Where are all the .22 pistol target shooters?

xesse

For the last year or so i have been shooting .22 pistol and it appears to me that there is only 10-12 target shooting pistols in the whole country.
At every comp. i and the small few other competitors that show up at almost every smallbore and centrefire pistol (except practical cos i dont have a licence yet) seem to be shooting against ourselves.
this sport needs people to shoot in events to keep it alive
if no one shoots comp. then i believe that the DOJ will not allow firearms to be held for target shooting.
i believe this is happening already.
proof of this?
has anyone had a recent licence aproval for a large calibre pistol?
this is going to filter down the chain to all pistols eventually unless people get out and start promoting our sport whatever disipline.
hope to see more faces at the next event.

BigAl>>

xesse wrote: »

For the last year or so i have been shooting .22 pistol and it appears to me that there is only 10-12 target shooting pistols in the whole country.
At every comp. i and the small few other competitors that show up at almost every smallbore and centrefire pistol (except practical cos i dont have a licence yet) seem to be shooting against ourselves.
this sport needs people to shoot in events to keep it alive
if no one shoots comp. then i believe that the DOJ will not allow firearms to be held for target shooting.
i believe this is happening already.
proof of this?
has anyone had a recent licence aproval for a large calibre pistol?
this is going to filter down the chain to all pistols eventually unless people get out and start promoting our sport whatever disipline.
hope to see more faces at the next event.

I think more people would attend these events if they knew more about them. I for one would be interested in comp shooting but have no idea where to go about it. Any pistol club seems to want you to sell a kidney to join up.

rrpc

BigAl>> wrote: »

I think more people would attend these events if they knew more about them. I for one would be interested in comp shooting but have no idea where to go about it. Any pistol club seems to want you to sell a kidney to join up.

I think this idea is in your own head BigAl. A lot of the clubs have websites, and make announcements about competitions well in advance, even having calendars for the entire year. Upcoming competitions are advertised here (there's even a special Sticky thread for it) and there's quite a bit of discussion on them beforehand. Then you've also governing body websites like the NARPC, NTSA and IPSA which also announce competitions.

As for the cost of joining clubs, well that's a factor of the level of equipment provided and the amount of money it costs to run them. Ask anyone who's started a club and they'll immediately tell you how expensive it is. Factor into that the potential numbers that will join and you have a fairly limited income stream to keep upgrading the ranges and other facilities.

That aside, competitions are generally 'open' and that means anyone can take part.

rrpc

xesse wrote: »

For the last year or so i have been shooting .22 pistol and it appears to me that there is only 10-12 target shooting pistols in the whole country.
At every comp. i and the small few other competitors that show up at almost every smallbore and centrefire pistol (except practical cos i dont have a licence yet) seem to be shooting against ourselves.
this sport needs people to shoot in events to keep it alive
if no one shoots comp. then i believe that the DOJ will not allow firearms to be held for target shooting.
i believe this is happening already.
proof of this?
has anyone had a recent licence aproval for a large calibre pistol?
this is going to filter down the chain to all pistols eventually unless people get out and start promoting our sport whatever disipline.
hope to see more faces at the next event.

Just went back through our results sheets and by my count 30 different people have competed in our pistol events since they started in May 2007. After a year and a half, that's not a bad number.

Why don't they all turn up? That's the million dollar question. Having looked at the list, I'd give the following reasons:

Some have turned up and tried it, but decided they don't like it for one reason or another. Mostly I'd say that's because it's probably one of the most difficult disciplines out there and some people prefer to be getting tens all the time

Another reason may be that they've tried it, liked it but are doing other things and are giving precedence to them.

Or maybe, they don't have a pistol yet and are working towards getting one, but it takes time. I know my pistol has virtually become a club gun as has fat-tony's and I know xesse helps out as well during competition time. But if you don't have one to train with it's pretty difficult to get too involved in competition.

And finally there's the old issue of having something else going on in their lives that preclude them entering a particular competition, but we might see them at the next.

xesse

BigAl>> wrote: »

I think more people would attend these events if they knew more about them. I for one would be interested in comp shooting but have no idea where to go about it. Any pistol club seems to want you to sell a kidney to join up.

the cheapest part of this sport is club membership
boards has almost every open pistol competition advertised

Kryten

I started pistol shooting in 2004, just after the pistols were again being licenced. I did not have my own at the time. First time to enter competition, I was crap. Was dissappointed that I could not shoot better. Stayed at this level for quite a while, but would not give up.

Most people with pistols then only had .22 pistols. There were certainly more people shooting .22 pistol than there are now. Not talking ISSF Pistol here, as I did not know anything about it until early 2007. I got my own pistol finally in March 2006. Browning Buckmark. Started practicing once a week religiously, Or twice when I was flush .

Started to see my scores increase finally. I suppose the message here is, get a .22, get practicing and do not give up. You will get there. It is also cheaper to run. .22 bulk pack ammo, really cost effective. You can spend many hours shooting .22 for the cost of a couple of pints, or a couple of hours shooting 9mm for the cost of a night out:(.

BigAl>>

Kryten wrote: »

I started pistol shooting in 2004, just after the pistols were again being licenced. I did not have my own at the time. First time to enter competition, I was crap. Was dissappointed that I could not shoot better. Stayed at this level for quite a while, but would not give up.

Most people with pistols then only had .22 pistols. There were certainly more people shooting .22 pistol than there are now. Not talking ISSF Pistol here, as I did not know anything about it until early 2007. I got my own pistol finally in March 2006. Browning Buckmark. Started practicing once a week religiously, Or twice when I was flush .

Started to see my scores increase finally. I suppose the message here is, get a .22, get practicing and do not give up. You will get there. It is also cheaper to run. .22 bulk pack ammo, really cost effective. You can spend many hours shooting .22 for the cost of a couple of pints, or a couple of hours shooting 9mm for the cost of a night out:(.

be interested in getting into this sport and would appreciate and help/info you could share about how I get started.

Kryten

BigAl>> wrote: »

be interested in getting into this sport and would appreciate and help/info you could share about how I get started.

I suppose the starting point is to learn a little about the sport. Some good websites out ther will give you all the information you will need. Use google or Wikipedia, or even do a search here on boards. There is a host of information.

Second, I would look at the type of shooting I want to do. In Ireland at the moment we have various courses of fire for .22 pistol. The NASRPC is generally the association which looks after sporting Rifle and Pistol http://www.nasrc.ie.

Target pistol and rifle is generally looked after by the NTSA. http://www.targetshootingireland.org. They look after air rifle, air pistol (olympic events) and other pistol and rifle disciplines governed by the rules of the ISSF. International Sports Shooting Federation. Their website http://www.issf-shooting.org.

Clubs for Sporting Rifle and pistol include. Hilltop, Eagles, Fermoy Rifle Club, Dublin Target Sports, East Coast Shooting Club.

Clubs for ISSF shooting include Rathdrum Rifle and Pistol Club. http://www.rathdrumrpc.org. Wilkinstown, BRC and Dublin Rifle Club.

Again, do a search on the forum here and you will get info on all these clubs and more.

Hope this helps.

rrpc

BigAl>> wrote: »

be interested in getting into this sport and would appreciate and help/info you could share about how I get started.

Watch the upcoming competitions thread on this forum, bookmark a few sites as Kryten suggested and turn up to the competitions when they're on.

Even if you don't feel you can take part at first, you can at least see how it's done and what's involved.

But if you want to take part, well that's fine also. Just check the eligibilty rules which should be included in the competition announcement to make sure you can take part.

BigAl>>

Cheers for the info folks................will deff keep eyes open and may see some of you at an upcoming competition.