I was asked to attend this years Silhouette Committee meeting to give input from a match director's view point on why entry numbers have steadily declined over the past years. What I came away from the meeting was a very positive feeling of a change in the NRA's attitude towards the competitive sports..................

Unofficial Comments From the 2016 Silhouette Committee Meeting

The following are my observations at this year’s meeting:

The theme of the meeting was how to stimulate greater interest and participation among NRA members and the general public.

A quote from Allan Cors – President – NRA to the Silhouette Committee.
“… I would like the committees to focus on the development of new shooting opportunities for the plinker to the serious competitor; for the novice to the experienced; for the men, women, youth and disabled shooters. I am asking each committee to devote the major part of its time and effort to considering how we can do this regarding new events, new courses of fire, use of new firearms, and embracing new shooters and new competitors. The goal is to grow the number of participants in the shooting sports from the grassroots shooting level to the apex of skilled shooters at our National Matches.
Moving forward, I ask that you and your committee focus on developing plans that will accomplish this mission. We cannot allow our rule books to continue to be a deterrent to individuals shooting in our matches….”

This tone continues with comments from Josh Powell – Chief of Staff to Wayne LaPeirre. The NRA has made personnel changes and the focus moving forward is to grow all shooting sports. He stressed the NRA resources have not been utilized in the past and that will change. Publications will be more shooting friendly. He asked for suggestions from the membership such as youth, handicap, heartwarming stories, etc., that would appeal to the General Public and shed a more positive outlook on what the NRA is all about. More resources are to be allocated to our National Matches to make them more fun.

All in all, the tone of the meeting was very positive coming from the highest level. Jim Kohlmeyer – Senior Managing Director of NRA Programs and Shooting Activities and Dennis Willing – Director of Competitive Shooting Division have a big task ahead of them. The directors pledge of more resources will help them a lot. We need to also support these with any constructive suggestions.

The number of competitors in the 2016 National Silhouette Championships were negative in all categories, except for BPCR at + 52%, BPCR Scope at + 77% and CBH at + 10%. The success was having matches run by experienced and committed match director(s). They will try to expand this concept in other competitions.
Other areas covered were:
• Re-settable targets so matches are not so dependent on setters and to speed up matches.
• Social events and diners as part of matches.
• Super Week – shoot all championships in a week. More on this as it develops.
• Capable and experienced clubs or other organizations run national championships. NRA is the sanctioning body.
• For the silhouette sections of rule books: Greatly simplified and clearer rule books (As little minutiae as possible. Stop the equipment race. Move toward out of the box firearms to keep costs down. Allow stocks to fit the shooter, not limits or prescribed details in
rule books. Etc.). Improving jury participation in matches.
• Competitor comments and suggestions.
• BPCR, BPTR and Cowboy Lever Action should always be combined due to the number of cross over shooters. 2017 dates are being
confirmed.
Overall I am very encouraged in what I observed at the meeting and was impressed in the caliber of the committee members chaired by Dr. Dave Bennett. A lot was covered and Josh Powell hinted about calling another committee meeting, in the near future, because he didn’t want to delay changes.
....................................Jim Kidwell

That is great news! Thanks for the info and your time, greatly appreciated!

Thanks Jim for the hard work and thought you put into this.

Thank you very much Mr. Jim.

All of those efforts listed must be made but the real reason attendance is down is the terrible economy in America. National Match entry fees are still a bargain compared to the other expenses. The cost of lodging, food, fuel(transportation of any type) and quality ammo is the main deterrent to participation. The average American has less disposable income for hobbies. More of their income is spent on the necessities: food, utilities, tuition, daycare and housing than ever before. Fix the economy to the point where our money is worth something and match attendance on all levels will increase.

Thanks for taking the time to go to and report on this meeting. I appreciate hearing the news first hand. Well, ok, I guess its second hand, but not THIRD!

atomicbrh wrote:All of those efforts listed must be made but the real reason attendance is down is the terrible economy in America. National Match entry fees are still a bargain compared to the other expenses. The cost of lodging, food, fuel(transportation of any type) and quality ammo is the main deterrent to participation. The average American has less disposable income for hobbies. More of their income is spent on the necessities: food, utilities, tuition, daycare and housing than ever before. Fix the economy to the point where our money is worth something and match attendance on all levels will increase.

Don't forget the cost of the "unaffordable health care".that was an additional $250 a month to me as of last week.Go Trump.