Little frustrated with my local range officer

I went shooting today at the Poulsbo shooting range around 1400. It had been a little while so I didn't expect the range officer to remember me in fact I'm not even sure if I have seen this one before. As I walked up to him to sign in the conversation went something like this
RO are you a member?
Me nope
RO you ever shot here before?
Me I have
RO OK I guess we need to have the safety talk

The RO spent about 10 minutes covering everything from how to safety walk around the range to how to load, unload my gun, how to aim, how to pull the trigger, what I should aim at...... you named it he instructed me how to do everything. I listened patiently and nodded and thank him then came round two

RO how long have you been shooting?
Me my dad started me shooting at 5
R0 When was the last time you shot?
Me the last time I felt like it
RO how long have you owned the gun
Me how long have you owned your guns
RO what kind of gun are you shooting?
Me a hand gun
RO what brand
me Springfield
RO what caliber
Me 40
RO what kind of 40
Me smith ans Wesson
RO What type of Springfield
Me XD
RO what barrel length?
Me 4 inch
RO how many rounds are you going to shoot
Me why is there a time limit?
RO ..... well OK then have fun

Of course I thought about not answering any of his questions but with each question he asked me I answered back without hesitating and with every answer I gave him it seemed to become more and more irritated so I enjoyed the little game

That's why I don't shoot where there are range officers, except when I have no option (for requalification).

That sounds like quite the safety brief. I am a RO at a range here, but I only give a safety brief to people who haven't shot there before and it pretty much entails don't point the gun anywhere but down range, only shoot at targets, don't handle your guns when the range is cold and listen the anything else the RO on duty tells you. I don't see the point on questioning someone what caliber and brand they are shooting.

Jayd1981 said:

I don't see the point on questioning someone what caliber and brand they are shooting.

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Neither do I.

It would seem that this R.O. was on some kind of egocentric power trip.

I'm young I get it I am use to people amusing I'm some young kid who is uneducated in firearms and I bought the first one he thought looked pretty, but I'm not I started shooting center fire and shot guns when I was 5. My dad and I logged what had to have been hundred of hours over the years going over how to shoot, clean and respect firearms. Today appeared to be another attempt of trying to admitted dominance from my elder. It didn't work he ran out of questions before I ran out of answers

I have not been to this range but it sounds to me, the Range Officer might just be bored to death and just wanting some conversation.
Or do you feel he was interrogating you to find something to disqualify you from shooting or just trying to impress?

Hard to say he never took a negative tone it was question after question back to back. I've got this type of treatment before where the second I make a mistake or hesitate they jump all over me and try to lecture me. He was polite the entire time but if you going to give me a couple minute safety talk let me shoot my gun it really isn't any of anyone's business what I'm shooting or how many rounds I estimated I might shoot before I left the house. I was a little frustrated but thought it was mostly funny. Just by chance there was a police friend of mine already there shooting funny how his attitude changed towards me once he saw the two of us shake hands and joke throw a few jokes back and forth

If you don't like the way you were treated, there should be a chief RO or manager that you should be able to talk to. Or be direct and ask him why he's playing 20 questions with you.

Sounds like the day I told Marcus Carter to shove it, and left KRRC for the last time. He stood over me for about 30min on the rifle range one afternoon while I was shooting my .17HMR yelling at me about having my finger on the trigger... WHILE I WAS ON TARGET and actively firing. I was also the ONLY person at the range at the time. I asked him at one point how he intended for me to fire without my finger on the trigger. According to him you are to keep it off until the split second you are going to fire, then jerk the trigger and get back off of it, which really doesn't work when you are sending a .17 round 150yrd down range and trigger control is paramount....

Maybe I'm over reacting a little.. I don't know. I understand he is the range officer and there forth the safety officer. I can understand getting the safety talk he doesn't know me, who I am or how I grew up. He is there to make sure everyone is safe and if by talking to me about the rules made him feel better than I can understand that, although I do not feel he needed to go into such detail. At one point he told told me what the dirt mount was, the function it served and why it was important to always aim at it and not anywhere ells. I guess I am tired of feeling like I am being talked down to when I want to go shoot a gun. Also on a side note sorry for some of the errors previously on this thread my introductory rate on my internet ran out so I canceled my internet I am doing most of my chatting off my cell phone so a few more grammatical errors are getting out

This RSO was probably a little more "intense" than most I encounter but give him a break. He was probably given instructions to do this by a "higher up" in the organization.

Safety is a major concern at any range. Part of their cost of doing business is their Insurance Policy. Any accident causes it to go up, and in the case of ranges that are being slowly crowded by residential areas, an accident can put the range in jeopardy from local authority.

I shoot regularly at a Private/Public range. All you have to do is look at the concrete floor, ceiling over the firing line, and the "baffles" that prevent any errant rounds from landing in someones front room a mile away, and you'll get an idea of how many DON'T know how to practice firearm safety.

Don't get too uptight over the "briefing" it only takes a couple minutes and you can get on with your shooting.

FWIW, the range I spend most of my time at has recently invested in some training for their personnel on how to interact with the "customers" and members when it comes to overseeing the Range. Some of them had only learned how to deal with people in the Service and then it was a matter of just issuing orders.

I also am a RSO at Poulsbo club. The club has just recently been involved in a law sut against Kitsap county over a new ordinance to severly curtail and control the shooting hours, type of firearm, caliber,etc. As a stop gap all the RSO were given a course on orienting non membes, and members shooting for the first time. This has been in effect for about 2 weeks. I would presume the RSO was a bit confused about what to say.
That does not make it right, but could help explain his questions. The clas was on safety only, and had nothing to do with caliber, gun,etc.
Contact Ron Harper at the club, he is the Chief RSO.

I went to a range in Poulsbo once about a year ago. It was my first and very last time. The guy was very condescending and made stuff up on the fly. Told me open carry wasn't allowed but concealed is ok, because apparently if I were to open carry, "fingers have a strong tendency to grab things and you'll shoot someone if you open carry. And if you have gun, how am I supposed to enforce any rules?" (paraphrased)

...I almost turned around and just walked out, only stayed because a friend was with me and it was the only time we ever went to the range together.

He actually said "If you have a gun, how am I supposed to enforce any rules?" WTF, it's a freakin shooting range, who DOESN'T have a gun? And this BS about fingers having strong tendencies, I just wanted to pound my forehead into a pillar repeatedly.

I know at my club OC is not permitted while shooting also. I did bring it up to the chief RO when I started, that a self defense firearm is not going to leave the holster unless there is cause. I was told they do not want loaded guns on someone during a cold range. They tolerate CC to the extent of if they do not see it, they do not know about it. But if it is found out then it needs to be secured or put on the firing line and flagged during a cold range. I don't agree with their policy but they are a private organization and I do not have the clout to get the policy changed. Unfortunately this seems to be common at most ranges and is one of the few things I have to put up with to have a nice safe shooting envirnment.

.45ACPaddy said:

I went to KRRC in Poulsbo once about a year ago. It was my first and very last time. The guy was very condescending and made stuff up on the fly. Told me open carry wasn't allowed but concealed is ok, because apparently if I were to open carry, "fingers have a strong tendency to grab things and you'll shoot someone if you open carry. And if you have gun, how am I supposed to enforce any rules?" (paraphrased)

...I almost turned around and just walked out, only stayed because a friend was with me and it was the only time we ever went to the range together.

He actually said "If you have a gun, how am I supposed to enforce any rules?" WTF, it's a freakin shooting range, who DOESN'T have a gun? And this BS about fingers having strong tendencies, I just wanted to pound my forehead into a pillar repeatedly.

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One day last year again at Poulsbo I was OC and went to sign in the range officer told me unless I was a LEO there was a RCW making it illegal to OC at any gun range. I asked him to reference the law but he could not. He told me for safety reasons I also could not OC at the range. I asked him what he wanted me to do he told me I had to hand carry my gun to my station. I told him it was loaded and chambered but he still said if I wanted to shoot at his range I could not keep my gun in it's holster. I then drew my gun held it in my hand and walked to my station. When I was done for the day I put my gun back in the holster on the line and got yelled at again. I told the range officer he didn't have to kick me out I was leaving

.45ACPaddy said:

I went to KRRC in Poulsbo

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Not to nit pick, but KRRC isn't in Poulsbo, it's outside of Bremerton. Do you mean Poulsbo Sportsmans Club? I OC all the time at KRRC and never any issues. Sometimes their ROs can be a bit overbearing, but I've never had one tell me I couldn't OC there. In fact I've never had any issues practicing drawing and firing defensively. As long as rounds are hitting berms and not the flat ground, ROs there don't have any issues with how people shoot.

fire suppressor said:

One day last year again at Poulsbo I was OC and went to sign in the range officer told me unless I was a LEO there was a RCW making it illegal to OC at any gun range. I asked him to reference the law but he could not. He told me for safety reasons I also could not OC at the range. I asked him what he wanted me to do he told me I had to hand carry my gun to my station. I told him it was loaded and chambered but he still said if I wanted to shoot at his range I could not keep my gun in it's holster. I then drew my gun held it in my hand and walked to my station. When I was done for the day I put my gun back in the holster on the line and got yelled at again. I told the range officer he didn't have to kick me out I was leaving

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This is just moronic. :bangs head:

tombrewster421 said:

This is just moronic. :bangs head:

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I was thinking the same thing. How can it be unsafe in the holster, but fine to walk around with it in your hand?

sirpuma said:

Not to nit pick, but KRRC isn't in Poulsbo, it's outside of Bremerton. Do you mean Poulsbo Sportsmans Club? I OC all the time at KRRC and never any issues. Sometimes their ROs can be a bit overbearing, but I've never had one tell me I couldn't OC there. In fact I've never had any issues practicing drawing and firing defensively. As long as rounds are hitting berms and not the flat ground, ROs there don't have any issues with how people shoot.

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It must have been PSC, it's been a year or two since I've been up there so I must have mixed the two up. It was up north. I'll edit my post.

Rain, or shine I stick to the gravals pits.