The Nationals Survey e-mail

[TURKEYSFEARME]

Turkeysfearme wrote, "Seems a tad bit selfish,,, that would be like me insisting they are always held at Ridgway.

From where I sit, that is where most of the "noise" comes from when whinging about it being at Raton. [/quote]

Sure most of the noise is coming from east coast shooters because we are mainly the ones getting screwed, Nobody that I have talked to have even considered only holding nationals exclusively at Ridgway, we only want to continue the 30+ year tradition.

[TURKEYSFEARME]

As I see it the rotating national championship is the best compromise we have at this time, this Horray for me screw the rest of you attitude that has been expressed here will ultimately be the death of our beloved sport.
Silhouette isn't just east or west north or south, it is enjoyed around the world, it is not exclusive to America Mexico or Canada, why should our championship be exclusively in one state or region? While this makes sense for the NRA to only use one range, as competitors and match directors we should be interested in the growth of our sport and providing as many people as possible the opportunity to compete, and any club or organization capable and willing to host should be allowed.
To me the people praising the only raton decision are astoundingly selfish and don't see or care about the negative impact this will have on the sport as a whole.

[Taps]

Watching this from outside, I can tell you that the biggest proponents of the "Hooray for me, screw the rest of you" attitude seem to be the ones who want it at Ridgeway. How long has the "CLAS should be at Ridgeway" moaning been going on? Those folks would only be happy if everything that they wanted to shoot was at Ridgeway. "It's too far to travel to Raton, It's no good there", have you lot ever been to Raton? I have, fantastic place.

[frankmako]

ridgeway, raton, other places? to hold it at the same place each years is only good for the shooters that live close to that area. others will not come. move it around to different locations each year and you will have more shooters.

[DavidABQ]

The alternating championship between Raton and Ridgeway was an excellent compromise and I am certainly for it to continue.

The NRA made a decision without consulting the shooter, no surprise there, but if anyone thinks that I am going to feel bad about my good fortune then you are a fool.

[Jerry G]

Raton is a great facility and the weather, except for the monsoons, is great. Biggest problem is it is 200 miles from an airport. I shot the SB nationals at Winsbro(sp) twice and the humidity about put me under. I have shot the nationals at Ben Avery which is a great facility if you can walk around the burro poop in the parking lot. I have also shot nationals in Nebraska. The fact of the matter is there are many facilities that can handle 100 SB shooters and way more than just 2 that can handle 80 HP shooters. The SB and HP do not need to be at the same location and you damn sure don't need 10 banks of animals to handle the crowds that we have at the nationals in the last 10 years.

Moving it around the country does give many more people a chance to attend although I doubt that the number of shooters at any match would increase much.

I am all for relaxing some of the requirements and moving the mach around the country. Maybe having it at one facility 2 years in a row would allow the clubs to do some range improvements so they could host the event.

[OldRanger]

I didn't get this survey. Who sent it out and how was it slanted. Sorry to try to get the discussion back to the topic.

Oh, and at the competitors meeting this year I was the one pushing for letting the nationals be at different sites and moving it around more. Also I heard those in charge at Ben Avery didn't want to hold nationals again after the last one they did. Maybe their attitude has changed but I don't know either way for sure.

[Taps]

We have a policy down here of sharing the Nationals around the States. Each gets to have it's turn and you'd think that with only six states and two territories it would all be fine and dandy.
WRONG!!
A bunch of us traveled 4000 km in 2010 to compete in Darwin, F*#k-all people turned up, 2 locals turned up and the rest of us had to run the shoot as those locals had no idea! Oh, and by the way that was a week to drive there, two weeks at the range and a week to get home.
2014, traveled 3700 km to Perth, again numbers were down, at least a few locals turned up this time and ran the shoot but the quality of the shoot suffered as the majority of the top shooters were not there. Same amount of travel as 2010.
Your Nationals should be the pinnacle shoot for the year and feature your best shooters, sending it from one end of the country to the other every year does nothing to improve the numbers or the quality of the shoot. Have the Nationals fixed in time and place and everyone knows what's what.
By all means, run other "major" regional shoots that are more convenient for those that won't or don't travel but use the best facility you have for the Nationals. East and West Nationals??? WTF! How about dividing North and South......oh that's right you've had a go at that.

[BrentD]

East and West Nationals??? WTF! How about dividing North and South......oh that's right you've had a go at that.

Some folks still haven't given up on the North-South thing, 150 yrs later. But E-W makes more sense given the geography here. In any event, there would be exactly as much complaining if they chose to alternate between sites or do any other permutation. Shooters like to complain. Simple as that.

[45bpcr]

You coming to the 2016 Eastern Nationals at Ridgway this month Taps?

Craig

[Taps]

I have to travel half-way round the world to come shoot with you fella's. Once a year is as much as I can afford. If you want to sponsor me Craig I'll come over again this year. That's why I come over to Raton, to compete at the Nationals and catch up with as many folks as I can. Now you tell me you're splitting it?

[acorneau]

I didn't get this survey. Who sent it out and how was it slanted. Sorry to try to get the discussion back to the topic.

Just in case you missed the other thread (with the survey link)...

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11468

[Thesnackbar]

The worst thing in my mind would to separate out the Nationals, who has the vacation or the funds to travel to the west coast to shoot smallbore and then the east coast to shoot Highpower? I don't have two weeks vacation to spend shooting two matches, and with travel that is what it would end up being. Wherever they end up, keep them together. For time,cost and planning it is much simpler. If your club can host both, then throw your hat in the ring.

I enjoy traveling and seeing new places, but I would prefer to shoot nationals all at once and then use my five remaining vacation days to take a Friday or Monday to work in regional matches, more bang for the buck and a lot more shooting.

[tnchicknsnipr]

I received the survey by email and it is from a member of the committee. The problem is not where to hold the nationals, but will we have a national? In my opinion the NRA is getting out of the silhouette competition business. When was the last time you saw anything in writing in The American Rifleman about silhouette shooting? Plenty of articles about three gun or IDPA or any combat style shooting. That's were the money is.
You can spend 3,500 to 10,000 dollars per person to get into 3 gun. You can get into smallbore silhouette for 450 to 750 dollars per person. I don't know about you I will take the cheaper of the two. Cheaper the sport the more families can get involved.
Look at the average age at your next match and see how many new shooters you have. This is also a problem with many of the shooting sports. I hope never to see the "due to lack of shooters the hp sb nationals have been canceled". Don't get me wrong we need the NRA to protect our rights, but they need to remember it was founded on marksmanship training.
We have very little highpower here in the south due to the build up of housing and commercial interests. If you have it in your area, feel blessed. So, give the rest of us the chance to shoot a nationals without having to travel 2 days to get there.

[TangoBob]

Geez - here I thought the NRA's objective is to get rid of competitve shooting altogether