TargetTalk

How would the Australians here feel about adopting NRA Bullseye shooting?

I like shooting fullbore, and I'm not sure how long ISSF Centrefire is likely to last.

Also with all the pistol and eqpt options maybe its something the dealers and importers might want to support.

Would we want to do it?
Is it feasible?
Would Pistol Australia get behind it?

Note for others: In Aus we are generally permitted to own target firearms for which there are National and International Championships, and Commonwealth and Olympic Games get extra-special treatment.
If the ISSF ditched Centrefire no doubt we'd have a hand-in shortly after.

I didn't put this in the Bullseye thread as I've not seen many Aussies there.

Don't know why you are so pessimistic about CF - seems to be a fairly popular match. CF guns wont go - Service and WA 1500 are fairly healthy, particularly WA1500 match. You do realise that even if Bullseye was introduced here, you still wouldn't be able to shoot a .45?

Don't know why you are so pessimistic about CF - seems to be a fairly popular match. CF guns wont go - Service and WA 1500 are fairly healthy, particularly WA1500 match. You do realise that even if Bullseye was introduced here, you still wouldn't be able to shoot a .45?

I'm led to believe you can still use a .45 in metalic silouette comps is Aus, ie SSAA ??

Barney wrote:I'm led to believe you can still use a .45 in metalic silouette comps is Aus, ie SSAA ??

You can, but why would you?

JamesH wrote:Note for others: In Aus we are generally permitted to own target firearms for which there are National and International Championships, and Commonwealth and Olympic Games get extra-special treatment.

Remember that CF will be dropped from the Commonwealth Games after Delhi 2010 (although it will still be in the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships).

It's feasible to have larger than 38cal, a lot of black powder pistols are 44cal for example, and shooting big bore silhouette allows large calibers as well.

I reckon we should be able to shoot bullseye here in Aus however I don't think my club and some others I have shot at would have it, as it's hard to prove a "need" for it.

We have a huge variety of shooting matches/disciplines available and any handgunner should be able to find enough variety to avoid boredom.

I am also a bit worried that the use of optical sights (if used), especially on rimfires, will erode the skill levels of shooters - new shooters will tend to gravitate towards the more glamorous matches with all the fancy kit. ISSF shooting, in my opinion, is better for developing skills and discipline.

0.45, .44 etc can indeed be used for silhouette comps in Aus, although I can't see 0.45 Autos being allowed even if we tried to introduce NRA Bullseye

With CF being dropped from the Commonwealth games it was just a thought to look at it. I'm bothered it could be used as an excuse to limit CF, if there were a link to a US NRA comp that would be harder to do.

I don't personally find the Australian Service Pistol matches very appealing, they're just too complex and fussy, loading from loose rounds, no real snap shooting. Most of them aren't international either.

Red dot sights and other equipment might get more people into the sport, and bring a bit of crossover between action shooting and target shooting.

Anonymous wrote:

Barney wrote:I'm led to believe you can still use a .45 in metalic silouette comps is Aus, ie SSAA ??

You can, but why would you?

because it's a lot of fun - and a suitable reason ( albeit flimsy ) to justify the purchase and ownership of one. Now that I have a shiny new Gold Cup - I actually prefer using that rather than my Model 29.

Re. the question of Conventional Pistol practice outsided the US:
Living on Malta Europe, and responsible for pistol shooting sports in the largest gun owners associationn I have done my utmost to introduce Bullseye. I do this for these reasons:
1) Unfortunately the ISSF is not heading in the right direction when it comes to pistol shooting; Certainly not when it comes to supporting the vital elements that constitute pistolcraft. I have been in this game long enough to understand clearly that when a major sporting body like the ISSF or IOC rule against some particular shoting activity, National legislators situp, take notice and use this excuse for further legal restrictions.

2) NRA Conventional Pistol is the the major organising and cohesive force when it comes to accuracy in pistolcraft. With respect where due: ISSF events miss out terribly, limited as they are in their formats of today.

#1 Was part of my motivation, as soon as the ISSF go over to laser pistols that will be it for bullseye shooting in many countries.

If we could get a worldwide NRA Bullseye movement going, WA1500 is going strong so its not impossible.

That or engineer a putsch in the ISSF.

JamesH wrote:..........as soon as the ISSF go over to laser pistols that will be it for bullseye shooting in many countries.

I'd like to know where you dreamed that one up from James. What gives you the idea that the ISSF are thinking of laser pistols.

schatzperson wrote:I have been in this game long enough to understand clearly that when a major sporting body like the ISSF or IOC rule against some particular shoting activity, National legislators situp, take notice and use this excuse for further legal restrictions.

That is probably true, but can you imagine how much worse the effect would be if shooting was dropped from the Olympics.

David Levene wrote:

JamesH wrote:..........as soon as the ISSF go over to laser pistols that will be it for bullseye shooting in many countries.

I'd like to know where you dreamed that one up from James. What gives you the idea that the ISSF are thinking of laser pistols.

Probably extrapolating from the Modern Pentathlon changes that sooner or later someone is going to pipe up and start proposing that the ISSF goes down the "point and click" route. Will be robustly knocked back I am sure, but odds are some dimwit will probably propose it at some stage.

Either that or he is incorrectly believing that the shooting stage of Modern Pentathlon is governed by the ISSF, and that this pointless move to laser pistols had been approved by them.

Yes, I had assumed Modern Pentathlon was controlled by or connected to ISSF. It used to be the duelling part of Sport Pistol was it not? So presumably used the same ranges as the Ladies match and Rapid Fire.

It can't be long before an Olympic or Commonwealth games organiser baulks at setting up two, three four, five or however many different types of ranges the shooting sports now use, plus lasers for MP, and asks for it all to be cut down.

There is no real reason why all the Olympic rifle, pistol and shotgun events could not be shot at 10m using electronic targets or lasers - there I said it.

I'd like to start pre-empting this now, so we're not scrambling around like mad when our various govts present a fait accomplis, and a link to a major US event seems obvious.

Call me paranoid but I've handed in one complete set of target pistols and I'd rather not do it again.

Modern Penthalon used to shoot RF. Then they went to air pistol...and now the laser joke. I wonder who is getting the kickback from that scheme?

I'll also suggest that some variation on the NRA and Civilian Marksmanship Program's Excellence in Competition program might work out. It's specifically geared around service pistols...and I think you could talk the NRA into backing an international version.

Mike M. wrote:Modern Penthalon used to shoot RF. Then they went to air pistol...and now the laser joke.

Actually they used to shoot 30 shots of duelling but were allowed to use a .22 short RF pistol (you know, the one with ported barrel, wrap around grip and no minimum trigger weight).