ihmsa forums

Original thread started a year ago. So Part 2 begins here, a year later, a year older, a year more wear on our bodies, eyes, knees, etc. What are your thoughts now? Any change? Before starting this thread, I reviewed all 5 pages of the original thread. Some good comments to be sure, but never a consensus on how to advance forward in drawing new shooters and/or keeping older shooters in the game a bit longer.

So before you reply, take a few minutes to re-read the original thread please. There will be no "one size fits all", there never was....and pretty much all of the traditional marksmanship events of past years (think rifle silhouette, bullseye, etc) have lesser attendance. IHMSA Standing was never as popular as Unlimited, Production, or Revolver. Revolver was never as popular as Production or Unlimited. The addition of UAS and PH didn't add new shooters so much as it gave other categories for current shooters to play in. I can recall shooting 4-gun aggs in a single day but those days are now just pleasant memories and wishful thinking.

A few thoughts here, add yours please....

Reduce match labor whenever possible. Transition to swingers for local matches. Use impact lights for BB to signal hits.

At one point, IHMSA was all open sights. IHMSA since added 9 optics categories: US, UAS, UASFS, UASHS, PH (22, Short, and BB) and a couple optic air guns. In the meantime, participation in open sight categories has struggled by comparison. Do entries in optic categories outnumber open sights?

Can we consolidate some skill classes? Do we need C class? Do we need B class?

Where are we going? What will draw new shooters or keep older shooters in the game longer? Your thoughts and suggestions please.....

I think with the rebirth of the contender from SSK, and all the choices for barrel selection that should help us in getting some new shooters into IHMSA.
We did a couple of trigger jobs on the new frames last weekend, there are a few differences between the “old” and the new, all positive improvements.
Let’s hope SSK can keep up with the demand.

So I'm thinking that our game was created almost 50 years ago and other than aftermarket sights and UAS categories, it has remained largely the same. Meaning, it was original factory sights only for about 15 years, followed by mostly open sights for about 20 years, and now optics are quite popular.

If we were creating the sport today, would it be just the opposite? Would the categories be primarily optics, with a small handful of open sight categories for those wanting more challenge? It's 2024, not 1977.

Would the 2024 demographic include rifle shooters? I'm thinking about youth, cowboy, the occasional club shooter, all with .22 LR, who wants to test their skill on the 3/8 scale targets, then perhaps "graduate" to 1/5 scale. Same 2 minutes we use for handgun, but at IHMSA distances instead of NRA meters. There are no NRA matches in my state that I know of.

We had .22LR rifle shooters at our matches. They were a financial boon.

Steve W

We also include .22 rifle in our IHMSA matches and have for almost 40 years. Still brings in more shooters. When I mentioned adding this to our "sanctioned" matches to be included in the rule book years ago their was such a "howl" from some members that I didn't bother bringing it up again.