Originally published at: This bizarre shooting range has bullets flying across a major highway. On purpose. | Boing Boing
…
2 Likes
In the United States, there would be an incident every damn week, and no one would do a thing to shut it down. “That’s the price of freedom!”
25 Likes
In the US it would be open at night so drivers could watch the tracer rounds from machine gun fire.
“Fireworks every night! Fun for the entire family!”
19 Likes
Cue some ammosexual heading over there so he can shoot at some cars, then scream about his ‘Freedumbs’ when the other, military trained Swiss shooters take him down and remove him from his weapon.
8 Likes
The beauty of geometry at work - the nearside bullet trap is there to catch any low rounds: if it can clear the wall, it will carry to the target wall. Also, they seem unlikely to allow any Ameridiot to use the range anyhow.
15 Likes
To use this firing range your IQ must be higher than this:
6 Likes
As a frequent commuter on LA freeways, I have to ask: is that not normal?
26 Likes
one of my favourite movies
5 Likes
Well - that is an interesting design. I don’t think that would “fly” in the US because of all the lawyers. But, also not needed, as we have a lot more area to spread out in the US.
They are right, if you get over that concrete wall, then it should be traveling fast enough to make it across the road with no problem. Though if they wanted to make it so it was impossible to hit even if you stood up, all you would have to do is put a baffle that blocks that trajectory when standing. Lots of rifle ranges have top baffles that prevent rounds from exiting the range.
Really nice Sig SG 550 the guy got to use. I have never seen a scoring system like that, super interesting. Pretty darn impressive work using iron sights at 300 yards for a presumably new shooter. (not sure how big those scoring targets are, but still.)
Can someone read this well enough to tell me what this sign says? I don’t understand what all the red circles are for. It is at 1:16 in the video if you can get a clearer image than I could.
Nah. It would be a manned range with Range Officers with the same rules. They have manned ranges all over and they are run in more or less the same way. And, as I said above, you could further idiot proof it with baffles preventing firing from a non-prone position.
8 Likes
That’s not a given at any random range in the United States. Plenty are well run. Others… not so much. Outdoor ranges in particular, which is why I’ve tended to stick to indoor ones with strict rules, safety officers, clear rules and protocols. But that costs money, and most folks just don’t care enough to bother.
But it was intended as hyperbole, nothing more, rooted in a kernel of American truthiness.
10 Likes
Look what’s possible when firearms are 1) used only by highly trained shooters, and 2) not treated as fetish objects.
11 Likes
I am an American and I’ve shot on Swiss ranges. I may not, however, be an idiot, so perhaps you have a point.
Swiss shooters are marvelously welcoming to visitors.
12 Likes
A reminder of all the critical places to inspect for safety on each kind of rifle.
13 Likes
I am an american and (was) a member of an outdoor gun range here outside of Austin. There were a number of normal ranges out to 200 yards, but the long distance range, which I think supported 300 and 400 yards, went over a roadway, as I understand it. It used similar safety precautions, i.e. a berm that would prevent rounds from getting anywhere near the height of cars on the road. You also had to request access to it and be granted it. I don’t remember if there was any requirement for that access but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were. To become a member of the range you needed to meet with a range safety officer and demonstrate basic proficiency and safety, and then had to be voted in by a majority of the members.
I saw a sketchy thing here and there over the years but generally I found all the other members to be extremely safety conscious and it was really a pleasure to shoot there.
8 Likes
Also I forgot to mention, on most ranges there is also the concern of shooting too high, so that the round will go over the berm down range and potentially onto someone else’s property. All the shooting positions were in covered areas, think like a car-port. They had angled steel “shutters” on the front of them that made it (theoretically) impossible to shoot over the berms, you’d hit the shutters instead.
6 Likes
I can’t see the text part but I can roughly guess what the red circles would mean as a safety instructions for SIG 550 (the only one of those that I’m somewhat familiar) while you are not in the shooting position:
-front locking pin has to attached
-magazine must detached
-folding trigger guard must not be folded
-bolt has to be locked open
-safety has to be on
-rear locking pin has to attached
-stock must not be folded
9 Likes
OH! The empty circle in front of the trigger is showing to make sure the magazine is out. I didn’t understand at first the repeated circles of nothing.
Thanks
Make sense. Thanks.
3 Likes
The chart illustrates all the best places to attach a red fashion loop to your gun.
15 Likes
It says “you should upgrade to 4K”.
The small text at the bottom is
“Dok 27.2A08LdfiN/ ALN 293-3785 / SAP 2559.4301”
Also, in German, French and Italian
“Safety assessment of the weapons in the 300m shooting range”
Probably has something to do with turning on the safety, removing the magazine, opening the bolt, and all the other rituals of proving that the gun can’t fire a bullet and it’s safe for someone to do something up range.
12 Likes
Presumably that highway is not one of the airforce emergency runways
4 Likes
