Maybe a little bit of updating...
Since this topic came back up after Scout, many of the original links to excellent info have ended up broken. Hopefully their authors will see this post and be able to fix them.
There is a new, good book out there by
Ryan Cleckner. I have purchased and repurchased this book to give to my shooting friends well over a dozen times. If there's better, I haven't found it yet.
I strongly agree with having a shooting partner. Both of you should be familiar with Cleckner's book and its contents. The best part about having a shooting partner is that each of you can be a coach for the other. An additional educated pair of eyes will help you immensely, and you can return the favor.
That additional pair of eyes can help you out with your safety, too. Not just about making mistakes, but by watching your back.
Most of us can get so wrapped up in what we're up to that we can lose track of our surroundings. That can be dangerous.
For example, my shooting club is within a mile or two of the Arizona/Mexican Border. We are constantly being warned that there are smugglers and other infiltrators literally as close as the far side of our berm some days. I flatly will not go there shooting alone.
My shooting partner has been in a neck brace since a motorcycle accident back in early January, and I have not been to the range since. We still don't know when he's getting rid of it. So, with the dearth of serious shooters in the area, I sit on the back bench.
I'll survive.
What I will not do is bring a couple of thousand dollars of gear all alone to a remote location just this side of the border, put my hearing protection on, and start attracting all comers with gunfire, with nobody to watch my back.
It's just not conducive to happy trails.
YMMV,
Greg