Jump to content
Brian Enos's Forums... Maku mozo!

NRA Action Pistol popularity in your area.


Smallbore

Recommended Posts

How is the popularity of NRA Action Pistol in your area? It seems to be dwindling in ours but the other pistol sports seem to be going strong. I really enjoy AP over the other sports although I qualified SS on my first IDPA qualifier but am still a marksman in AP. I can see how the other sports would boost someone's ego more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 clubs within 150 miles used to shoot AP. No more, IDPA overtook one, USPSA another, and the third demise was internal nonsense. Two of those three still have active shooters that go to Bianchi every year. Seems having a place to practice

is the priority as opposed to growing the sport as they show no interest in that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My "home" club is about an hour and a half drive for me and between March-September we shoot 2 AP matches a month (2nd and 4th Saturday's). Another club about 2 and a half hours away shoots 1 AP match per month (3rd Saturday) so in the warm months, I can shoot 3 registered matches a month. Both these clubs shoot Bianchi matches. Another club about an hour and a few minutes away is talking about reviving their AP program. All are aware of each other and work together. Just trying to figure how to tell the wife I could shoot AP 4 weekends a month if I wanted!

Edited by BaggerJoe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The gun club I eventually joined has had a monthly AP match for probably 20+ years. I started shooting competitively a few years ago. Like many, I started with IDPA as I had never heard of Bianchi before. After I started shooting in the monthly IDPA match I noticed they had something on the schedule called Action Pistol on the following weekend. Since I enjoyed the IDPA matches so much I thought I would try the AP match as well. It was fun but much more difficult, but since I enjoyed shooting I kept at it.

Fast forward a few years and I became a member of the club where I was shooting the matches. Its the nicest gun club in the area and takes a while to get in and in the time I was waiting I shot the AP matches when I could but didn't put any real emphasis on them. Not having any way to practice made it hard to get excited about shooting a match I was going to do poorly in anyway. Now that I can practice all I want, my scores are getting much better, and I have a new found enjoyment of AP. I also can appreciate the difficulty of what the match is all about.

But the participation level in the time I have been shooting has been pretty stagnant. Many new shooters that come out have no idea what the course of fire is until they get there. We allow a category called "defensive pistol" where the match is limited to shooting from 10 and 15 yds. They started this a few years back when attendance started to get really low as many folks would shoot the match, do poorly, and not come back. At least at the shorter distances new shooters have half a chance to shoot a respectable score. This has helped keep the match at a somewhat stable participation level, but almost everyone elects to shoot the match from the short lines now.

Another problem is the match doesn't attract younger shooters, at least not on a steady level. We let junior shooters shoot for free, and shoot rimfire from low ready if they want to but rarely do we get any juniors. Younger guys show up from time to time, and seem to enjoy the experience, but you can tell they don't have the interest level to really get into it. And I get it, you can go with a group of friends to the local IDPA or USPSA match, run around and hose down some targets and look cool doing it. Or you can stand still and shoot at a plate rack and leave a bunch standing, with those same buds looking on. Its easy to go the other route.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Little interest in my immediate area. It's no surprise, AP is harder than the other shooting sports. That's actually why I like it. No makeup shots, no masking sloppiness and lack of technique by being fast.

Same can be said of NRA Conventional Pistol (aka Bullseye) and that I can find within 200 miles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The gun club I eventually joined has had a monthly AP match for probably 20+ years. I started shooting competitively a few years ago. Like many, I started with IDPA as I had never heard of Bianchi before. After I started shooting in the monthly IDPA match I noticed they had something on the schedule called Action Pistol on the following weekend. Since I enjoyed the IDPA matches so much I thought I would try the AP match as well. It was fun but much more difficult, but since I enjoyed shooting I kept at it.

Fast forward a few years and I became a member of the club where I was shooting the matches. Its the nicest gun club in the area and takes a while to get in and in the time I was waiting I shot the AP matches when I could but didn't put any real emphasis on them. Not having any way to practice made it hard to get excited about shooting a match I was going to do poorly in anyway. Now that I can practice all I want, my scores are getting much better, and I have a new found enjoyment of AP. I also can appreciate the difficulty of what the match is all about.

But the participation level in the time I have been shooting has been pretty stagnant. Many new shooters that come out have no idea what the course of fire is until they get there. We allow a category called "defensive pistol" where the match is limited to shooting from 10 and 15 yds. They started this a few years back when attendance started to get really low as many folks would shoot the match, do poorly, and not come back. At least at the shorter distances new shooters have half a chance to shoot a respectable score. This has helped keep the match at a somewhat stable participation level, but almost everyone elects to shoot the match from the short lines now.

Another problem is the match doesn't attract younger shooters, at least not on a steady level. We let junior shooters shoot for free, and shoot rimfire from low ready if they want to but rarely do we get any juniors. Younger guys show up from time to time, and seem to enjoy the experience, but you can tell they don't have the interest level to really get into it. And I get it, you can go with a group of friends to the local IDPA or USPSA match, run around and hose down some targets and look cool doing it. Or you can stand still and shoot at a plate rack and leave a bunch standing, with those same buds looking on. Its easy to go the other route.

And you get to keep shooting at the targets until you hit them all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Not much interest here either. We have a monthly match most of the year and have dedicated bays for the plates, mover, and barricade, but we only get about 5 regulars that show up. We do get new folks that want to try it out, but they rarely come back once they see how hard it is to do well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the biggest problem in setting up a Bianchi match is the Mover. Not many clubs have that capability. In NE FL there are no NRA AP matches... nor PPC.... and only two Steel Challenge within 150 miles of me. Yet, within that 150 mile distance I can shoot IDPA and USPSA six times a month... with two ICORE matches mixed in.

Between USPSA, IDPA, ICORE, and two Steel Challenge there are more matches than there are Saturdays & Sundays in the month. It's truly a "U Pick 'Em".

But no AP.... the Mover is, IMHO, the killer there for local clubs. As for PPC... just a lack of interest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You don't need a mover, but it is just awesome to shot.

You can run any of the 20 odd matches to get up to a 192 round match if you want.

There are plenty of portable mover systems that have been developed over the years. You can go nuts on that, but don't need to. A single line mover will work.

For inspiration on how not to do a mover go and review any video of the 2014 Worlds, I know of a few clubs that have movers that cost less than $2K to install permanently. They are not flash but they work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You don't need a mover, but it is just awesome to shot.

You can run any of the 20 odd matches to get up to a 192 round match if you want.

There are plenty of portable mover systems that have been developed over the years. You can go nuts on that, but don't need to. A single line mover will work.

For inspiration on how not to do a mover go and review any video of the 2014 Worlds, I know of a few clubs that have movers that cost less than $2K to install permanently. They are not flash but they work.

Going to, or the hope of someday going to, the Bianchi Cup is really the only reason to go to the expense of setting up an Action Pistol program. With this in mind it would be best to set up for the four Cup events as close to, or identical as, the equipment that is used at Green Valley. The Mover is a big part of deciding who wins the match, so you need one. Pioneer Gun Club switched from a cable to a rail mover and it's so much smoother and more stable especially in the wind.

What's really needed besides the large spaces and money is a dedicated group of Bianchi minded shooters to build and maintain the equipment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I brought back AP after a 20 break in our province (Quebec)

there's is a lot of IPSC match, some die hard PPC guys still doing there things

each match we manage to have between 14 to 16 people and it's probably the maximum for the range we have

but we draw shooters from the IPSC and PPC so this seems to be going in the right direction even if it's a hard discipline

and it's enough to keep me motivated to put on matches

I'm glad i have a couple of people motivated to do this , cause i've shot ipsc for the last 10 years and i just stopped, i've probably had stopped competition if we had not started AP and Steel challenge

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

You don't need a mover, but it is just awesome to shot.

You can run any of the 20 odd matches to get up to a 192 round match if you want.

There are plenty of portable mover systems that have been developed over the years. You can go nuts on that, but don't need to. A single line mover will work.

For inspiration on how not to do a mover go and review any video of the 2014 Worlds, I know of a few clubs that have movers that cost less than $2K to install permanently. They are not flash but they work.

Going to, or the hope of someday going to, the Bianchi Cup is really the only reason to go to the expense of setting up an Action Pistol program. With this in mind it would be best to set up for the four Cup events as close to, or identical as, the equipment that is used at Green Valley. The Mover is a big part of deciding who wins the match, so you need one. Pioneer Gun Club switched from a cable to a rail mover and it's so much smoother and more stable especially in the wind.

What's really needed besides the large spaces and money is a dedicated group of Bianchi minded shooters to build and maintain the equipment.

For better or worse, this outlook is why NRA Action Pistol is now a match (Just the Bianchi Cup) and not a distinct discipline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well we are getting a trickle of growth at our club, new shooters shooting Production mostly with XDM;s. Hopefully this trickle will encourage even more to join in.

Bianchi Cup is not a factor to new shooters.

Edited by Chris1911
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well we are getting a trickle of growth at our club, new shooters shooting Production mostly with XDM;s. Hopefully this trickle will encourage even more to join in.

Bianchi Cup is not a factor to new shooters.

Again I think you are exactly right accept for the last sentence. A lot of effort and money was directed at Production to grow the numbers, providing a gate way. It's much easier to swing the costs in Production and it's almost like the XDM was designed for Action Pistol. The Bianchi Cup is such a larger than life match, that I think it's a strong factor for anyone interested in Action Pistol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started AP here in Wyoming two years ago. I started slow--put on a "Moving Target Clinic" at our range and that attracted a lot of new shooters. Then I did some three event matches using only the short lines. Now I do monthly matches with at least two or three Bianchi events and then something else out of the rulebook. I get about 10 to 12 shooters each month -- some local folks and then some from the nearby Front Range I-25 corridor in Colorado. I hype up the Production Division and most of the shooters fire the match with Production equipment. I encourage the new shooters to fire the match on the short lines only so they can understand how things work and shoot confidence building scores. That way they don't get discouraged with the more daunting stages and there is a greater likelihood of having a new shooter get hooked on AP and come back for more. Many enjoy the challenge of solving difficult handgun marksmanship problems under time pressure--others don't and prefer the other action games where the time is the score. Last year I recruited two new shooters to shoot the Bianchi Cup --this year I working on bringing three more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well we are getting a trickle of growth at our club, new shooters shooting Production mostly with XDM;s. Hopefully this trickle will encourage even more to join in.

Bianchi Cup is not a factor to new shooters.

Again I think you are exactly right accept for the last sentence. A lot of effort and money was directed at Production to grow the numbers, providing a gate way. It's much easier to swing the costs in Production and it's almost like the XDM was designed for Action Pistol. The Bianchi Cup is such a larger than life match, that I think it's a strong factor for anyone interested in Action Pistol.

Toothguy, the difference is location. Imagine if the Bianchi Cup was held in England and one pound cost you $US1.50. An XDM here is about $1400 (double your cost?) and it takes about a year of shooting before you are allowed to compete with a holster in a club match. Trust me, new shooters here are just looking for a space to blast and good company to help them. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to bleat, poor us and I love coming to Bianchi every year. I live for it in fact. I am just adding perspective. Not that it actually matters I guess. Cheers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My input may not matter much since I live in "Action Pistol Heaven" here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of VA, but here goes! The sport seems to be pretty much static at present around here. 5 Years ago, we were within 4 hours of 5 monthly AP matches. Now, 2 of those have dropped out for various reasons...... legislation, lack of participation, job changes for the MDs, etc. Now there are 3 monthly shoots within that time/distance.

At our monthly shoots, we average 12-25 shooters/guns. We usually send 3-7 shooters to the Cup every year, and are lucky enough to have a current World Senior Champion (Andy Krantz) and a former Bianchi Cup Champion (Kevin Angstadt) as members here! They both have plans to go to NZ for the 2016 World Shoot.

We were the first location in the US to have a rail mover, thanks to the ingenuity/talent in the club and some design help from NZ. We run the largest Regional & State Championship matches East of the Mississippi River every year in Sept with a limit of 65 guns due to time constraints caused by the Moving Target Event. We fill up every time and have competitors from California to Canada, so we must be doing something right!

There are fewer than 125 members here, but we're really picky about who can belong. Every member is a hard worker (obviously) so we can accomplish our goals of having a really good facility, even though we're constrained for space.....less than 15 acres. We're proof that "if you build it, they will come."

Granted, AP is an accuracy game, but it seems that NRAHQ is headed towards a more "tactical" viewpoint lately with some of the proposed CoFs I've soon come from there. Without the Moving Target events, there are still many matches that can be run, so don't let that dissuade you from trying AP at your range.

Alan~^~

Edited by Alan550
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...