Las Vegas,Nevada

Are you referring to group shooting or score shooting or both?
I was part of it from 1995- 2004. Group shooting fell by the wayside after the Desert Sportsman cancelled a scheduled match days before it was scheduled, and we had to call competitors to let them know as some were already in route like George Kelbly and his wife! Not long after that the target frames, backers and motor disappeared from the convex container. That was about 1998. Score had a following of 16-20 guys and was run by Dave Reeder who decided to move to Louisiana, and another shooter picked up running the matches and after a couple of years had a bunch of personal problems divorce, lost his home etc. Then Keith Meyers stepped in and ran score for I figure 5 years, eventually garnering enough support from the club that when VFS debuted in the NBRSA, Keith bid on the Nationals for VFS and Hunter, and held the NBRSA Nationals 2 years in a row. Then there was a rift that occurred and Keith got pissed about it and that’s when score disappeared in Vegas until a guy named Howard Bloom got it fired back up, and still managed 12-15 shooters monthly. Well Howard passed away a couple of years ago, and again Score shooting all but disappeared. Now Joel Nader just mentioned that Score is being shot again and there is potential for an NBRSA shoot but only if they can get attendance up. I guess they are only getting 3-5 shooters to come out. Vegas used to hold one of the best group shoots, because wives wanted to go so they could hit the casinos while their husbands were shooting. One last thought the biggest reason I believe is responsible for the downfall of both venues was The Desert Sportsman’s dislike of Benchrest shooters! JMHO!
 
If we are to resurrect the sport of Benchrest and the bone yard that it has become it is best to remember that we are first and foremost Friends.
Gary has been around BR a long time and his opinions and observations are valued. I will however immediately come to the defense of the DSR&P club in Las Vegas. They do not harbor any dislike for Benchrest Shooters, I treat them and all their rules and regulations with all the respect they deserve for providing a safe and sane shooting environment in a metropolis of millions of people and they treat a single BR shooter (me) like gold. I will often show up for a full day of shooting. They provide a place for me to reload on the line or in the "love shack" during inclement weather. I share the range with others and demand nothing other than safe gun handling practices from them. I am cognizant of the time it takes for me to set flags and quickly squeeze it in while others are down range setting targets. I have a target up with a full day's amount of bulls so I don't have to call a cease fire at any time. If anyone wants to go down range for any reason I graciously pull my bolt and step behind the yellow line. I give no one any reason to dislike me at all unless they are handling a firearm in an unsafe manner, then I become a grizzly bear who is hell bent on his survival.
As a whole BR shooters are a pain in the ass. We take forever to set flags, we expect everyone else to stand by while we finish are "all important group", we are better than everybody else, snobbish and elitist. We need 30 amp electric service, running water, clean bathrooms, hot showers and an air conditioned club house with a hot breakfast and lunch. Desert Sportsman Rifle and Pistol club does not offer these amenities. We are in the freekin' desert. There is no overnight camping on the range. High end hotels and casinos are close by but there are no $89 a night rooms close to the range.
The club still offers Varmint for Score matches every fourth Saturday of the month and rimfire BR matches every first Sunday of the month. You do not have to be a member to participate, just show up at the gate and go to range 6. There is a $10 fee and if you bring donuts everybody will love you. Club opens at 7:00 matches start at 9:00
Joel
 
Las Vegas

Thanks for the update. I was just curious. Ron Dubielak showed me around the facility,several years ago when I was in town visiting a relative. Ron has since relocated to the Texas Hill Country. I had planned to try and make it to
a match at Vegas but it just didn’t materialize. Dittio on the hospitality.

Glenn
 
Nader said:
If we are to resurrect the sport of Benchrest and the bone yard that it has become it is best to remember that we are first and foremost Friends.
Gary has been around BR a long time and his opinions and observations are valued. I will however immediately come to the defense of the DSR&P club in Las Vegas. They do not harbor any dislike for Benchrest Shooters, I treat them and all their rules and regulations with all the respect they deserve for providing a safe and sane shooting environment in a metropolis of millions of people and they treat a single BR shooter (me) like gold. I will often show up for a full day of shooting. They provide a place for me to reload on the line or in the "love shack" during inclement weather. I share the range with others and demand nothing other than safe gun handling practices from them. I am cognizant of the time it takes for me to set flags and quickly squeeze it in while others are down range setting targets. I have a target up with a full day's amount of bulls so I don't have to call a cease fire at any time. If anyone wants to go down range for any reason I graciously pull my bolt and step behind the yellow line. I give


no one any reason to dislike me at all unless they are handling a firearm in an unsafe manner, then I become a grizzly bear who is hell bent on his survival.
As a whole BR shooters are a pain in the ass. We take forever to set flags, we expect everyone else to stand by while we finish are "all important group", we are better than everybody else, snobbish and elitist. We need 30 amp electric service, running water, clean bathrooms, hot showers and an air conditioned club house with a hot breakfast and lunch. Desert Sportsman Rifle and Pistol club does not offer these amenities. We are in the freekin' desert. There is no overnight camping on the range. High end hotels and casinos are close by but there are no $89 a night rooms close to the range.
The club still offers Varmint for Score matches every fourth Saturday of the month and rimfire BR matches every first Sunday of the month. You do not have to be a member to participate, just show up at the gate and go to range 6. There is a $10 fee and if you bring donuts everybody will love you. Club opens at 7:00 matches start at 9:00
Joel
Click to expand...

Joel just for informational purposes, at the time all of this went on in Vegas, the board of directors were all anti BR! They absolutely hated us and were defiant any time we wanted to hold a match! We had to jump through hoops that none of the other disciplines had to. We were harassed by the leadership at that time at every single board meeting.
I only wish there were some of the other people were alive today so they could explain how bad it was! There is only 2 of us left and 1 doesn’t shoot anymore and lives in Cave Creek and sometimes shows up to shoot 1 day of the Cactus Classic. His name is Bret Balmer. If you run into him sometime ask him.
The best part of the story is two of those BOD became criminals, 1 was charged with embezzling funds, and the other was a City Inspector that was charged for an offense by the city of LV. Since the new board took over things went fairly well. Except for the fact they incorporated some new rules that made no sense and iirc Howard got onto a committee, and tried to get those rules fixed.
There were 4 of us that ran those matches, Norm Lindley, Tom Guisewhite, Brett Balmer and myself. To this day day I believe the BOD went into the conex container and took the target and moving backer system and scrapped it! Access to that container was very limited, I had a key, and the Rimfire discipline, and the BOD’s had keys! JMHO, but Desert Sportsman has changed to a much kinder and gentler club.
 
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Wow, yes I am responding to an old thread ... BUT, please note that I took over as Match Director for the Rimfire Bench Rest matches for a while in the mid 2000's after an incident with several previous match directors, rule breaking and well, other things. We ran a good series of matches, the Board fully supported us, and during this period, everyone worked well together. We ran a Rimfire 250 target (to not get sued by RBA) and had several excelent top level Rimfire BR shooters (Steve Boelter, Sheldon Turf, Mike Simino, Mr. Levuesque, and many others.) . There might have been bad times before and after, but during this period is as a good group and well supported by the club.

Sorry to reharsh old news.. but as someone said above - lets set the record staight.
 
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