Less open shooters

[Neomet]

WOW! ya'll have a big group. 131 shooters.Is this the average size

Not really.

Normally it is around 150 to 165 plus.

[Bear23]

We average about 2 open shooters per month with a 25 person turnout for club matches. this hasn't changed for many years. Production has grown, Limited is still our biggest draw.

[furyalecto]

The club I shoot at used to always have three regular open shooters. I borrowed an older open gun, had a blast & bought it. A couple other guys have picked up open guns as well. We have each learned how finicky the open guns can be compared to our other guns.

Some of the more experienced open guys came back so now there are usually five to seven every week depending on who is down a gun. That's out of fifty to fifty-five shooters. I & others shoot multiple divisions.

Div 1st shoot (total shoots) out of 52 competitors.

Lim 19 (37)

Open 5 (10)

Lim10 9 (17)

Prod 6 (15)

SS 12 (19)

52 total shooters

98 total shoots

[chbrow10]

boz1911,

I gotta disagree with you on the comment that a good single stack gun costs $2000. I bought a brand new Rock Island Tactical for $420 out the door, put sight on it, and I regularly win my classification at the local matches. And the gun doesn't hold me back. I think that it is me that is holding the gun back...

I think that SS and production are the two cheapest ways to shoot the sport. Besides the guns, the holsters and mag pouches are cheap.

[boz1911]

boz1911,

I gotta disagree with you on the comment that a good single stack gun costs $2000. I bought a brand new Rock Island Tactical for $420 out the door, put sight on it, and I regularly win my classification at the local matches. And the gun doesn't hold me back. I think that it is me that is holding the gun back...

I think that SS and production are the two cheapest ways to shoot the sport. Besides the guns, the holsters and mag pouches are cheap.

There are exceptions to everything, but I bet if you averaged the cost of the top ten SS nationals winners guns it would easily be 2k. And yes production and ss would be the least expensive but after the initial investment open is actually cheap to shoot.

And just for the record my open blaster is not finnicky at all. Just feed her some good ammo, keep her clean, change a few springs every year and she's happy.

[GISMap]

We usually have 30 Production, 5 Limited/L10, 5 Single Stack, 0 Revolver, and 3 Open shooters at our matches.

[Aristotle]

ehhh, doesn't much matter to me about the decline as the competition in our section is strong, and they definitely keep me on my toes, and that's all I could ask for.

We'll get anywhere from 6-15 Open shooters in a match (60-80 shooters), but some of our Open shooters I would say are among some of the top Open shooters in our area (A1), so they are great to measure myself against.

Production also hosts a pool of talent in our area, and is not a given. Limited is making a nice come back (did it ever leave??) with healthy competition.

[G-ManBart]

Recent USPSA match here we had 23 Open, 32 Limited, 4 L10, 9 Production 10 SS.

Last Tuesday Night Steel it was 21 Open, 69 Limited (no L10 division) 15 Production, 21 SS and 5 revolvers.

Seems a little different than what others are experiencing.

WOW! ya'll have a big group. 131 shooters.Is this the average size

That's pretty typical for Tues Night Steel...has been since I shot there in the early 90s. R,

[EkuJustice]

I would say a good competative single stack gun could definately be had under 1000 bucks. The trojan, spartan, numerous springfield guns. Production/singlestack also allows shooters to compete with guns they probibally alaredy have around. The gun cost is also able to be justified starting out than an open blaster especially when you consider the mag costs in there as well. The open gun is a very nitch gun. It is there for that division only and really has no use outside of USPSA. A single stack or a production gun could be someones carry gun, home defense gun etc.

[ChuckS]

Here are the last 5 Area 2 Championship stats:

year Opn Lim L10 P SS Re

2009 138 108 20 59 23 07

2008 139 115 22 46 27 06

2007 129 129 25 40 22 10

2006 121 124 28 43 22 07

2005 125 138 39 33 -- 18

Seems like open is here to stay in Area 2.

(2005 was a pretty amazing year for Revo!)

[usmc1974]

I think you can get a really good single stack for about a Grand. but then you want to make it your own. You know, sights, magwell, checking, trigger. I shoot open on nice days when I really want to pick up 38 super brass . But, mostly I shoot limited.

[DyNo!]

I wouldn't be surprised if there are some folks that aren't shooting Open right now due to costs. Open, done right, isn't cheap. For the price of one good 30-31 round big stick I can buy 10 mags for my Production gun I get 650 rounds per pound of powder (at nearly $30/Lb) with my Open ammo and 1,850 rounds per pound of my Production ammo. That sort of stuff can add up pretty quickly.

Amen - that and hunting for Supercomp brass made me decide that I'm only shooting open in multi-gun and major matches.

[Tom and Nathan]

I'm with Terry on this one (especially since it is usually Terry and I and a couple other open shooters! ) It is really neat to finally be able to see the target AND the sights! Old guys..........

[Steve_P]

Locally, Open is still consistent in numbers, but, not growing, Production is growing, Limited and Revolver is kind of stagnant, and Single Stack seems to be the orphan.

My numbers are down this year, didn't meet my quota. I've put to much focus on preventing people from shooting IDPA and glocks. I've got a few more people pushing the Open addiction this year, so I expect a banner year.

Lugnut is my arch nemesis, but I think I can get him to the dark side soon, then the plan will be complete

Hey...I resemble that remark.