Southern Hospitality? None Found In Pinson Ala.

[hambone49]

Hey Gator, quit working our side of the street. At our match you will get: free admission, free lunch with innocent, and a chance to arm wrestle malinois.

[Bob259]

and a chance to arm wrestle malinois.

His bad arm or is good one?????

[BCloninger]

Bob, you have an evil mind!

[ntyree]

Ok folks i attempted an explanation post here, however it was probably over the word count and failed to post so here is the abreviated version...

I Run the match at Pinson. I spoke roughly 2 months ago to auminer about the match when he called me on the phone, the same number i post each time, noting that he has shot smallbore and several other disciplines in the past. I answered all of his questions to the best of my ability and while the directions to the club are almost rural, i explained them in a way that we agreed was clear and let him know he could call me on the way if he had any trouble. The first time i went to shoot at chattanooga with ed, i had to do the same thing since he gave me excellent directions, but i found a gated road before reaching his and had to call to make sure if that was it or not as to not be late from riding around and assumind i'd eventually find it.

saturday morning nearly at the end of practice he showed up at the range approximately 8:35 and introduced himself and said he would like to shoot. I asked if he was shooting both matches and if he was purchasing or had purchased an NRA book after that he asked where the sighting benches were and the swingers to which i informed him that we use the rifle rests and shoot the actual targets in practice unless someone requests something else ahead of time so i can move it over to the range from another firing line. I told him that if he could quickly check his zeros on the remaining targets he was welcome and if time permited we would set them up and have a very breif practice. upon spending around ten minutes getting his gear out and placing in on the line and answering a few equipment questions to head off any protest or question of his gear i informed him that i we were allready late for the safety meeting and had yet to set targets for the match. he then responded that he wouldn't shoot if he couldn't sight in. and left. As he was obviously irate i chose to let that be and continue on prepping the match paperwork and scoresheets as the others set targets and also noted that i had recieved no calls whatsoever on either of my phones from him or anyone else that morning.

Ladies and gentlemen I belive that while we are not a world class range with all the amenities of a national championship or sponsored tournement, we are gracious hosts and will attempt to accomodate everyone as much as we can. A late comer who calls for directions or has an automotive problem or the like and calls to let us know will be granted the courtesy of a few minutes wait to begin. however a seasoned shooter that claims to have gotten lost three times on his way and who has not sighted equipment in prior to driving to a match ( i understand there are variences, however if i arrive late at your match and practice is over i'll use the settings i have and can hopefully tweak them as i go) then wants a full sight ins session is not reasonable, (cont.)

[ntyree]

cont, from prior post

I can't expect anyone to wait for me to sight in after waiting an additional ten to twenty minutes just to allow me to sign in and shoot that day.

I hope that anyone that has any question or concern about our club or match will call me to make any clarifications about this thread. unfortunately not everone is allways happy regardless of fault and even more unfortunately the internet and message boards, while they serve a great deal to provide information, can also become the soapbox for anyone with hurt feelings deserved or not.

Please come and join us and if you would like to make sure we have whatever you like available, please call me ahead of time and i'll make every effort to arrange it or at least inform you that i cant accomodate that request so you can be prepared otherwise. and i am not on here as often as i would like, so please also call me for match information and directions since it is much easier to get me that way and more efficient for me to answer your questions.

thank you all, and come join us

Nick tyree

205 789 9486

[malinois]

Dam gator..it sure has been a long time !!!!!

[AZRifle]

Please let me say this to be absolutely clear: I did not nor do I expect any rules or protocols to be broken for me for any reason. That said, I only would expect, as a courtesy to a new shooter to a range after traveling so far, a small variance to allow sight in. If it were my 2nd 3rd or whatever time, then forget it. How many of you have traveled 2 plus hours to a new area and range for the first time and been turned away? There were only about 8 or 9 shooters there. They were practicing when I arrived, dring my questioning, and as I brought my gear to the line. I was told that if I had my own bench, targets,bags, etc... I could sight in during the practice. Then a cease fire was called and practice was over, and so was any chance to sight in. As I said earlier I arrived @ 0830, and had my gear ready to go within minutes. Match was due to start @ 0900, with a safety meeting prior.
Ron

Well,
AuMiner

I have some sympathy for both sides but overall looking at it from the outside, I can understand the point of view of the people from Pinson. It seems you are insisting on the right to impose a delay on everyone else just because you drove as far as you did. "IF" you knew what time the match started, shame on you for not getting there early enough to get started. On your side yes, it is a bummer that you were not given "extra" time to sight in but, keep in mind for the other side of it is "How much time is this guy going to take" and everyone else is waiting on one person because he was not there early enough to sight in.

The range officer must decide what keeps the people happy and unfortunately that worked against you in that situation. I have seen people new to our range take what seemed to be forever to try to sight in. I am sure anyone who has spent time at a range knows what I am talking about. The people in that club would have no definate idea how long you might delay the match.

It seems like they deserve a second chance or at least a bit of understanding. If you start an hour earlier on your drive, it would work.

[Bob259]

No time to sight in.... Excuse number 3 on the list of why I shot poorly today

Roll with it, it's all fun and beats sitting at home.

[hambone49]

Of course there are two sides to a story, and Nick thanks for yours. First, I think the new shooter could have been given a say 5-10 minute time limit to warm up and check zeros, I don't think anyone would complain about that. Secondly, unless you're shooting on the moon, your zeros aren't going to change that much, and if I'm driving 3 hours to a match, I'm not leaving in a huff. This could have been worked out easily.

[BCloninger]

No time to sight in.... Excuse number 3 on the list of why I shot poorly today

Roll with it, it's all fun and beats sitting at home.

Sounds like a Steel Chickens project - get together an "official" list, complete with numbers. Publish it as an addendum to the official NRA orange book?

hambone, I have to agree with you - unless the match has started delay a few minutes so the guest can catch their breath, but it is also impolite to delay the other shooters since that can disturb their rhythm. As for checking zeros, at one road match that I arrived at late, my wood Anschutz had shifted a total of three MOA. Soon after that I ordered a composite stock from Evelio...

As a person that is chronically late, I may just be more tolerant of the clock, and as always this is at the discretion of the match director.

[Dee]

And here I thought that it was manditory that someone shows up to every match needing numbers You know the one's I am talking about, changing scopes in their car on the way to the range or deciding to shoot different ammo.

Really though how long does it take to get numbers? Get your chicken zero and all the rest should be fairly close to everyone elses changes and they can pass the numbers along. I've seen some folks take a long time to get numbers and others that get them in a couple minutes.

Sorry this little issue occured and hope all parties can work it out for everyones benefit. I know some ranges have tighter time lines than others to complete their matches at the club on time due to scheduling so it is hard to lay it all at the feet of the match director when they are just following the normal protocol.

We usually shoot 2 relays so that gives any late shooters time to sight in while relay one shoots I guess this was not an option in this case.

I would be shocked to ever get a match started on time at the local range with all the BSing going on with match director Tureau running the show. ;) But then we have the whole range for the entire day so no one is really in all that big a rush.


Dee

[Jeaux]

I know who you're talking about Dee with needing to get numbers.

At our match in Gonzales, LA we always try to go out of our way to accommodate new shooters and do it quite often. Years ago we would have over 30 shooters at a monthly match, now we are lucky to have half that many, so any chance we have to introduce a new shooter to the sport we take it and try to make a positive experience of it. Like Dee said, we have the range all day to shoot our match or shoot anything else after the match is over, so we are never rushed to get going. There is always an extended BS session before the match anyway and we never get started on time.

It seems like the situation that sparked this post was just one of those things that could have been worked out if just one of any number of things would have been handled a little differently. It is unfortunate that it turned out the way it did and I hope that the the fellow will give the match another chance and learn from this experience. At least now he will know what to expect at that match. Show up earlier and be prepared to shoot on time if that is what is expected. This would typically not have been a problem at our match, but I can see how if we had to be off the range by a certain time or if the match director had to leave at a certain time then it could happen.

[jneihouse]

I was hoping we would get the "other side" on this post....Recently on the smallbore forum a poster praised the Tulsa Red Castle Gun Glub for their hospitality. And rightly so, I've shot with Mark, Ed, and the others several time and in fact before we went to a twice a month format at our club, would make the drive every month with a car load of other shooters to shoot with them. Good guys, well run matches, good time had by all. The same poster who praised Red Castle mentioned a very bad time he had after driving a few hours to a neighboring state to shoot silhouette. He didn't name the club specifically so we can't be sure what club he was referencing, but our club, Old Fort Gun Club in Fort Smith Arkansas, is the closest club to him that shoots silhouette he may very well have been talking about us. I do remember the poster shooting with us one time, and getting very frustrated and leaving early. His wife was with him. I talked to him briefly before he left and could tell something was wrong, but I didn't probe too deeply into what was wrong. Match was on time to the best of my ability to make it so, and it was safe and ran within NRA rules. If it was our club, I'm not sure who was having the bad day that turned his wife off of silhouette (could have been me, dunno) but the point I'm trying to make is if I knew what was wrong and if was an issue I could fix that involved rules, equipment, or safety I would have done so, and so would every other match director I know. I have yet in my travels to run across a person who will volunteer the amount of time it takes to run an NRA approved silhouette match and then purposely do things that will alienate new shooters or new to the match shooters. We want your participation and we want you to come back.

That being said let me say this. Being match director is a tough mostly thankless job. Unless your club is one of those rare ones that are entirely dedicated to smallbore silhouette shooting you are sharing a range with multiple diciplines and balancing the needs of the average club member who is not a competitive shooter and really doesn't like "his" range shut down when he wants to sight in his new bazooka. This means meeting with the Club Board of Directors and hammering out a schedule that will allow you a slot to shoot your matches. Then comes the registering process with the NRA, making sure you have all the necessary targets and paint, repairing the damage done you your target rails by the folks who think they are marksmen because they can hit a metal rail from the bench with his bazooka. Then comes the ordering of the pins and trophies. And we're not even to match day. continued....

[SqHunter]

Message to the OP: My take after reading all this and some PMs from Nick is that stuff happens. Sorry for your experience, but it happens to everyone sooner or later. Lets all go to the range

Question from a Silhouette idiot to all the other expereinced posters: Why would you need to "rezero" just prior to every match anyway?

Assuming the targets are set at standard distances, other than windage, what would change?

I have my trajectory all mapped out from practice and recorded in my journal and will soon be tapped on my scope. I was assuming I could then walk up to any line at any standard range and at least hit one of them. Unless there is a major equipement failure, and excluding first shot fliers, I do not see the absolute need to rezero.

Am I going about this all wrong? I did not think this game was like benchrest or 3P, where the targets were so small that you literally had to start over at every event.

Hell, it has taken me two years to get my equipement, ammo, scope, etc all set to be utterly predictable and reliable. There is no way I could completely start over and have elevation and windage figgered out in just a few minutes.

[jneihouse]

continued...Several days before match day you will receive several calls from shooters that need directions, or new shooters that need equipment clarification. Fit those into a normally busy schedule that involves work and family...Match day you get up early and get to the range to open up and get the targets ready....We open our range at 9:00 for practice and start the match at 10:00 Since we run two matches per day it's important we stay on schedule....Pre match is filled with collecting the nominal shooting fee and making sure classification books are in order and squadding shooters...pretty hectic time....Safety meeting is a must for every match so the range has to shut down for final setup for the match. You can ask BCloniniger, a member and regular shooter who has arrived late and has been denied the priviledge of verifying zeros, when it's time to shut down it's time to shut down. We try to work with everyone, but we must move forward.

Point being, local matches are a service to the shooting community. They lack the atmosphere of an event such as the Conard Cup or the Southern Nationals....But most folks do the best they can. Be patient and cut the Match Director some slack. It's a harder job than it looks.

Kitty