Austin Rifle Club - Match Results Nov 27, 2022

[Steve Krause]

ARC 100 yd Match for Score
23 shooters - 4 Hunter Rifles, 5 Factory, 14 VFS

Nice sunny day in the 70's and a little wind out of the North mostly. And that little breeze was enough to drop shots to the tune of ONLY ONE SHOOTER SHOT CLEAN. That shooter was Bill Sparks with his 250-9X. Lots of high X's turned in but all had dropped points. Don Mulhall anchors 2nd place with a 249-16X and 3rd was a tie that goes to Charles Moore with a 249-14X after the tiebreaker.
1st Hunter was Mike Wall at 248-11X and 2nd was John Gallaher at 246-9X. 3rd is Curt Gallaher at 239-5X.
Factory 1st place was Paul Shanklin with a 245-7X. 2nd place was Dickey Johnson at 243-11X and a hot 50-4X last target. Hal Bogatz wins 3rd with 242-4X.

Next month we will have our match on Sunday, DEC 18 STARTS AT NOON.
See ya'll then.
Steve Krause
Benchrest Match Director

[Hunter]

ARC 100 yd Match for Score
23 shooters - 4 Hunter Rifles, 5 Factory, 14 VFS

I'm curious as to how y'all get such good attendance at your matches. To what do you attribute that? Advertising? Shooting only one yardage (thus, finish quicker, but fewer targets)? Proximity to the shooters? What?

At River Bend, over the past several years the average monthly attendance at the "open" (i.e., non-registered) matches has been less than ten shooters. We typically alternate months between shooting group and score (100- and 200-yards each month), and typically lunch is provided, for $20 -- with money paid to one or more of the top shooters each month. (Without looking back through match reports, I don't think there's a noteworthy difference in attendance at group v. score matches.) We typically start shooting around 9:00 and finish around 3:30 - 4:00. I suspect there are a boat load of shooters who live less than 50 miles from the range.

[Steve Krause]

I think a number of factors are at play and a little luck had something to do with it. Advertise, yes right here in this forum and on the club bulletin board, esp mentioning 'Factory' class and not just benchrest guns. Get those 'deer rifles' interested. Proximity somewhat as we're about 50-50 on club members vs out-of-towners (non-members). Some of which drive from San Antone and Waco, about 100 mi/90 min.
I like an efficient match, keep it short. We made extra wooden target frames to increase # of targets shot IN ONE RELAY. And I'll build more , if needed, to have ONLY ONE RELAY. Ours is a 2 hour match. Double that for Relay 2. So 4 hrs in the midday Texas sun ( May-Sept) ain't no fun. Color it 100 degrees. I digress, but we got shooters in their 70's and 80's. Every club does. Keep everyone comfortable with ONLY ONE RELAY. We even have a summer start time (10 am) and winter (12 noon) so everyone will stay vertical.
When I took over in 2017 we, too, had 10 -12 on avg for our monthly 100 yd score match. Note that we are the only club in central Texas that has a monthly match all year. A few clubs down here will hold matches only during 'shootin season' which here seems to be roughly Mar-Sept. So we do get spillover from other clubs. Our range is setup so we shoot North. And I can not explain why 23 shooters show up on Jan 31 in a 15-20mph north wind when its 40 degrees.
Giving out more prize money helped a lot. I increased registration to $15. That put mo money to the winners and not unimportantly, mo money to the club. Even with a breakdown of 60% to club and 40% to the peoples, we tripled the annual cash for the club and each class of rifles got prize $. Even with just 4 rifles in a class, payout 3 prizes .....gives everyone better chance. In a class with many (13-18)shooters we'll pay $40-50 for 1st and 25-35 for 2nd. IMHO, this keeps em coming back.
We also have a voluntary 'Best Target Kitty'. Everyone puts in 1$ for each target and best score in each class gets it. We've had 17 VFS shooters at times and if you win a couple of those , it's braggin rights.
And the luck part of it was word of mouth between friends. One guy got invited, got hooked, told his friends and now there are 4 regulars. And after opening back up post-pandemic, a good size group of group shooters from San Ant and New Braunsfels showed up and now got another 4-5 regulars from that. Maybe they saw this advertising or something, but just seems lucky.
I got a little long here but the more I thought about it the more reasons were involved than I first thought. Maybe the takeaway is, 'Show 'em the MONEY'.
SK

[Hunter]

... Advertise, yes right here in this forum and on the club bulletin board, esp mentioning 'Factory' class and not just benchrest guns. Get those 'deer rifles' interested. (I used to reference the following month's match when I posted the current month's match report, but I quit doing that on a regular basis since it didn't seem to have any effect -- maybe I'll start doing that again. As for advertising in the club newsletter, that could be improved upon. We used to have several factory rifles most months, but it's rare now to have more than one factory rifle (and that is only occasionally.) Proximity somewhat as we're about 50-50 on club members vs out-of-towners (non-members). Some of which drive from San Antone and Waco, about 100 mi/90 min. (I suspect most of the shooters at River Bend's CF BR matches live within 50 miles, and I suspect there are a boat load of deer hunters who live within 50 miles also. What's strange is that it's not unusual to see a new shooter show up, never to be seen again.)
I like an efficient match, keep it short. (As noted above, we shoot two aggregates and break for lunch. I like shooting two aggregates, rather than one; maybe that extra time eliminates some shooters, but that's OK with me.) ... So 4 hrs in the midday Texas sun ( May-Sept) ain't no fun. (Do y'all have a covered firing line?) ...
...
Giving out more prize money helped a lot. ... Even with just 4 rifles in a class, payout 3 prizes .....gives everyone better chance. In a class with many (13-18)shooters we'll pay $40-50 for 1st and 25-35 for 2nd. IMHO, this keeps em coming back. (The match director at River Bend also gives out money. I'm not sure whether he pays to three places, but I suspect the Top Gun gets plenty of money for gas and components.)
...
I got a little long here but the more I thought about it the more reasons were involved than I first thought. (See below.) Maybe the takeaway is, 'Show 'em the MONEY'.

Steve, I enjoyed your comments; thank you for taking time to post.

[Steve Krause]

Yes, we have a covered firing line, quite elaborate in fact. Club constructed 'large ,heavy, metal plated eyebrows' limiting aiming areas to targets /berms ONLY. Trying , and successfully eliminating rounds escaping the range. (I wish the downloading worked to this site so I could show pics of this range). The downside was an awful, enhanced metal reverberation sound and the added metal increased the heat transferred from the metal roof/eyebrow structure. And our prevailing SE breeze gets cut off on race day with how the vehicles are parked behind the firing line. Unintended consequences that just come together to make a summertime competition somewhat uncomfortable. (Currently looking to apply some type of sound deadening foam spray or foam panels). All this is why I will always try to have just the one relay. I am a native Houstonian and was acclimated to the heat/humidity till a few years ago closing in on 70. Another downside to this aging process.

We used to shoot , in the 90's, groups at 9am and break for lunch and then score shoot at 1pm. Under the right conditions it was enjoyable. In July and August, not so much. I'm sure some clubs up north (anything north of Dallas) have some conditions to contend with too.

So, at our benchrest match, at our club, keeping it from being an all day event, keeping everyone positive and comfortable and awarding some decent prizes seems to keep the chooters coming back. It certainly is not my bubbly personality like some of the guys tell me. They are not good liars.

Good luck, nothin but X's
SK

[Hunter]

(I wish the downloading worked to this site so I could show pics of this range).

See posts 5 & 6 at http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?...ht=#post853475

Also, see posts 2 & 6 at http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?105187-Imgur

[Steve Krause]

thanks for the heads up. I followed all the directions for Imgur but just not getting the results described. I'll keep trying. At least there is a work around

[Steve Krause]

almost got it.....tried to post a pic but the text in the BB Code box (message boards and forums) pastes instead of the pic. like this....




I'm close but any clues??

Never mind....pic doesn't show up till you submit reply

This pic shows overhead 'eyebrows and how they overhang over the front of firing line.

[DeltaBravo]

Well, I quit competing because Steve was WAY TOO BUBBLY! Downright annoying!

Dennis