While sighting-in the 91/30, the range officer came over with his magnet and held it to my recently acquired 7.62x54r milsurp ammo.
He went through the "steel core causes brush fires and tears up our steel targets". He gathered up all the ammo I brought, and held it in the office until we left. Had to shoot the kid's .22 rifle the rest of the day....
Now, I completely understand the situation, but does everyone have the same issue at a public range, and if so, outside of attempting subtrifuge (lay out some commercial $30/box ammo on the bench and hide the milsurp in a pocket), how do you get around this? I thought about pulling the bullets from all the surp ammo, but it's an additional expense in both $ and time. What do you all do?
I *could* go to BLM land and shoot, but that's an hour and a half away (the range is 20 minutes).
I was confused until I read the original post a couple times..
Even though I've been shooting for 35 years, I'm new to the whole "official shooting range" thing until the last 6 months. Up until now, I've been a quarry rat, turning large limestone rocks into smaller ones..
Luckily, the range I shoot at now has sand/dirt backstops and the steel core MN ammo I'm shooting doesn't do any more damage to it than the lead core bullets that are normally shot. That, and there's no rule at our range against shooting steel core ammo..
But..
I do understand if you're shooting at steel backstops and they have rules (hopefully) for a reason..
Our indoor range doesn't even allow jacketed or magnum bullets in an effort to retain the steel backstop for years to come. I'd think that the jacketed bullets would be OK, but rules are rules, and I'll shoot .38's out of my 357 Magnum as long as I don't have to stand in the snow to do so..
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at my clubs range i just install my own steel targets , and promptly chew em to pieces. i still find it amazing what a steel core 7.62x54r will penetrate.
I shoot at red top mountain here in GA. It is a public range run by the DNR - I love it. No rules (except the obvious). Everyone has a common understanding that you wait till it is your turn to call "Clear" for target inspections and changes. If the guy next to you goes ape with his AK or Mini 30 and brass hits you, you ask him if you can switch places, then break out the CZ52! muahahaha
Rules are rules, however. I wouldn't try to pull the wool over the range master's eyes. As suggested, I would get some lead core albanian.
My public range has no such silly rules. We are self-policing, and the park-service uses a retired guy to clean-up and install new wood-frames - any ammo chews them up. We better shooters really look down on those who 'chop wood'. Bad form.
The only ammo not allowed here is tracers/incendiary - illegal in Florida. We had a forest fire surround the range a few years back, when some idiot shot tracers over the berm.
I only run into the steel-core dilemma when I go to this indoor range I've been going to lately. The outdoor range I go to has the same restriction Big Dog said with the tracers/incendiary ammo. They also have wood frames that get chewed up by any ammo. The only foolish restriction the outdoor range has is that you can only fire one round at a time. I guess they're worried about upsetting the fine up-scale residents surrounding the range in Westchester County. Occasionally they will let you "function fire" an autoloader, but that doesn't happen too often, and then I think they only allow you 5 rounds, slow fire and they're watching you over your shoulder.
My Dad and I got some 1/4 inch thick steel plate to use as a back stop for a range on our own property and we were using a M1 garand with military surplus ammo at about 100 yards. the bullet went through the steel like a hot knife through butter. no evidense of even slowing the bullet down. that shocked the !!!! out of us luckily we were wise enough to buil a berm behind as well, otherwise the bullet may have ended up in a neighbors cow 2 miles away. Just my 2 cents.
I'm glad mY Sportsman's Club lets us shoot whatever we want....
Heck I've been there so many times completely alone with no range officer...total "blast"
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1976-1979
237th Combat Engineers
Heilbronn, Germany
The idea of banning steel ammo at my range would soon end with the range officer being hanged......of course we also shoot everything from full auto belt fed machine guns, to lighting off tannerite bombs.....and this in a 1,000 yard military qualifying range.
Man, I'd be looking for another place to shoot if I was you.
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My public range has no such silly rules. We are self-policing, and the park-service uses a retired guy to clean-up and install new wood-frames - any ammo chews them up. We better shooters really look down on those who 'chop wood'. Bad form.
The only ammo not allowed here is tracers/incendiary - illegal in Florida. We had a forest fire surround the range a few years back, when some idiot shot tracers over the berm.
I am stunned at some of the things plinkers do. A private range I use had a member use a sign as a target. The sign cost $200. At a public range I also use I always see people shoot at the posts the black tarpoline is held up by. When the tarp falls theres nothing to clip your targets to. Some folks think of nothing but themselves. As far as tracers I think they're illegal in my state. Even if you never shoot them if ATF shows up at your house for a routine inspection and finds tracers.......you're in trouble. Follow the rules or get another hobby.
I feel sorry for you guys that have "Restrictions" on what ammo you shoot, Here in Alaska, I am the rangemaster for our local Range and Shooting club, and we have NO Restrictions on ammo... except you dont shoot the signs or the benches or the covered structure or glass bottles, tvs, computers etc. as targets. You can shoot FMJ, steel core, tracers,incendiaries,cannons, mortars, Full auto, dynamite, tannerite, poppers, wood or steel targets.
Boxes, pallets, cable spools,target stands of any kind are all welcome !
SO, if you have ammo you cant shoot, you can send it to ME for disposal !
Rich
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[I]You know you might be facing your doom,when all you get is a click when you're expecting a BOOM!:( [/I]
I feel sorry for you guys that have "Restrictions" on what ammo you shoot, Here in Alaska, I am the rangemaster for our local Range and Shooting club, and we have NO Restrictions on ammo... except you dont shoot the signs or the benches or the covered structure or glass bottles, tvs, computers etc. as targets. You can shoot FMJ, steel core, tracers,incendiaries,cannons, mortars, Full auto, dynamite, tannerite, poppers, wood or steel targets.
Boxes, pallets, cable spools,target stands of any kind are all welcome !
SO, if you have ammo you cant shoot, you can send it to ME for disposal !
Rich
my new favorite state
anyways at the range i go to it is no incendarys or tracers and no full auto (but you can fire as fast as you want on semi auto with no limit on ammo amount and as long as you can control it) but that is pretty much it
O and as a footnote i sometimes go down to the end of the range at the end of the day and collect some of the steel cores and other cool lead things.
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Man... why not save the steel core in case you need it one day?
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Blow you up.
