Proposed New IHMSA Practical Hunter Classes

[IHMSA80x80]

Re: Proposed New IHMSA Practical Hunter Classes

What shooters are we really going after here? IMO trying to catch hunters & bring them into IHMSA is not the way to do it.
I am a hunter & I have allot of buddies who are hunters. Just because you are a hunter doesnt mean you are a "shooter" too. Many of my buddies are lucky to fire 3 shots sighting in & then another 2-3 all season long & that is it. A box of bullets will last them YEARS! Are these the kinda guys we are trying to draw?

Not to put words in Boomers mouth, the way I read his post was that the new Practical Hunters Class idea would not be the way to attract hunters into IHMSA. The guys that only shoot a few rounds per year "hunting" will not flock to IHMSA ranks just because we have a new category named just for them. We already have many categories, and have had for many years, where hunters can shoot their "hunting" handguns in and be competitive, whether they are iron sight or scoped equipped.

Boomer is one of the ones who is willing to try anything to get shooters into IHMSA, or return to IHMSA. I believe he just felt that this new category would not be the answer. I'll let him tell me if I am wrong.

[ihmsa70]

Ho, Hum!
IHMSA70

[marshall623]

I think Boomer and 80X80 are right on . Most people I know don't reload and just won't buy ammo to shoot a match.40 rounds would last them a long time. The closest I've come to getting someone to a match is small bore and field pistol . I try to get them some trigger time they say they're going hunt with a tender or revolver I tell em you better practice I know where you can get some in.

[Oldfart]

The biggest problem we have is how to promote the sport. For the most part (air guns excepted) we are not using current commercial available handguns. When this sport started almost everyone was using a handgun they could buy at their local gun store on Saturday and take it to the range on Sunday and be competitive with others who had did the same thing. If you go to a large gun show now you will see very few new guns we normally shoot silhouette with. The few longer barrel handguns available are designed for hunting. While today’s handgun market is primarily the small semi-auto, that type of gun is not designed for long range accuracy.
We have two main options of who we promote the sport to. One is the collector of our older silhouette pistols, no longer in production such as the XP-100 and the Anschutz. Many of these guns are already in the hands of past and present silhouette shooters. Also the supply of older silhouette pistols shrinks over time. Another problem with this option is we will get little to no support from the handgun manufactures. While they appreciate the fact we are using guns they no longer make, they are not making any money from us by using their discontinued handguns. They are interested in how many new guns they can sell the next year. I have been at the last two Shot Shows and found this to be a common theme when discussing our sport with them.
This brings me to the second option of promoting our sport to new shooters with new/newer handguns. IHMSA does not have an unlimited budget for advertising. If we did, we would take out full page ads in every gun magazine and run commercials on all of the cable TV hunting and shooting shows. We try and keep our membership dues and the match fees as low as possible. We could increase the dues and fees and spend the extra on advertising, but I feel we might lose more members than we would gain. With a little to zero advertising budget, so what is the answer? We need to spend other people’s money. If a handgun manufacture sees we have a sport that uses a gun that they currently produce they are much more interested. We can convert that interest into promotion of our sport to the benefit of both parties. We get more shooters, they sell more guns! At this last Shot Show in Jan. I got many commitments from venders to either donate guns or to start or increase their advertising with IHMSA. I also talked to several gun writers and they all expressed interest in the new Practical Hunter classes. It is more interesting for them to do an article on a new sport than an old one.
If this is to grow/maintain our sport, much of the work will need to be done on the local level. We can supply some of the things needed to be successful, such as limited national advertising, web site, posters and other promotional items that can be put up at ranges and gun stores and gun shows. Local clubs and members will need to see that the promotional items are used. Local match directors and members are responsible to see that the new shooter has a safe and enjoyable time at the range shooting silhouette.

Steve Martens
VP IHMSA

Wow well put you may have it the nail right on the head,I'm a old shooter and a old member from the 80's I'm bach again,with the ideal of not having to fork out a grand to get started,I see these new class as a plus to get new members

[Oldfart]

why are we fusing about who is right vs.wrong everybody has a there two cents worth we need to blow our horn a little I spent a couple hours on the range yesterday talking to shooters out of 25 only two had heard about Silhouette shooting and only one had ever heard of IHMSA,most shooters think it's puntching holes in life size targets!!!! humm the range owner had no ideal what shilhouette shooting was.Please try to get the word out if we want to grow and stop the bashing of hunters or shooters,or each other. We now have a game for the new shooter so why don't we take ittake and run with it,it's only a why to show others what we do? :-?try leaving your pistols at home and just talk to the shooters at your local range you might just get a new shooting buddy

[TimDGarry1957]

Well, I am a new shooter to IHMSA. I am not a new shooter. I have been shooting since I was 9 or 10 thanks to an Uncle who took the time with me and implanted the seed. Now 47 years later I am new to the silhouete game. I have shot IPSC, PPC, Bullseye, Service Rifle (High Power) and Small Bore Rifle. I have always been intrigued by the sillhouette game, but thought it would be too hard to learn. Doug Lash, who I met at a gun show, talked to me for over two hours and told me all about it. So I tried it last weekend. Did SB Production Standing and got like a 17. Never left a bank without one or two targets knocked down. I was hooked. But when I think back to when I was stationed in Berlin Germany in the 80's and we had like no shooters at the Rod and Gun Club. So I organized a bowling pin shoot. We had 8 people show up the first week, 20 the second week 35 the third week. We then switched to steel plates. We had all types of shooting matches that involved reactive targets. I brought my Dillon 450 with me to Berlin. Since we were 110 miles behind the Iron Curtain, every thing was expensive. It was there that I learned to cast bullets, and it was there that I taught over a 150 soldiers and air force guys how to reload. I held clinics every month.
If I wanted to attract new shooters, it would be directed at the youth, through Boy Scouts and 4-H and the hunters. It would be events that are easily completed. For the kids it would be on 1/2 size targets at say 15, 30, 45, and 60 Yards.
For the Hunters, I would get metallic deer targets made, and have them in different positions, at 25 yards they would be a startled deer rising up and turning away, at 60 yards they would be head up and looking at you with about a 3/4 turn toward you, at 90 yards broadside looking ahead, at 120 head down and grazing. Bigger targets, narrower feet, and able to be hit with a production hunting gun, with rounds that are legal to hunt with. The 25 yards would be standing, the 60 yards would standing with a "Tree" (post)to provide verticle support, the 90 yards would be sitting in a chair and the 120 would be sitting shooting off of a rest.
Make the game so it simulates hunting scenario's. proviiding the opportunity to succeed is the goal to get the common man in. My two cents worth. I would not try to make the new game fit in the current IHMSA mold, I would make a new mold. for the new game. The new game would award status for proficiency in the course of fire, not shooting against other shooters. There would be no competition against each other, if they want to do that, they would have to do a regular IHMSA match.
The goal would be to develop skills that would make a hunter class shooter want to transition to IHMSA. I you want to have shooters, you have to teach them to reload, or they will only shoot SB.
Best regards,
Tim

[jrywho]

Proposed New IHMSA Practical Hunter Classes
IHMSA is proposing to add 3 new Practical hunter classes on a 2 year trail basis to start Jan. 1, 2011 and end Dec. 31, 2012.

As we approach the end of this trial period for Practical Hunter what is the status for 2013 and beyond? It appears there was interest from our present membership as indicated by entries during the Internationals. This in my opinion is reason enough to continue these classes. I would tend to agree it probably isn't drawing many new members but does provide another opportunity to shoot an additional gun for those that have aging eyes.
Some of our club members have asked if these classes will continue. Does anyone have information regarding IHMSA's plans?

Jackson Purchase Rifle & Pistol Club
Jerry Stringham

[Glock]

I guess I'm one of those new practical hunter shooters ya'll are looking for.

I picked up a Glock 17 in January. Since then I've been looking for places to shoot it,and groups I can join to learn how to be be a better shot - safer shooter.

I've also found out that there a lot of people at my company that own who'd also like to do different things when they shoot rather than just go to an indoor range. Some of them could bring some really interesting guns to a range.

In looking for ranges and places to go I found the Ascension Parish Sheriffs Office range via the EBR Sheriff's Office. In looking at their range calendar I saw IHMSA on it and that lead me here. Reading through the website I knew that there was a class I could shoot in. At this stage I'm not interested in optics etc on my 17 as it'll be an OC/CC gun. I just want to get good at shooting it ;) This practical hunter class seems ideal for me, and the 00's like me that own just a plain jane sidearm, who are looking for another way to shoot it.

Apr. 7 I visited the range and shot a rotation of targets. A BIG shout out and thank you to Charlie Braud who coached me through the whole rotation and gave me some great advice and ideas on improving my skills. I've been practicing I'm going to join and hopefully make it to a good number of shoots.

I'm also going to look into IPSC style shoots. There's the excitement of rapid fire moving from group to group to balance against the silhouette application of the patient skill to make one shot count on one target.

[DspoilR]

Hail Folks.
I'm another of these new shooters that this is being aimed at
although being an Aussie we are NOT allowed to hunt with handguns.
I shoot Rifle Shilhouette, rimfire, centre fire, service rifle (.303 SMLE)
and my club also shoots HMS under your rules,
so I shoot rimfire handgun as well (GSG .22LR 1911 with open sights)
However,
I purchased a Taurus .44MAG with the 8"& a bit barrel,
thinking it would be suitable for Production Revolver.
It has factory porting and so doesn't comply with the rules.
It's an extreamly painfull and expensive process to get any firarm,
let alone a handgun here.

My main question is,
is this class still in the trial phase,
or has it been accepted,
or has it been ruled out?

Second question is,
why is porting not allowed?
Surely controling muzzle flip is increasing the safety aspect of the sport.
Now I can see why a 3" with side porting/compensator would be unsafe to shoot in Creedmore,
but is it unsafe in Standing Unsupported?

Third question,
did anything happen with 19Turkeys propposed rule change,
re the porting?
http://www.ihmsa.org/forum/viewtopic.ph ... it=porting

Cheers for your help,
Vince

[35isit]

dspoiler, Check with your local match director. The Practical Hunter categories have been approved. He should have all the rules and information you need.