[Bruce Specht]

I went to the club this morning to shoot some practice. As the weather is cool 33 degrees when I got there it wasn't crowed. My friend and I signed up and I took the first spot on the sheet, we were joined by another regular shooter and s man and his son. I knew we were in trouble they were shooting short barrled guns neith one had a vest or a shell pouch. We had no puller/ scorer so I asked if the sqad was ready and then called for my first bird. My friend shot then the other regular then the son and finally the father. The fathers gun was not working well a (Mossberg pump) he couldn't get the slide back to eject a hull or reload. Everyone else shoot five and I said "Squad move please" the father moves to the 1st station and calls for the bird, I said nothing at this point and we continued to shoot from there five more shoots except for dad whos gun again jammed. We move and the son goes to the 1st station and calls for the bird. I looked over and told the dad that I was the person that shoot first and called for the first bird from all five stations. He smiled and said oh ok and we continued by the time I had made the 5th station dads gun had been jammed for a least the last ten shoots and he had it pointed at the cement. I told him that if it were me I'd be pointing the gun towards the dirt about twenty feet in front of the line. The father had me concerend (safety) it was obvious that he know nothing about guns and less about trap shooting. When we finished he asked if I could help him unjam his gun which I did. That gun hadn't been oiled in years, I todl him that I wouldn't shoot it any omore with out oiling it. He said it was in the closet for the last four years. Thinking about it afterwards, I thought I might have embarresed him in fornt of his son. Did I do the right thing my correcting the father and the son???

 

[Lead Man]

Safety being the most important thing when guns are involved, it never hurts to make a firing line safe. I do it in a way hopefully not to embarrass anyone but if they don't listen I will say whatever is necessary. Explaining the rules is never a bad thing either.

 

[mixer]

I'm surprised you continued to shoot with someone that had that much trouble with his gun and showed such a lack of basic firearms maintenence. IMO it was an accident waiting to happen. Not having an official puller/scorer to enforce common sense safety rules only made the problem more potentially dangerous.


Eric

 

[djpk69]

Embarassing someone vs.(someone being) dead is WELL worth pointing out. You did the right THING.

 

[BDodd]

Sounds good to me except I probably would have stepped in sooner on all counts....breakemall....Bob Dodd

 

[AJ100]

Don't sweat it Bruce. Better to say WHAT you did, WHEN you did. If you would have kept quiet, it could have been something like,

"Man, I wished I would have said something to that guy. I hope they can save that leg."

Tom(AJ100)

 

[KEYBEAR]

An unsafe shooter should be told ASAP . I,m the new guy with the people I shoot with and have been shooting trap for 35 years .

ALF

 

[Bruce Specht]

I apprecaite the encouragement the more I thought about it the more comfortable I became with what I said and did. Our pullers/ scorers are for the most part teenagers and mostly either oblivious or afraid to say anything to a shooter.

 

[Ljutic111]

You should have stopped him when they shot out of turn . Thats not a safety issue but proper proceedure when on the line . You have every right to address ANY safety issue ANY time you see one being abused . It`s for your own good as well as your squad mates . The more I think about it and since it was at your club , you should have stopped and got a spray can and sprayed the gun for him .

 

[Bruce Specht]

I thought about asking him to leave the line, but I wasn't sure if he had a live load or an empty hull chambered. I felt more comfortable having him next to me so I could watch the muzzel of his gun. He didn't know wether the chamber had a live round or empty in it. I took his gun at his request to clear the jam and aimed it well over the top of the trap house and pulled the trigger and pulled back on the slide with enough force to open the gun and watch it eject a spent hull. I just felt bad about embarssing him (if I did) in front of his son. I saw him about ten minutes later and he was packing up to leave.

 

[bobdog]

If there's a safety problem, you should speak up, but I would not shame the man in front of his son.

I've seen wives and children get treated pretty rudely on the line at my club when there was no need for it. About a year ago, one of the club regulars reduced a first-timer lady shooter to tears, and it was clearly an ego trip on the part of the club member. I calmed him down, allowed him to storm off to the clubhouse, and then explained what the new shooter had done wrong and why it was so dangerous. Abusing a first-time shooter just isn't necessary, and it doesn't help our sport if we treat new shooters badly. There was no need for it.

 

[Jawhawker]

I think you handled the situation reasonably. There is never any need to embarras anyone. Just be curtious and explain. With his son being on the line it was a tricky situation to get the message to him without embarrasment but sounds as though you done well.

Its easy to see by how some of the above posters respond why we loose potential shooters quickly!