Dude, you RUN an archery club...

[LadyofArc]

This one merits its own thread simply because of the sheer f*cking stupidity that comes out of this story.

Out of the three main fairs we do during the year, we run the archery range at two of them. We also take safety VERY seriously - while none of us are certified coaches, there are a series of rules that are fairly standard at archery ranges (the one rule that's unique to us is that we do allow members to shoot bows with very high draw weights as our targets are handmade and can handle warbow shots fine).

For the one event that we do not run the range for, I got to witness just how idiotic the people who WERE running the range could be. Apparently, in their books, it was perfectly fine to let children dry-fire their bows and it was also perfectly fine to act as safety marshal and/or shoot while under the influence of alcohol.

To make matters worse, this was apparently the local archery club . And to add further insult to injury, the safety marshal who was under the influence? Apparently he was also in charge OF the club .

Yeah, complaints were made. But seriously, common fucking sense dictates you DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE SHOOTING.

[Crossbow]

Holy hell. Any range I've ever used would have had that guy's ass in a sling for even showing up to the range drunk.

And don't get me started on dry-firing bows. (or crossbows)...

[greek_jester]

1) Alcohol and weapons do not mix. I managed a full-body flinch when you mentioned the drunk was the person responsible for range safety.

2) Were the kids following proper range etiquette while dry-firing, or were they dry-firing at each other? I'm not quite sure what the dry firing problem was (genuine ignorance, not FTSTS).

[Chanlin]

This is why you never dry fire any bow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPII-cFUKzY

Long story short, a dry fired bow can explode in your hands and cause injury.

[Buzzard]

Video recordings would be a thing to have. If not for the fun with medical questions about how this happened, or the litigation afterwards, YooToob viewers love that crap.
Personally, I might put on a different show for the video, but there's enough footage of drunks getting bounced as it is.

[LadyofArc]

1) Alcohol and weapons do not mix. I managed a full-body flinch when you mentioned the drunk was the person responsible for range safety.

Agreed. The other groups who do steel combat (that is, fighting with blunted weapons and pulling their shots) also have a similar rule - which is typically why the alcohol comes out after hours.

2) Were the kids following proper range etiquette while dry-firing, or were they dry-firing at each other? I'm not quite sure what the dry firing problem was (genuine ignorance, not FTSTS).[/QUOTE]

Chanlin's video shows why dry-firing is a bad idea.

These issues DID get passed on to the fair organisers by the way, so hopefully we'll hear something out of it. One of the fairs that we run the range at ran into similar issues with the last group who ran the range (that is, their idea of "safety" was lacking), which is why we now have control of said range.

[Crossbow]

The video does a good example of explaining the dangers of dry-firing a bow. I've seen it happen far more than I like, as well as having it happen to me, by accident.

A trio of anecdotes from my time on the range, just to give you an idea...

Recurve bow, at maybe 30-35 pound draw. The arrow came off the string just as the archer released, and the string managed to split the upper limb into 3 pieces, vertically, from the loop down about halfway. Impressive, but thankfully nothing flew off to injure anyone.

Recurve crossbow (this one was me), 65 pound draw, aluminum prod. Same dry-fire issue; the bolt popped away from the string just as I pulled the trigger. The prod snapped in half with a noise that made EVERYONE on the line jump. I quickly looked for the missing piece and found it ten yards downrange. Again, other than a few people (myself included) with a bit of ringing in the ears, no injuries.

Then there was the story of the failure of this beast:


This is replica of a Roman siege ballista. It can fire a five pound cast concrete ball over a KILOMETER. I have seen it fire, and have talked at length with the designer/builder. That picture is of a new version. The original had a trigger failure (the mechanical trigger literally sheared at full draw before they could load it). Pretty much everything above the stand itself disintegrated, and the owner ended up in the hospital for several days. Now they don't draw it without it being loaded ahead of time...

Don't intentionally dry-fire a bow/crossbow, kids. It's really not good.

[LadyofArc]

This is replica of a Roman siege ballista. It can fire a five pound cast concrete ball over a KILOMETER. I have seen it fire, and have talked at length with the designer/builder. That picture is of a new version. The original had a trigger failure (the mechanical trigger literally sheared at full draw before they could load it). Pretty much everything above the stand itself disintegrated, and the owner ended up in the hospital for several days. Now they don't draw it without it being loaded ahead of time...

Don't intentionally dry-fire a bow/crossbow, kids. It's really not good.

That story reminded me of the trebuchet incident I mentioned earlier in this thread. Nobody got hurt in our case though, as the person actually firing it used a rope and was a good distance away from the trebuchet when it let rip. (Although we use watermelons instead of concrete balls - the woman who buys them enjoys getting the funny looks from the local greengrocer when she gets them for events )

Our club are mostly longbow shooters, with a few of us owning takedown recurves. Dry-firing THOSE would've caused even more problems!

[Chanlin]

The video does a good example of explaining the dangers of dry-firing a bow.

I've been watching some of his other videos about the sport. He has a good number of instructional videos and a series of videos on pet peeves and "don't be that guy" moments.

[Deserted]

Alcohol and weapons do not mix.

Sure they do. Once.

[Chanlin]

Just like all vehicles are amphibious and all equipment can be air dropped at least once.

[Racket_Man]

1) Alcohol and weapons do not mix.

Sure they do. Once.

YUP as in "Here Hold My Beer and watch this..........." Perfect Darwin Award and ER nurse/Dr. material.

[TheSHAD0W]

Just like all vehicles are amphibious and all equipment can be air dropped at least once.

And like, anything can be a dildo if you're brave enough? (NSFW, hilight to read)

<runs away>

[Ironclad Alibi]

And like, anything can be a dildo if you're brave enough? (NSFW, hilight to read)

<runs away>

Shouldn't that be "stupid enough"?

[Mental_Mouse]

And like, anything can be a dildo if you're brave enough? (NSFW, hilight to read)

<runs away>

Heh. I remember a comment thread (reddit, I think) about the potential hazards of a malachite stalagmite; eventually someone hit the question with Science. (Brief answer: Nope. Those copper ions won't leach into water, but even a a mildly acidic solution is another story. Guess where there's a moist, mildly acidic environment? (This is not exceptional; living things in general are mildly acidic.)