Responses to milsurps at the range?

[Perplexed]

Do you folks shooting milsurps at a range get comments on your firearms from other shooters? I go to Red Castle, but rarely get any comments or even people coming over to look whenever I shoot a M1 Garand, K31, M96, or M/41B. The last time someone came over was when I had a M1D Garand and a M1903A4 sitting side by side on the bench. The one fellow, part of a group of 50/60-something gentlemen, had to inform all the others what I had, and even then, he was the only one to take a closer look. I offered to let the group take a couple shots, but only the one fellow accepted the offer with the 03A4. If I'm at the range and I notice someone shooting a milsurp, I like to go check it out. Otherwise, people just don't seem to notice or care. Is that your typical experience?

 

[been]

the only ranges i go to are Happy Hallow and Wagoner. I do like looking at other peoples milsurps though. There have been a couple of cases out at Wagoner where I have looked at other peoples old guns. One guy had a Springfield .22 with peep sights (I think it was a Springfield) From around the 40's and after i asked about it he let me shoot it. It was a single shot bolt action and VERY accurate. Another case was a very old man (seemd like late 80's) that had a double barrel SXS shotgun. I didnt shoot it but he let me look at it and stuff. It was an old Stevens.

 

[milsurp2.0]

Only once did anyone ever comment on my rifles. In the 50 yard stall at Nowata a guy popped his head in to tell me they had a hang up and had to go fix one of the targets. He looked at them and said "what are those?". I said German and Japanese rifles. He said "they still safe to shoot?". I just shrugged my shoulders and said "I guess". Then he told me it was all clear and I asked him if he wanted to shoot some and he said "No thats ok". You would have thought I was shooting a blunderbuss or something.

 

[TedKennedy]

I've had mixed reactions at Red Castle - some guys come over and are really interested, other days the "gear snobs" don't even notice. If you start banging steel with irons at 3,4 and 500 they'll sure look you over, though!

 

[XD-9Guy]

At TCGC somebody comes over to socialize and check out my Enfield about 50% of the time I bring it. They host military bolt action shoots though, so several members have an interest. Back when I had a 91/30 that I was trying to "unstick" the bolt on I had a couple guys come over & check it out. They even gave me some pointers on cleaning and shared some knowledge about the markings on my rifle. The one guy was obviously a BIG Mosin guy because he was really knowledgeable about them and his buddy made a few jokes about how many Mosins he owned.

 

[cmhbob]

I'm always interested in the old iron, and will happily chew Skidmore's ear of. I'll also happily shoot some of your ammo if you offer.

My 14-yo soon has expressed interest in his first rifle. He wants a milsurp.

 

[MoBoost]

OKCGC has some Milsurp crowd at the benchrest - I do enjoy BSing at the range (probably more than I should); obviously not during the matches.

 

[338Shooter]

Most of the time I keep to myself at the range. There are a lot of Fudds that have milsurps because they are cheap. You can usually tell the Fudds with milsurps from the milsurp guys based on their other gear. If they're shooting off a rolled up carhart they might be Fudds. $1000 rest set up and don't need to go down to the targets every 5 minutes I might go talk to them.

 

[aestus]

In OKC, unless it's a M1A or Garand, people usually don't care or notice. SKS might get noticed if it has a bayonet on it, especially if it's a blade bayonet and not a spiked one. Otherwise, it's the uber ninja AR rifle with the motion sensors and 12 pt suspension sling spitting out magical 100gr unicorns blood tactical rounds is what gets all the "oohhs" and "ahhhhs."

 

[338Shooter]

I draw a lot of attention with my cans at the range. Guys love my cans.