Thread: Long Range Hunting and F-Class Target Shooting.

To return to the original topic - I appreciate @grandpamac 's mention of contacting NRA Ranges for access to longer range shooting opportunities. It's an excellent reminder and sometimes an invitation is needed to get people into the right mindset.

In case it's relevant to to anyone running an NRA or other traditional organized long range shoots who are struggling for new members, I have never gotten out to organized shoots for two reasons:

1) Most shoots seem to start at 300 or 400, but most recreational ranges end at 200.... so from a personal standpoint, I don't want to be the goof who rocks up to an NRA style shoot who hasn't had the chance to shoot or practice with my rifle at even the starting distance. It would be mighty embarrassing to have to muddle through and slow everyone down because I'm having to figure everything out on the day.

I have intermittently checked my local long-range shoot schedules but haven't seen anything that looks like "new long range shooter" drop in days, or other days that would suggest I could show up and work through things at my own pace. In speaking with my local club they have a day coming up that might work, so hopefully that pans out, but it already looks like life commitments are going to block that (see point 2).

The solution to this issue is at least pretty straight forward. Run 3-4 "newbie" days a year where the sole goal for the day is to get a short range shooter on paper at 300, 400, 500+m. You would need to advertise these newbie days through your local short range gun clubs (pistol, trap, rifle) for at least several months in advance to ensure uptake from the non-long range community (you don't get new members by advertising to current members), and you'd really need to run 3-4 of them a year due to people not always being free to come on that particular day (point 2 again).

2) I am time poor. The odds of me being free on specific days is slim. My local range has extended hours so I can go when I get an unexpected spare hour or two - this is true of pretty much all my hobbies. There is an aspect of making time for things that are important, but by and large the hobbies have to fit around life commitments.

Not really sure how to solve for this one other than sharing the organized schedule more widely through kindred clubs so that potential members are more aware of when the shoots are happening in case they end up with time and know where and when to go to check things out.