what tr needs

[bruce moulds]

but, win or lose, prize shoots and queens are a lot of fun.
keep safe,
bruce.

[johnk]

I fear that an earlier poster has hit the nail on the head, viz our sport is losing patronage largely because of financial considerations & skilling. I've been round the game for long enough to remember when .303 ammo was subsidized by the government who were only too pleased to pass on their surplus SMLEs to range shooters for a pittance. Then, you could afford to meet your mates at the Queens & even have a shoot for 3 or 5 days depending on how you could wrangle time off. You didn't attend all that many prize shoots, but that didn't worry the promoters because they had a pool of locals who would boost numbers to economic levels. There were only two grades, A & B & no V bull, & that with a significantly larger bullseye.

What did attract many people were the regulations governing the military ranges we shot on, particularly the one exempting the property from local licensing laws. Cheap rifles & ammo as well as excise free grog made shooting the other RSL, in a manner of speaking.

Today, we have to compete on a number of fronts:

Reluctance of some/many to participate if they're not going to be rewarded immediately. Why should I serve an apprentice learning my trade when I can play a computer game anonymously?

Competitive imperatives. Can I shoot every weekend this year or will I have to take the kids to sport/music lessons/fishing? More likely, which afternoons can I get to the range without breaking the bank & the marriage?

Uncertainty. Will I chance driving 500 km to Woop Woop when the weather forecast is dodgy? Maybe I'll just give Bert a ring & we can wet a line.

Regulation. I have to do WHAT to get a license before I can buy a gun?

Financial, How much did you say that Barnard/RPA costs? I can get a good set of golf sticks on Ebay for $500 & play any midweek at the local club for a few bucks.

Maybe we should be happy that we have amongst us the best of the best, the hard nosed bunch willing to swim against the tides.

[bruce moulds]

john,
you might have nailed it.
most of the tr guys come from the old cultere you describe.
instead of adapting, they see that as tr dying.
they need to realize that it is a competitive market out there, and we need to do more work to entice new membership.
fclass saw great success when an influx of tr came over, and now it appears that tr is getting some fclass shooters. this is not new membership.
fclass could work harder in this area too.
those at the tops of our bodies need to get on board here, be it club, dra, state, or the nraa.
we can limp along as we are now, or get with a programme and realize a greater potential.
keep safe,
bruce.

[budget]

hi bruce, firstly I think what you have said is exactly right, we need to do a lot more to promote target rifle and to arrest the downward trend.i think we could do a lot more at the top than we currently do. I figure we have always paid more attention with the top echelon of shooters than the grass roots.we are all important.

I would like to comment on a previous post dealing with going to prize shoots and queens events.well its all about how dedicated and how much you want to compete.if you just want to shoot at club level well so be it,without club shooters we would be right up the creek. if you just love shooting as we do then you will do anything to attend,compete and just hang out with your mates.this is where I see the disparity in numbers,and I think I can count pretty well.
secondly our club has been very lucky with the addition of f class shooters they have added a lot to our club,but initially the numbers swelled the membership greatly,(proberly around 10-12 members)but all but 2-3 have just vanished. this has left the dedicated target shooters of our club still there and will always still be there.this to me is the diference.
thirdly and last of all ,Malcolm you know as well as I do loxton is an
anomaly.we both know the attendance figures throughout sa. enough said.
i realize loxton was a t.r based club once but now some tr shooters travel to wakerie to shoot? don't know what went on there and don't want to get into that. im sure we will talk about this on Saturday!

[Seddo]

I think F Class has a great chance of getting people off the street as they can use rifles they already have at 300y without an issue. The people i talk to all comment on how hard they think it is to shoot 500 or 700 yards and i think thats what stopps a lot of them when they are told what distances we shoot. I keep telling people it isnt hard to shoot 700y, its only hard to do it well!!!

im in the same boat with prize meetings, i ca find it hard enough to get to the range on saturdays. Satudays have to be split up with family commitments, pistol and rifle shooting.

[bruce moulds]

last sunday some amongst us ran a long range pairs match.
20 shooters attended, and a significant sum of money was raised toward the raton boys.
of interest is that 2 tr guys fronted, which was much appreciated.
it turned out that they were new tr shooters, also a good thing.
the elephant in the room was that not one of the old gard tr guys wanted to have a go, either to investigate new things that might benefit the sport, or to support the Australian team, quite apart from just to have fun.
this event will probably become annual, so it will be interesting to see what the old gard does.what I saw was an embryo of where long range shooting will go if it survives.
that is people doing something to move forward, as opposed to just the same old same old going on forever, even though there is an obvious problem
keep safe,
bruce.

[Barry Davies]

Traditions die hard Bruce.

[bruce moulds]

nothing wrong with tradition barry.
it is what things are made of.
we just need to get things moving.
keep safe,
bruce.

[SENDIT]

Personally, I do not see the point of 'Prize meets'. What can they offer that home club competition can't offer? In this day an age it costs a lot to travel to and compete in a prize meet that isn't "just around the corner"...

There is a social aspect .... I can get that at my club!
There is a high level of competition aspect .... I can get that at my club!
There is tha possibility of a prize .... Well I'm not that good a shot so I'm not going to get a prize!

Same thing applies to Queens. Unless I choose to "camp" (and I don't), going to a Queens costs a lot of money. ~$150 for entry, ~$200 for ammo, ~$200-$300 for petrol, ~$300+ for accomodation - close to $1000 in total. Prize meets cost maybe 1/3-1/2 that. In this day and age thats a lot of money. How many events can you afford to attend each year? I figure I can afford 2 Queens and no prize meets a year.

Cheers

if this isnt the tr attitude then I dont know what is

[Norm]

It is sad to see any shooting discipline decline in popularity. But TR shooters are responsible for their own destiny, they should not expect F-Class shooters to be their saviour.
I have no interest in TR. Its popularity means no more to me than that of small bore shooting, another discipline that I have no interest in.

Although I have no interest in Small Bore shooting, I do note it is becoming quite popular in my area and good on them. They must be doing something right. Maybe TR shooters should ask why.

If TR shooting fades off into obscurity then they can only blame themselves. The only way that they can survive is to create renewed interest in the sport. I can’t see them doing anything to do this at the moment.

[budget]

It is sad to see any shooting discipline decline in popularity. But TR shooters are responsible for their own destiny, they should not expect F-Class shooters to be their saviour.
I have no interest in TR. Its popularity means no more to me than that of small bore shooting, another discipline that I have no interest in.

Although I have no interest in Small Bore shooting, I do note it is becoming quite popular in my area and good on them. They must be doing something right. Maybe TR shooters should ask why.

If TR shooting fades off into obscurity then they can only blame themselves. The only way that they can survive is to create renewed interest in the sport. I can’t see them doing anything to do this at the moment.

You know norm here's the thing,firstly I'm a tr shooter have been since 1973 so I think I deserve the right to reply. Can't remember ever asking a f class shooter to be my bloody saviour and certainly won't be in the future. People have asked me many times why there is a deviide between f class and tr well I should just guide them to your comments and actually this whole forum in general that would certainly paint a good picture. We do not need disruptive comments continually posted about how each other's discipline is dieing or what we are going to do when we get the numbers. Absolutely abysmal some of the stuff posted on here especially from people that have been in the sport for 5minutes. ( not directed at you)
We would be a lot better off if we just went out shooting for the love of it and just enjoyed each other's company whether you shoot with a peep sight or a scope, instead of the continued snipping that goes on here.

[AlanF]

Budget,

I agree there's no winners will come from animosity between the disciplines. This website and forum has always been about helping F-Class shooters, but not at the expense of TR. We've had a situation where the management of the sport has been dominated by TR shooters and its an Australian tradition to question authority, and this probably hasn't helped matters. As far as where things are going numbers-wise, it seems that TR is going out of fashion, F-Class coming into fashion, and possibly tactical style next after F-Class. The main priority I see is to keep the NRAA controlled ranges open for ALL disciplines. Currently F-Class is coming to the rescue of TR at many small ranges, and in future F-Class will need help from whatever disciplines come next. I hope that the F-Class shooters who are now getting into management positions have learnt from their own experience how important it is for us to stick together.

Alan

[David B]

Alan, I come from a club were there is no animosity between disciplines. It should be noted that the VRA has FC councillors. Perhaps it is time for the inflammatory rhetoric to be stopped and removed by you acting as the administrator

[AlanF]

Alan, I come from a club were there is no animosity between disciplines. It should be noted that the VRA has FC councillors. Perhaps it is time for the inflammatory rhetoric to be stopped and removed by you acting as the administrator

David,

Last time I checked we live in a democracy.

Personal attacks are a no-no, in fact anything that could result in someone taking legal action I will try to stop. But things like how one shooting discipline views another, I will only persuade people that we are all long range full-bore shooters, with a huge amount in common. If people have a need to criticise someone different, there are plenty of anti-gun groups out there who have no idea what we're about - go and pick on them . If we infight, they win.

Alan

[David B]

Alan, are you suggesting the people attacking TR should go and pick on the anti gun lobby? that by putting up the QUESTION this should stop, or be stopped I am picking on FC as a discipline? or I am criticising unfairly some people who take any chance they get to have ago at TR for no gain to the sport of target shooting?

Can you show me a few examples of how you persuade people?