I grew up on a farm where there was not another house in sight and maybe half a dozen cars a day went down our road, so when I wanted to shoot, I walked out the back door and shot. Over the years, I’ve lived in places where I could do that, places where I just drove out into the hills to shoot, and places where I had to go to a range. Each has its advantages, but for many people, a formal range is their only option to shoot their guns. But that is not necessarily a bad thing. Ranges offer many benefits, but it is important to remember that you are sharing that range with other people and that safety and courtesy are critical.

Why Go to the Range?

A range offers many benefits that allow us to familiarize ourselves with new firearms, perform function checks on guns after cleaning or making repairs, and practice shooting skills. In many cases, they are far more handy than going out to the woods to shoot. 

Convenience

While it may seem more convenient to step out your door and shoot as compared to packing up and driving to a range, a range offers many advantages. Ranges have tables and benches to set out your guns, ammo, and gear. They have premeasured shooting lanes, and indoor ranges have target retrieval systems so you can just zip your target in and out to replace it or adjust the distance. Finally, ranges generally rent and sell eye and ear protection, targets, and ammunition.

Experimenting with New Guns

If you are in the market for a new gun or curious about one you have never shot, many ranges rent guns so you can try them out without having to commit to buying them. They are also great places to talk to other shooters about their experiences with different guns. No matter your age, gender, race, or profession, everyone at a range has something in common: they like shooting guns.

Learning Good Habits

Practice makes perfect, but it is important that practice reinforces good habits, not bad ones. Ranges are an excellent place to do that. Safety rules are strict and help reinforce safe and responsible gun handling. Some offer training for beginners, and all are happy to answer questions for newcomers. Most are safe and welcoming environments for new shooters and youth.

Common Range Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes; it’s human nature, right? But mistakes on a range can have serious consequences. If you think good behavior on a range is just common sense, jump on YouTube sometime and search for shooting range fails.

Range Rules

Most ranges have a strict set of rules. They are generally posted in more than one place and frequently handed out to new customers. Many ranges also require first-time customers to sign a waiver.  Some rules are pretty obvious, like not having a gun uncased behind the firing line, while others, like only shooting from a seated position on an outdoor range, leave you scratching your head. One range I went to a few times was free, but there was a rule that you could only use ammunition you had purchased at the store that owned the range. For the most part, the rules exist either because they enforce safe gun handling or because of some problem the range has encountered in the past. Either way, range rules are non-negotiable. Breaking a minor procedural rule might get you one warning, but breaking a safety rule will get you kicked out. It is your responsibility to know the rules, so read the posted rules and if there is a range safety officer (RSO), pay attention to their commands. 

Range Etiquette

Etiquette is defined as: the set of rules or customs that control accepted behavior in particular social groups or social situations. In this case, the shooting range. The key term is accepted behavior. Of course, the first rule of proper range etiquette is safety first. Follow all the safety rules all the time. Period. But courtesy is also important.

Stow Your Gear Properly

When my wife and I go to the nearby indoor range, we bring multiple handguns and the occasional PCC to shoot. That means we each have our own range bag plus a separate bag for ammunition, and occasionally a cased PCC. That’s three, and sometimes four bags. Considering we usually share a lane, and the range has a rule that all bags and gear must be kept within your own lane, things got a bit crowded at times. That was sometimes inconvenient, but it was our choice to bring that much stuff, so it is a “Deal with it” situation. Leaving your gear along the back wall or allowing it to spread out into the walking area behind the firing line is discourteous and could result in someone tripping and falling.

Brass

It is easy to dump a couple of hundred rounds in a day at the range, and that adds up to a lot of brass. Picking up your brass is not only common courtesy, but it is also a safety issue at indoor ranges since it could cause someone to trip.  Having said that, before you decide to be a good Samaritan and pick up someone else’s brass, make sure they don’t save their brass for reloading.

Wear the Right Clothes

There are plenty of videos online of hot brass going down someone’s neck or a woman’s cleavage and burning them. In too many cases, the person hops around pointing their gun all over the place and sometimes pulling the trigger. Everyone likes to be comfortable in the summer, but it is not wise to wear sandals, flip-flops, tank tops, or low-cut blouses to the range. If hot brass does get in, stay calm, set your gun down with the muzzle facing downrange, and then get rid of the offending brass.

Familiarization With Your Gun

The first trip to the range with a new gun should not be the first time you take it out of the box. When you are going to shoot a gun for the first time, you should make sure you are familiar with how it feels in your hand and with all the controls before you ever load it. Nobody is comfortable watching someone struggle with the safety or magazine release on a loaded gun.

Unwanted Opinions

There is a saying, “Opinions are like armpits, everyone has them and they all stink.” Coarse, perhaps, but it makes a point. Some years ago, I took my M1 Garand to an outdoor range that did not have divided lanes, just tables and benches spaced along the firing line. A man came over to me and began talking about Garands. I was friendly and polite until he started lecturing me on how to load them. I smiled and said this was the third one I had owned, and I knew how to load one. He came back two more times to let me know how much he knew about Garands. After the third time, I lost my patience and told him, politely but firmly, to please leave me alone and let me shoot in peace. It is okay to say something to a stranger if you see an egregious safety violation, or if someone is struggling with something and you politely ask if they would like some help, or mostly, if they ask you. Otherwise, leave people alone and let them enjoy their day at the range.

Uncasing Your Firearm

It is easy to get careless when getting your gun that you know is unloaded out of the case, but it is very poor range etiquette. Never forget that rule number one is: Always keep firearms pointed in a safe direction. That includes when you are getting it out of the case. This is why most ranges have rules that guns must be kept in your lane or at the firing line while being uncased. You may be 100% certain it is not loaded, but nobody wants a gun pointed anywhere near them. Doing so will probably get you kicked off the range ASAP.

Be Mindful

Being safe and using good range etiquette can be summed up in two words: be mindful. Remember that the thing in your hand is a deadly weapon and must be handled with respect, and always put your brain in gear before putting your body in motion. If you do that, learn and follow range rules, and keep your mind on what you are doing, you will be a welcome visitor to any range you go to.