Ghostofwar wrote:Well damn. I was planning on going to PA for next years Nationals. I'm one of the east coast shooters and even though PA is not exactly close by, it is still within a day's drive. Have to fly out west will be a much bigger hassle and way more expensive to boot. I made it a goal to go to the Whittington center at least once, but will probably be only once.

Does anyone have a the names and addresses of where I can send my complaints?

National Rifle Association
Attn: Silhouette Dept.
11250 Waples Mill Rd
Fairfax, VA 22030
Attn: Silhouette Committee

Also write a letter to Dennis Willing Dir of Competition, same address, just not the Silhouette Dept, substitute Dennis's info as below;

National Rifle Association
Attn: Dennis Willing Dir of Competition
11250 Waples Mill Rd
Fairfax, VA 22030

I would bet that this is all Dr. David Bennetts doing. He tried to make this same move two years ago, and it was headed off. In addition to chairing the Silhouette Department for the NRA, he is also on the board of the Whittington Center. Does anyone else but me smell a conflict of interest?

Al Foust

Bob259 wrote: The NRA anymore is nothing more then a political lobby group and could care less about the shooting sports, they only want your money.

Yep, what he said!

I'd like to take a little less of a (steel)Chicken Little "sky is falling approach" and ask everyone to take a bit more of an open mind about the Nationals and our sport in general.

I've seen a lot of posts here and over in the clubhouse section and the Cowboy section (many from shooters that I respect greatly) about the location and participation of the nationals and rule changes and the overall impending doom of our game. I think we need a little perspective.

One important thing that I believe we should realize is that the participation at nationals is not necessarily a good barometer for the overall health of the game. Keep in mind that there are many factors to a shooter's decision whether or not to attend the Nationals.

First, no matter where it's held, the Nationals is a VERY long trip for most of the shooters in the country. That affects attendance at the Nationals!

Second, the Nationals is a LONG match (3 days for SB, 3 for HP, 4 for CLA; 13 for the whole shebang not to mention black powder). It's a BIG time and expense commitment for the vast majority of shooters. That affects attendance at the Nationals!

Third, except for about 20-25 shooters (or maybe fewer) across the country that have a chance to WIN a national championship, this match is just another big match. The non-master shooters (and many of the masters that dont think they have a good shot at winning) will likely choose to spend their time and money attending other championship matches closer to them. That affects attendance at the Nationals!

Fourth, the schedule REALLY favors retired folks or those with jobs that are easy to leave or those with unlimited vacation or those without young children or those with lots of disposable income. That affects attendance at the Nationals!

I can probably name off he top of my head 100 shooters that are regularly active in their home clubs and matches that would LIKE to go to the Nationals but chose not to because of one of the above factors or some other. Heck, I could probably name 100 from only 4-5 states, there are probably 1000 or more in the whole world!! So if we added 100 shooters and had 200 Smallbore and 160 Highpower and 260 cowboy shooters of all different ages and ability, how would we feel about the state of the sport??? I'd say we'd all be pretty happy with it.

Sure, there were lots more shooters at Nationals back in the 70s and probably in the 80s and 90s too but everyone lamenting that fact and blaming it on the rules or on the NRA or on the democrats or the republicans or aliens or whatever is not going to change anything.

This is how we change things: WE, the shooters that participate and love our game; WE, the "every week" or "every month" shooters; WE, the ones that CARE, WE HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF OUR GAME!!!

How do WE do it? Here's how: we do it together, a little at a time, each pulling his/her own weight. WE each do our part to make our local club matches a little bit better and more fun for new shooters to get interested and or the shooters we have to stick with it. WE each participate with the match directors to put on at least one great Regional or State Championship in our state every year - championship matches that people want to attend because they are FUN. WE each take the time to teach a new shooter the ropes and show them why we love silhouette. WE each make the effort to travel to big matches close by or far away at least a couple times a year to have a good time and support the game and hopefully get reciprocation from those shooters for our matches. WE each make the effort to get match results and match reports out on the Internet and social media so people see them and get interested. WE each need to have ENTHUSIAM for our game!!!

I believe that the state of silhouette at any given time is a result of the prior generation's effort in promoting the game. If we want it to grow now and for the next generation, we need to each individually do our part to promote it.

Sure, write to the committee about the Nationals location and rule changes and discuss all these things and push hard for your position and BE A PART OF THE GAME. But don't forget that being a part of the game also includes each doing our little individual part to grow the game and make it fun and help the match directors and bring it to those that don't know about it.

When I look at the NRA's list of approved matches I see LOTS of silhouette matches compared to other disciplines and there are a lot in unapproved club matches going on. We are not doing as bad as you might think but we can do better - and we will as long as WE each do our little part to support and grow the greatest shooting sport there is!!

Dustin

Dustin, well said!

Dennis

All good points Dustin. Thanks for taking the time to compose a well written response.

Great response Dustin!

Can we draft Dustin to head up the Silhouette department at the NRA?

While I like the Whittington Center Facility, anyone who was at 2015 CLA knows that there was serious issues with the way the Whittington Center Directors handled the housing and individual competitors on the firing line. Rotating the Nationals to various ranges around the country gave many of us an opportunity to attend. This should continue.

Mary Watkins

Bob259,

Thank you for the address to the Silhouette office.

I intend to write to them to see if they can fix the P.A. System at the smallbore silhouette range prior to next year's National matches. It was awful this year!

DavidABQ wrote:Bob259,

Thank you for the address to the Silhouette office.

I intend to write to them to see if they can fix the P.A. System at the smallbore silhouette range prior to next year's National matches. It was awful this year!

Yeah, you would think Whittington Center would have the RO broadcast system in working order. This could be a safety issue if someone was not able to hear the RO, especially in our sport and we have to wear hearing protection...

Jus' Sayin'...

-Mark

Ghostofwar wrote:Can we draft Dustin to head up the Silhouette department at the NRA?

I agree Dustin would be good at this job. Of course we couldn't afford him, but that's another story. Part of the problem is that Barry isn't a silhouette shooter. While he is a nice guy and might do a fine job he doesn't have the passion or inside knowledge that a shooter has.

OldRanger wrote:

Ghostofwar wrote:Can we draft Dustin to head up the Silhouette department at the NRA?

I agree Dustin would be good at this job. Of course we couldn't afford him, but that's another story. Part of the problem is that Barry isn't a silhouette shooter. While he is a nice guy and might do a fine job he doesn't have the passion or inside knowledge that a shooter has.

I agree that Barry is a nice guy. I am not entirely sure what inside knowledge has to do with Directing a match. The Silhouette rules are governed, aren't they? Plus I would think I that as long as you have a person with passion to direct a match, without bias, I think that would be the right person.

Respectfully,

-Mark

No p.a. system. Not good.
I missed Nat.ls this year. But I have a hard time at any match without a good strong P.A. system..
I am already hearing impaired, then required to use hearing protection. I sometimes miss fire commands.
Just a note to match directors.

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