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Are we too competitive ?

abishai

Not meant to be a rant, but are we getting too competitive ?
Do we all need tuners ? An SEB joystick rest . A set up that is one degree off of rail
gun ? I don't know about the rest of you , but I came to shoot .
It seems to be more money, more gear, more prep, less passion every year.
I see posts on weighing primers, brass , sorting / pointing bullets.
I would not be surprised to see a microscope to sort powder grains by length.
At my club (F class) we decided to let some of our older marksman with back problems
shoot off of a bench. Due to a perceived advantage, everyone now has a back problem and needs a bench.
Is the prize table that good? Is the honor that high?
I have always enjoyed my club , I don't care if the most hard core competitors take advantage
of squading or questionable scoring . Shooting a relay has always been the high point of my week.
Win or loose, I couldn't care less. The most satisfied I have ever been with a relay was shooting an 85
out of 200 with an open sight palma rifle ( laugh all you want until you try it) .
End of (not rant) : Smell the powder burn, feel the wind, send the round, enjoy the gift of friendship
a 200 / 20X is great, its not everything
 
Competition is a competition, for better or worse. No different then the finely tuned race cars of today that will not be fast enough to compete in 5 years, no different than all the elementary school kids that want to play baseball taking private hitting lessons. For some the fun comes out of it with more serious competition, for some thats where the fun starts, i would just point out that neither is wrong.
 
abishai said:
Not meant to be a rant, but are we getting too competitive ?
Do we all need tuners ? An SEB joystick rest . A set up that is one degree off of rail
gun ? I don't know about the rest of you , but I came to shoot .
It seems to be more money, more gear, more prep, less passion every year.
I see posts on weighing primers, brass , sorting / pointing bullets.
I would not be surprised to see a microscope to sort powder grains by length.
At my club (F class) we decided to let some of our older marksman with back problems
shoot off of a bench. Due to a perceived advantage, everyone now has a back problem and needs a bench.
Is the prize table that good? Is the honor that high?
I have always enjoyed my club , I don't care if the most hard core competitors take advantage
of squading or questionable scoring . Shooting a relay has always been the high point of my week.
Win or loose, I couldn't care less. The most satisfied I have ever been with a relay was shooting an 85
out of 200 with an open sight palma rifle ( laugh all you want until you try it) .
End of (not rant) : Smell the powder burn, feel the wind, send the round, enjoy the gift of friendship
a 200 / 20X is great, its not everything
Click to expand...
You are right. currently, without top notch gear you do not have a fighting chance in a match. So, if you just shoot enjoying yourself without a plan for winning that particular match, the arms race does not affect you. It affects people like myself who care about winning. And yes I use SEB gear and my powder charge is precise up to one kernel of powder (0.02gr). However, I do not point bullets yet:).
 
abishai said:
Not meant to be a rant, but are we getting too competitive ?
Do we all need tuners ? An SEB joystick rest . A set up that is one degree off of rail
gun ? I don't know about the rest of you , but I came to shoot .
It seems to be more money, more gear, more prep, less passion every year.
I see posts on weighing primers, brass , sorting / pointing bullets.
I would not be surprised to see a microscope to sort powder grains by length.
At my club (F class) we decided to let some of our older marksman with back problems
shoot off of a bench. Due to a perceived advantage, everyone now has a back problem and needs a bench.
Is the prize table that good? Is the honor that high?
I have always enjoyed my club , I don't care if the most hard core competitors take advantage
of squading or questionable scoring . Shooting a relay has always been the high point of my week.
Win or loose, I couldn't care less. The most satisfied I have ever been with a relay was shooting an 85
out of 200 with an open sight palma rifle ( laugh all you want until you try it) .
End of (not rant) : Smell the powder burn, feel the wind, send the round, enjoy the gift of friendship
a 200 / 20X is great, its not everything
Click to expand...

Winning is a good thing and satisfying, however when shooting is your passion you would (still) enjoy it whether you win or do not win. Meet old and new friends, beating yourself/ego etc is another part.
 
Probably two thirds of the time I shoot by myself. No one around to bother me, no time restraints, no criticism. But I have my own place to shoot so that makes a big difference. If I had to join a "club" I would probably join a golf club so that I could ride around drinking beer. I mean, if you have to hang out with a bunch of people every time you went why take it serious? ;)
 
A few years ago I was loading on my Hornady LNL progressive press and enjoyed it very much. I won my share of club matches. Now it is extreme case prep very tedious with everything measured to the .001 Sometimes I think all the case prep has taken some of the fun out of shooting matches.
 
abishai said:
Not meant to be a rant, but are we getting too competitive ?
Do we all need tuners ? An SEB joystick rest . A set up that is one degree off of rail
gun ? I don't know about the rest of you , but I came to shoot .
It seems to be more money, more gear, more prep, less passion every year.
I see posts on weighing primers, brass , sorting / pointing bullets.
I would not be surprised to see a microscope to sort powder grains by length.
At my club (F class) we decided to let some of our older marksman with back problems
shoot off of a bench. Due to a perceived advantage, everyone now has a back problem and needs a bench.
Is the prize table that good? Is the honor that high?
I have always enjoyed my club , I don't care if the most hard core competitors take advantage
of squading or questionable scoring . Shooting a relay has always been the high point of my week.
Win or loose, I couldn't care less. The most satisfied I have ever been with a relay was shooting an 85
out of 200 with an open sight palma rifle ( laugh all you want until you try it) .
End of (not rant) : Smell the powder burn, feel the wind, send the round, enjoy the gift of friendship
a 200 / 20X is great, its not everything
Click to expand...
Abi -

Howdy !

Irregardless of the " tech ", competition often induces one to attempt their " best effort ".
This can give one an idea of what they can accomplish with what they are shooting, and perhaps whether such competition as-structured; is for them ?


With regards,
357Mag
 
abishai said:
Not meant to be a rant, but are we getting too competitive ?
Do we all need tuners ? An SEB joystick rest . A set up that is one degree off of rail
gun ? I don't know about the rest of you , but I came to shoot .
It seems to be more money, more gear, more prep, less passion every year.
I see posts on weighing primers, brass , sorting / pointing bullets.
I would not be surprised to see a microscope to sort powder grains by length.
At my club (F class) we decided to let some of our older marksman with back problems
shoot off of a bench. Due to a perceived advantage, everyone now has a back problem and needs a bench.
Is the prize table that good? Is the honor that high?
I have always enjoyed my club , I don't care if the most hard core competitors take advantage
of squading or questionable scoring . Shooting a relay has always been the high point of my week.
Win or loose, I couldn't care less. The most satisfied I have ever been with a relay was shooting an 85
out of 200 with an open sight palma rifle ( laugh all you want until you try it) .
End of (not rant) : Smell the powder burn, feel the wind, send the round, enjoy the gift of friendship
a 200 / 20X is great, its not everything
Click to expand...
Life is fun!
I can develop obsessive compulsion disorder if I want to but I've decided not to.
Can I shoot well? Maybe sometimes.
My son on occasion recounts how, when we were shooting with a few friends, in 3 seconds I turned 180 degrees, loaded 1 round leaned against a pavilion post and killed a groundhog at 265 yards with an iron sighted 103 year old battle rifle.
His other I hate dad moment he recalls with friends was when he and I were playing with our AR's. My last string of the day was putting 10 rounds in 15 seconds prone in a 3 1/4" group at 300 yards with my mil spec iron sighted A2.
He shoots my ass off with handguns, I tell him it's his short arms.
 
It boils down to what drives you. Some would spend a fortune, cheat, whatever is necessary for bragging rights. Most of my club buds are into moderate cost rigs and very competitive via practice. I like the idea of the factory class used in several comps to regulate cost and level the playing field, but I like to tinker which detracts from that option for me.
 
Benchrest shooting has become a very technical and expensive activity…if you need to be competitive. At Manatee a shooter recently spent $14,000 for a new rifle build. Many others have done similar.

Now the best bullets are close to a $1 a piece with primers at a dime each and powders over $50 a pound. Add on the huge match fees - close to or at $300 for a weekend shoot and all the betting and other expenses.

Competition shooting is extremely expensive and time consuming. The reloading equipment for precision is outrageously expensive and the time and skill neded to do it all adds to the issue.

Makes you long for and enjoy the times when you take a 22 rim fire and go shoot some cans.
 
There are lots of ways to get enjoyment out of any sport. For many, winning the competition is nice but not the first reason to compete. The preperation, reloading, gathering toys and gadgets, helping others, the travel, the comraderie, all are part of the experience. Lots of other sports are the same. Car racing, fishing, don't even ask what my sister spends on her quilting. Her lineup of sewing machines rivals my gun safe in value. If no one would compete if they couldn't win, there would be very little competition.
 
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