So , what kind of shooter are you?

[mkk41]

The thread about motorcycles , differences on the types of bikes and riding we like and dislike got me drawing quite a few parallels with our likes/dislikes of different types of guns and shooting styles. Even a comment about how stereotypical 'bikers' (shooters?) are supposed to dress.

Firearms tastes?

Some handgun shooters like classic revolvers , some like hi-tech autos.
Some shoot old fashion bullseye , IPSC , sillouhette , rapid fire , etc.
Some rifle shooters like old blue steel and walnut single shots and classic bolt actions. Some like only vintage military or modern black plastic.
Some like any cheap *** that goes BANG!

And at the range?

Some like to shoot one shot at a time , no hurry , relax and sip coffee or smoke a cigarette between shots.
Some will shoot a string of 5-10rds.
Shoot 1 mag or 'wheelful'.
Some like to dump preloaded hi-cap magazines as fast as they can with hardly a concern for where they're hitting.
Some strive to put each bullet in the same hole or as close as possible at 100-1000 yds.
Some want to see how much damage they can do to target backers and support posts and how fast.

Which are you?

Dressed to shoot , to kill , or to ride?

Some shooters dress normal , casual , like they're relaxing in their living room or going to/coming from work.
Some dress like they're going on a tactical/covert mission behind enemy lines.

Some 'bikers' look like they're trying for a part in Road Warrior III.
Some wear all the multi colored nylon and leather armored 'racer' outfit.
Some wear what they wear to work , or to the range.

Which are you?

Me , I got no time for 'dress-up'! I dress for comfort. I dress the same whether I'm going to work at 6am Mon-Fri, or out for a putt on my bike Sat/Sun morn/noon/nite , or to the range.

No leather vest , no chaps , no studs , no conchos. No engineer boots with spurs or chains. I do wear a chained wallet , have for 30yrs. And of course a few tasteful leather jackets.(they seem to shrink each year) No pins , patches , or other **** sewn on or hanging off.

Boots , blue jeans , T-shirt , and denim or flannel throw-over shirt. Plain old 4-$9.99 Hanes , FTL or other dark colored pocket T's for work , and usually a 'commercial' T-shirt for all other casual wear. Yeah , I got a few Harley T's , but way more from indepandant shops , or aftermarket products. Got quite a few from S&W , Colt and other gun makers and products and a few gun shops as well as my gun club and of course every Navy related shirt I find.

Can't say I own a pair of 'dress' pants or a neck tie. I avoid 'formal' events like I avoid my own execution. I got a pair of black jeans I keep nice for special occasions. Might have a 'dress' shirt that still fits.

Don't have any 'tactical' or military gear to speak of. Gave it all back to the Navy. No web gear of ALICE pack.

Actually , I do have a WWII Garand 10-pocket belt with suspenders , pouches , 1911 flap holster and 10in bayonet. More of a historical thing.

Got a few pair of BDU pants. Loose & cool in the summer.

No GI or other type of mil-spec 'combat' boots. Navy boondockers and flight boots still make my feet hurt 23 years after I last wore them.

So what sort of 'stereotype' are you?

 

[venomballistics]

depends really.
most of the time I run with a balance of speed and accuracy, double taps and CCH drills.
other times if its a back country iron man class blastathon ... I'm packin like Genghis Khan and employ a philosophy of anything worth shooting is worth a full mag.
still other times I take on the lab coat form where Im entirely focused upon placement to see a proper representation of performance usually both accuracy and damage.
most of the time im dressed casual with the exception of the ironman blastathons where I cannot avoid a menacing appearance for being well covered with ammo and magazine pouches, sometimes multiple holsters and long arms.
these of course occur only in entirely isolated areas for the obvious reasons

 

[DeathGrip]

I guess I'm an average guy.If it goes bang I want to shoot it.Then I'll decide If I want to do it again.

I don't try to stand out and don't play dress up.

Average guy that loves guns,

 

[moosedog]

I shoot out back on my property so I dress for the weather. I don't do much speed drills anymore since I retired from LE, mostly bullseye and plinking out to 150 yards on metal targets.

 

[RonJ]

I like to shoot handguns and rifles so long as the recoil isn't too severe. My limits are .44 mag and 30-06. I like to relax and fire a round every two or three minutes, though I sometimes get goofy and fire off a whole magazine with a semi auto handgun. Paper targets usually. My dream is to shoot a sub machine gun but I doubt that will ever happen.

Edit:

Received a PM from a kindly member. Just to clear up some things.The above paragraph used to be true. It no longer applies. I haven't fired a single round in the last 18 months due to health reasons.

 

[xray97]

I dress like I usually do, t-shirt, jeans, and athletic shoes. I like to shoot handguns, any handguns, at silhouette targets. I like to shoot controlled rapid fire. Sometimes double taps some times entire magazines or cylinders of uninterrupted body mass shots. I guess someone watching might say I was "all business" but that's my style and I'm actually having a great time while I'm doing it.

 

[captorquewrench]

I shoot wearing whatever. the way I see it is, if I've just loaded my trunk either after a concert or in the grocery store parking lat, and some jackwagon accosts me in the parking lot, two things come to mind. First, shame on me for not noticing someone or something amiss. Second, s/he's not going to wait for me to pull the S&W out of that particular skirt or pants waistband (as an aside, women's clothes are ridiculous. no men's wear has buttons or zippers in the back, what gives?) So, I wear whatever. If it's hot, shorts or whatever I did errands in. If I'm working or schooling or performing, that could be any variety of dress from disgusting slob casual to Nora Charles formal glamour. Have you ever tried figured out exactly where to conceal a .380 in a knee length, form fitting, strapless cocktail dress and then how to get to it? Didn't think so.

the short of it is, no I don't have special shooting clothes because I don't have any special crime victim target clothes.

I shoot mostly out on friend's property in the country. I tend to be deliberate, but also challenge myself as far as distances or speed. I have no set pattern.

 

[snowman]

I'm sure I would enjoy shooting nearly any kind of firearm, given the opportunity. But now I own and shoot handguns exclusively. There are a couple of reasons, as follows:

-For nearly 20 years I've been partially disabled and must use crutches to stand and walk. This makes carrying things such as long guns difficult, so I don't bother. I CAN carry a handgun in or out of a case, so handguns it is.

-I got back into firearms around 8 years ago after a 20 year hiatus, because I began thinking seriously about the self-defense issue. Due to my disability and the maneuverability of a handgun, I chose the handgun for defense.


I also own and use revolvers exclusively, but not because I don't like semi-autos. I have to reload in order to afford sufficient practice to become reasonably proficient, and it's physically impossible for me to gather up my brass off the ground after range sessions; consequently I use revolvers. Many here contend that money cannot be saved by reloading because the reloader will simply shoot more, eliminating the savings. This is decidedly NOT true of me. I have only so much time to practice, and that is how long I practice. This would be the case whether I used factory ammo or my own. I've actually decreased the amount of firing I do over time. I learned that frequent, unhurried evaluation of my shots enabled me to progress much more than simply throwing lead downrange.


I also have some longer-barreled, magnum revolvers for recreational target shooting and to hunt groudhogs at handgun distances in the spring.


I go to the range in whatever clothing I put on at the beginning of the day. I've no interest in special clothing for shooting.


Andy

 

[Fishslayer]

Well... my small accumulation is mostly revolvers but I have a Ruger KP90 & RIA Tactical 1911. And the requisite Ruger MKIII 22/45. Oh... and a FEG/Mauser P90DA 9mm bottom feeder as well. The wife has SIG semis in .22 and 9mm. She REALLY wants a 1911.

As for shooting, generally slow for groups. Slower if I'm working up a new handload. Lots of breaks for notes & such. I'll usually do some controlled doubles & one handed shooting. Practice DA first shot SA second with the KP90 which is my primary HD weapon. Practice DA shooting with the revolvers. I usually take lots of breaks to scrounge...umm.. I mean police my brass, watch the lady shootists. The range I shoot at doesn't charge by the hour, so no hurry.

Work boots, jeans & Chuck Byron T-shirt are my usual uniform of the day.

 

[old bear]

Firearms tastes?

I have and imagine always will prefer classic blue steel revolvers.

And at the range?

Strive to keep 12 – 18 round groups in a 3” -6” area in less than 45 seconds, including reloads, at 10 yards. I fire 150 – 200 rounds once a month.

Dressed to shoot , to kill , or to ride?

None of the above, I wore either a uniform or a coat and tie to work for over 30 years. Since I retired I generally dress for the weather; spring, summer, and as much of fall its golf length shorts, polo shirts, deck shoes sans socks. Winter its khakis mock turtle necks and loafers.
I also dress for comfort and do from time to time enjoy wearing the traditional blue blazer, nice slacks along with a shirt and a nice tie. As I’ve always fought the “battle of the bulge” I’ve never liked to carry lots of things in my pockets. Now I carry key ring with three keys, small pocket knife, cell phone, and money clip holding driver’s license, insurance card, AMX card, and cash. MY wallet lives in the glove box of the car.

 

[JohnnieB]

I haven't worn jeans since I was in my late teens, 50 years ago, but I've only worn a tie three times since I retired, two funerals and a wedding. These days, it is khaki style trouser with pockets deep enough to hide a Beretta Tomcat, Jockey brand t-shirt and Perry suspenders. Wear a NRA cap with a bunch of scrambled eggs on the bill while mowing lawn or at the range. Sometimes SWMBO wants me to dress up, so I wear a colored t-shirt instead of a plain white one. In cooler weather it's flannel shirts and leather jackets with a 637 in a IWB holster.

Used to punch holes in paper with a variety of bottom feeders whose caliber started with 4, now it's mostly wheelguns at targets I don't have to keep walking down range to replace. I attach strings to Golf balls, Tennis balls and Glucerna bottles and hang the from frames I make out of wooden dowels and PVC tees. The golf balls are pretty safe at anything beyond 15 yards unless I'm using my Ruger Mk II Target 678. Sometimes I'll get someone that is going down to hang targets on the 100 yard range to toss a couple clays on the dirt backstop and have some fun walking my shots in on them. I usually end a range session with whatever I'm carrying that day.

What kind of shooter am I? One whose best shooting days are behind him, but glad he can still shoot as well as he does, and has fun doing it.

 

[Smith357]

My firearms tastes are towards old blued steel and walnut, I'm not a fan of plastic rifle stocks or pistol frames. I can't think of one new handgun that interests me in the least, and very few new rifles trip my trigger.

At the range I generally strive to put each bullet in the same hole or as close as possible at 10feet - 500 yds. I guess it's that USMC mentality of "one shot one kill".

I dress for the weather and the shooting I will be doing, generally jeans sometimes shorts, no mall ninja get up for me.

 

[wbraswell]

I like classic firearms. Pre-lock hand ejectors, old Colts, SAAs, 1911s, although I don't really care about the newer ones with all the "improvements". I like blue and wood rifles, but I do like my heavy barreled Bushmaster, although all I use is 10 rd mags in it. I like to see a hole in the bullseye. I am striving to get more out of each bullet. I want accuracy. I can shoot fairly well, but I've come to realize some of my guns don't, and some handloads I've made don't. Since I take blood thinners, I bruise easily, so I avoid heavy recoiling rifles, and use a shooter's jacket for .30-06s now. I am still enamored by old elephant guns, but I've had enough heavy recoil. Shooting my 29s with full power loads just gives me arthritis.

 

[straightshooter1]

I still like anything that's a "gun."

Started off as a young officer shooting Bullseye, moved into PPC, IPSC, etc. From revolvers to semis.

Love Milsurp rifles, collected '03s and other similar rifles and loved shooting them.

Then discovered shotguns. Never spent much time with them except the 18" 870s and Model 31s we had in the police cars.

I did notice I was getting a little bored with target shooting. The target is always paper or cardboard, it sometimes has different shapes, round, rectangular, etc., but it always stays in one place. Maybe the shooter moves, but the target is always right there for every shot.

Shotguns were different. The target moves at 42 MPH in trap, and the shooter has to move his body to hit it. Skeet is slower and closer, but the target crosses from one side of the field to the other. Both games have doubles, too.

I got hooked on Trap, Skeet and some Sporting Clays. Harder, I think, than shooting a stationary target.

Dress? Never tacticool, just shorts and T-shirt in the spring, summer and fall, jeans and jacket in the winter (if needed-it's Florida).

Bob

 

[PDL]

I shoot wearing whatever. the way I see it is, if I've just loaded my trunk either after a concert or in the grocery store parking lat, and some jackwagon accosts me in the parking lot, two things come to mind. First, shame on me for not noticing someone or something amiss. Second, s/he's not going to wait for me to pull the S&W out of that particular skirt or pants waistband (as an aside, women's clothes are ridiculous. no men's wear has buttons or zippers in the back, what gives?) So, I wear whatever. If it's hot, shorts or whatever I did errands in. If I'm working or schooling or performing, that could be any variety of dress from disgusting slob casual to Nora Charles formal glamour. Have you ever tried figured out exactly where to conceal a .380 in a knee length, form fitting, strapless cocktail dress and then how to get to it? Didn't think so.

the short of it is, no I don't have special shooting clothes because I don't have any special crime victim target clothes.

I shoot mostly out on friend's property in the country. I tend to be deliberate, but also challenge myself as far as distances or speed. I have no set pattern.

While I've never worn a dress, even on Holloween, you should do a search on Youtube. If you search on Thigh Holster for Women, you might find it usefull.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

I go the full monty myself

 

[Marshwheeling]

No leather vest , no chaps , no studs , no conchos. No engineer boots with spurs or chains. I do wear a chained wallet , have for 30yrs. And of course a few tasteful leather jackets.(they seem to shrink each year)

Here's an answer to those shrinking leather jackets:
Zip-r-strip by Tom the Tailor
(The owner is an acquaintance, but otherwise no connection. It's a good product, it works, and he can match just about any leather.)

My motorcycle gear varies with the weather, the venue, the bike I am riding and the duration of the ride. I shoot in whatever I happen to be wearing, usually Carhartt's and a T-shirt or a shirt with buttons and a collar. I shoot casually, and not all that often, maybe 8 or 10 times a year, half that at a range, half when the opportunity arises when visiting somebody in the country.

I have a few revolvers and a few automatics; I'll usually shoot two or three in a session, anywhere from 50 to a few hundred rounds, plus whatever anybody else will let me try. Typically, I'll shoot at something, usually paper or tin cans, or maybe an old mailbox I carry around in my van for that purpose. I don't own any rifles or shotguns, but every so often I will shoot a buddy's. I have tried a few automatic weapons, an AK, and M4 and a Sten that was largely homemade. They were fun, but not so much that I felt moved to get one. Expensive to shoot, too. I'll probably buy a .22 rifle in the next year or so, and maybe one of a larger caliber. Or maybe I'll see a handgun I just have to have instead.

I don't hunt. I have been out after birds a few times over the years, and enjoyed it, but not enough to take it up in preference to my other interests. Of course as a kid I would roam the woods with a buddy, trading off with a single-shot .22 and shooting anything that moved, fun for a couple of outings, but not so fascinating that I made a regular practice of it. I am more interested in guns today than I have been for most of my life, but I was a much better shot at 13.

 

[RobertJ.]

I have a thing for DA revolvers, and lever action rifles. Sure, I have plenty of others, but those are my favorites. And I have no "black guns". The closest I have to "tactical" is a Wingmaster with a 20" barrel and mag extension. It's still blued steel and walnut, though.

At the range, I like to take my time. First, I shoot from a rest just to make sure they're all still going where they're supposed to. Then, offhand at paper targets. A cylinder or magazine full, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, then walk up and mark all the holes. I do that a bunch of times. Then, depending where I'm shooting, I set up a bunch of plinking targets like clay pigeons, at various ranges, and have at it. Sometimes I go just to practice drawing and shooting one of my carry pistols, but I always take a plinker with me, too. If I go with my shooting buddy Kip, (we've been shooting together for over 30 years now) there's always a contest involved. He's the only one in my circle of friends who can consistantly out-shoot me.

As far as clothing, when you see me you might guess that I think I'm still on vacation in Maui, or that I might be in a grunge band in Seattle, or perhaps a combo of the two. Aloha shirts, shorts, tank tops, t-shirts, flip flops, levi jeans, flannel shirts, athletic shoes, leather boots. I'll wear them in any kind of combination, I call it, "northwest tropical"!

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

My range sessions are strictly one gun, one caliber. I am a Steel and Walnut man, no aluminum, titanium or polymer for me. Dress? I am a suit and tie man at work, once I get home it's casual/work clothing. Dress tactical-hah? In the cooler weather I sometimes wear one of my old BDU field jackets, my BDUs have hung in the closet since I retired from the Reserves in 1998.

 

[Sprefix]

Yup, sometimes, but mostly.....Not...unless I'm in the mood. 'Bout sums it up for me................. (Except for tacti-COOL....can't do it in any way, shape, or form!!)