticed that my shoulder would be sooo bruised.
let us know!
The thing Brendan forgot to do was to inspect the mag tube properly for any remaining ammunition when he was done shooting. Granted, he stopped, he looked inton the chamber to see if it was empty, which it was, but remember in a Remington 870 the feed ramp is up with the action open like that. This means you cannot clearly see the magazine follower in the end of the mag tube, and requires you to deprss the feed ramp to see it well to make sure it is empty, or better yet to turn the weapon over, look at it from the bottom side,then also feel to make sure it is empty.
I dare discuss this again in my current state of health. One probably should never discuss firearms in depth when not feeling well, at least without thinking it over a couple of times before writing it.
Now I have to correct myself on the above. No the feed ramp is not up, it is down, but it is hard to see the mag follower because ours is black and flat. That said, Brendan should have popped up the feed ramp by pressure from below, turned over the shotgun, and looked into and felt inside of the area to make sure the mag tube was empty. That is nuch better than what I said above.
All the best, now tea for me,
Glenn B
thanks for the info....I'm with Jen though...my shoulder would have nice colors for a long time.
Brendan has shot about 100 or so 12 gauge slug rounds through the shotgun in one range sitting; yeah it does get a bit achy.
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