Someone just pointed a gun at my head :(

I spent the morning at the Bountiful Lions club shooting rifle. As I was reloading, a man walked up and announced to the shooting line that "He needed an expert". A few of us wandered over to see if we could help him. He proceeded to pull out a Mac-10 that he had "just bought from a pawn shop". He said he had no idea how to shoot it and wanted someone to shoot it for him. The gun looked very schetchy, and all of us declined.

He loaded up a mag, stepped up to the line, and after some fiddling, chambered a round. I was on the lane next to him, and decided to step away just in case it went kaboom. I was about 8ft behind him when a guy 2 lanes down shot his .338Lapua with one of those wonderful muzzle breaks that pretty much deafens those nearby. Mr. Mac-10 immediately spins a 180 looking for the big noise and manages to point his gun right at my head (finger on the trigger)!

I quickly drop to a knee and he, tracking the motion, follows me all the way down keeping his muzzle pointed at my noggin. By the time my knee hit the ground, my hand was reflexively drawing my sidearm... It made it half way out of the holster before my brain fully engaged and decided this guy wasn't *deliberately* trying to kill me.

He recovered and pointed the barrel up and then gave me this look like I was silly as he told me "Don't worry, I had the safety on". I told him (in a voice loud enough that the whole range looked over) that: "The safety is to NOT POINT IT AT MY HEAD." I don't think he even noticed that I was half way to putting a hole in him.

He said something about how he "knows gun safety", "was in the marines", "used to work at Vector Arms", and served in Afghanistan. I told him that he needed to take his gun up to the pistol range. Right about then, Mr .338 Lapua let loose again and the guy, clearly very rattled by the noise, headed out.

On the bright side, the next round of shots showed me what it's like to shoot pumped full of adrenaline.

Well that explains the horror stories about Vector arms weapons. What an idiot. I had to deal with crap like that before our range got a full time range officer. Glad you lived.

Mas49.56 said:

Well that explains the horror stories about Vector arms weapons. What an idiot...snip...

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I wasn't trying to say anything bad about Vector (although I've heard my fair share of stories as well). This guy seemed pretty rattled by the shots. I'm thinking PTSD. Perhaps a good reminder to me of the price those who serve us in the armed forces all too frequently pay. I hope the guy is all right.

I OC everywhere including the range. It was just a surprise to me that my first real "near defensive draw" was at a shooting range. Not a scenario that had run through my head before. I was more or less happy with my reactions. If I could do it over, I would have shouted stop as soon as he started spinning around. He muzzled the whole line of shooters and I can only imagine what might have happened if another rifle shot rang out and he reflexively tightened his grip and had a ND.

For the record, I'm deeply suspicious about his statement of the safety being on. After his very frank anouncement that he had no idea how the weapon worked, and all the gun juggling it took to chamber a round I think he was live...

leeland said:

For the record, I'm deeply suspicious about his statement of the safety being on. After his very frank anouncement that he had no idea how the weapon worked, and all the gun juggling it took to chamber a round I think he was live...

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That is a reasonable suspicion in my opinion. I also question whether he had actually worn the uniform. All services drill it into every recruit to keep their booger fingers off the bang stick until ready to fire.

Out of perverse curiosity I'd like to ask the following question -

What did you do about notifying the range of his behavior/performance? While in most situations folks seem to like to resolve metters on their own this might be a situation where you save the lives of many others, including the guy you encountered.

With the worries about liability always hanging over the head of ranges, reporting this incident is more like helping them stay in business than tattling.

stay safe.

If he were a Marine, especially one that served in Afghanistan, a .338 wouldn't have rattled him and he'd have better situational awareness as well as exercise proper safety when using a firearm. One thing the Marines do well is train, especially in handling weapons.

Mmmm .338 Lapua. My favorite round. I'm a Marine. I've been in both Afghanistan and Iraq both. It didn't make me stupid.

cyras21 said:

If he were a Marine, especially one that served in Afghanistan, a .338 wouldn't have rattled him and he'd have better situational awareness as well as exercise proper safety when using a firearm. One thing the Marines do well is train, especially in handling weapons.

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ramkatral said:

Mmmm .338 Lapua. My favorite round. I'm a Marine. I've been in both Afghanistan and Iraq both. It didn't make me stupid.

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First, the obligatory "Thank you for your service."[SUP]1[/SUP]

Congratulations to both of you for making it out without any apparent problems. Most folks seem to do so, but some do not. Denigrating another who may be having problems related to their experiences does not seem helpful. It does make me want to ask if you are perfect in all other areas as well?

Why the guy reacted the way he did does not seem to be that important. What's important is what to do about it.

stay safe.

[SUP]1[/SUP] I didn't serve in order to be thanked and do not believe I am owed any thanks. I see making any size deal about it as "strange". YMMV considerably.

I didn't bash him for what he may be experiencing. I was in Fallujah for Operation Phantom Fury in 04-05. I saw what is considered to be the most brutal battle modern marines have experienced. Yea, I'm pretty ****ed up. Just like last night the thunder hit so close to my house that my wife had to convince me that we weren't being mortared. None of this has to do with what this guy did. Weapon safety is drilled until its muscle memory. Your finger naturally stays off the trigger. Your muzzle is naturally kept under control. That is, if you're not an idiot. There are many of those in all branches of the service. Whether they served or not, they're still complete morons. Don't try to sugar cost the truth.

skidmark said:

Out of perverse curiosity I'd like to ask the following question -

What did you do about notifying the range of his behavior/performance?

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As Mr Mac-10 was making the walk up to the pistol range, I walked over and let the range officer know what had happened and he said he would keep an eye on him.

leeland said:

As Mr Mac-10 was making the walk up to the pistol range, I walked over and let the range officer know what had happened and he said he would keep an eye on him.

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Well, that's just freakin' helpful!

stay safe.

ramkatral said:

....

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This is probably not the time or place to debate any of this.

stay safe.

leeland said:

He said something about how he "knows gun safety"

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Apparently he doesn't.

leeland said:

"was in the marines"

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Uhhhh, I'm inclined to doubt this.

leeland said:

"used to work at Vector Arms"

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Please stop. You're scaring me!

leeland said:

and served in Afghanistan.

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And the relevence is to knowing gun safety.....izzzzzzz?

The range master is supposed to keep a closer eye on things, I think. Besides, I don't like ranges. Last time I was at a range the range master screamed at me for asking a simple question. I left pretty darned quick.