melchloboo wrote: Look at all the $$$ people in my age group are shelling out to yoga instructors, therapists and the anti-depressant pharmaceutical companies.
You may want to rethink this comment. You want to give a gun to whom?
Somebody on anti-depressant drug and under the therapist's care?
Ha ha! Well, what I meant is that what we now call "Generation X" in the US are all grown up with disposable income and in need of stress outlets.
I did not mean to imply that guns of any kind should be encouraged among the mentally ill, clinically depressed, etc..
Well the league has made a change.
I brought alot of the suggestions to the meeting.
The rifle league is currently a 3P league that shoots on Tuesday at 8Pm at various ranges within a 30-40min drive.
we currently shoot the A36 target 30 shot course of prone, Kneeling and standing.
We have modified our start time to 7:30pm and added light rifle to the course on the A17 target.
so new shooters and light rifle shooters will be able to compete against the match rifle guys on an easier target.
This was the hopefull a solution to evening the playing field against the top shooters with all the bells and whistles and attract new shooters.
I must say if I was a new shooter and my first competition i walked in to a room full of 3P shooters with all the $3k guns $1K leather coats etc and another $1-2K in junk I would think these guys are nuts and move on...
I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm a dedicated Smallbore competitive shooter. I shoot NRA/USAS rifle as well as Summer Biathlon. On the surface, I've seen that, over the years, that a general path exists when someone becomes interested in shooting: a newcomer generally comes to a fork in the road early on: do I get into smallbore or do I head to the more powerful, higher powered AR and similar styled shooting? I figure that, in my Anschutz, after it's all said and done, I easily have around $3000, probably closer to $3500. Plus coats, shoes, pants, slings, etc., I have a great deal of money.
When I went to my club about getting Smallbore going, I went with a blanket smallbore plan. This consisted of a .22 Fun Shoot, Summer Biathlon, Silhouette, and NRA Light Rifle. NRA Light Rifle is made for introducing Smallbore to newcomers. It's my preferred avenue of introduction.
To prove my point, I took a Savage Mark II FVT I purchased for Summer Biathlon, replaced the stock with a Boyd's second, added an Anschutz rail, and bedded the stock using Devcon Plastic Steel. I took a box of RWS Target Rifle, put up a TQ 3/1 target at 50 Yards and proceeded to remove the remove the 10-ring in five shots. I did this with a rifle I have less than $500 in.
Now for less than $500, I have a rifle that works well for NRA Light Rifle and Summer Biathlon. I have communicated with most of the clubs involved with Light Rifle and they all have good results. I like using the A-32 targets and the 50-Foot distance. Over time, you can introduce the TQ-2 at 75 Feet and so on.
Today's novice shooter is a lot more internet-savvy than ever. Don't tell them what to buy, tell them what to look for. Smallbore shooting IS innocuous; treat it as such. I try to maintain the mindset that Smallbore is more of a Country Club sport like Golf, Tennis, Bocce Ball, etc. It's been my experience that once you understand this, it's a lot easier to attract people. Don't be afraid to use social media to your advantage. If you have the savvy to read this message, you have the savvy to use Twitter and Facebook. Know your market: as a start it's runners, cyclists, skiers, joggers, etc. Use Light Rifle and Summer Biathlon as your starters. Know that the basic running distance for Summer Biathlon is 5Km, around 3 Miles. Assuming that a club decides to have the competitors turn around at the end, you're using roughly a mile and a half of road (odds are most outdoor clubs already have that.) As far as the targets are concerned, official measurements are 11.5 Cm (~4.5 In) for standing and 4.5 Cm (~2.0 In) for prone shooting, respectively. The offical distance is 50 Meters. In Summer Biathlon, it's not unheard of for first-time participants to shoot at 25 Yards and regular competitors to shoot at 50 Yards in the US. If your club is on a budget (like most of us are), concentrate on getting 4.5 inch and 2 inch round silhouettes that you can use in fun shoots.
Also, don't neglect the video game crowd either. They're easy to get-just know the market. It's my experience that the average video gamer would much rather be outside experiencing reality under the right circumstances: give them that reality. Have an open range night/informational session. Know that some of the most popular video games incorporate battle rifles of days gone by. Pieces like the old Mosin-Nagants, Mauser 98s, K31s, SMLE #4s etc. are all fairly cheap on the surplus market. The vast majority of them are safe, but notoriously innaccurate. The moment that video gamer hears that thunderous boom, misses the target, and feels the recoil, they will realize the video game lied to them. After this sinks in, put a .22 into their hands. Let them hit an 8-ring or better: you've got a new Smallbore shooter!
Again, I've found that, if you want to sell our beloved sport, start easy. Nobody is going to start off hitting 10 rings at 50 yards/meters. Light Rifle and Summer Biathlon get people interested. Keep the emphasis on shooting and not on equipment or politics. Set and keep benchmarks (just as any Smallbore league would.) It might even be useful to run the Smallbore and Light Rifle leagues concurrently.
I did not mean to imply that guns of any kind should be encouraged among the mentally ill, clinically depressed, etc..
At least those people taking anti-depressant and in therapy are seeking help. I find them more stable than most of the other people I know. Stuffing down their problems, building up anger, hating their job, boss, neighbors and NOT seeking help is more dangerous than those who have mental health issues and are getting help. I rather give a gun to someone getting help who has diaganosed mental issues than someone with mental issues (70% of the rest of the population) and NOT getting help.
also have you ever thought about this part of the sport ..is what i call the gate keeper type of shooter ..he the one who got all the right gear and all the right ideas about the sport and but he the one who will run off a person out of the sport because ..he does not feel like the person is right for the sport ..
down here in south texas we have a couple of guys we call the gate keepes types ..they have been told to stop doing some of the things that they do to the new people when they come to shoot..for i went a bought a used Walther KK300 22.lr unverisal match rifle for prone shooting and mini palma ..
a couple of weeks ago we have a brand new shooter on the line with just the basic gear for the prone match but his mat was not the greatest ..so we all said let him use a blanket also to help pad the ground also ..here comes the gatekeeper and he starts in by saying that the is a illegal and he can not use the extras padding ..finaily after about 5 mins of the gate keeper comments the guy get up and starts to packs up and goes home ..we took a few exrta mins to explain to the guy this guy is the local club blow hard and not to pay him any mind ..but we allmost lost a new shooter because of that reason .. ..
to me i would rather get rid of the gatekeeper type ..
one thing our informal thing is as long as you have a rifle and a shooting jacket everything else can be played with as it need .. for some of the guys have a extra mat or a shooting jacket one new showed up with just a rifle only and we allowed me to use diff bits of gear ..now he has bought three other people to the range where we shot at.
for a lot of us are into the so called mini palma sport for it a great sport for the little 22.lr rifle along with 50 yard prone .shooting matchs .
weilers wrote:I'm going to preface this by saying that I'm a dedicated Smallbore competitive shooter. I shoot NRA/USAS rifle as well as Summer Biathlon. On the surface, I've seen that, over the years, that a general path exists when someone becomes interested in shooting: a newcomer generally comes to a fork in the road early on: do I get into smallbore or do I head to the more powerful, higher powered AR and similar styled shooting? I figure that, in my Anschutz, after it's all said and done, I easily have around $3000, probably closer to $3500. Plus coats, shoes, pants, slings, etc., I have a great deal of money.
When I went to my club about getting Smallbore going, I went with a blanket smallbore plan. This consisted of a .22 Fun Shoot, Summer Biathlon, Silhouette, and NRA Light Rifle. NRA Light Rifle is made for introducing Smallbore to newcomers. It's my preferred avenue of introduction.
To prove my point, I took a Savage Mark II FVT I purchased for Summer Biathlon, replaced the stock with a Boyd's second, added an Anschutz rail, and bedded the stock using Devcon Plastic Steel. I took a box of RWS Target Rifle, put up a TQ 3/1 target at 50 Yards and proceeded to remove the remove the 10-ring in five shots. I did this with a rifle I have less than $500 in.
Now for less than $500, I have a rifle that works well for NRA Light Rifle and Summer Biathlon. I have communicated with most of the clubs involved with Light Rifle and they all have good results. I like using the A-32 targets and the 50-Foot distance. Over time, you can introduce the TQ-2 at 75 Feet and so on.
Today's novice shooter is a lot more internet-savvy than ever. Don't tell them what to buy, tell them what to look for. Smallbore shooting IS innocuous; treat it as such. I try to maintain the mindset that Smallbore is more of a Country Club sport like Golf, Tennis, Bocce Ball, etc. It's been my experience that once you understand this, it's a lot easier to attract people. Don't be afraid to use social media to your advantage. If you have the savvy to read this message, you have the savvy to use Twitter and Facebook. Know your market: as a start it's runners, cyclists, skiers, joggers, etc. Use Light Rifle and Summer Biathlon as your starters. Know that the basic running distance for Summer Biathlon is 5Km, around 3 Miles. Assuming that a club decides to have the competitors turn around at the end, you're using roughly a mile and a half of road (odds are most outdoor clubs already have that.) As far as the targets are concerned, official measurements are 11.5 Cm (~4.5 In) for standing and 4.5 Cm (~2.0 In) for prone shooting, respectively. The offical distance is 50 Meters. In Summer Biathlon, it's not unheard of for first-time participants to shoot at 25 Yards and regular competitors to shoot at 50 Yards in the US. If your club is on a budget (like most of us are), concentrate on getting 4.5 inch and 2 inch round silhouettes that you can use in fun shoots.
Also, don't neglect the video game crowd either. They're easy to get-just know the market. It's my experience that the average video gamer would much rather be outside experiencing reality under the right circumstances: give them that reality. Have an open range night/informational session. Know that some of the most popular video games incorporate battle rifles of days gone by. Pieces like the old Mosin-Nagants, Mauser 98s, K31s, SMLE #4s etc. are all fairly cheap on the surplus market. The vast majority of them are safe, but notoriously innaccurate. The moment that video gamer hears that thunderous boom, misses the target, and feels the recoil, they will realize the video game lied to them. After this sinks in, put a .22 into their hands. Let them hit an 8-ring or better: you've got a new Smallbore shooter!
Again, I've found that, if you want to sell our beloved sport, start easy. Nobody is going to start off hitting 10 rings at 50 yards/meters. Light Rifle and Summer Biathlon get people interested. Keep the emphasis on shooting and not on equipment or politics. Set and keep benchmarks (just as any Smallbore league would.) It might even be useful to run the Smallbore and Light Rifle leagues concurrently.
Just one person's opinion.
every person i meet i try to get them to come out and shoot on my dime at the club and other have done the same thing ..we starting to get a very more people here and there because how we treat the people at the place we shoot at ..we have all walks of life there from the business man to a rap music producer guy who shows up in a tricked out hummer to the local farmer or rancher type with every thing inbetween ..but it open to all walks and people who come into the club will understand that ..we use also as a central place for everyone to bring people into the sport ..for that the first thing we do as a group when comeing into the place on sat morning is ask if anyone has brought someone out to shoot ..
anything a club can do is make where everyone who shooting is on the line and there are no class system for the new shooter ..with men women and jrs on the line at the same time to show them that everyone is equal here ..
only after they have been a very to the matchs a few times then try to see which way they are going to go in the area of sports..