Category: Shooting

Caleb takes a different point of view on the matter discussed earlier, and gives us some more information about Jim Scoutten’s views about what shouldn’t be on TV in regards to the shooting sports.  I don’t really disagree with Jim on his points.  I suspect where Boomershoot would fit would be his fifth point:

5) Any event that requires an extraordinary expense by a viewer to become involved. (Full auto events are, at best, an expensive curiosity, and can not extend our invitation to “get involved”)

Though I’ve heard of clubs that do shoots with tannerite, it’s true that it’s not accessible to most people.  I’ll give ShootingUSA their editorial prerogative on this one, but is this about it not being appropriate for ShootingUSA or exposure to television at all?  I don’t think there’s been any damage to the shooting sports by coverage such at this.   Quite to the contrary, I think it presents Joe’s event as a lot of fun.

So I guess the question is, is Jim Scoutten saying that Boomershoot isn’t appropriate for ShootingUSA, because it’s beyond the perspective of the show, or that Boomershoot isn’t appropriate for any mainstream audience?  If it’s the latter, I disagree.  I can understand why you wouldn’t want to show people at Knob Creek machine gunning a junkyard school bus.  I can see why you wouldn’t want to cover a gaggle of mall ninjas dressed in black or camo.  There’s a lot of context missing there for the uninitiated.  But I don’t put Boomershoot into that category.  I think most people who aren’t reflexively afraid of guns would understand it as fun.

Color me disappointed by Shooting USA‘s attitude on covering Joe’s Boomershoot event on their show.  Kevin and SayUncle are both disappointed too.  This is not the first time I’ve encountered trepidation at the idea of highlighting this sort of thing, but I think the attitude is remarkably shortsighted.  Here what Jim Scoutten, host and producer of Shooting USA had to say:

I’ve always thought there are some events that shouldn’t get National TV coverage. When we’d like the public to think of competitive shooting to be like other mainstream sports.

Actually, I think the fact that this is a little out of the mainstream is part of the appeal.  I think it was Blackfork I heard say once that “Watching other people shoot is like watching paint dry.”  I have to agree.  It’s not too exciting.  I’d much rather be on the line myself.  Even watching IPSC or IDPA matches isn’t nearly as much fun as participating.  The fact that guys like Scoutten and Michael Bane can make shows about guns and shooting that are interesting and entertaining is a testament to their skill as hosts and producers rather than to the exciting nature of the shooting sports to start with.

But Boomershoot is something that’s, shall we say, a lot more inherently interesting.  Humans have used fireworks for centuries as a form of entertainment.  As Joe Huffman says, we’re wired to find explosions and pyrotechnics interesting.  I think back to how I would have looked at Boomershoot before I got into shooting, and I’m fairly certain my reaction would be “Holy crap that looks like fun!”

And that’s really the reaction you want.  If you’re looking to present the shooting sports to the public, you want them to look interesting.  You want people watching to think “I’d like to try that.”  I’ve often wondered if the reason action shooting sports have taken off so quickly is because it just looks more inherently interesting to spectators, especially on TV.  I think rather than having an instinctive fear of an event like Boomershoot, which is a little unusual, Shooting USA should think more seriously about it’s potential entertainment value to audiences, and a way to get more people to think about getting up on the line themselves.  It may be outside the mainstream, but that’s not automatically a bad thing.

A good example of why it’s important to wear eye protection when shooting.

A neighboring school district seems to be building an air rifle range:

Bensalem High School will soon have a marksmanship training site for the school’s Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.

The Bensalem school board agreed Wednesday night to allow the site to be established in a vacant area above the high school pool.

Currently, officers’ training corps students go off-site to train with the air rifles, but transportation has been an issue because the kids had to get there on their own after school, district officials said.

The on-site training area will enable students to train with the 1.77-millimeter air rifles five days a week, Superintendent James Lombardo said. The more time they have to practice, the more competitive they can be during marksmanship competitions, he said.

Well, OK, they got 1.77mm wrong, it’s .177 caliber in English units, or 4.5mm in metrics.  You can’t expect too much of reporters on guns.  But I’m happy to hear the local high school will have an airgun range.  Hopefully they won’t have any people objecting like they did in San Diego.

Air guns are a great way to get people into the shooting sports.  The equipment to get started is inexpensive, ammunition is cheap, and you can easily practice in your basement if you have one (which I don’t, unfortunately).  I got my start on air guns as a kid.  I didn’t own my own firearm until I was 26, and that was only because I was pissed off at Bill Clinton trying to ban them.  Then I remembered I used to enjoy shooting, and it was trouble for my bank account from that point forward.

If we are to have a new generation of shooters, we should be working to help get airgun teams at our local schools.

I’ve always been happy the media in other parts of Pennsylvania are willing to cover the shooting sports in a positive light, like this article about a kid who is quickly becoming an accomplished sporting clay shooter:

A ninth-grader at Hershey High School, he’s ranked 25th in the nation in the sub-junior category of the National Sporting Clays Association (NSCA). Sub-junior encompasses shooters ages 16 and under. Kisthardt added to his list of accomplishments by recently making the NSCA All-American team.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest this kid won’t be shooting up his high school anytime soon, like the media around here would probably be concerned about.

I think by the time Blue Trail Shooting Range puts this nightmare behind them, it might well be one of the most studied range in the country.  The town of Durham is now harassing them funding a new safety study of the range.

Blue Trail is the only public outdoor shooting range left in all of New England.  It would be a shame for it to close.

I have finally completed my pin collection for Thursday night indoor metallic silhouette with rifle.  I have gotten pigs and rams and chickens a few times over, come close to turkeys a few times, but last week finally got 10 of them:

I am starting my collection for pistol now, since I got ten chickens with the Ruger Mk.III Hunter 22/45 with a red dot sight on it.  I’ve been pleased I’ve been able to improve this year on pistol, but my rifle game is kind of going nowhere.  I attribute this to lack of practice.  Last year when I started indoor silhouette, I managed to improve shooting rifle offhand with some extra practice.  This year I just don’t have as much time, and I’m not really improving over the course of the season.

What helped improve the pistol shooting was two things, really.   One is when we learned a few things with Todd Jarrett this summer, he offered several suggestions for improving grip, and suggested gripping tighter.  It wasn’t a complex suggestion, but it improved my pistol shooting dramatically.  The grip advice transferred nicely from action shooting to silhouette shooting.  The second is working on trigger control.  This is the skill I find I lose the fastest if I don’t practice, or if I swich guns.  Starting out tonight on pistol, I was jerking the trigger too much.  I also really need to work on follow through. Air gun shooting is really useful for working on follow through, since it seems to be particularly important for air gun.

So with spring coming, our club hosts CMP matches.  Any rifle capable of rapid fire will do.  I plan to get out with the AR-15 and shoot a few this year, and I think I’ll keep shooting the Langhorne Rod and Gun practical matches, since they are on the last Saturday, and don’t conflict with much else.

I’ve found Thursday indoor silhouette at the club keeps me getting on the range at least once a week, but typically I bring Bitter’s CZ 452, or my Kimber Government Model 82.  I’m thinking it might be of good benefit to be able to practice offhand shooting with an AR-15 on Thursday nights at indoor silhouette, but this would mean I’d need a .22LR upper for the AR, and the special magazines for that caliber.  I know they make such things, but I’m curious if anyone among my readers has any experience with them, and can tell me which manufacturers of .22LR uppers and magazines for the AR-15 are making quality products.

The local rifle and pistol club that I belong to was looking for some new ideas for their web site.  Since I have a bit of experience with operating web sites, I volunteered to have a stab at it.  Tonight, this is what I’ll be presenting to our board.  Hopefully they’ll like it.  It’s served off WordPress, same as this blog.

More rifle and pistol clubs need a healthy web presence.  There’s plenty of crap out there about people misusing guns, so it’s worthwhile to have live examples of people having fun and using them responsibly.  I’m hoping WordPress is going to be easier for match directors and club leaders to update, so our web site will give the impression of an active, fun shooting club.