Range people.

 At a late afternoon range session cars and trucks were backed up inside the locked gate when I arrived.  Probably action shooters trapped inside after the matches ended.  I unlocked the gate but held them up long enough to shoo a green strip of a garter snake out of the drive.  First one this year.

  Three folks were shooting under the covered firing line.  A chain smoking man with a 10/22 and a mis-mounted (too high) scope beside two rough looking twenty year olds with various gun disasters.  They had a Springfield mag hammered into a Ruger 9mm, a shorty AR with a loose barrel and an AK pistol along with a spotting scope that looked like it came out of a box of Cracker Jax.  

  I set up my bulleye box and drove the mag loose with a wood rod I use on squibs while the roughest kid held the gun against a firing table.    I say they looked rough- it mostly was face piercings and bad haircuts along with some dumb tattoos.  The younger one was blown up about 70 pounds over his reasonable weight by high fructose corn syrups and junk foods but mostly they both had that uncared-for look.  We settled down shoot and got to talking.  When a target break came I pulled out my suppressed 10/22 and some ammo so they could see it and shoot a little.  The kid let me shoot his Springfield, turned out he had a carry permit so they couldn't have too bad a past and I let him shoot my Les Baer service pistol.  His Springfield broke at about 14 pounds so I warned him to be ready for the 4 1/2 pound two-stage on the Baer.  They both were amazed at the quiet and accurate 10/22 and shot up a box of Wolf Match Target.  Worth it.  Turns out the younger ones dad reloaded so he was shooting cast bullets and collecting all the brass he could scruff up.  I kept a loaded pistol at hand and never turned my back but they actually had perfect range ettiquite.  The older guy smoked through his Winstons and left.  I shot some 100 yard pistol at a silhouette someone had left up and made some nice bullseye groups at 25  and 50.

  When I left I propped the gate open for them.