Ocala range report

[Henry88]

Hey Guys,

Ran across these reviews and some made me laugh. I've been going to this range for 25 years and have about seen it all.

I have never taken a guest, always myself, so maybe that mitigated the danger somewhat, but I'm looking forward to going Tue morning.

It starts with:

"This may be the most dangerous Gun Range in the US .

I have been to hundreds of ranges this one is by far the worst .

A good indication is all of the signs in the road leading to the to the range are riddled with bullet holes......"

"I was there for five minutes and counted a dozen serious violations of even the simplest safety measures .
Three groups of men were handling and waving rifles around in the parking lot . One idiot was pointing his rifle at my son sitting in our car five feet away . I had to remind him of his stupidity in front of his friends .
There were men standing along a fence talking to a person shooting trap . These guys were actually in front of the firing line in the line of fire" .
"Pistols pointing at other shooters, rifles loaded being carried off the firing line . No safety officer monitoring the firing line . Loaded rifles laying on benches pointing into the parking lot . Anyone stupid enough to frequent this place will probably not know the difference between a safe range and a circus".

"Lots of dangerous behavior especially on the weekend. Today I witnessed fully automatic fire, people twirling pistols, and, shooting across lanes, failure to maintain a safe cold range, and small children fitting weapons far too powerful for them".

"Walking from my car to the range, I noticed that the range was cold – people were down range setting targets. Then I saw something freaky. A young lady was at one of the shooting benches aiming a scoped AR down range at one of her shooting partners. He was 50 yards down range placing a target. She was waving him side to side to he could get his target placed in the correct shooting lane".

And from the local news

"Four children and two adults had minor injuries after an antique shotgun went off accidentally in a Marion County shooting range Saturday afternoon, deputies said.

A 21-year old Winter Springs man was loading a double-barrel antique shotgun at the Ocala Shooting Range on Northeast 231 Avenue, formerly known as the Forest Road 88 Shooting Range, Marion County sheriff's Lt. Ryan Robbins said".

I shouldn't laugh, it's really not funny. BTW I'll take pics and provide a range report if I sur.....well you know.........

[Steve51]

Unbelievable! Is this a private or public range?

Over the years, other than my time in the military, most of my shooting has been done on private land. I am a member of a rural sportsman club and we have a range. The only time there is a range officer is at club organized shooting matches. On occasion the range is closed for a private event or when the sheriff's dept or local police dept are having range time.

Other than these times, the range is always open to members. I have never been there when anyone has been unruly or demonstrates a lack of respect. I have been there when firearms have jammed or misfired or encountered a squib load. It has always been handled safely and without panic. Many of the members have served in the armed forces, some members are CCW instructors, and a couple have FFL's.

Guess I didn't realize how fortunate I have been.

[BrokenolMarine]

I went to public ranges a couple times with friends who didn't want to make the longer drive to the club ranges, or my private range. A couple times, that's two. The first time I thought the conduct had to be rare. The second time was a repeat. Never again. Our shooting clubs where I shot competitions, the rangemasters all ran LE ranges during their work week. Both the rangemasters were former military and even minor errors were corrected quickly from the tower.

[DAVIDF]

The few times I have been to that range, I have observed an extreme lack of safety. Right after arriving one time, I didn't even bother staying. Looked around, didn't get out of my truck and simply drove back home. I have never gone there since. There must be something in the local drinking water

It is free and maybe the old saying "you get what you pay for" really applies in this case.

But, I hope you had a good time on Tuesday and everything was safe!

[clovishound]

We have two public ranges here in the somewhat local area. I see far more questionable behavior there than at the indoor range I frequent. Of course, the indoor range has employees that will take care of bad behavior quickly. The public ranges have no one on site to correct situations. The only resource is to call the cops, if things are really out of control. It was amazing how many people were hunting microwaves and CRT computer monitors there, and then leaving their "kills" to bake in the sun.

Well, that is the way it used to be. I understand that both public ranges have been reworked and now have RSOs on site when open. I haven't been since this change, but look forward to a new sheriff in town.

[CT_Shooter]

In October 2016, I posted about the most dangerous incident I've seen at the indoor range where I shoot. I will never forget it.

http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 1&p#p20091

[ditto1958]

Hey, now your range sounds like fun. I will be passing thru that way at the end of the month. Maybe I should stop in. Think I will survive?

[Mistered]

Those are a lot of violations for one person to witness let alone write a review on. In all my years of shooting I have never seen that many total - no natter where I have been shooting! Where can I read these reviews? Got a link?