At what point is it not worth it?

[Hi-Power Jack]

1 hour ago, titandriver said:

seems like a long time to go 62 miles - my nearest club is 105 miles and it takes an hour and fifteen to get there. 

 

I believe it was Einstein who once said that "miles are relative", or something to that effect    ....

 

A mile in Wyoming, is MUCH different than a mile in BosWash.    

[Hi-Power Jack]

I used to travel 2 1/2 hours to get to a match on Saturday, and then

2 hours in a different direction to get to a Sunday match.

 

Now that I'm 73 years old, I get tired if I drive two hours - fall 

asleep during the match.

 

Once I had to stop, pull over, and take a nap on the way home -

and I was only 68 then     

 

My wife suggested I rent a motel room near the shoot the

night before, and be fresh in the a.m.   BUT, that seemed 

a bit excessive to me - so I only did it twice.

[titandriver]

11 minutes ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

 

I believe it was Einstein who once said that "miles are relative", or something to that effect    ....

 

A mile in Wyoming, is MUCH different than a mile in BosWash.    

Ha! Lotta truth right there!

[titandriver]

35 minutes ago, Racinready300ex said:

 

You'd have to average 85 miles per hour to pull that off, in my area you can't do that. Most highways around here the speed limit is 55 mph, and when you get into towns that drops. And between the state troopers, and local PD's you will not have  a license long running around at 85+.

Pretty easy to do around here - hell, until 1974 Montana had no daytime speed limit - "reasonable and prudent" ruled the highways.

[CHA-LEE]

43 minutes ago, Racinready300ex said:

 

I like how you imply that I don't help even though you've never met me.

 

Also, I've noticed with 20 people to a squad you get in each others way and nothing is very efficient. 20 guys walk down to paste 12 or 13 targets, everyone is just standing around waiting for the RO to get to their target to score it so they can paste. You can move through 20 shooters pretty fast, but it's still going to be a long day no matter how you cut it. And just pray none of the stages have a problem that causes a back up.

 

I don't beat around the bush or play the passive aggressive game of "implying" that a particular person is or should be doing something. If I thought that you were not pulling your weight at matches I would call you out directly, just as I do at matches I attend and see people being deadbeats. Did I call you out directly? Nope. The point I was trying to make is that generally, the competitors whining at the match about how long its taking are the same ones who are not helping make it happen. When you attend matches and see these people being lazy call them out directly with authority. 

 

I have talked about this in years past, but there is a strange loss of responsibility situation that happens once squads get to a size of 15 or larger. There are enough people on the squad that everyone doesn't have to work all the time to make it work. Then people start to think that someone else will do the work because there are so many people on the squad. The workers usually wonder away because "Someone else will get it done" then you end up with 2 - 3 people doing all of the work and the rest of the squad is screwing around with their gear or shooting the shit with their buddy waiting for their turn to shoot. I have lost track of how many times I have had to crack the whip on large squads to snap them back to reality and remind them that work still needs to get done regardless the size of the squad.

[Flatland Shooter]

4 hours ago, titandriver said:

An hour and 20 minutes to drive 62 miles?

 

Several stretches of 45 mph heavily patrolled highways.

[Flatland Shooter]

4 hours ago, Racinready300ex said:

 

Do you see that as good or bad?

 

Relaxing.

[Racinready300ex]

47 minutes ago, CHA-LEE said:

I have talked about this in years past, but there is a strange loss of responsibility situation that happens once squads get to a size of 15 or larger. There are enough people on the squad that everyone doesn't have to work all the time to make it work. Then people start to think that someone else will do the work because there are so many people on the squad. The workers usually wonder away because "Someone else will get it done" then you end up with 2 - 3 people doing all of the work and the rest of the squad is screwing around with their gear or shooting the shit with their buddy waiting for their turn to shoot. I have lost track of how many times I have had to crack the whip on large squads to snap them back to reality and remind them that work still needs to get done regardless the size of the squad.

 

I've certainly seen that loss of responsibility a few times. It seems to get worse as more guys get through the stage, so by the last couple shooters help get's slim.

[Racinready300ex]

1 hour ago, titandriver said:

Pretty easy to do around here - hell, until 1974 Montana had no daytime speed limit - "reasonable and prudent" ruled the highways.

 

I can't even imagine.

 

Here you can cruz on the highway at 65 (10 over) a lot of cops wont pull you, but some will and hopefully you get a warning. Then you'll hit a little town and the speed limit will drop from 55 to 45 or 35 and the town cop will get you quick for 5 over in a heart beat. And the state cops are everywhere with nothing better to do than give tickets, on a trip to a match seeing 4-5 speed traps each way would not really surprise me. Summer is worse with beach traffic. They like to get those out of towners.

 

One local tourist town just got approval to change their speed limits and increase fines during "special events".

[RJH]

None for me, and I damn sure don't want to have to corral 20 idiots into taping and setting, I have done it before and it makes what should be a fun day miserable. The real problem there is that match director is allowing squads to get that big, 15 should be about max.  One of the reasons that I shoot very little 3 gun is because 5 stages takes all day, if a pistol match was the same I would skip it too.  I have driven 2.5 hours one way more than once for a semi local club that puts on  6 and 7 big stage matches each month, but even though the squads a re 10-12, it still makes for a long day.  I am not as dedicated as I used to be and generally just shoot the match that is about 45 minutes a day and takes about 3.5 hours to shoot

[rowdyb]

It's not worth it when you're not getting what you want out of it. So the real question is what do you want out of it?

 

Is it your only chance to shoot during the month? The only time you see a certain best shooting friend? Do they have area/section level stages? Is it the only classifier you can get in a month and you are near getting what you want? Is the main heat in your division for the state at that match? So yeah, what do you want out of it versus just a simple time spent equation.

 

I'll drive up to 3 hours one way to get what I want without a second thought.

[stick]

45 minutes ago, rowdyb said:

It's not worth it when you're not getting what you want out of it. So the real question is what do you want out of it?

 

 

It's not worth it when your heart is not in it.

[mont1120]

In Montana our closest match is 2.5 hours one way.  Tomorrow we leave at 4:30 AM to greet a 4 hour drive. Highways???? I've heard of them, what a concept. Between ice, snow, and the occasional deer or elk through the windshield, it is a relaxing effort in trying to find the one lone radio station to listen to half static,  and trying to figure out where that one real lonely and pissed off highway patrolman is waiting to write you a really nice ticket.

 

And just for fun, to attend one sectional match, it is 8 hours away. There is a whole lot of empty miles between cities up here. You guys are fortunate to have matches that close. I guess its the price to live in paradise...............???????

[kneelingatlas]

Reading this thread makes me feel pretty lucky (which is rare for a California shooter), as I have a great monthly match less than 15 minutes from my house: four stages, two squads, no more than ten shooters each, no more than three hours and I'm home as the kids are eating breakfast!

 

I have my pick of three USPSA clubs within an hour drive; an hour drive is 75 miles because any slower and the cops pass you on the right!

 

It's also between 60-80 year round, but we do have opressive gun laws/housing prices, so what are you going to do 

Edited April 13, 2018 by kneelingatlas

[rishii]

I was going to post the same thing

I live 20 minutes from my home club, almost every Sunday, I get there before 8 to help setup 4 stages, shoot, tear down police brass and we’re done before 1

but the next nearest match is 100 miles via airlines away

[kneelingatlas]

The Sunday match I like starts at 7 and we have to be cleaned up and out of the range before they open at 10.

[zzt]

I am lucky.  I can shoot USPSA every week of the month and not have to drive more than 90 minutes.  The three closest clubs are between 30 and 45 minutes away.  The farthest is 90 minutes, only because the turnpike speed limit is 70.  If you are not doing at least 85 you are a rolling roadblock, so you cover ground quickly.  That club hosts 10 stage USPSA matches and 8 stage Steel Challenge matches.  Unfortunately, they start early.  So I have to be on the road before 6:30 AM to be on time for registration.

 

Two of the clubs I shoot at allow only 10 shooters per squad.  The other two allow between 12 and 15.  They move people through quickly, so 15 is not an issue.  The match last Sunday started at 11AM.  We had 5 squads of 15, shot 6 stages and had everything torn down and stowed by 3:05PM.

 

20 would be a deal killer for me, ESPECIALLY if I were the only RO on the squad.

Edited April 13, 2018 by zzt

[MikeyScuba]

1.5hrs is our limit.  Unless it's a match in Buffalo where 2hrs is ok as we pick up stuff at our US PO box.  Since we were just driving down there to pick up stuff anyway, getting to shoot is a bonus.

 

20 people per squad?  That is crazy.

 

8 is good

10 -maybe-

12 -it's going to push all other squads late.  Last week we were the first 9am squad.  Heard the last squad was 2+ hrs late and started at 7pm.  And the way it rotated I shot 3, 4&5 and 6 then waited 70 minutes to shoot 1&2.  It worked out one shooter shot the whole stage right at the end.  I guess they had to give him breaks to load mags but we fled as had to get home asap.

[waktasz]

That's cute if your match is limited to 40 or 50 people. If there's 75 or 100 people you don't have a choice. 

We had 15 person squads on Sunday and I think we were done, torn down and I was home (70 mile drive) by 4pm. Results were up about an hour after that.

[titandriver]

4 hours ago, mont1120 said:

In Montana our closest match is 2.5 hours one way.  Tomorrow we leave at 4:30 AM to greet a 4 hour drive. Highways???? I've heard of them, what a concept. Between ice, snow, and the occasional deer or elk through the windshield, it is a relaxing effort in trying to find the one lone radio station to listen to half static,  and trying to figure out where that one real lonely and pissed off highway patrolman is waiting to write you a really nice ticket.

 

And just for fun, to attend one sectional match, it is 8 hours away. There is a whole lot of empty miles between cities up here. You guys are fortunate to have matches that close. I guess its the price to live in paradise...............???????

Dunno if you're headed for the Billings match tomorrow at 4:30 a.m. but you might want to contact them before leaving - as of yesterday they cancelled the match due to (expected) weather and muddy bays. Looks like that bad weather may not materialize so you might double-check.

[davsco]

5 hours ago, mont1120 said:

In Montana our closest match is 2.5 hours one way. 

yeah but you don't have to drive some 30+ hours to go elk hunting!!!  maybe not even 1??

[Racinready300ex]

3 hours ago, MikeyScuba said:

1.5hrs is our limit.  Unless it's a match in Buffalo where 2hrs is ok as we pick up stuff at our US PO box.  Since we were just driving down there to pick up stuff anyway, getting to shoot is a bonus.

 

20 people per squad?  That is crazy.

 

8 is good

10 -maybe-

12 -it's going to push all other squads late.  Last week we were the first 9am squad.  Heard the last squad was 2+ hrs late and started at 7pm.  And the way it rotated I shot 3, 4&5 and 6 then waited 70 minutes to shoot 1&2.  It worked out one shooter shot the whole stage right at the end.  I guess they had to give him breaks to load mags but we fled as had to get home asap.

 

I'm so used to 15 shooter sqauds, I feel like 8 is almost to small lol.

 

I once shot on a squad of 3. That was a pain in the but, it was just a classifier match though. I didn't do great that day.

[Joe4d]

Thats why I quit shooting about 5 years ago. and we may be talking about same match, Was about 2 hours there and 3 plus sometimes back due to summer I-95 traffic.  Just did the math and was basically putting in a 12 hour day  for about 2 minutes of shooting... Simply wasnt worth it. And this was the Nearest match for me. Plus u had to reserve a spot a while out whcih wasnt always possible. 
My last year in Hawaii was cool as I had nothing much else to do, range was close and a match every weekend. But when I came back to VA,,, I hung in for awhile, but just got burnt out.

[Reekus]

I feel pretty lucky. I shoot 6 matches a month between 2 clubs, all are about 20-35 mins drive time one way. All have classifier stages so that to me makes it worth it.

The cumulative cost of ammo, fees, and gas is my limit of “worth it.” Once I begin 3 gun I cannot see myself still maintaining 6 matches a month


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MHicks]

My 2 regular clubs are about 1 hr. drive. Another is about 2 hrs. and 15 minutes. But I'm  retired so that makes it a bit easier. That's about how far I'd go for a monthly match.