Etiquette Question: Shooting with folks you don't know....

[SHE3PDOG]

These are business acquaintances, just like a resume, you should impress.

Bring a 6" Chiappa Rhino.

It's doesn't look like a carry piece so you give nothing away.
It is a blend of progressive technology applied to an old school wheel gun.
It is neither new nor old, the caliber is powerful yet not over-the-top.
It says "I can get the job done".
It is easy to shoot and unique all at the same time.

I just talked myself into buying one

One of my good buddies really wants one of these for similar reasons. He likes the new twist on an old concept.

Anyways, I'd bring some milsurp and a handgun. Even if they don't collect milsurp themselves, lots of people admire a nice Garand or 1903 Springfield. They can also start up some pretty good conversations. A semi-auto handgun can be pretty generic. I can't imagine most people getting upset if you were to bring a pretty vanilla handgun.

If they weren't work companions, I'd be more okay with pulling out the AR's, SCAR's, AK's and the likes, but I'd go for a bit more conservative stuff given the situation.

 

[johnwilliamson062]

Right now? Whatever I can find ammo for!

I'd take my Garand and my single six. Both are guns almost everyone knows a little about, but they aren't really all that common among people who don't shoot a lot. Probably my 10/22 or Marlin bolt 22 also. I'd want to have a few 22s so I could let any new shooters shoot to their hearts content. Take a full auto UZI and a new shooter may try to go through $1000 of ammunition without realizing it. NOt a good position to be in with "business contacts."

 

[geetarman]

I would be real careful about shooting with folks I don't know.

I know some who would take a really nice gun and slam the slide shut on an empty gun or lay a really nice piece of walnut stock down on a concrete shooting bench.

I would not take any of my better firearms out of the bag until I saw how they handle the everyday guns.

Same thing with guitars. I don't let people just pick up my instruments and play them until I see how they treat their own instruments.

My guitars don't have dings in them and for the most part neither do my guns unless I bought them from someone else. I want it to stay that way.

 

[45_auto]

If you don't want to ask them what they plan to shoot, at least call the "range that you've never been to" and ask them what kind of range it is.

You're going to look pretty stupid with any of your choices on a skeet range.

Your choices for a 25 yard indoor range would hopefully be different than those you would choose for a 1000 yard outdoor range.

 

[KyJim]

As others have said, you need to at least have an idea of what kind of range you're going to. After that, I would be "conservative" with my choice of guns because it's for business purposes. Do you really want to shoot a full auto Uzi and freak out a possible customer? That probably even goes for an AR or AK. For handguns, a .22 Ruger is always appropriate. Then take something else that is not too wild (may not want to take that polymer hi-cap with red dot and laser grips). Shotgun? Leave the tacticool model at home and stick with a traditional pump or semi-auto if you have one.

I was faced with something a little different this past weekend. My daughter wanted to bring a friend to shoot handguns. Seems he's from the Northeast and is not a gun guy but is interested in becoming a cop after college. I brought a .22 Ruger and my SW M&P 9mm. Turns out he had shot handguns once. We started with the .22 and then the 9mm. I could see he was getting into the 9mm much more than the .22 so my daughter shot the .22 and the guy shot the 9mm. I mostly watched.

 

[vito]

I misread the post. I thought it said "shooting folks you don't know" so I was about to say, what's wrong with that? That's what we do in combat, and under the right circumstances, it is unambiguous so we know who to shoot at. To shoot WITH strangers, I would just as soon avoid it not knowing who is going to put me in danger through stupid behavior.

 

[Rj1972]

I think I'd go with a 2 stage plan. Have most of the "normal" things to shoot with in location A. If things are going really well and these business connections seem to be using safe and polite gun handling skills then I'd bring out the more fun things. I'd probably store them somewhere else so I could choose myself to use them or not based on how it was going. Yes, that's already thinking too much about it. But I'm a "wade into the shallow end and see how it goes first" kind of guy.

 

[45_auto]

I misread the post. I thought it said "shooting folks you don't know" so I was about to say, what's wrong with that? That's what we do in combat, and under the right circumstances, it is unambiguous so we know who to shoot at. To shoot WITH strangers, I would just as soon avoid it not knowing who is going to put me in danger through stupid behavior.

Combat these days must be a lot different than it used to be when I was in the army.

I pretty much knew at least everybody's name in my company except the new replacements, and that was about it. But the rest of the battalion, brigade, and division I was going into combat with (not even counting air and artillery support) were strangers to me.

I'm really impressed that these days you know everyone you're in combat with that well.