Complete Noob

[rally2xs]

Complete noob to "Olympic" anything, but interested in competing in 10 meter men's air rifle. Many questions.

First, the USA Shooter list of matches shows the closest matches to my Virginia location to be Columbus, Indiana. That's about 12 - 14 hours of driving. I'm guessing that there are matches much closer but of a "local" nature rather than "Championship" nature. The questions are, is that right and if so, how do I find them?

Second, am I barking up the wrong tree? As an adult shooter choosing air rifle competition, I seem to get the idea that it is only for kids. I can't find anywhere that the NRA has adult shooting competitions, for instance, as everything is "junior." USA Shooter has their adult shoots at Columbus, Indiana, but not yet finding matches closer than that. Still haven't figured out anything from DCM besides "Port Clinton, Ohio" and "Anniston, Alabama." I'm in Virginia. Big drives. I want to shoot air rifle both because I can easily do it in my garage, any time I want, without violating any laws or annoying neighbors with noise, and because 1000 rounds of supposedly match grade (the advertisement said) ammo for air rifle is $23, and 1000 rounds for match grade .223 would be about $470. I expect that if one is serious, 1000 rounds probably goes buy pretty quickly. This is my interest in "air rifle."

I'm retired, 69 years old, but in pretty good health. A cataract operation 6 years ago not only gave me 20/20 vision, but due to "multifocal" lenses, the front sight and the target are both perfectly in focus for me. Qualification to go to Iraq as a Navy sci/tech advisor in 2011 resulted in 79 out of 80 on the M16 and 39 out of 40 on the M9, so the much improved vision is a helpful thing. My wildest dreams (don't bother telling me they are unrealistic, I already know) is to get really good at this really quickly and qualify for the shooting team in Tokyo in 2020, making me the oldest olympian. No, I don't expect it to happen. But it doesn't hurt to try, and I'll have a lot of fun trying because I love to shoot. So this is my interest in "Olympic."

Same question for "coaching" or simply "help" in becoming a better shooter as for local matches. How do I find "clinics." I may not have done enough web surfing, but so far I haven't found specific instances of get-togethers designed for those that want to iron out their shooting game.

Thanks in advance for any/all responses.

[Pat McCoy]

You might contact the Virginia Shooting Sports Assoc (https://www.myvssa.org/) about matches. Also the junior programs often have coaches who also will work with adults.

[rally2xs]

You might contact the Virginia Shooting Sports Assoc (https://www.myvssa.org/) about matches. Also the junior programs often have coaches who also will work with adults.

Thanks. Good to know about the coach availability, I was wondering where I might get some help. I will look at VSSA.