Match Attendance

interceptor · 05-10-2008, 09:31 PM

It's sad to say, but I think the rising cost of gas is causing my match attendance to suffer. I had six whole people come to the local USPSA match this morning. Makes me want to just cancel it, maybe double up for the other matches during the month. I'm thinking people are leveraging what they can afford to shoot, and putting off the smaller matches... This gas increase is also attributed to the ever rising costs of reloading supplies, as well as targets. The last time I bought paper USPSA targets, by the time they got to my door with shipping included they averaged out to be $0.82 each for 1k. Yeah, $820 for cardboard.

And the thing that really chaps my butt is there are virtually NO vendors with bulk bullets in stock, and you have a hard time pre-ordering because they can't figure what shipping will be by the time they are ready to fill the order!! I've been waiting for 165gn .40's for 3 months now, down to about 2000 on hand, and that won't last me long. Heck, in order to save some of what I've got for the major matches I will be shooting in the next few months I've went back to shooting Open class (.38 super) because I have a pile of it in stock. I guess when I start getting low there I'll take back up Production division and burn 9mm for a while.

Good thing match rifle shooting has a relatively low round count, as I'm getting more and more involved in that here lately. My club just bought self resetting rifle targets so we can start holding 100-500 yard matches monthly.

Aw heck...

--rant off--

Drgnracin72 · 05-10-2008, 11:04 PM

That Does Suck. I Havnt Shot A Match In Nearly 6 Months

interceptor · 05-10-2008, 11:19 PM

Support the sport.

interceptor · 05-12-2008, 09:41 PM

Well, I'm doing something about it. I'm emailing my club now about changing up what we're doing. We used to shoot USPSA on the first Saturday, second Saturday, and third Sunday. Changed that third Sunday to Steel Challenge last December. Now, my idea is to change the second Saturday match to IDPA. This would truly diversify my shooting club, possibly open us up to more new shooters, shooters that we could encourage to participate in the other sports.

Hope it works...

interceptor · 05-15-2008, 10:17 PM

Well, that went over like a fart in church. About 25 people got back to me on it, and 23 of them didn't like the idea. Mind you most of these guys, like 90% of them, haven't shot with us in quite a while, but all told me that we needed to keep the match. I believe the thinking is that they just want to know the match is there just in case they wake up and decide to go.

Oh well. The more things don't change the more they stay the same.

Screw it, I'm just looking foreward to the steel match on Sunday, see if I can go six for six. Since we have been having them I haven't lost yet. Oooohhhh.... pressure's on....

interceptor · 05-19-2008, 01:58 PM

Well, aparently the pressure (or something) got to me. I lost by about 1 second. Between the half-ass migrane, the "don't take this and drive heavy machinery" prescription migrane pills, and some assorted and embarrasing gun problems, I handed the win off to a good friend and long time shooter. Congratulations Ed.

Since then, I came home and after sleeping off the headache, proceeded to detailstrip the Browning Buckmark I (and 3 other shooters) were using for the match. I was having assorted failure-to-fire problems. Pulled the firing pin, re-chiseled the strike edge, and slightly elongated the pivot hole where the roll pin retains it in the slide to allow it to go about 0.02" more foreward to contact the primer harder/deeper. I'll get to try it out tomorrow night.

The good news for the day was that I had 4 new shooters for the match (2 of whom shared my gun with me and my wife) and those all want to come back and do it again. And I sold one of them a membership to the gun club. Not a bad day.