JD45 Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Our gun club has near 500 members, and we can't figure out where they are. You may have 5-10 people at a shotgun shoot, and 10 is a big number for pistol. Rifle shoots are about the same. We really can't fiqure out why these people join. Why don't you see at least 50-60 of them at matches. At meeting and elections 15 is a big crowd. I wonder if they think we are government funded and have hired servants to run everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD McDorce Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Do they pay their dues? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kruger Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Most of the folks in a gun club are far more... casual... about their shooting. Many of them are hunters or think of themselves as hunters and visit the range only to sight in the rifle. Many of them are actually "collectors" with large collections of guns and aren't all that interested in shooting. They have a membership because they may want to put a magazine or two through several of their guns on occasion. Some of them are afraid (whether or not they want to admit it) of disturbing their image of their skill by actually shooting a match. We, competitive shooters, are a rare breed. Respectfully, Mark Kruger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParaJoe Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Our club has about 70 members and it's the same way. My town, er should I say village, is pretty small though. I think Kruger has it right. DVC, Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray_Z Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 I'm membership chairman for a club that has over 1100 members now. There was talk about caping the membership at one time. Some were worried that the ranges would be too crouded. This is not the case. Many of the members just want a place to shoot if they want to shoot. Some come out once a year to sight in their shotgun for slug season. Some members may not use the facilities for a couple of years. I can't even think of not putting some rounds down range at least once a week. But the dues are going right back into the club to make it a better facility. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alellis Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Our gun club has near 500 members, and we can't figure out where they are.You may have 5-10 people at a shotgun shoot, and 10 is a big number for pistol. Rifle shoots are about the same. We really can't fiqure out why these people join. Why don't you see at least 50-60 of them at matches. At meeting and elections 15 is a big crowd. I wonder if they think we are government funded and have hired servants to run everything. I am very grateful that this is the case. In our asociation there are over 400 members and if even one tenth of them showed up on Saturday my fun would be seriously curtailed. al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2ipsc Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Our gun club has near 500 members, and we can't figure out where they are.You may have 5-10 people at a shotgun shoot, and 10 is a big number for pistol. Rifle shoots are about the same. We really can't fiqure out why these people join. Why don't you see at least 50-60 of them at matches. At meeting and elections 15 is a big crowd. I wonder if they think we are government funded and have hired servants to run everything. Not an uncommon phenomena, and, IMHO, best viewed as the informal/casual masses (read that as dues-paying, pro-gun voters that don't descend en masse on the facility - many thanks!) carrying the financial load for the comparatively small contingent of serious competitive shooters... Put another way - it's A Good Thing clubs aren't solely dependent on their USPSA/IDPA/SASS/NRA bullseye...[fill in the blank] division(s), for I suspect many would soon be in financial straits... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 Same here.. one local club has almost 1000 members and yet the range is empty most days, and even the weekend bullseye, highpower & silhouette matches are lucky to pull 15 shooters. A lot of 'em just didn't want to deal with the commercial ranges anymore. Kind of rooks any new shooters that don't know about the clubs into shooting at the local "safety?, we've heard of it" public ranges, which probably isn't good long-term for shooting in general. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rishii Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 way back, my club is on maui, hi. we had a member from new mexico, never met the guy, I don't know if he ever shot on our range, don't know how he even got our club app. but every year he renewed his membership. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kruger Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 In our asociation there are over 400 members and if even one tenth of them showed up on Saturday my fun would be seriously curtailed. I'm in the opposite camp. I'd _love_ it if we had 40 shooters at a match. More folks means to me: 1) more folks to help set up and tear down. 2) more match fees to help pay for expenses. 3) more folks to help set up and tear down (so good it deserves to be listed twice). 4) less folks likely to "walk away" from guns when anti-gun folks do their song and dance. 5) more folks to help set up and tear down (okay, three times ). Respectfully, Mark Kruger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricW Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 (edited) Back in my father and grandfather's day, guns were tools. You owned maybe three or four and shot the holy hell of out of them. Rust and scratches and dings were par for the course and nobody gave a rat's ass because a gun was on par utility-wise with the wrenche and the screwdriver. Today, guns are big boys' baseball cards. Every one must be a museum piece lest that $250 Taurus go down twenty bucks in value. Don't ask me why shooting a 1911 into a pile of parts is such and evil thing, but that's the culture we live in. Nobody thinks twice about driving a $40,000 pickup truck off the lot and losing $10K in value doing it, but god forbid they scratch their pistol using it. There are gun people, and there are shooters. The two rarely coexist in the same demographic population. But, I'm happy that gun people help finance shooting ranges for us so that they have somewhere to go expend that median 6.2 rounds of ammo that a typical gun owner in America fires annually. Edited July 3, 2006 by EricW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merlin Orr Posted July 3, 2006 Share Posted July 3, 2006 I've paid for memberships (several) in states 1000 miles from home - to support the club I shot at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD45 Posted July 3, 2006 Author Share Posted July 3, 2006 We just want people to shoot more club level matches. Plus, I am on a one-man quest build real pistol bays and start having real IDPA and USPSA matches. I'm also taking the job of running the trap field this fall, but it is hard to be excited over one-squad shoots. I know people have different tastes, but it blows my mind that hundreds of people can join a club and seldom fire a gun. The not helping part is a huge problem of itself. If we hire people to do everything we would be flat broke in less than a year. We don't need all 500 to help. Twenty-five members would be plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFD Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 In our club if 1000+ there are probably 400 who would like to shoot USPSA or IDPA. However they never will because they are afraid of "looking bad". USPSA is easy to avoid. They simply use the tired "I don't want to buy a $2500 race gun" excuse that's always floating around any club. I actually heard that crap out of a former USPSA shooter (now an IDPAer) and had to dress him down a bit. For IDPA, I'm guessing they use the delaying tactic excuse of "I just need to practice a bit more". I've used both excuses in the past, then educated myself and sucked it up and shot a match. After that I smacked myself in the head for wasting so many years making excuses or playing golf. If 10% of our members actually showed up, I'd have a hard time getting a practice bay. I think a lot of people join so they have a place to shoot when and if they get the urge. My dad is a member of out club and hasn't shot there in 3 years. He just wants to have the option of shooting if he feels like it. He's one of the "gun people" mentioned earlier. I thought he was going to have a heart attack watching me drill the trigger guard on a brand new Kimber for a Ghost holster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ipscbob Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 USPSA is easy to avoid. They simply use the tired "I don't want to buy a $2500 race gun" excuse that's always floating around any club. I actually heard that crap out of a former USPSA shooter (now an IDPAer) and had to dress him down a bit.For IDPA, I'm guessing they use the delaying tactic excuse of "I just need to practice a bit more". I've used both excuses in the past, then educated myself and sucked it up and shot a match. After that I smacked myself in the head for wasting so many years making excuses or playing golf. It is definitely easier NOT to shoot competitively. I owned handguns for 10+ years before getting off my butt and trying this out. For me it took some tragic events in my life as well as some health scares to shake me out of a habit of sidelined living. DOing takes a lot more effort than WATCHing. Getting involved in this sport has effected EVERY part of my life. I will continue to support it with yearly dues for the rest of my life even if I get to a point where I can't participate. Kind of like those that pay to be members of your club but don't shoot much....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray_Z Posted July 4, 2006 Share Posted July 4, 2006 In our club if 1000+ there are probably 400 who would like to shoot USPSA or IDPA. However they never will because they are afraid of "looking bad". USPSA is easy to avoid. They simply use the tired "I don't want to buy a $2500 race gun" excuse that's always floating around any club. I actually heard that crap out of a former USPSA shooter (now an IDPAer) and had to dress him down a bit. For IDPA, I'm guessing they use the delaying tactic excuse of "I just need to practice a bit more". I've used both excuses in the past, then educated myself and sucked it up and shot a match. After that I smacked myself in the head for wasting so many years making excuses or playing golf. If 10% of our members actually showed up, I'd have a hard time getting a practice bay. I think a lot of people join so they have a place to shoot when and if they get the urge. My dad is a member of out club and hasn't shot there in 3 years. He just wants to have the option of shooting if he feels like it. He's one of the "gun people" mentioned earlier. I thought he was going to have a heart attack watching me drill the trigger guard on a brand new Kimber for a Ghost holster. Have you thought of having a beginner only class and shoot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 We need some 'plinker multigun' matches to get these guys. Almost all the pistol shooters at the club bring a case of guns and shoot a few rounds through this one, a few rounds through that one.. try their buddies new whatever.. IPSC is boring in the gun variery-- only shoot one or maybe two guns all day??? What's up with that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 USPSA is easy to avoid. They simply use the tired "I don't want to buy a $2500 race gun" excuse that's always floating around any club. I actually heard that crap out of a former USPSA shooter (now an IDPAer) and had to dress him down a bit. For IDPA, I'm guessing they use the delaying tactic excuse of "I just need to practice a bit more". I've used both excuses in the past, then educated myself and sucked it up and shot a match. After that I smacked myself in the head for wasting so many years making excuses or playing golf. It is definitely easier NOT to shoot competitively. I owned handguns for 10+ years before getting off my butt and trying this out. For me it took some tragic events in my life as well as some health scares to shake me out of a habit of sidelined living. DOing takes a lot more effort than WATCHing. Getting involved in this sport has effected EVERY part of my life. I will continue to support it with yearly dues for the rest of my life even if I get to a point where I can't participate. Kind of like those that pay to be members of your club but don't shoot much....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFD Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 While a beginner class and shoot is a good idea, I've taken several steps backward in terms of club participation since I shut down the USPSA match at that club. I practice there and almost never shoot any matches they hold. IDPAers did start a match that same weekend that's basically an outlaw match. Sort of a combo USPSA/IDPA match with a very relaxed atmosphere. Now that my weekends have stabilized it might be a good time to consider getting off my butt and getting involved once again (burned out horribly with my USPSA match). A beginner session of some sort on Saturday with the "Fun Match" on Sunday might be a good combo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
standles Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 (edited) IN our club it was once noted that we have ~40 members and 450 customers. My opinion is that I do not want to be a member of a range. I want to be a member of a club. Club in this context is defined as a varied group of folks sharing the common interest of shooting sports and who lwish to be involved with others in this pursuit. Between the CLUB members we regulary keep up with each other and iif one of us gets sick/hurt help is there unasked. While the distinction can be subtle it is a distinction. The group of 40 I am involved with regularly shoots and runs the club. We deal with the local govs, club issues, etc. etc. One might say great why don't you keep on keeping on and live and let live. Well the other "customers" could care less about advancing the club in general to something more than a gravel pit. There is no help on clean-up days, destruction of property, trashy behaviour etc. etc. When caught it is dealt with but you have to have someone that cares to do something. I would much rather raise the dues significantly and thin the herd rather than tolerate the other behaviour. Nothing against the hunters that want to sight in deer rifles etc but that doesn't mean they should be absent from the club except the day before deer season. Oh well my opinion. Steven PS> Some may ask what I am doing other than griping.... I am now on the BOD and I am involved in trying to revive a USPSA club as well as give beginner classes and help in PR. Edited July 5, 2006 by standles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD45 Posted July 6, 2006 Author Share Posted July 6, 2006 While I may be wrong, I strongly believe that one major hurdle in our club is communication. It seems that very few members read the newsletter, even though we also post it online now. I'm pushing for collecting all member's email addresses, because I'm betting that the newsletter will get read by more people that way. Plus, it saves money. And we can still mail a few to people that don't use computers. Not many members can come to all of the club meeting, but a lot of them could make a couple. What we need is input and discussion. I'm banking on the assumption that there are quite a few members out there that would like to help, but think that they aren't needed. Man or woman, young or old, there is always a place to help out. I really like Shred's idea about having a poor man's multi-gun fun shoot. I've thought about something similar many times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cking Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Thoreau writes about this. It is the supporters in words only not in actions. Which describes most of society. Don't complain too much if they all showed up the range would be very busy. Back in Thoreau days it was about slavery. Everybody said they were against slavery, but you would still do business with people who used slave labor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gino_aki Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 To expand on rishii's post about our club, we are in the somewhat unique position of being in charge (along with the other clubs who qualified) of running the local range for the County of Maui. For our nearly unlimited access to this county facility we have to sponsor "Open to the Public" shooting days for regular folks to use their firearms. We get to charge a small fee to help cover the costs of the range equipment (target stands) and insurance. If you join our club you don't have to pay that fee every time, which works out to if you attend five open days during the year, you've basically covered your membership. We also let each paid member designate an associate member who gets all the same privileges. We do this to encourage more husband-wife and parent-child shooting outings. So, we also have a large "on paper" membership base who aren't as active as our IPSC and SASS members, but also re-up every year. Their memberships pay for a lot of paper and steel. So I'm not one to be dissing any of them, and welcoming them anytime they DO want to shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HercPilot Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 I've paid for memberships (several) in states 1000 miles from home - to support the club I shot at once. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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