LA105 wrote:With the new rules drafted and supplied to the states bodies for debate, why are we not shooting to those for genuine open feed back rather than Hornsby rifle club rules.
This is a national class not a Hornsby Club shoot.
I just want to put the "Hornsby Rifle Club Shoot" rules and similar threads into perspective...this was our Hornsby Range inter-club Xmas shoot.
I decided on the two SH categories and respective scoring differences because of three main aspects:
- Many of our active, paid up range members were being excluded because they accepted (some not so willingly) they didn't fit into the (poorly worded) specifications of SH class because their rifles were not a catalogued factory item. Much of our new membership at Hornsby falls into this category.
- Secondly, in a previous low level competition at our range, one of our members was disqualified post shoot as a result of a protest that hinged on the very ambiguous wording within the current SSRs
- And lastly, we as humans are competitive...so if there is a desire for a competition, then let's facilitate it in some manner in the hope it leads to a better and more inclusive outcome long term
....So I needed something that would be inclusive of everyone but put greater performance pressure on those with the obviously more accurate equipment...after all...we were competing for a Xmas pudding versus a cake!
Something very worrying is being lost in this discussion about the rationale of introducing SH and the pedanticness(?) of the associated rules . I have dragged my sorry butt out of the Sydney grime as much as possible this year to attend country town/DRA OPMs. Without question, at nearly every country range the words from the locals, not us entitled, inward looking city dwellers, was how SH has saved their Clubs. Many of the farmers, roo, deer, fox, rabbit and pig shooters and those in country towns with an old rifle in the wardrobe have responded to the invitation to come and try their hand at target shooting. And in nearly every case the competitive bug has bitten...so many of them are now investing in gear and moving to a "proper" discipline to improve their scores. They have become active and contributing members! State membership grows as a result...isn't that a change from recent trends! One club, with five members, was about to close the door and throw away the keys...now they have nearly 40 members. The story is repeated across NSW and I suspect the other States.
So rather than get heated up about the minutia of the NRAA SH rules, which were and still are worded to be a non-competitive discipline, let's embrace it as an entry point to facilitate growth in our declining membership. I don't see the same numbers of new TR or F Class shooters beating a path to our doors. Be it a SH rifle or a "PSR" rifle, their membership $$ still look the same to me. It would be so easy for those encouraging numbers of those folks trying out their luck with us to feel overwhelmed with our fiefdom protection rules and simply walk across the road to our sport's competitors...I think one of them now has more than 220,000 members...hmmm....might be a message there for us.
John Alp
Chair (until someone else puts up their hand)
North Shore DRA
