Dont overly worry about offending the kid , he is German, they are blunt people with thick skin, (the most family friendly culture in Europe, good food, beer, and twisty roads to ride) there are a lot of ranges that have been abandoned by the draw down in the 90's, have shot on a lot of them as I am sure a lot on this forum have, dont know about usage by civilians yet, but went back to my old base a few years ago and it was mothballed in perfect shape so the ranges might be the same way. If he is looking at getting a 300 wm you words are not going to scare him away.