ihmsa forums

I have tried just about everything to get new shooters out.
The most successful one was when I was posting on every online forum I could find, to "SHOOT FOR FREE"
I would post an ad on a number of online forums with the above title. I would offer the use of my gun, ammo, sight settings, and to spot for them with the first entry being free. I would make the offer for my entire home state of Oregon. I had a number of people come out and try it.

castboolits, specialtypistols, accuratereloading, graybeardsoutdoors, campfireforums, shootersforums, thefiringline, nationalgunforum and probably several others.

It can end up running into some money for the ammo, but perhaps a few guys could pitch in to help.
It takes work and time to post the ad's and monitor the forums but it can produce results.

Good luck guys, keep on fighting the good fight.
Joe

At our club (the only club in Ontario shooting IHMSA silhouette, and likely the only one in Canada), new members have to visit all the club disciplines before they become a full member, so they have to come and observe one of our matches and I sign their card to verify their attendance. One of our shooters is great at explaining things and he takes these new club members and explains all about our game, he makes a point of telling them that if they have a handgun (or lever action rifle) there is a course of fire for them. He then shoots the Big Bore course of fire and has them spot for him. I follow him through and chat to them while I shoot my 6” Colt Anaconda through standing to underline the point that you do not need anything exotic to start with. We also stress the point that shooting silhouettes will make them better shooters all round. (Their mouths drop when I hit the odd ram or two!!) We have picked up a few new shooters through doing this BUT there is no incentive for them to join IHMSA, the nearest other ranges they could shoot at being six hours and a border crossing away.

braud357 wrote:There are some that subscribe to the notion that we should change IHMSA to meet the desires and wants of the current demographic of shooters. I wholeheartedly DISAGREE with that idea.

I absolutely agree with you. If you want to do run and gun, go somewhere else. That is about all you see on any of the shooting shows on cable, and then, it's all about money, professional, paid shooters and prizes. If handgun silhouette were to turn into something like that, I would be gone in a heartbeat.

Looks to me like the problem has been identified. Seems as if the overall impression here is we live in a different era. The current shooting community is only driven by action type shooting activities.
If this is true then yes we are destined to failure at some point in the future.
Presuming this is the problem my question would be, why not show flexibility?
Each club will have to make there own decision how to cope and resolve the the lack of participation. Obviously there is no changing of some minds regarding the issue. To those that have decided to keep the narrow road of past IHMSA procedures and have reduced participation, you may want to consider just a bit of flexibility.
Two seasons ago Jackson Purchase had a total of three people attending the BB matches. Since recognizing and polling our past shooters we found what interest each had and what other disciplines could be worked into the IHMSA format. I found this to be a challenge worth exploring. The decision was to offer something additional to the matches. By offering the other disciplines, we have kept IHMSA alive. The club now found our match day to be profitable and we gained renewed support. This brought new shooters to the range which were exposed to handgun silhouette shooting. Some "HAVE" joined IHMSA.
We now shoot the following disciplines and anticipate steady growth in the 2015 season.
Big Bore, Field Pistol, Practical Hunter, Bordello and 4 Position Rim Fire Rifle Tactical match.
You might be surprised to hear that participation has been 50/50 the entire 2014 year. IHMSA has not been snuffed out by any means.
We have a club supported activity which has now become profitable.We have a chance to shoot silhouettes. I fully endorse shooting the other enjoyable disciplines. These also do not require specialized firearms which is another added benefit to the average marksman.
Like stated earlier I cannot change minds.
This is my experience. Those that have decided the end is near please give this some consideration. Flexibility will open doors! We all have a common interest. I personally don't want to see another range close.

Jerry Stringham

Well stated Jerry. We added the .22 rifle shoots to our program almost 30 years ago. It's a place for the teens and younger shooters to start. Once you place the "hook" then they start looking into the handgun(IHMSA) portion of the match. Also works with bringing over "position" shooters. They're looking for a new game with the equipment they already have and then switch over to the Contenders and XP's and start shooting IHMSA. Jerry, you're right.....the problem has been identified....

Concerning flexibility - we are sharing our match day with a group of NRA Cowboy Lever Action silhouette shooters. It has gained us a few $$, but ZERO crossover. Rimfire tactical does not interest us in the least ! I am glad that it has helped you, but our plate is FULL with what we have ! The rifle silhouette shooters were asked about this possibility, with ZERO interest shown ! They shoot a silhouette match every weekend ! They are as committed to rifle as we are to handgun !

We introduced lever action rifles quite a few years ago now and got some more shooters, there was some crossover to handgun and vice versa, this is good for our club revenue but has done nothing for IHMSA.

As a club, our situation is quite different than most IHMSA venues. We do not have a facility to call our own. We are allowed to use our local Sheriff's office training facility, one day a month. This 100 yard range has only 8 firing positions. At this time we are sharing match day with the NRA Cowboy Lever Action shooters. This was done to try to increase our attendance and it has helped to some degree in that sense, but has done nothing to grow IHMSA. We have had no crossover shooters. I can lay no claim to understanding traditional "gun club" politics. But I would think that if a gun club did schedule a day to dedicate the facility for an IHMSA match that they would want to see enough participation to justify the setting aside of the range for that day. So I believe it would be in the best interest of struggling IHMSA clubs to "add" a concurrent match of some sort to get attendance up. This addition would of course have to be up to each individual club and would understandably have to run seamlessly with the IHMSA match format. Adding NRA Cowboy is a good fit because the setup is very similar to IHMSA and the "load and fire" times are the same. You do however have to invest in additional targets. Pistol Cartridge Cowboy can use IHMSA Field Pistol targets if you have those, but the Smallbore Cowboy targets are unlike anything IHMSA has.
As far as changing the current format of IHMSA in any way to attract additional shooters, I cannot condone that at all. I have zero interest in anything "Tactical".....in fact I despise the very word. But to be fair, I don't think that kind of change is being considered for IHMSA at this time. Our game is what it is. You either like it or you don't.

I think we are missing the point guys. Each club has to do what it has to to remain open. Without people there it is no fun to put on a match, nor is it to attend a match. I can't fathom Charlie and Phil showing up for 1 or 2 shooters each month. 99% of us here and around the country would not and they should be applauded for their dedication. That's why at Anderson County you can shoot every discipline there is and that includes air with a little patience. I realize every range is not as lucky as we are, we have enough money to buy whatever we want and as long as it doesn't damage our targets we are open to discuss shooting it. If there is not enough IHMSA shooters to keep you open you have to do what you have to.

To Jerry's "tactical" match I think they use tactical .22s and use a different position at each distance. They may not be IHMSA shooters but they are keeping him open and his shooters a place to play.