I had this in with the previous post but decided to post it as a separate entry.
Since I last posted we've shot an IDPA match at the Corndodger Range and I 'worked' another Women on Target Event. We also hit the range several times.
The Women on Target Event was at Fancy Creek Range near Randolph, KS, just north of Manhattan, KS. I offered my services to a fellow IDPA shooter who was going to be working the pistol part of the event. I volunteered for either rifle or pistol.
RANT!
I ended up on the rifle range with my rifle. WhooBoy! Was THAT a mistake! The fellow runin' the rifle range didn't like me, my rifle, my Double Tap shirt or how I did things. I was the ONLY woman involved with the guns in the entire event. I also apparently didn't show him the respect he thought he was due. I considered myself a peer in that we were both fellow shooters. I showed deference to his 'experience' and that this was 'his' home-range and not mine.
I was also a woman with a rifle. And not just a regular rifle, like say a .22lr with wood furniture or a traditional wood-furnitured hunting rifle. Noooo. Me and my bad-ass evil black carbine with quad rails, a red dot optic, bi-pod and flash hider. Even with the stock extended all the way it was too short to fit on any of the rifle rests. This fellow had all of his heavy, fancy wood-furnitured .22lr competition rifles set out on a table. Nope. Couldn't put it there; might influence ... er .... scratch one of his rifles. So I decided to set it at the end of a seating bench at the back of the range, facing the berm, mag out and bolt open with a bright yellow chamber flag.
My gun was too loud. HAH! Yes, compared to a .22LR but it wasn't ANY louder than the other AR (which looked like an old Colt AR, non-collapsible stock, carry handle, 20" barrel, no rails or flash hider and with a by-God scope) or any of the other larger caliber 'hunting / sport' rifles.
After I'd listened to his spiel the first go-around I didn't need to listen to it again so I wandered to the other end of the rifle range and began to pick up brass using the box folks had tossed brass in for the event. There was a sign saying to pick up your brass and so as I had nothing else to do while he talked, I began to pick up all the brass I could find that was reloadable. When he saw that he was LIVID!! I'd mingled the brass. For some reason, he said he was going to figure out how much ammo they'd used by counting the spent brass. Made NO sense to me. What if you missed some? What if some of the women wanted to take a piece of the brass they shot home? Which several did. It made better sense to me to know how much you started with and see how much you had left at the end of the day. I notice he or any of the other guys helping didn't pick up any of the .22LR brass to count it.
I should also say that I joked a bit and talked guns with the first two groups of participants which was also frowned upon. During first group one of the women wanted to know how the different shotgun shells got their sizes. I joked that guys named them so they made no sense. That got a laugh from everyone and a glare from him. (sigh).
After he had his say on the brass incident, which was as the second group was leaving, I asked if he wanted me to leave. Did he feel unsafe around me; the way I handled the guns? No. No. Didn't want me to leave just if I wanted to do something ask permission first. Good Grief!
So, I stayed as far away from him as possible the rest of the day. I never addressed another word to him. I focused on the women, which was WHY we were there--not to engage in a pissing match. And truly the only reason I stayed was the women participants. I was the ONLY woman handling the guns that wasn't a participant. And I wanted them to see another woman that was knowledgeable about guns; wasn't afraid of them and liked to shoot! It almost made me wish I'd also brought my DPMS LR-panther .308. I think that would have torn it.
The final indignity was my evil black rifle case. I'd stashed it under the bench my rifle sat on. Well, apparently that was too close to where he had the cases for all his fancy guns. When I got ready to case up my rifle (yes, I asked permission [eye roll]) it wasn't where I'd left it. He'd moved it several feet away. Mr WK figured he didn't want it to give his 'fud' guns any upstart ideas! LOL!
None of the other men I met that day had that attitude. Since we got back into shooting I've NEVER met anyone like that. With his attitude and his opinion of female shooters why in the HECK is he even involved in the Women on Target events? The only reason I can think of is he's on the range board (or in charge of the rifle range) and figures that's part of his duties. With guys like that around, no wonder more women don't shoot if they run into attitudes like that.
Other than that, the event was fine. They only had five groups so each station (there were six) had a free period. Luckily, the free period for the rifle range was the final one, so I took myself up to the pistol range for the final one which is where my fellow IDPA shooter was. What a breath of fresh air. I'd also brought four handguns with me to flesh out their selection: Glock 26 (subcompact 9mm), Springfield Armory XDm 3.8 (9mm), Browning Buckmark Camper (.22lr) and my Sig Sauer P238 (.380 pocket gun). I think the guys runnin' that range liked my choices.
I let the guys do their pistol spiel and just helped out on the firing line when the women began shooting the guns. Next year, I told them I will ONLY do the pistols.
The Women on Target Event was at Fancy Creek Range near Randolph, KS, just north of Manhattan, KS. I offered my services to a fellow IDPA shooter who was going to be working the pistol part of the event. I volunteered for either rifle or pistol.
RANT!
I ended up on the rifle range with my rifle. WhooBoy! Was THAT a mistake! The fellow runin' the rifle range didn't like me, my rifle, my Double Tap shirt or how I did things. I was the ONLY woman involved with the guns in the entire event. I also apparently didn't show him the respect he thought he was due. I considered myself a peer in that we were both fellow shooters. I showed deference to his 'experience' and that this was 'his' home-range and not mine.
I was also a woman with a rifle. And not just a regular rifle, like say a .22lr with wood furniture or a traditional wood-furnitured hunting rifle. Noooo. Me and my bad-ass evil black carbine with quad rails, a red dot optic, bi-pod and flash hider. Even with the stock extended all the way it was too short to fit on any of the rifle rests. This fellow had all of his heavy, fancy wood-furnitured .22lr competition rifles set out on a table. Nope. Couldn't put it there; might influence ... er .... scratch one of his rifles. So I decided to set it at the end of a seating bench at the back of the range, facing the berm, mag out and bolt open with a bright yellow chamber flag.
My gun was too loud. HAH! Yes, compared to a .22LR but it wasn't ANY louder than the other AR (which looked like an old Colt AR, non-collapsible stock, carry handle, 20" barrel, no rails or flash hider and with a by-God scope) or any of the other larger caliber 'hunting / sport' rifles.
After I'd listened to his spiel the first go-around I didn't need to listen to it again so I wandered to the other end of the rifle range and began to pick up brass using the box folks had tossed brass in for the event. There was a sign saying to pick up your brass and so as I had nothing else to do while he talked, I began to pick up all the brass I could find that was reloadable. When he saw that he was LIVID!! I'd mingled the brass. For some reason, he said he was going to figure out how much ammo they'd used by counting the spent brass. Made NO sense to me. What if you missed some? What if some of the women wanted to take a piece of the brass they shot home? Which several did. It made better sense to me to know how much you started with and see how much you had left at the end of the day. I notice he or any of the other guys helping didn't pick up any of the .22LR brass to count it.
I should also say that I joked a bit and talked guns with the first two groups of participants which was also frowned upon. During first group one of the women wanted to know how the different shotgun shells got their sizes. I joked that guys named them so they made no sense. That got a laugh from everyone and a glare from him. (sigh).
After he had his say on the brass incident, which was as the second group was leaving, I asked if he wanted me to leave. Did he feel unsafe around me; the way I handled the guns? No. No. Didn't want me to leave just if I wanted to do something ask permission first. Good Grief!
So, I stayed as far away from him as possible the rest of the day. I never addressed another word to him. I focused on the women, which was WHY we were there--not to engage in a pissing match. And truly the only reason I stayed was the women participants. I was the ONLY woman handling the guns that wasn't a participant. And I wanted them to see another woman that was knowledgeable about guns; wasn't afraid of them and liked to shoot! It almost made me wish I'd also brought my DPMS LR-panther .308. I think that would have torn it.
The final indignity was my evil black rifle case. I'd stashed it under the bench my rifle sat on. Well, apparently that was too close to where he had the cases for all his fancy guns. When I got ready to case up my rifle (yes, I asked permission [eye roll]) it wasn't where I'd left it. He'd moved it several feet away. Mr WK figured he didn't want it to give his 'fud' guns any upstart ideas! LOL!
None of the other men I met that day had that attitude. Since we got back into shooting I've NEVER met anyone like that. With his attitude and his opinion of female shooters why in the HECK is he even involved in the Women on Target events? The only reason I can think of is he's on the range board (or in charge of the rifle range) and figures that's part of his duties. With guys like that around, no wonder more women don't shoot if they run into attitudes like that.
Other than that, the event was fine. They only had five groups so each station (there were six) had a free period. Luckily, the free period for the rifle range was the final one, so I took myself up to the pistol range for the final one which is where my fellow IDPA shooter was. What a breath of fresh air. I'd also brought four handguns with me to flesh out their selection: Glock 26 (subcompact 9mm), Springfield Armory XDm 3.8 (9mm), Browning Buckmark Camper (.22lr) and my Sig Sauer P238 (.380 pocket gun). I think the guys runnin' that range liked my choices.
I let the guys do their pistol spiel and just helped out on the firing line when the women began shooting the guns. Next year, I told them I will ONLY do the pistols.
I'd showed up with lots of flyers for the Women's IDPA match and between my fellow IDPA shooter and myself, we gave quite a few away. As I was on the rifle range for most of the day, I didn't get a chance to talk much about it. The rifle guy talked so long that the women only had 10-15 minutes out of the hour to shoot (most everyone else only spoke for 15-20 minutes). But I managed to get a plug in for it now and again. I hope a few of them at least show up to see what we do. I'd be over the moon if any showed up ready to shoot!
a bit more RANT
One more point, what is it with assholes as instructors for Women on Target Events? There was 'special forces guy'* who gave the spiel for the first four groups of women at the Capital City Event in June. He swept everyone multiple times as he demonstrated various things on and about the rifle. Yes, the rifle was empty, no magazine and had a chamber flag but still! I figured as 'we' were the knowledgeable ones 'we' should be on our best behaviour as to how to handle the firearms. Also teach by example. I did the last two and did it without once sweeping anyone. It wasn't that hard. Just be aware every second of where your muzzle is and where it's pointing.
Once 'special forces guy' heard my bona-fides during the introductions (several--four actually--carbine courses taught by an active Army Sargent whose job it was to teach solders how to shoot and competitive pistol shooting--IDPA) and saw that I knew how to handle my carbine (not my husband's or a borrowed one--MINE), he wanted nothing to do with me.
Are there more out there? So far I've done two events and the two worst gunnies I've ever been around were connected to this event as 'instructors'. Have I just been lucky not to run into more of these fools on the range? Oh, I've seen the snickers and the looks occasionally from young guys as I take guns and ammo out of the range bag and put 'em on the bench at a couple of the indoor ranges. But that disappears when they see how I handle the weapons and what my target looks like (usually better than theirs). Are those guys, these guys?
a bit more RANT
One more point, what is it with assholes as instructors for Women on Target Events? There was 'special forces guy'* who gave the spiel for the first four groups of women at the Capital City Event in June. He swept everyone multiple times as he demonstrated various things on and about the rifle. Yes, the rifle was empty, no magazine and had a chamber flag but still! I figured as 'we' were the knowledgeable ones 'we' should be on our best behaviour as to how to handle the firearms. Also teach by example. I did the last two and did it without once sweeping anyone. It wasn't that hard. Just be aware every second of where your muzzle is and where it's pointing.
Once 'special forces guy' heard my bona-fides during the introductions (several--four actually--carbine courses taught by an active Army Sargent whose job it was to teach solders how to shoot and competitive pistol shooting--IDPA) and saw that I knew how to handle my carbine (not my husband's or a borrowed one--MINE), he wanted nothing to do with me.
Are there more out there? So far I've done two events and the two worst gunnies I've ever been around were connected to this event as 'instructors'. Have I just been lucky not to run into more of these fools on the range? Oh, I've seen the snickers and the looks occasionally from young guys as I take guns and ammo out of the range bag and put 'em on the bench at a couple of the indoor ranges. But that disappears when they see how I handle the weapons and what my target looks like (usually better than theirs). Are those guys, these guys?
*during his introduction he said he was in the 'special forces' and I think had taken every NRA certification course available, Evar! He reeled off a bunch of them.
blogging to: a quiet house
reading: Bleeding Hearts by Ian Rankin (a mystery)
and
Godless: The Church of Liberalism by Ann Coulter ~ audio book read by Elizabeth White
and
Godless: The Church of Liberalism by Ann Coulter ~ audio book read by Elizabeth White
Parting Shot: "Pass this bill now, or I'll say "Pass this bill now!" another two dozen times!" ~ Mark Steyn
