Tiimes have changed

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Tomklinger
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Location: Florida

Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by Tomklinger »

Everyone is concerned about new interest and rightfully so, however, I see an immediate problem with ranges that the match directors get tired and want to step down after many years of running matches, and no one in the club will get up off their collective asses and volenteer to take over as match director. It seems like the shooters would rather not have matches any more than to even "fill in" until a member decides to step up. When a loyal to our sport match director gives plenty of notice that he wishes to pass on the job, and not one person will step up? That clubs shooters should be ashamed of them selves.
My opinion,
Tom Klinger
Ray Newman
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Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by Ray Newman »

"There are things that could be done to help newcomers. But the rules would need slight changing. There are less costly rifles that have exposed hammers that are single shots but not of the correct time period. Allow them to compete."
--Chris F

I have always tried to interest single shot rifle shooters or potential single shot rifle shooters into the sport. Based upon my conversations with them, they not only cite the rifle restriction as an reason/excuse for not taking up the sport, but also say that the ammunition requirement-- Black Powder and lead bullets -- is too restrictive.
Grand PooBah
WA ST F. E. S.

In real life may you be the bad ass that you claim to be on social media....
DeadEye
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Location: The Flatlands of Canada

Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by DeadEye »

BC,

It's 804 miles from my door to Cody's and they are the most worthwhile miles I drive all summer. He's right, I am a financially set retired person and that is the only reason I can think of shooting The Nationals. My whole working life I was lucky if I got two weeks off let alone back-to-back. My boss used to say, "if I can do without you that long I don't need you at all." It was 16 years ago when I was introduced to BPCR, I was 60, any sooner and I either wouldn't have had the time or the funds. Now if I could only shoot like Cody I'd have it all. In 2018 Cody was our Top Master shooter and only five points off being tied with the Champion in Irons. He was not able to shoot scope because he can't take that much time away from work. And now this year he will not be able to compete at all because of the way the match has been scheduled. The reason is so that the NRA can save money on travel costs for themselves. All the National matches are run back-to-back. When I met Jeanne and thanked her for taking on the job she informed me it was her fifth match in a row and not the last. The RSOs were our neighbours in the campground and it was the same for them, from one shoot to the next. Move in get it done and leave. Cost effective? Yes. Will it enable the matches to grow? No.

Paul
"My heroes have always been cowboys and they still are it seems."
SFogler
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Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by SFogler »

Based upon my conversations with them, they not only cite the rifle restriction as an reason/excuse for not taking up the sport, but also say that the ammunition requirement-- Black Powder and lead bullets -- is too restrictive.
Let's not forget that what makes our sport unique is not only the rifle but the black powder and lead bullets. Maybe some younger folks will not have the time or money to participate but as they gain experience, they might be interested later on when the novelty of their black rifle wears off. I couldn't imagine I could lay in the dirt and shoot black powder off cross sticks with iron sights and even hit the paper at 1000 yards let alone start competing in matches. I would hate to see our sport diluted to the point of "something for everybody" (which means "nothing for anybody") because some people aren't interested in learning black powder or don't want to clean their rifles. It is what it is.
Our sport is not for everybody, but it could be for a lot more if it was better publicized. There are some great points brought up in this thread about making You-tube videos or having segments of our matches streamed. For a start make some flyers and take them to your local gun shop and publicize the next local silhouette match at your gun club. Make sure there's a website link to the black powder events page on the gun club's website. Your gun club could add a link to videos of their silhouette shoots so people can see what it's about. I am going to my gun club's meeting next week and I'll see what they say about publicizing some BP shooting. Let's try to stream the match at Whittington and post it on our gun club websites and You-tube when we get back. It's too bad the NRA isn't more interested in our sport but they don't seem to be - so we do it ourselves.
Right now the greatest advertisement for our sport is to attend one of Cody's matches. The food and family-friendly atmosphere is a huge draw for the "spectators" as well as the regular shooters. That could be streamed too - so the wife and kids know its a family event and they are more than welcome.
VectorMan
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Location: NW Missouri

Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by VectorMan »

One major problem I see is that Smithmoor Range needs to be bigger for more shooters.
Cody is spot on with his comments, the way he runs matches and the in depth write ups afterwards with photos. It makes people say “I want to go to one of his matches”. That’s what I say anyway. It’s a 8 hour trip, but if I can get 2 to 3 days of shooting over a weekend I’ll try my best to attend.

Good job Cody.
"keep adding powder til it bloodies your nose and blacks your eyes, then back it off bout 5 grains."
Jeanne Ring
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Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2018 6:37 pm

Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by Jeanne Ring »

DeadEye wrote: Wed Jan 02, 2019 4:42 pm When I met Jeanne and thanked her for taking on the job she informed me it was her fifth match in a row and not the last. The RSOs were our neighbours in the campground and it was the same for them, from one shoot to the next.

Paul
To be accurate, we ran four championships in 2018, and yes, back-to-back.

Jeanne
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Don McDowell
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Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by Don McDowell »

Del if you're still with this thing...
Have you thought about getting the journalism class from the high school or college to come out to your match and having them make a video you could put on a You tube channel?
AKA Donny Ray Rockslinger :?
DeadEye
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Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 3:38 pm
Location: The Flatlands of Canada

Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by DeadEye »

Jeanne,

Not trying to put words in your mouth, my error I guess. And yes I'm still thankful you stepped up. Hang in there.

Paul
"My heroes have always been cowboys and they still are it seems."
jackrabbit
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Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2012 12:04 pm
Location: Carpenter Wyoming

Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by jackrabbit »

Friends, I sincerely appreciate the kind comments about Smithmoor. Being a part of building and putting on these matches has been about the most rewarding thing I have ever done. As you guys know, a good match is much more than just one person. We have a super support group of friends and sponsors as well as a group of shooters that are the best. Thank you to all that contribute to our matches, you are the reason they are good.

I worry that folks reading about us on the internet will be expecting too much when they finally get the chance to come shoot here. We are just a bunch of good folks that like to shoot. I hope people see that we are nothing that they themselves can't do at their range. Just like I learned from Michael Rix at Watkins, Steve Rhoades in Arizona, The Tappan Hill gang in Kansas, and several other match directors, I hope someone might come to our place and take some ideas home to start their own matches.

Thank you all again, the friends and memories we have made are priceless.
Cody
BFD
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Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by BFD »

Cody, there are very few ranges that reach to 500 meters, once you get to actually counting them all.
jackrabbit
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Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by jackrabbit »

I suppose that is true, but there are a whole lot that go to 200 yards, and that's enough for a 22 BPCR match.
BFD
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Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by BFD »

Yes, but 22 BPC R isn't the issue.
Del
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Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by Del »

Don McDowell wrote: Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:27 am Del if you're still with this thing...
Have you thought about getting the journalism class from the high school or college to come out to your match and having them make a video you could put on a You tube channel?
Hi Don, I was actually thinking about something similar to this the other day that my wife's High School website has a great list of their alumni clear back to 1925 and somehow keeps up with who is still alive and who has passed away. I was thinking about building a website for my High School similar, work with the school to get it linked to their site, and then get a web-savvy teacher to take on the task of working with one or two kids each year to keep it up, not only as a website training opportunity but also as a civic duty sort of thing.

Which could be something to think about but I see a number of problems with it. Local matches are, at least in Montana, one in Butte, then one in Missoula, maybe down in Hamilton for schuetzen, maybe down in Livingston the first weekend, then mix in Raton, Oregon, Idaho, Quigley, etc. Not sure what kid other than maybe a tuned in grandkid might make it to a few of these let alone a lot of them. And the biggest issue is internet accessibility at the ranges. I built a web based score keeping application a couple of years ago that while buggy, did have a lot of real advantages in that it worked well, kept a database of the shooters and their scores, could search scores for individual shooters, could update scores to websites for immediate (as the match was going on) viewing, and could have been linked in with the NRA with their cooperation to accomplish a lot of what they are wanting to accomplish with classification tracking, etc. But without pretty good internet access, it will not work. And the whole success of the match hinges on how good the scoring is being done. I looked at creating an Apache web server on my laptop so that I could serve up the pages seamlessly at the range but it looses the interconnection with the internet which is a lot of the draw to doing this rather than just keeping scores on a score sheet with Sharpies. It would require uploading after the fact and additional work and would require a lot of effort to get a system that was universally available and usable for more than just me. But it would have been a great source of information to allow the NRA to publish results, etc!

There are more matches that are held then are written up and published here on this forum or others. It takes work to sort out the scores, get them published somehow, and take the time to make a little writeup. Cody does the best job and it shows in the interest of his matches. Just having open access to the scores for the competitors is a big plus. While there are very few winners, there are a lot of competitors and if you only record the winners, you are playing to a pretty small crowd!
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Don McDowell
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Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by Don McDowell »

Del what I'm thinking may work best rather than a live stream. Might be get someone to film a match, and then edit the film to show some of the highlights and then just put it on a Youtube channel? Something similar to the short video that Cody has posted on his Smithmoor range web page.
AKA Donny Ray Rockslinger :?
Del
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Re: Tiimes have changed

Post by Del »

I was just looking at some photos of artillery practice at Seagirt around 1900... Maybe put an old junker car out on the silhouette range and have an artillery silhouette match. Black powder only of course! That would get some attention!

Don, what you are suggesting would probably work especially if it was well done and would probably be given some press time by the NRA if it was tee'd up for them and all they had to do was make a simple post. YouTube is a great place to watch videos but it is so huge now that finding what you want can be difficult.

I wonder if the local sports channels would mention the standings if the scores were turning into them??
Fortune Favors the Bold...
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