F-Class: Share the Love...
- Thread starter Nodak7mm
- Start date
CJ6
Silver $$ Contributor
I attended my 1st match last weekend at Harris Mn.(embarrassing as it was for me). I can't say enough about the paitience/help and knowledge shared with a NEWBIE. GREAT group of people. I think I swallowed the hook ;D ;D ;D. With that kind of support I can see the sport growing.
Thanks for all your help! I really appreciate it.
I'm From NE Iowa, but also shoot at Van Meter, IA (by Des Moines) and would be more than willing to help sway them in a direction. If someone wants they can PM me here and I'll contact them. I also shoot La Crosse, WI everynow and then with some polite and all around good shooters there.
Brock (~260)
Brock (~260)
Nodak7mm
Team Lefse
Kudo's to the guys stepping up and offering their experience and time to get new shooters "on paper".
As of today (6/19/12) we have 20 Mentors and 4 Mentee's (with successfull hook ups I hope).
Lets keep the thread alive and let people know they are "not alone" in the quest... ;D
Have a great day guys..
Rod
As of today (6/19/12) we have 20 Mentors and 4 Mentee's (with successfull hook ups I hope).
Lets keep the thread alive and let people know they are "not alone" in the quest... ;D
Have a great day guys..
Rod
effendude
Gold $$ Contributor
Rod,
Interesting story.... I got an email from a 17 year old young man named Nathan who was interested in F-class. He stated he had read the rules, and believed he was ready to give it a try. I suggested that he should come out and watch our F-class league first and then decide if it was something he wanted to do. Well, he came out with his father last night, introduced himself, and watched the first relay shoot. He became excited about what he saw, heck, who wouldn't get excited watching me flings some 8's with the new .308 barrel on the F-TR rig which is going back to the smith next week. Arrrrgh!!!!
We were so impressed with this young man that one of the members set up his Savage F-class 6mmBR with the Farley and let Nathan shoot some shots during the second string. He was hooked. He told me he had a Remington .308 and accessories. I suggested that might be a little stout for a 17 year old and offered to allow him to use the club's .223 Rem. bolt rifle if he provided the ammo. I will loan him a Sinclair bi-pod and he will be off and running.
Similar to when I met you, Rod, the whole thing made me feel warm and fuzzy. Seriously, it is great fun to bring new people of all ages into the shooting sports.
Here is a suggestion to all of us shooters out there. We all have a rifle or two in the safe that isn't what it used to be, or maybe lost is shine so to speak. Consider loaning the rifle and older equipment to your local club or range, or offer to make it available for a new shooter to use. It is your rifle, you make the rules and you keep ownership. While F-class is relativley inexpensive, getting started with decent equipment takes some doing. The equipment doesn't have to be new, just functional and safe.
It seems like it was a long time ago when I first experienced the thrill of shooting beyond 100 yards at a target. First it was 200 yards, then 300 and finally 600 yards, all with open sights! Now I am angry with myself if I don't shoot all X's and 10's, even at 1000 yards. If all of us remember that thrill and try to share it, imagine how popular our sport will become. What a great thing to be a part of.
Scott
Interesting story.... I got an email from a 17 year old young man named Nathan who was interested in F-class. He stated he had read the rules, and believed he was ready to give it a try. I suggested that he should come out and watch our F-class league first and then decide if it was something he wanted to do. Well, he came out with his father last night, introduced himself, and watched the first relay shoot. He became excited about what he saw, heck, who wouldn't get excited watching me flings some 8's with the new .308 barrel on the F-TR rig which is going back to the smith next week. Arrrrgh!!!!
We were so impressed with this young man that one of the members set up his Savage F-class 6mmBR with the Farley and let Nathan shoot some shots during the second string. He was hooked. He told me he had a Remington .308 and accessories. I suggested that might be a little stout for a 17 year old and offered to allow him to use the club's .223 Rem. bolt rifle if he provided the ammo. I will loan him a Sinclair bi-pod and he will be off and running.
Similar to when I met you, Rod, the whole thing made me feel warm and fuzzy. Seriously, it is great fun to bring new people of all ages into the shooting sports.
Here is a suggestion to all of us shooters out there. We all have a rifle or two in the safe that isn't what it used to be, or maybe lost is shine so to speak. Consider loaning the rifle and older equipment to your local club or range, or offer to make it available for a new shooter to use. It is your rifle, you make the rules and you keep ownership. While F-class is relativley inexpensive, getting started with decent equipment takes some doing. The equipment doesn't have to be new, just functional and safe.
It seems like it was a long time ago when I first experienced the thrill of shooting beyond 100 yards at a target. First it was 200 yards, then 300 and finally 600 yards, all with open sights! Now I am angry with myself if I don't shoot all X's and 10's, even at 1000 yards. If all of us remember that thrill and try to share it, imagine how popular our sport will become. What a great thing to be a part of.
Scott
Nodak7mm
Team Lefse
Great Story Scott, Congrats on the success of setting the hook deep and thank you for sharing..
Its awfully sweet for you to say, meeting me made you all warm and fuzzy, I am getting teared up as I write this, but I will say this as "easy" as I can; I am happily married... ;D
Seriously, it is great fun to bring new people of all ages into the shooting sports. It really is pretty kool and especially awesome when you can gut hook a younger guy and his Dad. Thats a two for one package there..
Kudos to the Elk River Sportsmans Club & the Monday Night F-Class League!!! I dont care who you are, that there is a success story!
Rod
Its awfully sweet for you to say, meeting me made you all warm and fuzzy, I am getting teared up as I write this, but I will say this as "easy" as I can; I am happily married... ;D
Seriously, it is great fun to bring new people of all ages into the shooting sports. It really is pretty kool and especially awesome when you can gut hook a younger guy and his Dad. Thats a two for one package there..
Kudos to the Elk River Sportsmans Club & the Monday Night F-Class League!!! I dont care who you are, that there is a success story!
Rod
Rod we have a program in place at the St.Louis club. It began as a solution to a safety issue but after one class we realized it was much more and added 2 more levels of classes to it. We are seeing the competitors of the club in all of the classes as well as the new people from the classes on the line. This has been a win win for the club and keeps us active during the off season.
Shootingstl.com
Shootingstl.com
effendude
Gold $$ Contributor
Here is an update on our young shooter at Elk River, MN. Nathan arrived early last night so we could get a good 300 yard zero on the loaner rifle, a Remington 700 match rifle in .223 that I put a rail and a 20X Super Sniper on. Nathan fired a few shots and was given some pit training.
Back at 600 yards, he fired a 181 for score. His first shot was pulled and scored a 6. He settled down and then started rolling. Talking with him afterward, he was thrilled but a little disappointed in his score. I reminded him that to shoot a 180 score, all shots were averaging within the 9 ring, a 12" circle at 600 yards. A few of us chatted up what a true accomplishment that is. 90% of the shooting public couldn't do that.
We chatted a little about dry-fire practice and rimfire shooting as ways of improving scores between league nights. This young man listened intently to our suggestions and kept smiling. F-classers, we have another shooter joining our ranks. At the weekly de-briefing over beer and pizza at the American Legion, we discussed how to allow more new shooters, especially younger ones, the opportunity to experience shooting F-class.
I will keep everyone informed as this succes story continues.
Scott
Back at 600 yards, he fired a 181 for score. His first shot was pulled and scored a 6. He settled down and then started rolling. Talking with him afterward, he was thrilled but a little disappointed in his score. I reminded him that to shoot a 180 score, all shots were averaging within the 9 ring, a 12" circle at 600 yards. A few of us chatted up what a true accomplishment that is. 90% of the shooting public couldn't do that.
We chatted a little about dry-fire practice and rimfire shooting as ways of improving scores between league nights. This young man listened intently to our suggestions and kept smiling. F-classers, we have another shooter joining our ranks. At the weekly de-briefing over beer and pizza at the American Legion, we discussed how to allow more new shooters, especially younger ones, the opportunity to experience shooting F-class.
I will keep everyone informed as this succes story continues.
Scott
This is great... I can testify that as an older newbie (VERY new), I found the Rifle Committee group at Scarborough Fish & Game, Scarborough, Maine, very welcoming and helpful. One of the members even loaned me a rifle while I was waiting for my order to come in. Somehow they combine the anal/compulsive aspect of precision long range shooting with a kicked back attitude which I find very comfortable. The top shooters are quite approachable and helpful and patient with my newbie questions, not stand-offish or snooty. I think I have found my tribe. Anyone in this area, just come to a monthly committee meeting, let people know who you are and what your interest is, you will get a good response.
Nodak7mm
Team Lefse
Scott,
Sounds like you had a great night!!
I think one of the "BIGGEST STUMBLING BLOCKS" to attracting new shooters of most disciplines is basically lack of available information & knowledge. Not lack of knowledge about firearms and ballistics, but lack of info on:
But for crying out loud, its easier to figure out where to shoot Zombies than where to shoot F-Class...
Advertizing takes money, I understand that, but..
How hard is it for a club to put up a flyer at the local sporting goods store, never have seen one announcing a High Power/F-Class match..
Have a booth at the local county fair..
Hold a informal class in coordination with your local Parks District or Sporting Goods Store (this is something I am looking into doing this winter) From what I understand, Immike holds Intro to LR shooting classes at the STL Benchrest Club and they are very well recieved and well attended.
Cripes, I gotta get off my soap-box here.. :
Thinking about how easy is it is to shoot zombies vs an F-Class target got me wrapped around the axle...
Bottom Line: Share the Love........Your love of shooting sports and get the word out...
Rod
Sounds like you had a great night!!
I think one of the "BIGGEST STUMBLING BLOCKS" to attracting new shooters of most disciplines is basically lack of available information & knowledge. Not lack of knowledge about firearms and ballistics, but lack of info on:
- Where can I shoot/Get involved in this particular discipline? Is there someplace local, do I have to travel, etc...
- Who can I talk to about this, ask questions, learn from, etc.. (Mentorship)
But for crying out loud, its easier to figure out where to shoot Zombies than where to shoot F-Class...
Advertizing takes money, I understand that, but..How hard is it for a club to put up a flyer at the local sporting goods store, never have seen one announcing a High Power/F-Class match..
Have a booth at the local county fair..
Hold a informal class in coordination with your local Parks District or Sporting Goods Store (this is something I am looking into doing this winter) From what I understand, Immike holds Intro to LR shooting classes at the STL Benchrest Club and they are very well recieved and well attended.
Cripes, I gotta get off my soap-box here.. :
Thinking about how easy is it is to shoot zombies vs an F-Class target got me wrapped around the axle...Bottom Line: Share the Love........Your love of shooting sports and get the word out...
Rod
effendude
Gold $$ Contributor
Rod,
I agree completely that we need to encourage more participation. When I started the F-class league up here 6 years ago, I hung flyers at the Gunstop in Excelsior, MN. John Walton, who owns the reloading portion of the business, sent a bunch of people my way. As an aside, if anyone needs reloading supplies or equipment, John is your guy. small business owner, awesome prices and service!
For the last couple years, we have had a powerpoint presentation and classroom session before the league starts. In April of this year, we had 93 new shooters attend the first nights session. Most came out for the equipment check the second week. We probably have 30 or so new shooters that have stuck with it. In my opinion, most of the people who don't stick with the league are those who have too much pride and ego. Shooting at a F-class target is a hunbling experience. While we don't collect score sheets, I think some are intimidated by the challenge. We coach shooters as much as possible. We don't want any to fail. I beleive that the classroom and equipment checks, along with a few nights at 300 yards acts as a filter to screen out those who really don't have the interest in the sport.
We run the league each week exactly like a match. Our only rules are:
Each shot must be accounted for (known Impact).
A round falls short, you go home.
Demonstrate you don't have the attention to detail to maintain a zero on the rifle, you go home.
I think that having a single day "camp" might be the next step. Inviting new shooters to spend a day on the range with experienced shooters being trained and shooting would be beneficial. I will talk to the gang, maybe we will do this as a trial.
On the darker side, I have done a few "600 yard shoot" days at our club. I invited members and guests to come out and have the opportunity to shoot out to 600 yards. We started at 100 yards with equipment checks after some classroom training. This became a disaster. It seemed as though many wanted to shoot at 600 yards, but none wanted to actually know how. From Mosin-Nagants, AK's, 16" barreled AR's, the collection of crap brought out was unbelievable.. I ended up loaning several of my rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammo so these people could safely shoot at 600 yards. Never saw any of them again. I can bet they talk up a good game at cocktail parties and a hunting camps though.....
I think some of the TV shows have made shooting long distances more of cool thing. It has done a disservice to the hunting sport in some respects too. Plunk down a wad of cash, and you can shoot as far as you want without any practice.
Scott
I agree completely that we need to encourage more participation. When I started the F-class league up here 6 years ago, I hung flyers at the Gunstop in Excelsior, MN. John Walton, who owns the reloading portion of the business, sent a bunch of people my way. As an aside, if anyone needs reloading supplies or equipment, John is your guy. small business owner, awesome prices and service!
For the last couple years, we have had a powerpoint presentation and classroom session before the league starts. In April of this year, we had 93 new shooters attend the first nights session. Most came out for the equipment check the second week. We probably have 30 or so new shooters that have stuck with it. In my opinion, most of the people who don't stick with the league are those who have too much pride and ego. Shooting at a F-class target is a hunbling experience. While we don't collect score sheets, I think some are intimidated by the challenge. We coach shooters as much as possible. We don't want any to fail. I beleive that the classroom and equipment checks, along with a few nights at 300 yards acts as a filter to screen out those who really don't have the interest in the sport.
We run the league each week exactly like a match. Our only rules are:
Each shot must be accounted for (known Impact).
A round falls short, you go home.
Demonstrate you don't have the attention to detail to maintain a zero on the rifle, you go home.
I think that having a single day "camp" might be the next step. Inviting new shooters to spend a day on the range with experienced shooters being trained and shooting would be beneficial. I will talk to the gang, maybe we will do this as a trial.
On the darker side, I have done a few "600 yard shoot" days at our club. I invited members and guests to come out and have the opportunity to shoot out to 600 yards. We started at 100 yards with equipment checks after some classroom training. This became a disaster. It seemed as though many wanted to shoot at 600 yards, but none wanted to actually know how. From Mosin-Nagants, AK's, 16" barreled AR's, the collection of crap brought out was unbelievable.. I ended up loaning several of my rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammo so these people could safely shoot at 600 yards. Never saw any of them again. I can bet they talk up a good game at cocktail parties and a hunting camps though.....
I think some of the TV shows have made shooting long distances more of cool thing. It has done a disservice to the hunting sport in some respects too. Plunk down a wad of cash, and you can shoot as far as you want without any practice.
Scott
CJ6
Silver $$ Contributor
The EXTRA range time/training is a great idea,BUT can you get enough help/volunteers with you to make it work ? Don't get me wrong I'm all for it ( I need the training ),it just seems that getting people to commit (and stay committed) it a TUFF row to hoe (been there). Possibly charging a small fee (for us ADULTS) to help in "TIPPING" ($20 maybe or whatever) the Trainers/Volunteers, I'd pay it. Another thing is scheduling it. A weeknight is fine if your local , but a non-local (somewhat biased) 
would need a FRI or Sat, would the Club be open for this at that time ? Scott I SURE hope this works out cause my first experience was VERY positive and I'm looking forward to the next time. Roger T..............PS Nate has a good future ahead of him if he keeps it up (I was AWE STRUCK at GRRC) .
would need a FRI or Sat, would the Club be open for this at that time ? Scott I SURE hope this works out cause my first experience was VERY positive and I'm looking forward to the next time. Roger T..............PS Nate has a good future ahead of him if he keeps it up (I was AWE STRUCK at GRRC) .effendude
Gold $$ Contributor
Roger,
You are right about the volunteers. That is why I stepped away from running the league this year. 5 years of running the league AND not shooting was enough. Shooting is my passion, running the league was great but I wanted to shoot more myself. My performance suffered at matches when I wasn't shooting except at a few matches each year.
Elk River, like most clubs, has a key group of 5 to 10 who do all the work. Adding more events simply puts more demands on those volunteers. We do this because we enjoy sharing the sport. Meeting great guys like you helps too. Stressing that our league, while not necessarily competitive in nature, is based on an organized competitive sport has eliminated some of the pray and spray types.
I will talk to a bunch of the guys today. We are hosting the sniper events of the 2012 Can-Am Police and Fire Games at the club yesterday and today. The same 5-10 of us took two days off from work to run the event. You get what I mean. Sometimes, you have to say enough is enough.
Scott
You are right about the volunteers. That is why I stepped away from running the league this year. 5 years of running the league AND not shooting was enough. Shooting is my passion, running the league was great but I wanted to shoot more myself. My performance suffered at matches when I wasn't shooting except at a few matches each year.
Elk River, like most clubs, has a key group of 5 to 10 who do all the work. Adding more events simply puts more demands on those volunteers. We do this because we enjoy sharing the sport. Meeting great guys like you helps too. Stressing that our league, while not necessarily competitive in nature, is based on an organized competitive sport has eliminated some of the pray and spray types.
I will talk to a bunch of the guys today. We are hosting the sniper events of the 2012 Can-Am Police and Fire Games at the club yesterday and today. The same 5-10 of us took two days off from work to run the event. You get what I mean. Sometimes, you have to say enough is enough.
Scott
Rod, you know you can put on the list. I'm already helping out a couple guys.
Rod has asked me to share my notes, that would take some time .My partner John Ross and i take this on plus a volunteer here and there. We are there for them ,this takes time and patients I find hard to describe . The start of a student is a matter of alignment. Our level one class is ground floor as if they never shot before. Then we know what they know. I have them shoot at 100 yrds until they get that right. They only move forward when things are in order at that yardage. We feed them the info they need and by their next class they are more prepared to move out.
Nodak7mm
Team Lefse
I have meant to address the last couple of posts for the past 2 wks, but have just kinda hung on waiting to see if more folks would chime in so I could say thank you to them too. But, maybe everybody else is shooting in matches right now..
But I would like to send Awesome Karma and say a Big Thank You to Mike (Immike) & Scott (Effendude) for holding these types of intro courses at their respective clubs.
As a talking point, I have always questioned why we dont see offerings for such offerings more commonly at clubs, whether its F-Class, Service Rifle, XTC, High Power in general. Heck, 3/4 postion shooting in Smallbore for that matter.. Why do we not see these more often? Is it finding volunterr or time for a volunteer, is it a club insurance issue, or lack of demand?
Comments? Just curious..
Rod
But I would like to send Awesome Karma and say a Big Thank You to Mike (Immike) & Scott (Effendude) for holding these types of intro courses at their respective clubs.
As a talking point, I have always questioned why we dont see offerings for such offerings more commonly at clubs, whether its F-Class, Service Rifle, XTC, High Power in general. Heck, 3/4 postion shooting in Smallbore for that matter.. Why do we not see these more often? Is it finding volunterr or time for a volunteer, is it a club insurance issue, or lack of demand?
Comments? Just curious..
Rod
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