Blackpowder range etiquette?

Just a general question , looking for opinions....

The layout of my gun club is a 300 yard , big rifle range, one 100 yard "multi use" range with a few shooting benches and 7 "pistol pits" for handguns, shotguns, "pistol caliber carbines" and muzzleloading weapons.

Today there is no one at my range so I go to the "multi use" range to shoot my 1795 Springfield. I'm shooting, blowing billows of smoke, a haze of smoke is hanging over the range.

A couple rolls in , pulls up and gets out, walks right up to the bench next to me. I'm like "hi how are you are you gonna shoot here?let me make some room but I'm shooting a muzzleloader, I mean, I'm just trying to figure out how we can work this , or maybe I'll just head deeper in to a pistol pit, what are you shooting ?" And guy has a .22 pistol , telling me he's gonna teach his wife how to shoot it.

I'm like, ok, let me get this round out and I'll move, there's no way you're gonna teach her to shoot a pistol while I'm blowing smoke, sparks, burning paper and slinging huge lead balls down range.......

I'm trying to be nice, even though I would think any sane person would go to the pistol pits where you can be by yourself rather than shoot 5 feet from a guy with a huge flintlock but whatever. I'm willing to move to be nice , I only need 50 yards to shoot a smoothbore , really.

I guess they finally realized they might do better to walk 20 feet down the path to an actual pistol pit.

My question is , what is the accepted "courtesy" at a gun club or public range, if you're shooting a blackpowder weapon?

To most "lay people" you're kind of an alien entity , since there's tons of smoke involved and it obscures targets , and hangs in the air.....do most of you try to stay "out of the way" on the rifle range, and how do you handle these kinds of scenarios where people might not be cognizant of the fact that they might want to go somewhere else?

I feel if I’m first there that it’s always polite to say howdy and allow them to pick their spot. If they choose to set next to me I’d point out in your case the flintlock blows gas and flame to the side. Still their choose if they want to be there rather then the whole range. Moving my set up wouldn’t come to mind unless there wasn’t any other spot suitable to them.

Just polite for my part, a shoot from the extreme right and give suppository shooters a break. I’m shooting a front stuffer after all I’m not in a rush. I don’t think you can make enough smoke to interfere with some one shooting a pistol

I always set up on the farthest right bench and let those near me know its a muzzlegun. Most are happy watching for a bit. Some ask questions. Nobody has complained or provided negative comments. But then again, this is Canada....
LOL, lol
Walk

You were there. You were shooting completely legit. It would up to them to stay or move.
If I show up when others are there I at least try to get down wind. Other then that it is just as much your range as it is others. I would never expect one to move nor should they expect me too. That is not being rude it's just the way it is.

Your range sounds exactly like my club in Martinsville IN. I think this is a case of you were on a long range and they had a handgun with other options. At our range we have four any firearm use ranges. Two 50 yards and two 30 yards and one handgun only range. And one 100 meter rifle or handgun range. Our 300 meter range is for rifles only and only open on the weekends with a range master. If your range has a similar layout, then I think you were right in staying and let them move off. The breech of etiquette was on them.

I think you handled it fine.

I tried to err on courtesy because the people were about 75ish years old , and as long as the guy was being relatively polite I figured I didn't want to create a "peeing contest" since technically the multi use range isn't a one person affair, I really didn't have the right , I guess, to pull the "I was here first beat it" card plus I don't want to risk getting banned.

Not to "profile" older folks but I figure I am nicer to older people. If a bunch of tacticool weirdos rolled up like "yo we're shooting ARs move over" they're probably would be a different outcome to this story.

I only had a cartridge box and a shooting bag, I was like, I can easily grab my manure and walk 50 feet.

It's just an odd scenario I don't often run into, if I had some whatever smokeless pistol or rifle I wouldn't have cared, just let them set up and kept shooting. But having the big smokepole is a different animal.

This is why I try to use the pistol pits for these kinds of guns because once you're there , it's yours. Or the rifle range, you set up a target and shoot , if someone wants to drive down to set up then it's easy to just hang out for a few minutes.

I would stay downwind at all times.
Black powder obscures view and smells like rotten eggs.
Shooting upwind will make you no friends.

You got to stop shooting the cheap stuff. Black powder smells of untouched wilderness, brave men, wool and smoky fires, foggy mornings in camp, misty deer hunts,.....

Walkingeagle said:

I always set up on the farthest right bench and let those near me know its a muzzlegun. Most are happy watching for a bit. Some ask questions. Nobody has complained or provided negative comments. But then again, this is Canada....
LOL, lol
Walk

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Grew up on the Canadian US border and never heard a Canadian claim ‘farthest right’ anything before.

SDSmlf said:

Grew up on the Canadian US border and never heard a Canadian claim ‘farthest right’ anything before.

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Lol. Thats good!
Walk

tenngun said:

You got to stop shooting the cheap stuff. Black powder smells of untouched wilderness, brave men, wool and smoky fires, foggy mornings in camp, misty deer hunts,.....

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I love the smell.

Stantheman86 said:

I tried to err on courtesy because the people were about 75ish years old , and as long as the guy was being relatively polite I figured I didn't want to create a "peeing contest" since technically the multi use range isn't a one person affair, I really didn't have the right , I guess, to pull the "I was here first beat it" card plus I don't want to risk getting banned.

Not to "profile" older folks but I figure I am nicer to older people. If a bunch of tacticool weirdos rolled up like "yo we're shooting ARs move over" they're probably would be a different outcome to this story.

I only had a cartridge box and a shooting bag, I was like, I can easily grab my manure and walk 50 feet.

It's just an odd scenario I don't often run into, if I had some whatever smokeless pistol or rifle I wouldn't have cared, just let them set up and kept shooting. But having the big smokepole is a different animal.

This is why I try to use the pistol pits for these kinds of guns because once you're there , it's yours. Or the rifle range, you set up a target and shoot , if someone wants to drive down to set up then it's easy to just hang out for a few minutes.

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Neither of you was right or wrong. You shoot. If others want to move that's their decision. If you want to move that's your decision.
Had he just wanted or demanded you move then that's a case for range management.
We don't argue at my club. Instigator gets removed. If it escalates to two or more they all are removed. Make cooperating the go to way.

Realistically, as long as you are in compliance with the club rules, first come, first serve. Any move is totally at your discretion. Would not ‘expect’ someone already set up to move because I showed up. Now, if scattered over multiple shooting positions, another story.

As far as being concerned about them setting up next to a muzzleloader and all its smoke, have you ever been ‘to the right’ (Canadian thing again) of someone shooting an AR, M1, AK or other semi auto? For the uneducated, results in a lot of hot brass coming your way.

Not being or suggesting someone be an a-hole, but have to believe any ‘sane person’ would figure out a polite and reasonable solution that would not require someone complying with the range rules to relocate. As my old man used to say, ‘can’t expect the world to stop spinning so you can get off’.

In my not so humble opinion those damn muzzlebrakes they use on the ARs are a lot more offensive than a little black powder smoke.

The Crisco Kid said:

In my not so humble opinion those damn muzzlebrakes they use on the ARs are a lot more offensive that a little black powder smoke.

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They sure are. Our ranges have metal covers and concrete floors. It seems to amplify the sound.

I set up where I please and so do others. Nobody has ever complained about smoke. Other shooters come along and set up at the next bench when many more are open and don't seem inclined to move.

My club has 900+/- members and it has never come up.

Good answers by everyone

Basically my gun club created a weird scenario by having a "mini range" within the property because there is room for numerous people at the "mini multi range" but at the same time, there's really not.

A local gun shop offers "instant membership " to my gun club when previously you had to be "vouched for" and attend a meeting to be voted in, etc. So basically it's become a Public Range at this point. So.......scenarios like today are the result of this, apparently. Because normal "member" type people would have just went to another area to shoot their handgun instead of ignoring 7 pistol pits and squeezing in next to a guy with a flintlock musket.

Might be time to join the more "exclusive" club near me also just to have another option.

Luckily my club range has quite a bit of room (a dozen or so stations) considering 3 shooters constitutes a large crowd. Once a fourth one shows up, I pack up. Just too inconvenient to co-ordinate everybody's activities.

Never had anybody crowd me unless they wanted a closer look.

I shoot at a private, member-only (and guests) BP range. BP firearms only -- other firearms are not permitted. That makes it pretty easy for everyone to set up BP equipment on the open loading bench.

The two MO Dept of Conservation ranges I use permit BP shooting along with all other types of firearms. I've not shot my Trapper there yet, but have been there when other folk have sent some good 'ole BP smoke floating passed my shooting booth. Having the walled booths, I don't think there would be an etiquette issue as described here. I'd guess if someone were "unhappy" about BP shooting, which floats smoke in front of his booth, they could ask to switch booths, if available. I've seen the ROs there help out and do that.

OP, glad it was "...just an odd scenario you don't often run into."
wiksmo