Bullseye Practice while avoiding the Coronavirus

First topic message reminder :

I've read most of what I can find about the Corona virus, and how we catch Covid-19.  The most "dangerous" scenario is to be around other people.  If you stay six to ten feet away from others, that minimizes the chance of getting sick that way.  Next on the list, is to touch something that an infected person has touched.  Even then, to get the virus you need to then touch your mouth, nose, ears, or mouth.  And thoroughly washing your hands will kill or remove any virus on them.  Wearing a mask is mostly so people who do have the virus can't infect others.  I guess it's a good idea to wear one anyway.  Bottom line, stay away from others.

So, it seems to me that if I go to my local range, and stay away from other people, and am careful as to what I touch, and clean up carefully before I drive home, going to the range should be no more dangerous than going to a park, or walking on a path.  I guess it also means using an anti-virus wipe on my guns and gear when I get home.

I'm in South Florida, and the virus graphs I was following seemed to suggest that by June 1st, it might be OK to start going back to the range for practice.
Then they revised the graph, to show "estimated cases" instead of "confirmed cases", which raised the line on the graph a lot, meaning I maybe ought to wait until October.


I suspect a lot of others here are considering their own options.  Maybe some of you have thought this through better than I have.  Is my reasoning correct, that if I go to the range for an hour or two several days a week, and if I go mid-day, when Florida weather means the temperature will be up around 90 or so, so other (wiser) people go earlier or later, when it's more comfortable, and if I'm careful - is it safe to do so?   .....or, how much longer do I need to wait?



............or, have most of you already thought this through, and decided going to the range for practice can be safely done, so you're already doing so?

Nice to have a "mudroom" to be able to do that.  For those of us who live in apartments, unless we change our clothes out in the hallways, doing that is not possible.

Assuming we do go to a range to shoot, and wash down appropriately, and change our shoes & clothes, we should also probably wipe down our guns and gear with disinfectant wipes.  Will alcohol wipes create any problems when used on a handgun?  How about grips, and checkered areas on the frame?

From what I have read and understand, the virus (unlike pollen or dust) doesn't just blow around and land on everything.  If there is no one else at the range and you are the only one handling your possessions, there seems little point to wipe everything down.   If the guy downwind from you is without mask and coughing or you work in a patient treatment environment, then I would err on the side of being overly cautious.  I still wear gloves, wash or sanitize if I touch something where I don't know who else has touched it recently.

Changing clothes due to lead dust is great practice. If you just went to the store for an hour, I feel that changing clothes is unnecessary (I'm not an infectious disease doctor).

Cleaning the weapon is OK if you feel it was breathed on with virus aerosols and you have a habit of touching your eyes, nose or mouth.  However, if you leave it for 3 days the virus will be dead any way and likely would be non-viable sooner.

I don't begrudge people being overly cautious, but wanted to point out there is a range of responses between reasonable and OCD.   

"It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has SARS-CoV-2 on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the primary way the virus spreads."
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html

Been dry firing a lot at the TV, lots of "dead" spokespeople as a result.  Live in urban area, so no live firing - very sad.

If you plan to use alcohol remember that drugstore alcohol is usually 50% to 70%, with the remainder being water. Might not be metal-friendly. And the alcohol might remove finish on wood. I agree that if no one else has touched your stuff it should be fine, though. As mentioned above, it doesn't blow around very far at all.

Some wipes may discolor your guns metal finish.

Our range opened today so I did a little testing.  Using up some chronographing ammo. 

Two targets with the 745 were very good.  One with Bullseye and the other with 452AA.  Loads varied between 3.8 4.0 and 4.2 Gr for each target.

The 52 targets showed the best results with 2.9 Red Dot.  

'wobbley', looking at your photo reminds me of how much I miss going to the range.  I'm spending a gazillion hours learning new photographic techniques, but the highlights of my time back in the USA were range trips, maybe even more so than matches.


I read this link very slowly, trying to apply it to my desire to get back to the range:
https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20200511&instance_id=18384&nl=the-morningi_id=96868831&segment_id=27239&te=1&user_id=bd5f0a42c9391479017d664c2a498bf3

As I see things, as long as I stay away from other people, being at an outdoor range in the fresh air is as safe as going out for a walk.  No later than next week I expect to get there again, first with just my High Standard, and then with a 45.  The 45 has a bonus result, in that when I get home, I need to reload the cases.  :-)   Going to the range avoids most of the likely ways to get infected, and being at the range seems very low-risk --- as long as I keep anyone else at least ten feet away from me.

If I go there, and just shoot at the steel plates hanging behind the 50 yard line, that's easiest and safest.  I'm not sure I will be comfortable yet setting up targets.  That means dealing with a lot more "stuff".  To be honest, I mostly just want to start shooting live rounds again.  I'm back to doing my dry-fire every night again, and I suspect I'm learning more from the dry-firing than I would at the range.

RE: Gustavo1957  - I too have relatives at the NIH.  They were taking this seriously, including how they operated, long before others.

RE: Lefty  - I regularly use 70% isopropyl alcohol to clean camera bodies.  Both metal, plastic, and rubber covered.  I would not worry about using it on my blue or stainless handguns. 

Personally (and, like many of us, I'm in the risky age group) I'm ok with outdoor activities like the range as long as others are wearing a mask and cooperating in staying distant.  I always have a small container of hand sanitizer in my pocket.  I'm even cautious about whether I'm downwind from someone else.

It appears that the latest experience suggests that you're not as likely to contract covid-19 from contact with objects as originally feared.  Still makes sense to be careful. 

The problem is that people where I am seem reluctant to wear masks.  In the few times I've been to a store, I'm surprised at the number of old (like me), fat people not wearing a mask and not being careful about social distancing.

Since masks are mostly to avoid making other people sick, I'm not sure if I need one at the range - much more important to stay away from other people I think.  I'm probably going back there Friday - I may wear the mask anyway, if for no other reason than to discourage people from coming over to talk to me.

Going anywhere outdoors, especially shopping, I always wear one.  In Miami that's required, but I did this before the made the law about it.

I wouldn't go to an indoor range, but outdoors seems safe, if I avoid others.

I think it all depends on the layout of the range.  At my range, the covered area of the 25yd range is only about 20 ft wide.  If, when I go (probably tomorrow), there is no one there, I won't wear one.  But if there is, I will - it's just common courtesy.  Or I'll move to the "short" end of the rifle range.

And the inevitable fogging of my glasses will give me an excuse for shooting poorly.

mikemyers wrote:Since masks are mostly to avoid making other people sick, I'm not sure if I need one at the range - much more important to stay away from other people I think.  I'm probably going back there Friday - I may wear the mask anyway, if for no other reason than to discourage people from coming over to talk to me.

Going anywhere outdoors, especially shopping, I always wear one.  In Miami that's required, but I did this before the made the law about it.

I wouldn't go to an indoor range, but outdoors seems safe, if I avoid others.

It seems the masks do stop a lot of these virus particles. I found a really interesting study on this: https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/diy-homemade-mask-protect-virus-coronavirus/?rel=1

lakesidemn wrote:It seems the masks do stop a lot of these virus particles. I found a really interesting study on this: https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/diy-homemade-mask-protect-virus-coronavirus/?rel=1

Fascinating - sounds like a good reason to use them while shooting.

Thank you for posting!

mikemyers wrote:Since masks are mostly to avoid making other people sick, I'm not sure if I need one at the range - much more important to stay away from other people I think.  I'm probably going back there Friday - I may wear the mask anyway, if for no other reason than to discourage people from coming over to talk to me.

Going anywhere outdoors, especially shopping, I always wear one.  In Miami that's required, but I did this before the made the law about it.

I wouldn't go to an indoor range, but outdoors seems safe, if I avoid others.

Our range requests masks 1when you’re interacting with range staff, 2 not shooting and co-mingling as shooters like to do. When actually shooting there is no requirement to be masked.

Wobbley wrote:

mikemyers wrote:Since masks are mostly to avoid making other people sick, I'm not sure if I need one at the range - much more important to stay away from other people I think.  I'm probably going back there Friday - I may wear the mask anyway, if for no other reason than to discourage people from coming over to talk to me.

Going anywhere outdoors, especially shopping, I always wear one.  In Miami that's required, but I did this before the made the law about it.

I wouldn't go to an indoor range, but outdoors seems safe, if I avoid others.

Our range requests masks 1when you’re interacting with range staff, 2 not shooting and co-mingling as shooters like to do.  When actually shooting there is no requirement to be masked.

 
Reasonable.  Except that I would prefer they require them when interacting with range staff.  People doing their job should not have to accept unnecessary risk.

I believe the outbreaks in Asian countries were tamped down so relatively quickly because they were ALL wearing masks.  A habit they got into during the SARS outbreak years ago.

Well, I will do my part.  When I get to the range I'll put a mask on, and leave it on.  If there is nobody else there, maybe I'll wear it anyway.
I agree with what you wrote, and I'd rather be part of the solution, than part of the problem.
I now feel much better about quality masks, even if they're not N95.
I hope to go to the range tomorrow morning.

Read this today.  Food for thought on your chances of exposure if you're not in one of the 'favorite' places to get exposed.

"According to Reason, "Across the 39 states that report the location of COVID-19 deaths, 42 percent have occurred in nursing and residential care facilities. ... In some states, the total is as high as 65%." That's despite those residents accounting for just 0.6% of the population, which leads Forbes's Avid Roy to note that "the 99.4 percent of the country that doesn't live in those places is roughly half as likely to die of the disease."

Numerically, New York's nursing homes have been especially hard hit thanks to Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo. Of the 100,000 deaths nationwide, 23,000 occurred in New York. And of those deaths, perhaps as many as 10,000 occurred in or originated from New York's nursing homes."

Whippet wrote:.........New York's nursing homes have been especially hard hit .......

It's all over the country, not just New York.  I keep reading about nursing homes in Florida having many deaths, and since I live in Florida, it seemed to be on the news every day.  

Based on everything I've been reading, an outdoor shooting range should be a reasonably safe place to be, even more so if people stay six to eight feet apart from each other, and maybe even more so if they wear a mask.  It's good to read that we don't need to be paranoid about touching things at the range. 

If the flooded range I go to is dry enough, I hope to be there tomorrow, with a mask, for at least an hour or two.  It's probably safer than going shopping at the grocery store.

I was able to get out today to try some new gear.  Sighting in from a rest at 25...



Some 25 yd targets...was nice to get out.  Going again tomorrow.  

Wobbley wrote:Our range opened today so I did a little testing.  Using up some chronographing ammo. 

Two targets with the 745 were very good.  One with Bullseye and the other with 452AA.  Loads varied between 3.8 4.0 and 4.2 Gr for each target.

The 52 targets showed the best results with 2.9 Red Dot.  

That's some nice shooting with the 52.  How did you mount the optic?  I would like to do something similar on my 52.

I used an EGW mount for a Burris Fast Fire 3. It is a nice way to mount an optic. The 745 mount is a Burris mount for the same optic statement. But u had to do a little gunsmithing to fit it. So far it is holding up well.

Thanks for the info.  I have several FF3's on turkey shotguns.  I love that optic but haven't tried it on a pistol yet.

I have two M-52's, one with the stock steel mount, and one with a dot.  As I recall, the optical sight is a Venom Vortex, and it goes into a BME mount, that goes on the gun after removing the stock steel sight.  I can post close-up photos if you want.  Be cautious when removing the stock sight, as a spring and plunger are likely to come out the top as you slide the steel sight out of the way, and they're both made out of unobtanium.  The first time I did this, I put the entire gun in a "turkey cooking plastic bag" so while parts could come flying off, they wouldn't get lost.  That spring and plunger is part of the magazine disconnect system on the Model 52.

Photos would be helpful.  Thanks! 

I also use the old bag trick sometimes for working with parts under a lot of tension...and there were certainly times I wish I had!

Went to the range for an hour and a half this morning.  Everything went fine, I left for home when it got uncomfortably warm.

Regarding the above discussion, I was the only person at the range wearing a mask. Nobody else.  Only one person said something to me, that I was wearing a nice tablecloth.  I smiled, and told him I need a nice steak to go with it.

So many people there I wanted to talk to for a while, but I just bit my lip, and stayed away.  There's one fellow at the range who has problems with his feet, and I usually take the target stand and target back and forth for him when I'm there, but again, I bit my lip some more, and didn't get involved.

Twice, people wanted to shoot at a station next to mine.  I stopped shooting once, and moved to another shooting position the other time.


Later today, I'll take photos of my Model 52 with the Vortex Venom attached with a BME mount.