we just got word that BPCR silhouette is getting cut next year from our club schedule. It seems that the low turn outs generated a financial for the 3rd straight year and its done. Granted its not high power or SB but with it gone so were half of the cowboy dates. You can't stay home and 'catch the next one'....please support our spport

That sad news Snake. No I do not shoot your BPCR and Cowboy, but I hate to see anyclub decide to give up any form of our sport.

Thanks Grizz , That was my point...every form of our sport that gets cut threatens us all

Has anybody contacted the shooters that used to shoot those matches at St.Louis and asked them why they quit coming? Supporting a match is one thing, but does the match should also support the shooters?. What have the driving force of the bpcr matches there done to encourage new shooters to turn out?
Sad to hear that another bpcr match is gone down the tubes.

DonM wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:44 am Has anybody contacted the shooters that used to shoot those matches at St.Louis and asked them why they quit coming? Supporting a match is one thing, but does the match should also support the shooters?. What have the driving force of the bpcr matches there done to encourage new shooters to turn out?
Sad to hear that another bpcr match is gone down the tubes.

Aside from the fact that the facilities are excellent and include a good and speedy target crew, covered firing line, real bathrooms, a 5000 sq foot air conditioned club house 75 feet from the firing line, a loud speaker system, a cordial match director, vending machines I'm not sure what else can be done for the competitors. The only complaint is that the matches aren't two day and that comes from the out of town folks. The closest other match for us is in Effingham IL and they are two day events on a baffled range with fewer firing points and Spartan facilities. So I'm open to suggestions as to why folks with that rather costly equipment bagged our range. In case you haven't noticed the young people aren't keen on competition

In case you haven't noticed the young people aren't keen on competition
[/quote]
Unless its on an Xbox...

Have you observed people out in the general public and their behavior lately?
Not very smart.
Not much ability to distinguish between right and wrong.
A lot of "follow the pack" and do what everybody else is doing with very little to no independent thinking.
Not really mastering their chosen profession or trade but just studying enough short term to make a good grade on the next standardized test and then forget it all as soon as they click "submit" on the test.
The word helpless comes to mind.

Have you observed the long term Silhouette shooters?
They are totally different from the general public.
Most of the general public could not put a rifle, optics and ammo together without destroying something much less obtain zeroes, practice, sign up for a match, remember to put all the equipment in their vehicle they need to shoot the match, drive to the match safely, arrive on time, show up on the line on time with the appropriate settings and shoot the complete match without breaking proper range safety measures. Most people cannot perform the tasks our competitors perform as second nature.

My third question is:
Are we personally doing what it takes to perpetuate silhouette and standing, unsupported marksmanship in our descendants?
Are we personally doing what it takes to guarantee that our children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and great grandchildren see the importance of competing in silhouette?

Our 3 year old grand daughter and 2 year old grandson live 11 hours away from us but on the last visit back in July, the 3 year old made the statement affirmatively, "I am going to shoot silhouette".
We show them the stuff we won at matches. When we are outside we point out how the wind moves things around. We have started showing them the equipment and started explaining how the equipment works. We tell them about the trips we make to shoot the matches. We show them scorecards, the X's and O's.

Why? They are little. You cannot wait until they are 9, 10, 11 or 12. The more they hear the correct terminology growing up, the better they will shoot when they are physically able to stand with the rifle at around age 9. The information they learn about silhouette will transfer into other fields of endeavor. Silhouette will make them more rounded people not influenced by the wrong peer group. It is a necessity to spend large amounts of time with them when we practice together, drive to matches together and shoot matches together.

The point is Silhouette competition is not a "Man Only Club" meant to serve as an escape from the family.

Silhouette is meant for everyone: young, old, male, female, friends and families.

Most urban dwellers think nature is well groomed, clean, smells good, and the animal scat is picked up. Our youth 'shoot' on their Xbox, PlayStation etc....really shooting means going outside, noise, discipline, patience.....my generation ( the '60s love child) is largely responsible. We coddled our kids, micro managed their lives eliminating every perceivable risk....we actually walked or escorted them to school because it was too risky to let them walk the 4 or 5 blocks to school alone. We have the progeny of the pussies we raised....very few fit our bill. The real men and woman in this generation are probably in the military...or were. Here's another reason to support the military and first responders

I hate to hear this kind of thing because however small the participation is it will go to zero if the matches cease to exist. I am in a club that supports the shooting sports but the reality is not good. We run various matches and have about 1300 members. We ran an airgun silhouette match yesterday and got maybe 15 people(not all members). The club runs lever action silo and IMHSA matches for handgun and we generally get less than 15 or twenty people. The issue unfortunately is that we foreclose range use for the other 1290 members while we run our little matches. We try to limit the impact but end up closing an entire range on a prime weekend day. I wish I had an answer and I can tell you that I/we have tried just about everything to get more participation.
Rick Bassett

FWIW/IMHO.... as long as there is a match director willing to run a match and the match cost is nominal to the club, the match should run as long as the match director is willing to run it. If there is a more popular match that will/can take it's place (happened at one of the clubs I belong to, 12ish SBCLA vs 50+ ARC) or the general membership use during the match time always would exceed the match participation then the match should die. It's all about allocation of resources.

Snake wrote: ↑Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:08 pm

DonM wrote: ↑Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:44 am Has anybody contacted the shooters that used to shoot those matches at St.Louis and asked them why they quit coming? Supporting a match is one thing, but does the match should also support the shooters?. What have the driving force of the bpcr matches there done to encourage new shooters to turn out?
Sad to hear that another bpcr match is gone down the tubes.

Aside from the fact that the facilities are excellent and include a good and speedy target crew, covered firing line, real bathrooms, a 5000 sq foot air conditioned club house 75 feet from the firing line, a loud speaker system, a cordial match director, vending machines I'm not sure what else can be done for the competitors. The only complaint is that the matches aren't two day and that comes from the out of town folks. The closest other match for us is in Effingham IL and they are two day events on a baffled range with fewer firing points and Spartan facilities. So I'm open to suggestions as to why folks with that rather costly equipment bagged our range. In case you haven't noticed the young people aren't keen on competition

Well that's all well and good, but there has to be a reason why the older shooters quit coming. It might be a good thing to contact those folks that quit coming and ask them why.

The general response is twofold: 1) our matches were on Saturday 2) they prefer two day matches to justify travel time and costs

Well hopefully you can make the necessary adjustments, and continue your matches.

Be advised we had an attendance just not enough for the discipline to break even every year for 3 consecutive years, In other words it was in the red for the last 3 years. The Club has several more popular disciplines that wanted the match dates...so BPCR is out until there is some reason to bring it back and reclaim match dates. So until the board hears from enough people it is done. F-class and 600 yard bench rest are popular and draw,,,,and now PRS is attracting participants. Every body wants to be 'tactical'

Snake, are you talking about your monthly matches or does this apply to the regional as well?

Monthly matches have to really work at advertising and promotion to draw at all from beyond the local population. That's a very hard sell to commit to. I drive 7 hrs to get to SL for the regional, and I have to decline other matches to do it even then. I think the regional needs more advertising, more enthusiastic support in the form of shooters that attend it need to tell others, often and loudly, about it. But the monthly matches are going to need to get local, membership attendance to fly. At least that is my take on it. So many matches are disappearing. Last year, was disasterous with at least 4 regionals disappearing. I'd hate to see St. Louis disappear too.