? for competitive shooters/wannabe competitive shooters

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  • JamesBailey

    Form Factor'ed!
    Jan 28, 2010
    873
    Arlington VA
    In terms of learning and Mayberry, I do think their matches are good venues. They typically send you the course of fire (with general details) in advance of the match. Someone looking to learn can spend a good bit of time practicing and thinking about the various techniques. At the match, there is no requirement that you have to hit every target - safety is really the only thing you ALWAYS have to execute on - so don't overly stress about the target size. If you are safe and friendly, you will get a lot out of the other shooters. Then after the match, typically someone posts some photos which you can review and think about for your after action learning.

    I started shooting precision and carbine matches with Mayberry only last year. I attended every match they ran in 2011 and I can honestly say I learned a ton about shooting and had a ton of fun doing it.

    Plus, where else do you get to shoot out of a setup like this little dude has?

    81U7m1QQpUL._AA1500_.jpg


    That ray gun he has is optional :party29:

    Seriously, the sniper's hide for the MAN DOWN! stage of next weekend's precision match will look a lot like this - I know because I built it :D
     

    JoeRinMD

    Rifleman
    Jul 18, 2008
    2,014
    AA County
    One form of shooting competition that hasn't been mentioned in this thread is Cowboy Action Shooting. I did my first match at AAFG about 5 yrs ago and found everyone to be hugely helpful. In my ignorance, I showed up with just one single-action pistol -- no second pistol, no rifle, no shotgun and no holsters. In a flash, people were taking stuff out of their carts and handing them to me to get me fully equipped for the shoot. To a person, they were helpful and courteous to a new shooter. They explained the rules of the game as well as range procedures, for example how the loading and unloading tables worked. That kind of experience definitely made me come back and get more involved.

    Now after 5 yrs, my son and I both compete (when he's back from college), and we have 2 full sets of both guns and leather, not to mention that I picked up reloading to make shooting more economical. All that said, however, I must say that I had a recent bad experience at another club which, if I were a beginner, would have made me rethink consider whether to continue in the sport...or at least ever going to that particular club again.

    Joe
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,881
    Back up to Photoracer's post. Club matches. Exposure to lots of different formats, other shooters either new to shooting, or new to that format.

    SASS will fall over themselves to help new shooters.

    IMHSA, if also reasonably friendly to newcomers. If you can shoot accurately at normal ranges, you can work out the trajectories with a spotter easily enough.
     

    WheelHead

    Head of the wheel
    Dec 6, 2011
    1,817
    Snow Hill
    I have always liked watching videos of shooting competitions, and though wow that’s cool. Whether it be pistol rifle or SA, but feel intimidated by the rules, regulation and showing up as the noob who doesn’t know anything. I consider myself a pretty good shooter maybe average but have never competed. I think part of it is I have ADD like a son-of-bitch and have to try hard enough to concentrate on shooting besides worrying if I’m break some type of rule. I don’t know if there are any matches around me that I could go to (doesn’t matter what kind) and watch so I can get the basics down. What would be REALLY cool is if someone who is experienced could put together a little unofficial shoot down here on the shore for us noob to learn. A good laid back environment for people who have never competed to feel comfortable about put themselves in a competitive situation.
    I do know how it feels to compete. In high school I was the regional record holder for the bench press competitions. And now that I’m old and fat I’d love to have something I felt comfortable in competing in again!
     

    WheelHead

    Head of the wheel
    Dec 6, 2011
    1,817
    Snow Hill
    The availability of Club Matches is one of the reasons to join a Club.

    I'll have to do some searching and see if there is anything out here on the shore. I don't mind a little driving but I don't want it to be crazy fare away.
    If anyone has a recommendation......:innocent0
     

    Yoshi

    Invictus
    Jun 9, 2010
    4,520
    Someplace in Maryland
    I think one obstacle for anyone is the ability to practice.

    +1

    My first match was a Mayberry Tactical match in the Fall of 2010. Had I not been a guest there and got some experience at 200 - 600yds, I would probably have never shot that tournament.

    Maybe a psuedo-membership of sorts that opens up the range to people on the roster/wait-list a couple of times before the match would make them more appealing? Something along those lines anyway.

    Although downtime & duration can be bothersome, not sure what can be done about those. Range limitations and number of participants makes these challenges hard to manage. For duration, maybe a staging area for "on deck" & "in the hole" shooters to make sure they are ready on-time and making all events "timed" can help. For downtime, as mentioned before, some other events that may or may not be scored and could even be educational.
     

    photoracer

    Competition Shooter
    Oct 22, 2010
    3,318
    West Virginia
    I'd love to start out with .22 Rimfire competitions. Do they ever have these in MD?
    Our club in Frederick, the Monocacy Pistol Club has a couple of rimfire friendly matches per month, year around, Speed Steel and Rimfire Steel, and 2 other events that happen when the weather warms up, Bowling Pins and Critters (Metallic Silhouette).

    Speed Steel--Like Steel Challenge except the targets are closer together and vary wildly in size and shape, 4 + stop plate, best 4 out of 5 runs, 5 stages, 15-20 yards. Center fire pistols and rimfire pistols and rifles (.22LR only). Next match Feb. 11, 10 AM.

    Rimfire Steel--9 4" steel knock down plates, max 10 rds in mag, 8 + stop plate, 15-20 yards. Fastest 3 times out of a max of 10 runs for average. Next match Feb. 12, 10 AM.

    Bowling Pins-- 5 full size pins only, centerfire up front on 2 levels, rimfire pistols 6" from rear edge one level. All pins must leave the table, both centerfire and rimfire. From March to November. Fastest 3 times out of maximum of 10 runs for average, 7-10 yards.

    Critters-- Standard NRA silhouettes, chickens 15 yards, pigs 20 yards, turkeys 30 yards, and rams 40 yards. .22LR rifle or pistol, adults free standing only, any sight, juniors get to use sandbag rests. 10 targets per stage 10 rounds only in mag, cylinder, or tube, max 8 shooters per relay. From March to November.

    We have also been discussing having a rimfire 2-gun monthly or semi-monthly match similar to the ones at Old Bridge in NJ but on a smaller scale due to our bay sizes, combined paper, steel, and maybe clay pigeons.
    We used to have a match called Rimfire Lots of Steel which had 20-24 targets similar in size to the Rimfire Steel match. 10 rounds per mag, no limit to number of mags, shoot till none are standing or you run out of ammo. Best 3 out of 10 runs for average, 15-20 yards. Sometimes we added clay pigeons and sometimes we had rimfire Texas Star and Dueling Tree. We lost the match director for this match last spring (job) and no one has picked it back up yet. Might end up being me.

    In all of our matches we charge non-members $5 per match (in winter at least one MD charges nothing).
     

    CHUNKERMD

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 4, 2009
    1,632
    West MD
    +1 for the MPC matches. Pics are of from the last year.
     

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    demmo

    Active Member
    Apr 26, 2009
    167
    Photoracer or chunkermd could you send me some info on how to get started in shooting at mpc

    Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk
     

    photoracer

    Competition Shooter
    Oct 22, 2010
    3,318
    West Virginia
    Wow I remember than particular Rimfire Lots of Steel match (top photo). That was actually the toughest RLS match we ever had. Hard to get below 20 seconds with the star in there.
     

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