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The post ? on weak hand shooting prompted me to think about this one. I hear a LOT of shooters that just will not go to the range & practice by themselves. "It's no fun by yourself."
Well, I do enjoy my time alone but all practice & training is not neccessarily supposed to be FUN. It is training. IT's work as sure as mowing the yard. 2 of my vacation days had by myself shooting & training time. One a good 4 hrs. The other about 2.5.
It is good to have a friend, buddy, wife, Mom , but you will not always be w/ folks when evil starts to assault you.

How many train & practice alone too.????

I do. Probably more than w/ others, if I am not training the ones w/ me.

I prefer to shoot alone most ofthe time. Don't get me wrong, If I am in the mood to go have fun with my hi-cap semi auto rifles, I prefer having a friend or two with me. But when I really want to practice with my carry piece, having people that want to talk is a distraction.

I`d rather go alone so I can get my alone time you can say......
most of my friends work weird hours , so it`s me most times

I generally practice alone. In fact almost ALWAYS by myself. I certainly enjoy shooting with some friends. But when I want to improve my shooting it's always by myself.

I prefer it that way. I can take my time and review in my mind why I missed the silly little bulls eye, and what I need to do to correct it. Then follow through with my corrections.

OTOH, when I'm with some friends, it's a social event & I treat it as such. Shooting. Stopping to talk. Go sit down in the lounge and talk w/o the earmuffs and/or earplugs(I wear both). Then resume shooting.

I go anytime I get the chance. If its alone great! If its with the wife great! I dont mind either or. To me any time throwing lead down range is a good time. It seems that everytime I go to the range I end up talking to somebody but even if I am the only one out there I still have fun!

What a wimp I must be. Mrs. Oldgringo is my best buddy whether on the range, in the bass boat or on the road towing the RV.

Oldgringo wrote:What a wimp I must be. Mrs. Oldgringo is my best buddy whether on the range, in the bass boat or on the road towing the RV.

Thats not being a wimp OG. Your just in looooooove!!!
And that is a beautiful thing!

I go by myself more often than not. I work strange hours and enjoy an empty range (dont have to wait to put up targets, dont have to worry about someone shooting you)
Also Eagle peak is in the middle of no where, sometimes I just like to sit out there and be by myself.

I always ask my wife and kids if they want to go with me.
Usually they don't and that's fine. But when they do it's great.
I love to watch them shooting and enjoying it.

I concur with others that being alone allows for more concentration.

I reckon there is a place for shooting with others as well as alone, and both have their benefits and drawbacks.

If you go to the range by yourself, you can get and stay in a good mental "zone" for obtaining quality live-fire practice, but there is no subjective feedback available. You can do a lot with paper targets and a timer, though. One drawback is the safety factor, when you are focusing on what is downrange and your awareness may not pick up who or what may be approaching you from elsewhere. I found it really helpful to use amplifying earmuffs to catch the noise of combustion engines, distant human voices, etc, to avoid unwanted surprises.

If you go to the range with an equally dedicated training partner, you can constructively criticize each other, watch each other's back, efficiently manage targets and spent cases, etc, provided everyone stays focused upon the practice aspect. But as others have said, it is easy to spend time chatting that was initially set aside for shooting practice and training.

My experience is probably similar to most of the others in that the greater number of people you go with, it typically becomes correspondingly more difficult to conduct any serious practice, as it will be less and less likely that everyone will be sufficiently focused upon serious practice.

IDPA and similar competitions are interesting and a little different in that there are typically dozens of people--- friends, acquaintances and strangers---collected at the range, and everyone generally gets out of it what they put into it.

Good post sir.

I do both. Going with others is not only good fun, but gives us an opportunity to learn from each other. I'm also lucky enough to be able to go alone, during the day and a deserted range is perfect for focussed, repetitive, practice.

I also prefer shooting alone. Shooting and cleaning time is my alone/quiet time (when not shooting of course ) and it's very relaxing to me.

Oldgringo wrote:What a wimp I must be. Mrs. Oldgringo is my best buddy whether on the range, in the bass boat or on the road towing the RV.

I'm supremely jealous. I can't get my girlfriend to even consider going to the range with me.

karl wrote:I also prefer shooting alone. Shooting and cleaning time is my alone/quiet time (when not shooting of course ) and it's very relaxing to me.

Oldgringo wrote:What a wimp I must be. Mrs. Oldgringo is my best buddy whether on the range, in the bass boat or on the road towing the RV.

I'm supremely jealous. I can't get my girlfriend to even consider going to the range with me.

Simple, get a new girlfriend!

I go by myself usually as a matter of logistics. My schedule is such that when opportunity and time align, most others (the Missus included) are otherwise scheduled.