Sim G wrote:I bumped into an old mate at Bisley who looked like he was having a good time with some of the CSR community. They weren't my "cup of tea".
I suppose that's why I also found it supremely ironic that their new forum is entitled "Shooting for real men" and a warning sign declaring "no walts"........ Mmmmm.
I have been biting my tongue on the topic of this group for some months.
Towards the end of last year our club were booked in for a whole day on 300 yards at Century. Due to mobility issues, once we are on the range we don't move, we cater for ourselves and happily look after other club members stuff while they go off for lunch. (Obviously they take their firearms away with them.) On this day we were in a little way from the gate, with belongings of three other people. Someone from the range office came along and started to put the "Danger Live Firing Ahead" boards out. We were puzzled as they were blocking off the entrance and exit from our position to the gate. The chap putting the boards out said he was just doing as he was told.
The range office was called and a representative came out to see us. Apparently if we wanted to stay on the points we were on, we would have had to stay there until the other club to our right had packed up for the day or walk all the way back to the Gallery Road. As I said before, walking that distance was not a possibility that was why we had our vehicle behind the point. You can't drive back to the road due to all the ditches. In effect we would have been stuck if we needed to get out for any reason.
As time was getting on we had to call the other club members to come and get their belongings. I then managed to carry what I could to the gate which was swarming with camo gear. Our other club members arrived by then and as they tried to get through the car park they were quite aggressively told they couldn't go through. We managed to get everything together.
The range office managed to get us some space on another range but by then the heavens opened. The attitude towards other range users was very unfriendly. Our club book ranges as soon as they are open for booking. If our club had been told that there would be access issues on that day, they would have asked for a different range as most of the members are a bit “older” so they also would have needed to come and go. We did wonder if there was some pressure to allow the lane arrangements as they were, we were told it was the only way the layout would work. I believe one of our committee members wrote to someone about the situation but didn’t get a reply.
I don’t have a problem with anybody else’s shooting sport preference, I owned a very nice AR15 myself. The problem I have is one group giving the impression that they are more important at the detriment to other range users.
As for the comment, "Shooting for real men", does that include those unfortunate enough to have a disability? If being a “real man” means you become selfish and ignorant of other people’s problems I’d rather not be associated with them.
I hope it was just a one off and maybe down to poor communication.