Ideas for getting 3-gun matches going.

[Brian Payne]

For the last few years Minnesota 3-gunners have been blessed with monthly shoots held at a range located in the center of the state. These shoots have been attended by many shooters from surrounding states as well. We called these shoots "Mini 3-gun Shoots" because they were not quite as elaborate as the bigger 3-gun shoots people are used to.

These shoots were geared more toward getting new shooters involved in the sport, as well as giving more advanced shooters a chance to get out and practice. The more advanced 3-gunners volunteered to self RO their squad and give advice and pointers to the newer shooters. It was a great way for people new to the sport, to see some of the different equipment used, and why that particular shooter chose that equipment. It also allowed for a more relaxed, learning type environment without the added stress of being overly competative. The range handling these shoots is now closed to "action shooting sports" (hopefully only temporarily), so we are now looking for other ideas and locations.

There are several local ranges that host USPSA/IDPA handgun shooting, and they have offered their ranges for 3-gun, as long as there is someone to be the "go to person" who would handle all of the matches. These ranges do an excellent job of putting on the handgun matches, but understandably, they already have their plates full without having to take on the added work of putting on 3-gun shoots as well. They would want someone that would become a member of that particular range, and go in front of the ranges board to get approval for the matches, and handle the adminsitration of the match, etc..

We have four different ranges that would be usable and at first blush, it appears an easy fix to have just one person to head this thing up. The problem is, it is difficult for just one person to handle getting matches set up in more than just one range.

A small, but dedicated, group of active 3-gunners is in the process of setting up a meeting to try to get this ironed out and some guidelines put down on paper. I am interested to see if anyone on this forum has gone through anything like this, and rather than re-invent the wheel, get any suggestions to possibly make this process go a little smoother.

We have even tossed around the idea of forming a "Minnesota 3-gun Association". This association could be responsible to putting on 3-gun shoots in several different ranges in the state. Any ideas on this would also be appreciated. Especially if there are any state organizations already.

It would seem, the easiest fix would to be to appoint one person for each range to be the "3-gun Range Master". That person would be in charge of getting things set up for their respective range. The challenges that would need to be overcome would be: Getting boots on the ground to get stages set up and taken down. Score keeping. Check-in (money coming in) etc.. There is also the problem that most handgun ranges do not have equipment that is high power rifle friendly (steel targets). Long gun abandon boxes, etc.. Would it be better to have a state 3-gun association that would have association owned steel rifle targets, computers for score keeping and other bookkeeping, range drop barrels for long guns, etc.. And have these items in a Gypsy trailer and haul it to the match? Or only hold matches at ranges that are willing to supply those items that are unique to 3-gun matches?

Any ideas welcome.

[TruePunisher]

I nominate Brian Payne for "Minnesota 3-Gun Range Master"

I would like the idea of a MN 3-Gun Association to succeed so I would assist if possible.