Month: July 2008

It looks like Firehand’s results got lost in transmission, so I had to do another revision of the June E-Postal results.  I promise I’ll have my shit together for the Gun Blog Rifle League.  For that, and for any future e-postal matches I might host, I think I might set up a separate e-mail to keep it separate from my normal blog traffic.  Makes it less likely I’ll miss someone’s score.

I think Michael’s correct here that competition a useful training tool.  Though, it looks like he’s speaking mostly of IPSC and IDPA, which I’ve had no experience with.  Silhouette shooting is not really an adrenaline pumping game.  Mostly taking slow, deliberately and carefully aimed shots.  Nonetheless, I’ve had more than a few cases where I can knock animals down like there’s no tomorrow in practice, only to perform poorly once I get on the line.  Knowing “this one is for the marbles” tweaks you up a bit, and you can’t hold as steady.

I do wish I could do IPSC competition, but the rules at my club make it impossible, and I don’t know any of the other clubs in the area that do it.  I don’t really have time to drive out to rural Pennsylvania on a regular basis to compete.  There is a local indoor range that does non-sanctioned IDPA matches, and it happens to be my favorite indoor range.  Maybe I’ll have to give that a whirl at some point.

I think there’s a lot of clubs that are stuck in old ways.  Practical shooting looks like it’s fun, exciting, and there’s a lot of folks who seem to really enjoy doing it.  When I have watched the IDPA matches at the indoor range, I see a lot of young people getting into it.  That tends to make me think this is a growing sport, whereas the traditional types of sports done at my club are mostly older guys.  At 34, I’m pretty young compared to a lot of them.  But I think to traditionalists, IDPA and IPSC shooting seem unsafe, and most of the clubs I’ve looked into have rules that prevent that kind of match from ever taking place.  I tend to think clubs will need to adapt in this regard or face dwindling participation in organized events.  I know one disappointment of my club is that, although we have 1100 members, hardly anyone participates in organized matches, except for trap events.  Most people are just thinking of it as a place to plink every now and then.  I suppose that’s fine, but I think different types of shooting sports might get more people involved, and help build a sense of community that I think is important in a shooting club.  That requires gun owners to think different, and adopt new ideas, which I think we’re extraordinarily bad at.  I think it’s more than just the industry that’s resistant to change.  It’s a strong cultural inclination within the entire shooting community.

I thought it would be a good idea to get a list of participants in the league, so I could get an idea of how many participants we might have.  But don’t worry, you can still shoot a match without signing up, and if you do sign up, and don’t have time to shoot the match, no worries.  There’s always next season.  If we get a scan or legible photo of a target, we’ll include you.  But I thought it might be worthwhile to make a home page for the league, and list folks who are interested in participating, complete with a link to their blog.

I ask that if you’re interested, you leave me a comment with a valid e-mail and URL, and I’ll sign you up.  Don’t worry about the e-mail, it doesn’t get displayed, but I might set up a mailing list for reminders and news on an occasional basis.  If you have a blog, I’ll link you on the league page.  If you don’t have a blog, no problem.  We’ll just list whatever name or alias you want to use.

I think I’ve decided that match rules aren’t set in stone from match to match.  As people get better, and we get an idea where people’s skills are, I’ll be open to creating different classifications to cater to more expert shooters.  But in the beginning, I’m going to keep things simple just to see where we end up.  I do want to keep things constant enough for these matches, so people can track how they improve from match to match, but I am open to mixing things up a bit.  I already have an idea for a fun contest for the fall match.

Don’t be shy about signing up.  Even if you don’t think you’re a very good shot, I can promise you, there will be others like you.  I myself do not claim to be an expert marksman.  The best way to improve is to get out there and do it, as much as you can.  Improvement is sure to come.

I will be creating the league page, which will include the details of the first match, as soon as I feel I have enough participants.  The match will end September 21st at midnight.  I’ll continue hosting matches once per season, as long as there’s interest.