How to Do Date Night At The Gun Range

People often give me strange looks when I tell them that one of my wife's and I's favorite things to do for date night is go to the gun range. Training time is hard to get in with a busy schedule and even more so when you have young kids. I figure if I'm already paying for a babysitter so we can get out for a night I might as well get some shots down range! If you aren't married, I still think a night at the gun range makes for a great date with any potential significant other. You can learn a lot about someone and set some precedents about how important firearms are to you as part of your lifestyle. There are some tricks to making it functional. Here are my best ideas:

More Than Just Shooting

Go to a restaurant for dinner before heading to the range. Stop by an ice cream place after the range for dessert. Plan on a movie at home after getting back from the range. Just shooting by itself could be a little on the lame side if done too often.

Make it A Competition

A little competition can go a long way. Run some drills for speed or marksmanship at the range. Pick a variety of different games you can play so that everyone wins a few. Be creative about what the winner may win or get to do or decide as part of their victory :). Some of the public gun ranges may want to kick you out if you do anything to extreme so keep it well within the boundaries of their range rules.

Double Date

We especially like to go to the range with another couple. This way the guys can try to outdo each other in an effort to ensure our masculinity while the women sit back for a few minutes and talk about how lame we are. It adds a little variety to the standard training range time. As an added bonus this also increases the pool of guns from which every gets to shoot and enjoy.

Be creative and show that you can put a little thought into the activity beyond the standard trip to the range. If you can learn to enjoy shooting you can start to justify the activity a little more often.