bothersome range sessions with friends (sometimes)

It's been my experience that if you unroll yourself flat on a doorstep, people will walk on you.

I love taking first timers to the range. it takes one range session to determine if I will invite them again. Range friends are no differnet than any other friends. You read their actions towards you, and decide the limits of how friendly you are going to be moving forward.

Shooting really is like motorcycles in a lot of ways. I ride on 2 wheels every day all year, about 14,000 miles annually. I never, EVER ride with other riders, because it's basically really annoying, and if I wanted to sit in a slow-moving formation of people, I would ride the bus.
Except for track days. Track days, I want to chase the fastest guy as hard as I can. I want to beat times and make new track records and work my a$$ off getting better.

Shooting is just the same for me. I shoot alone.
Except for matches. Matches, I want to shoot faster and better than the next guy. I want to slam the one-second reload while running, and nail the Texas Star with a J-frame, or hit the gong at 1,000 with irons. It's awesome.

Maybe that's why I have been shooting and riding bikes my whole life.

In most all activities that I've gotten involved with, seeking out the people who really know what they are doing has always seemed like the best approach.
The same with shooting - no sharing required.
Other than maybe with folks who are new to guns, probably strangers, who are already there.
Always ready to help if asked with that.
Otherwise, I just focus on practice.
The only folks I would actually invite would be those already up to speed and equipped.
For anyone else, it's airguns in the garage.

The club I belong to charges $35.00 for a guest to shoot. First timers, I will pay the charge but only once and they have to bring their own guns and ammo. If they want to take a few shots with any on mine that's OK.

Just like Lonesome George.... "I shoot alone"

Don't have any close friends who are into shooting sports. Those that would like to get into it, can't afford it and usually won't accept my invites, as they don't make a practice of free-loading.

Fortunately, I often see a couple of the "regulars" at the range who I enjoy talking to, one of whom always invites me to shoot his stuff... an offer that I only take him up on when he's got something out that really interests me.

The one guy I know who is really into it, hangs at a different club that is quite expensive to join and is quite restrictive of guests and even new members, so he has never invited me over.

But then again, when I go to the range, I'm usually trying to accomplish something specific... test a new load of piece of gear, etc... So I'll mind my own business and try not to get caught up in a shoot the ****** that burns up my limited time.

so, again, just like Lonesome George... "you know when I shoot alone, I prefer to be by myself"


ETA... my favorite person to shoot with is my brother. He knows his stuff, and is into pretty much every aspect of reloading and shooting. Sadly, he lives a long ways away, and has early onset Parkinsons

I have been fortunate enough to pick up a new, reliable range buddy. My old one is still good to go, but he usually can't afford much and just wants to blast. But he also appreciates historical and military guns like I do. My new buddy was always a friend but only recently got into guns. Despite being new he takes it very seriously and wants to learn to shoot well. He often listens to advice from myself or others to better his skill. However I have found I don't really like going with more than one, maybe two people. More than that and it is just a hassle keeping track of everything.

rcmodel said:

Friends that are Moochers?

It's hard to see it when it's happening.

Years ago, I rode motorcycles.
36 years in fact.
And I got pretty good at tuning them.

I made a set of vacuum gages for tuning 2 & 4-cylinder, 2 & 4-carb Honda engines before the Honda dealer had a vacuum gage bank set-up.

So I had an ever-widening circle of 'friends' who showed up in my driveway at all hours of the night & day wanting free tuning.

Finally, I started charging them the same hour rates as the dealer.

And suddenly, I didn't have as many motorcycle 'friends '.

Imagine that!!

rc

Click to expand...

Ran into the same thing being a shadetree mechanic. Once I realized I was spending more time under their hoods than in my own car. I stopped doing things for free, and like that - poof. suddenly it was apparently easier for them to change their own oil.

I further analyzed many social activities - and it was the same group that always seemed to have a "hard time coming up with cash" even if things were planned for months. It caused a number of hard feelings - but I stopped doing to work to carry their weight.

In the end I lost some "friends" but also gained a lot of free time, and narrowed the circle down to those that knew how to grow up and own up. The end result is some of us still get together, and instead of always struggling with organizing and getting things done at the last minute, we take longer, better planned trips/gatherings, and have a much better time with far less stress. They're still not car people - so I still get too much wrench time in, lol - but now there's always someone there handing me a tool and actually helping me work, and always free beer and good quality steaks being cooked while I beat on my knuckles and swear. And I never have to pay for garage storage during the winter for my toys.

to the OP. I have friends without firearms who enjoy shooting, but do not have the means to own their own. They do use mine - but I almost never pay for ammo. They are always there with a 10 or a 20 whenever I buy components.

I agree with the others 1 and 2 may be friends, but they're along for the ride more. Give them a chance to pony up, but if they fail - then leave them to their own devices. If they want it bad enough, they'll find a way. If they're just mooching, they'll find a new person to mooch off of.

I'll supply guns and ammo for friends who are new shooters so they can see if they like the experience.... once or twice. If they can't make the decision to buy their own guns and ammo after a couple trips to the range on my dime, then I stop shooting with them unless I owe them for something else.

Regular shooters supply their own guns and ammo unless they are good friends and are going through a hardship.

Gun time and ammo requires money or its equivelent, so I treat them as I would treat money. I'm willing to help out friends, but there has to be limits where I have limited funds.

Lets Hear It For Your Real Friends

Most people only have one real friend....

There are a couple of guys at work that know I shoot competitively. We've talked about getting together to go shooting a few times but I've avoided it so far. They live an hour or so away from me and want to go shoot at the ranges that they're members of. Reading about some of the asinine rules that some ranges have and unsafe behavior that I've witnessed at public ranges leaves me not wanting to venture out from my home club.

My shooting friends and I shoot together several times a month at various matches. We generally hang out after our club matches for hours afterwards. That's good enough for me.

I shoot with a cheapskate now and then. He has never developed the skill of shooting a handgun. He doesn't clean his guns. He can't hit a target 10 feet away. But, he's good company and we have fun anyway.

Then there's my other friend I shoot with. He is wildly unsafe.

I shoot alone 95% of the time.

I'm very fortunate-- my brother in law is my shooting buddy. Ex Air Force pilot who has a nice small collection of interesting pistols. I have developed my own small collection and now reload. We take turns paying the range fees or providing ammo or buying lunch. It always works out! My two adult sons are now getting into shooting and they always bring their pistols when they visit. We had a great Father's Day range trip last weekend! They even paid for dad. [emoji41]
Having a regular shooting buddy is great, but I too, sometimes just want to go alone to really work on skills. It's hard to do that if you have someone with you waiting their turn to shoot.

Friends are overrated

Family is better. I'm the "weird uncle" that brings a trunk full of guns and ammo to family events for all the adults and children to shoot. I do a quick safety briefing and spend one on one time with each child.

I guess in shooting, I've gotten lucky for the most part. I have a couple of shooting buddies that don't fit into the patterns reflected by the OP's friends. There is a "core" group of 4 of us and a couple of others filter in and out. We each have our own guns, we all bring enough ammo, we all reload and we don't freeload off of anyone. We will loan guns and ammo back and forth, so there is never an absence of things to try out.
Some years ago, I came to the conclusion, as I was trying to get some friends out to the range that whether anybody else showed up or not, I was going shooting. This has been my practice and it works.
I'll take care of newbies or folks that I invite out for their first shooting experience. Those that want to come back some more will need to pony up for ammo, either by buying some themselves, or reimbursing me for mine.
I have no issues bringing a gun that someone wants to try out or shoot. One of my friends only has a few guns and I always offer him the choice of anything he wants me to bring for him to shoot.
On the topic of charging for ammo, I had a young guy from work join me one time. Never shot before. He wanted to try all sorts of things. So I was going over the costs, and I offered to him, OK, you pay your range fees and buy my lunch and that will cover the ammo costs. He was balking at that, so I suggested he could go to the nearest place for ammo and buy a box of 9MM, a box of 357 Mag, a box of 45 ACP. and I mentioned how much all of that would cost. He accepted the buy me lunch option.

Going to the shooting range is my quite time. I prefer to be alone so I can concentrate on what I want to do. Load development, tuning a rifle or handgun, whatever. I never go on weekends. In the warm months I get there while it is still dark and get set up so I can start shooting as soon as I can see the target. It's cool, least wind of the day, traffic is light getting there, and there is hardly ever another person there for a couple of hours. Solitude. I love it.

I can't remember the last time I went to the range with a friend. I'm always working up new loads for something or other and need to be able to concentrate, so alone is how I prefer to do my shooting.

Before I moved south, I had a few friends like your friends 1-4. Some were cheap and didn't want to help pay for ammo, targets etc. Sometimes financial situations don't allow money to be dished out, so I like to keep a stock of ammo or targets just for friends to blow at the range. Instead of financial assistance from range trips, they can help you clean afterwards. Pick up brass, clean and lube the firearms shot.

I had one friend in particular who owns a Chinese AK copy. Doesn't shoot it often and doesn't clean it often. The cheapskate friend helped to clean the other friend's dirty AK.

OP you got as mouth, use it:

Tell friend(??) number one that he needs to start helping with the cost of ammo.

Ask friend (?) number two to shoot his gun. If he balks and complains about the high cost of ammo for his gun or how time consuming it is to clean the gun after a range trip, tell him ammo for your gun costs money too and you gun needs cleaning also.

If you can't do that, don't invite them.

Hi...
I have a friend that I take as a guest to my gun club pretty regularly.
He started out as an interested novice with no firearms. I guess I became his mentor in the shooting sports. I advised him on his first firearm purchase, a DA .357Mag revolver. He now owns several firearms and has taken up pheasant and deer hunting with my son and I.

He always buys some ammo of his own and always gives me his brass. In return, I reload a lot of handgun ammo for him and let him shoot my guns without hesitation.
He always brings extra shells and claybirds for our shot gun shoots. He also has offered to buy some reloading supplies and components, but I don't want his financial investment.
He is on the waiting list to join our gun club.

I have had other people interested in shooting but they won't make any attempt unless I provide and plan everything...they won't be going until theythey they make an effort.

I go to the range with my neighbor on occasion and usually supply him with my 9 and 45 reloads, he offers to pay but I refuse BECAUSE he never lets me pay for the gasoline for our co-owned riding mower. His son who is 14yo also likes shooting a lot of my hand guns which mimic the guns he uses while playing call of duty and other such video games. Plus the 14yo has better range manners than most of the adults there.

I bring a very select few folks to my land for shooting purposes..... I've turned down a lot of self-invites more times than I can count. I get a lot of "Hey, I'll go with you next time...." If I'm not entirely convinved they're safe and can appreciate a good day in the woods, I kindly suggest they look up some shooting clubs on their own.

I don't mind shooting alone, I kind of like it. At the same time, a buddy with good firearms manners can be a lot of fun as well.

Guests at our club can shoot at member's reduced prices but are limited to three guest visits. After that, they're expected to pay full daily price to shoot or join. I limit guests to one visit and give them a rate schedule/membership cost brochure.

I'm not into providing anything more than a single simple introduction to the club. After that, the ball's in their court. Those to whom I've explained the policy on guest shooters generally whine about it and none have ever joined as far as I know. Human nature I guess.

I belong to a private gun range, I can take 2 guests at a time, they must sign in and put drive lic. # on the sign up sheet. That seems to always be a sticking point for a couple of them, "I'm not putting my ID number on there", its for insurance purposes, not to do a background check! My 2 daughters and husbands, want to go with me, they both have new pistols, have stashes of ammo, just waiting to go. I don't normally take anyone with me, time away from work, concentrate on my shooting, just to be alone for a short time. I may have a buddy, who's a member show up, we'll jabber about things, shoot some, quality time always.
The thing that really rags me, I work at a huge sporting store, they're always asking me to find them some ammo at "MY" discount prices, want me to buy it, "I'll pay you when we go to the range", but I haven't invited them yet! Ammo doesn't get bought either. Guess thats why I mostly shoot alone too.