I haven't been into hicaliber for a little bit, but last time I was there they didn't magnet test any ammo. I went in and blasted some wolf through my ak without a problem. The guy asked me what calibers I was shooting and that was it.
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Indoor Ranges That Forbid Shooting Steel Cased Ammo
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I haven't been into hicaliber for a little bit, but last time I was there they didn't magnet test any ammo. I went in and blasted some wolf through my ak without a problem. The guy asked me what calibers I was shooting and that was it.
It used to never be an issue at HiCaliber which is why they were pretty much my favorite place to go. All of a sudden though they have the signs posted all over the place. Don't know why they decided to jump on that bandwagon but there ya go. If it's simply a don't ask don't tell kind of thing then why even bother with the stupid signs. Just makes me not care to do the membership thing like I have in the past. Maybe these ranges don't intend to strictly enforce it but I don't want to be the one who gets embarrassed in there when they decide to make an issue out of it.
Luckily I'm outside the city limits. Blast stuff in the back yard. Steel cased is easy run a magnet over the area in the yard and how I separate the steel from my brass that I keep. But if your near holly springs make sure your out of the city limits they came by the house to give me crap when I was outside shooting the 500s&w it flipped the neighbors out a tad. Just tell them to leave and send Cherokee county back out. The Cherokee guys are nice about it. Just make sure your within 8am and 8pm. Have a backstop and be 200 ft from the road. Unfortunately county guys didn't think the grill I was shooting was a back stop nope but the hill behind it is.
Understood and I get the no steel core ammo policy, but the steel casings policy is just ridiculous. Unlikely sparks from polymer coated spent casings doesn't sound like a cause for concern considering there is a violent explosion every time the trigger is pulled. Not to mention the fireball shooting out the muzzle with each round.
I use to work at a gun store/range and while I love spitting steel out of my ak it was against the rule there too. Even though signs are posted I have seen people sneak it in and late one Saturday there was a fire that was caused by steal ammo not sure though if it was due to the case or sparks from gun but it did about a grand worth of damage to the range and as far as the employees being to lazy to pick the steal out of the brass...... come on guys it's not rocket science we had big magnets with handles attached to sweep over the pile to pick it and shotgun shells up.truth be told the aluminum (blazer) was the real pain because we had to get on our hands and knees to pick that stuff out along with making sure live rounds didn't get in with the brass. Ranges while it was fun at times and had its perks sucked to work at!
Just to clarify here, we do a magnet test on the projectile part of your rounds and do not allow anything but copper and lead to be sent downrange. As for the case, we have no policy on that. It can be aluminum, steel, whatever. It has no impact on our ability to clean the range, and nor do I directly financially benefit from whether there is brass, aluminum, or copper in those buckets (our ammo supplier takes them away and uses them or sells them to continue production, which is why you rarely see us run out of ammo during a panic-buying spree, though occasionally happens).
If the projectile has a steel core, or is a bi-metal product with steel mixed in (like most wolf and tula is), there are three risks for us. The first is that, while our backstops, target carriers, and baffles are all rated to accept it, those types of rounds degrade those surfaces more quickly (think on the scale of hundreds of thousands of rounds a month all shot by folks with varying skill levels) than just the softer copper and lead projectiles. That is a straight up cost savings and keeps our mean time between maintenance cycles longer. The second is that of sparks and fires. The probability of that happening is very small, however, the consequences are huge. We clean the range often, but never want something like a small amount of un-burnt powder sitting on a surface somewhere to be ignited. The third risk is that of ricochet. Again the range dimensions and materials were designed to zero out the chances of this happening, however, over the course of a couple million rounds fired in that room in a year, I really don't want that one in a million chance to occur with a metal that has steel in it. The softer metals flatten out and deform on impact with a hard metal, absorbing the energy.
The reason we test everyone's ammo is displayed on this forum...simply put, people admit they sneak stuff in and break the rules. Over the course of the 40 years this business has existed in one location or another, it has suffered 3 catastrophic fires. Two of them were folks that snuck tracers in the range. I would not like there to be a fourth fire (the first since we've owned this establishment).
Sounds like there are some indoor facilities that accommodate steel projectiles and welcome them. I guess we all have our strengths and services different types of shooters. Am glad to live in a robust shooting culture here in the south where that can be.
As always, please feel free to sound off if you want to call BS, or give ideas, or even educate me on your thoughts and ideas. PMs are welcome as well. I am known to take constructive feedback in a positive manner.
rock on,
Dan
Well thats all good and dandy but bottom line its at least 30% more expensive to shot at your range as you do not allow the cheap ammo and I like to shoot allot. but then again I'm not likely to shoot much at the firing line even if you would allow the cheap ammo and thats due the no rapid fire rule.
I respect that, Frogman, and wish there was a way to remedy the cost situation for you.
We do limit the rate of fire in the rifle room. In the pistol lanes, we allow for rapid fire as long as you're hitting the target. Often times our safety folks will watch when they hear rapid fire, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're in the wrong. Funny effect is that when there is an accomplished shooter drilling bullseyes rapidly in the pistol bay, we usually have to keep a close eye on lanes around that person, because novices get inspired and decide to mag dump and are not quite as accurate, if you know what I mean.
