Is lack of ammo starting to hurt participation?

[GrumpyOne]

47 minutes ago, LuvDog said:

I wonder what will be posted in the classifieds soon

Nothing....

[BadShot]

Take a look at the CZ forum, just saying.

[GrumpyOne]

3 minutes ago, BadShot said:

Take a look at the CZ forum, just saying.

Why do you think I said "nothing"?

[rowdyb]

If I look at a local and I see the same style of five or six 32 round stages they've always done I'm not going to go. I would prefer an inventive 100 round match than "the usual" 180 round match in the current ammo situation. (My ammo situation included)

[sundevil827]

6 hours ago, Nathanb said:

I actually sent out a survey to my distribution list.  The overwhelming response was to keep matches the same. Second was less stages but not chopping the round count for the stages. 
 

I sent one for uspsa and steel challenge with both having similar responses fwiw 

 

That's kind of interesting. Out of curiosity, roughly how many members took part in the survey?

 

As a side note, how do you think they would feel about an occasional IPSC style match, lower round count, but more challenging target presentations and so on? I can understand the sentiment being against low round count matches, but I think a low round count "hoser" stage isn't a heck of a lot of fun, but maybe a few low round count challenging stages would still have some interest.

 

Could be wrong though..

 

[C-Money]

My local matches have all dropped round counts to 16-24 for most stages. We also are seeing more movement and more difficult target presentations. Attendance is about the same as last year thanks to the weather; many people don't want to shoot when it's cold. I think the normalcy of holding matches as if the world is still 2019 has a lot to do with USPSA's continuing popularity, at least in my area.

[Nathanb]

8 hours ago, sundevil827 said:

 

That's kind of interesting. Out of curiosity, roughly how many members took part in the survey?

 

As a side note, how do you think they would feel about an occasional IPSC style match, lower round count, but more challenging target presentations and so on? I can understand the sentiment being against low round count matches, but I think a low round count "hoser" stage isn't a heck of a lot of fun, but maybe a few low round count challenging stages would still have some interest.

 

Could be wrong though..

 

I had roughly 190 responses out of my 500 or so members on my list. Typically match registration is around 125 or so. I think the number of respondents Mirrors the number of steady shooters or registrars. 
 

I also asked about lowering stage round counts. It wasn’t much of a blip in the results.  Barely ahead of I don’t care what you do because I don’t have ammo. 
 

if you decide to try the survey use Google forms. It’s free and easy. All the commercial survey tools like survey monkey cap your results 

[sundevil827]

2 hours ago, Nathanb said:

I had roughly 190 responses out of my 500 or so members on my list. Typically match registration is around 125 or so. I think the number of respondents Mirrors the number of steady shooters or registrars. 
 

I also asked about lowering stage round counts. It wasn’t much of a blip in the results.  Barely ahead of I don’t care what you do because I don’t have ammo. 
 

if you decide to try the survey use Google forms. It’s free and easy. All the commercial survey tools like survey monkey cap your results 

 

That's a heck of a survey pool! Thanks for the answer, was definitely curious if that would raise interest or not. Lol, sounds like it did not! 

[SGT_Schultz]

20 hours ago, GrumpyOne said:

Why do you think I said "nothing"?

 

[motosapiens]

On 1/13/2021 at 10:54 AM, zzt said:

USPSA is not so lucky.  There is great confusion on what the Gov's rules actually mean.  At one club the Board decided it meant every participant had to wear a mask all the time.  The MD said that was not safe and canned the matches.  One does not have USPSA matches in Jan and Feb, so I don't know how they will interpret for the Mar match.  My favorite match does not require masks, but asks everyone except the RO and shooter to social distance.

 

around here we've been pretty much completely ignoring it and letting people make their own individual health decisions. I know dozens of people who've had covid, but none of them got it at the range, and none of the gave it to anyone at the range, so completely ignoring it seems to be the appropriate response.

 

fwiw, no one ever seems to get a cold or flu from their shooting buddies at matches either. It just doesn't seem like the sort of environment where viruses are transmitted.

[Steppenwolf]

Ditto here. No one got it or gave it at the range. Only three people in our group had it as far as we know and it was from where they worked. All mild couple of day cases.

[MikeBurgess]

round count didn't seem to figure into our last match, we told people it was 10 stages 186 rounds but at set up I made some changes for flow so we only had 177 round match. match still sold out with a wait list.

Covid is the real issue for us, we have had to cap squads at 12 to make the BOD happy, pre covid we were running about 17 shooter squads. 

[MikeBurgess]

21 hours ago, rowdyb said:

If I look at a local and I see the same style of five or six 32 round stages they've always done I'm not going to go. I would prefer an inventive 100 round match than "the usual" 180 round match in the current ammo situation. (My ammo situation included)

it sucks your locals run that way, we have some 32 rounders but never a whole match of them, yuck, normally 7 stages 130 - 160 rounds 

[Foxtrotx1]

8 hours ago, Nathanb said:

I had roughly 190 responses out of my 500 or so members on my list. Typically match registration is around 125 or so. I think the number of respondents Mirrors the number of steady shooters or registrars. 
 

I also asked about lowering stage round counts. It wasn’t much of a blip in the results.  Barely ahead of I don’t care what you do because I don’t have ammo. 
 

if you decide to try the survey use Google forms. It’s free and easy. All the commercial survey tools like survey monkey cap your results 

 

My thoughts, as a biologist/data scientist:

 

You may be getting a selection bias effect. 

 

Those who regularly come to the match are probably the die-hards who have prepped for ammo situations via reloading/bulk purchases.  That same group is more likely to check emails from the range, be invested in the club/program and reply to your survey. I would not be surprised if your silent majority would have a different opinion. 

 

Unfortunately emailed surveys are far from a random sampling of a population. 

Edited January 25, 2021 by Foxtrotx1

[SGT_Schultz]

On 1/14/2021 at 3:12 AM, ima45dv8 said:

That's sounds like a two-way street.

 

How do you figure?

 

I don't go places and say FU I'm not wearing a mask and you can't make me leave. 

 

I simply don't go in the first place if I know ahead of time, or if I show up and find out then I'll either suck it up for that event and not return or just leave with my money.

 

I suppose if they want to ban me from the property because I never went to their match I won't lose too much sleep over it.

[zzt]

27 minutes ago, MikeBurgess said:

Covid is the real issue for us, we have had to cap squads at 12 to make the BOD happy, pre covid we were running about 17 shooter squads. 

 

The club I mentioned above that now requires all masks tried that.  They limited shooters to 50 and required masks and social distancing for everyone except the timing and scoring ROs and the current shooter.  That lasted for two shoots before they decided all masks.

 

As far as participation goes, I don't understand why it is down as much as it is.  We shot all last Winter with full squads and waitlisted shooters.  Yes it was milder last Winter, but not drastically so.  So it must be a combination of Covid fear, lack of ammo and the colder weather.   It will be interesting to see what happens in April when everyone is open again.

 

Weather sure played a part yesterday.  Many bailed on the SCSA match because it was 19 degrees at the start.  I'll also note there is waaaay more rimfire shooting around here now.  I'm guilty also.  I don't shoot as well in the cold bundled up with three layers.  I'm shooting RFPO and RFRO until the weather warms.  I have lots of rimfire ammo, but not so much SCSA centerfire ammo.  Open and PCC will have to wait, as I only have about 1500 rounds left.  I do have 9000 SPP primers that I'm dedicating to USPSA.  That will get me through this year if I cut down practice a little.  Of course, if they keep cancelling matches or cutting round count down to 70, I won't need as many.

[zzt]

I was just rereading @rowdyb's post about stage quality.  I agree wholeheartedly.  The last 6 stage 72 round match was dreadful.  There is zero fun in shooting, walking a few steps and shooting some more.  If they improve next match I'll give them a pass.  Both MDs had family medical problems, and the GMs and Ms who usually design the stages stayed away.  They probably found out what was planned and asked, why bother?