TargetTalk

After reading Bob Dye's remarks on air / free targets and looking at how few people take part in postal matches, I thought I'd add my two cents worth. Here in the mid-west, at least in Ill., there are just three ranges that hold international style matches, and the Bloomington range does not have Free pistol. Two of them, Streator and Bloomington are upper Ill., and Highland is down south near St. Louis. Iowa may have a range in the middle of the state, but they hold their yearly match here in Ill. at the Milan Gun Club. So, what can be done to increase participation. There seems to be plenty of air guns sold, many of which are high end, competitive guns, so how to get people together in matches.
While not Olympic style shooting, 0ur club has a very active Wednesday morning Air gun metallic silhouette group. Now they will not take off their red dot scopes and hold the gun with one hand, but some like other means of competition. I hand out A-17 target sheets, that's the NRA 50 ft small bore target, they shoot it at 33ft with rifle or pistol when ever they can, I collect them from the club and submit the scores over to a site at Rim Fire Central and once a month post a results sheet at the club. The shooters have fun and its easy to do. And they still get to keep their red dots and two handed hold.
For the traditional Olympic style of shooting, NetCompetitor offers a monthly or weekly match for many disciplines and is very flexible for Free pistol. Just use the correct target for the distance your shooting, which means if the 25yd indoor range is full, I can go to the 50ft indoor range, or if the weather is warm, go to the 50 yard or 50 meter outdoor range. 10 meter pistol competition on face book is a monthly fun match and you can view your scores against people from all over the world. My only complaint is his cut off for senior division is way to low, should be at least 65 years old. There are several other sites, like the CMP ACES program and others I know nothing about.
If nothing else, let your practice sessions have a added meaning to it. Join some of these postal events and have fun.

Don't forget the CMP ACES postal, a new match every quarter.

Info
http://thecmp.org/air/cmp-aces-postal/

Registration
https://ct.thecmp.org/app/v1/index.php? ... atch=14776

- Dave

I revived a free monthly but stopped it due to lack of participation.

I think I heard of your site just before you pulled it. I did send in some scores but results were never posted. I know postal are not the same as shoulder to shoulder matches, but do not understand the reluctance of shooters to participate. Maybe some other shooters would address this issue. The old Papillion Nebraska league had around 30 to 40 shooters and a friend has told me of older leagues of around 100 shooters back when you had to snail mail in the targets. To bad there is not a site listing all available postal matches as the only way I hear of them is pure luck. Anyway, there is some good ones out there, now to find shooters to take part.

You are always welcome to joint the "10M Pistol Competition League". I started this league on Facebook last year. We crowned our 2016 Champion, George Siordian of Phoenix AZ, this month. The 2017 season is already underway, but you have 24 hours to register and shoot a 30 shot match.

Just look up "10M Pistol Competition League" on Facebook. There you will find several threads. Initially read the Rules thread, the How to Register thread, and the Current Competiton thread. We have over 50 registered competitors from around the world, and all are welcome.

If you do not have Facebook, you can also email me at pheyden1448@yahoo.com or pheyden1448@gmail.com, and I can give you further guidance.

Best regards,
Paul Vanderheijden
PCL Administrator

BTW - I forgot to mention that there is no charge for participating in the PCL.

Thanks for participating Dan! But after the 1st month you were the only one on there so there was not much point in continuing.

Anybody knows what's the deal with the targetshooting.ca postal? It seems Patrick pulled the database option on the web site.

I've been trying to find postal matches for ISSF AP (or other ISSF disciplines - 50m pistol would be good!) in Australia but have drawn a blank. There was one mentioned in the Target Shooting Canada webpage on postal comps but that was dated 2001 hosted by Shane's Tours(?) and that trail has gone cold.

Do any of the Aussie or Kiwi members know of any such comp down here?

Am now looking at the US-based www.netcompetitor.com site as a possible.

Bob

I too am looking for postal matches. I am brand new to air pistol having gotten my first air pistol a week and a half ago. For that matter I am fairly new to all pistols having shot my first centerfire pistol 2 years ago when my wife wanted to learn how to shoot pistols and we took a couple of lessons. I decided I wanted to learn how to shoot one-handed last year and picked up a free pistol about 7 months ago. Now I'd like to learn all I can about sport shooting and figured postals might be a good way to ease into competition and "meet" people and maybe pick their brain.

I did sign up for a netcompetitor.com AP match which didn't show many competitors; 3 including myself. I believe Dan Ide was one of them. Looks like I am too late to sign up for Paul's PCL.

Bob, maybe I'll see you on netcompetitor.com.

-Julian

BobGee wrote:Do any of the Aussie or Kiwi members know of any such comp down here?
Bob

There is one in New Zealand organised by the Hibiscus Coast Air Pistol club, but I don't bother with it personally. It costs money, and there is money for prizes - it is based on nominating a handicap; which I don't think is a good way to challenge yourself in a game of skill.

There is somewhat of a National Circuit here of competitions through the summer starting in September through to March, roughly one or sometimes two in a month. There is also an offseason informal Air Pistol league called the 'Airgun Cup'.
http://www.pistolnz.org.nz/events/comin ... /issf.aspx

Thanks SamEEE, we obviously have shoulder to shoulder matches here in Oz and we don't really have an "off" season such as appears to be the case in the US. However, the netcompetitor.com website runs a variety of monthly postal matches which are based on the honour (or is it honor?) system as you enter your own scores on-line rather than submitting targets. Assuming everyone plays the game it might be fun to try - quite cheap at USD3/match, i.e. less than AUD50pa over 12 months.

I might give it a go from an antipodean perspective and report back.

And thanks JulianL for your response.

Bob

Well, looks like I'm not the only one who enjoys postal matches. Do not forget that 10 meter pistol competition on Facebook. I had to have my grandkids show me how to get on and enter the pictures. Takes me longer to load the pictures of the targets than it does to shoot them! I think the site master is in Europe and seem to have quite a few competitors. The old target shooting Canada was really good, as like Net Competitor, offered several types of events.

Hello Bob Gee,

Please take a look at "10M Pistol Competition League" on Facebook. Just type in the name a search for it. International competition to ISSF type rules. Currently 55 registered competitors. Ooen to all shooters male or female, any age, any air pistol (PCP, SSP, CO2 etc).

Best of all there is no charge to register or to complete.

Best regards,

Paul Vanderheijden
PCL organizer