Shooting Buddies

[WildBill]

I wonder if any of the members have a special process for choosing people who you will shoot with.

There are some casual acquaintances who will say "let's go shooting sometime".

Being the good guy that I am, I usually say "yeah we should do that sometime."

But I rarely go to the range with anyone who I don't know well.

If we finally do shoot together, I watch closely to see how they handle themselves and obey safety rules.

Of course, if I don't like what I see, I end the trip early and politely decline all future invitations.

[Oldgringo]

All of the above plus there should be some other common interests and concerns; e.g., something to talk about between shots and after the smoke clears.
Edit:
My wife will keep me company but she's not really into shooting for the sake of shooting. My newly found interest in air guns allow me to shoot without leaving the yard.

[rotor]

I am lucky. My wife is a great shooting buddy. My best friend shooting buddy just moved. But we do have a group that goes for sporting clays.

[puma guy]

I shoot with my wife and our last daughter still living with us. I take her fiance at times and trust him enough to loan him my Browning HP when he took his CHL class. I used to shoot with my cousin but he's taken up air gun shooting and has just about abandoned firearm shooting. A few times I have met up with a group in the DFW area that Andy C has put together at Elm Fork. Most of the folks I met there I would have no problem shooting with. I let several shoot some of my pistols and I got to shoot a couple of weapons I'd never shot as well. One trip had a fair number of folks shooting just about every thing you can think of. Finished up with a skeet shoot a couple of times. I've never done a cold turkey meet up with an individual, but I could see myself doing that with some of the forum members with no reservations as long as it's a public place.

[TexasCajun]

I have to know a person really well and know that they are familiar with the firearms that we'll be using.

[tbrown]

That was a big factor in why I stopped competing in public matches.

[Dadtodabone]

A few old friends and my brothers when we get together. Most often, I now utilize my kids and kids in law as gun bearers/shooting partners. They know the rules, they practice the rules, no worries.

[03Lightningrocks]

I rarely shoot with people I know. Living in the big city leaves few options on places to shoot. That typically means a public shooting range where you have zero control of the person put in the lane beside you. Those of us not retired yet have many other activities that can make finding time to hit the range difficult. At least for me, it is usually a spur of the moment thing when I find I have free time on my hands. I have also been in the middle of having a stressful morning at work, decided I have had enough and off I go to the range. The odds of having a buddy who by coincidence is able to run off in the middle of the day with no advance planning are pretty slim.

[The Annoyed Man]

I will go to the range once with almost anybody, as long as I have a passing acquaintance with them. Whether or not they become a "shooting buddy" after that will depend on a lot of factors, not the least of which is whether or not I like them enough to spend a lot of time with them. And a LOT of whether or not I'll like them enough to want to spend time with them has to do with how well they'll take respectfully offered safety suggestions if they have a bad habit.

[Gunner4640]

I only shoot with 1 person a retired TXDPS LT who I trust with my life. After his personal training he gave me he said "I would stand next to you in a gun fight any day"
That was a nice coming from him, he was top shooter in his DPS academy class.

[03Lightningrocks]

For you folks who say you only go shooting with certain people, do you have a private range? The reason I ask is that the public ranges or even private club ranges usually have several shooters I don't know from Adam. It makes who you ride there with a mute point.

[TBJK]

I will go to the range with a few of my Jeep club friends. We used to do once a month but something usually happens & I won't be able to go. Those guys I trust with my life, going up an obstacle & having them spot me to keep me from rolling my Jeep has earned my trust in their judgement. I've known most of them for over 5 years & they would help you out in a bind. I am glad to call them friends, & there is always room for another or 2. I do gotta say when I go to Eagle gun range, from what I've seen they are a stickler for safety. The RO keeps a close eye as well as the folks behind the camera monitoring everyone.

[WildBill]

For you folks who say you only go shooting with certain people, do you have a private range? The reason I ask is that the public ranges or even private club ranges usually have several shooters I don't know from Adam. It makes who you ride there with a mute point.

I don't have a private range. I usually pick my range time where there will be a minimum amount of people. There are several ranges to pick from. And I can always wait or leave if I don't like what I am seeing.

P.S. I belong to a private club range.

[The Annoyed Man]

For you folks who say you only go shooting with certain people, do you have a private range? The reason I ask is that the public ranges or even private club ranges usually have several shooters I don't know from Adam. It makes who you ride there with a mute point.

Yes, those factors are out of my control (depending on the range), but with regard to the OP's question, I'm not focused on who else is at the range; I'm focused at who I am at the range with.........I'm focused on the question of "who is my shooting buddy". There are a lot of factors that go in to that, not the least of which is: "would I enjoy this person's company away from the range?" But even if I generally liked the person, if they had some remediable bad gun safety habits, but he would not take a respectfully offered safety suggestion to correct that bad habit, then he not only would not become my shooting buddy, he also would not likely enter my inner circle of good friends, because I don't let people into that circle who are not trustworthy.

As far as who else is at the range, I do 99% of my pistol shooting at DPC, where I am a member, and I either have the entire shooting bay to myself, or I am accompanied either by a guest (whom I invited), or by my best shooting buddy of all: my wife. If you're not familiar with the range layout of DPC, I'll just say that while it is is not 100% certain that you can't get hurt, the odds of being struck by the errant bullet of another shooter unknown to me are significantly reduced by the range layout.

[03Lightningrocks]

For you folks who say you only go shooting with certain people, do you have a private range? The reason I ask is that the public ranges or even private club ranges usually have several shooters I don't know from Adam. It makes who you ride there with a mute point.

I don't have a private range. I usually pick my range time where there will be a minimum amount of people. There are several ranges to pick from. And I can always wait or leave if I don't like what I am seeing.

That is what I try to do as well. I have the advantage of a boss who allows me to leave the office any time I want. It never fails though. When shooting at a public range, at some point they will stick a guy on the lane beside me who will give new meaning to dangerous. Not always but it does happen. I have had to ask people to quit sweeping me with the muzzle while they load the gun. I hate it when nimrods fail to keep the muzzle pointed down range. I could go on and on but I bet we have all seen this and many other dangerous maneuvers at ranges. I would love to own some property I could shoot on.