The Future of IHMSA

The place to shoot the breeze on all things IHMSA
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captainsc
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The Future of IHMSA

Post by captainsc »

I have been shooting IHMSA for a few years and have noticed that I am the youngest shooter on the line at [2] different clubs where i shoot IHMSA - except for my 2 sons. I am 47 years old. Most of our shooters are retired or soon to retire. My concern is for the future of our sport. Does anyone have any suggestions of how to bring new shooters into our sport? A concern I have is that when a member of one of the clubs where we shoot observes one of our monthly matches, quickly they become discouraged because of the lack of new, readily available firearms that are available to purchase to be close to being competitive in our sport. If we look at the firearms used at our local matches and international matches, approximately 98% of these guns are no longer in production or have 6-12 month lead times. If we ignore Unlimited guns for the moment and look at the Production category, the most popular gun is the TC Contender. While some may argue the availability of the G2 pistol frames, TC no longer offers a 10” barrel - 12” and 14” barrels only. One may argue, you can order a custom barrel from several different companies, but the lead time is measured in several months to over a year. Other guns used are BF’s, MOA’s, Freedom Arms, Anschutz’s, XP-100’s and others. Half are no longer in production and the other half have extended lead times. I would like to see IHMSA be around for many years to come. Does anyone have a view off what IHMSA might look like in 5, 10, 15 years? Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to increase the number of IHMSA shooters? I am not trying to point fingers at what has happened in the past, I want to find ways to expand our numbers for the future with solid ideas and discussion.
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xp-100
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Re: The Future of IHMSA

Post by xp-100 »

That is where the problem starts-lack of interest. Most of the young people have their heads down looking for something that doesn't exist-Pokémon or texting. Ok if we could solve that one problem, then the firearms manufacture would look at the interest picking up and they may change their firearms line to fill our need. Now, at one time, they did observe our sport and they did try to fill our need. But, as said, the lack of interest. Ranges are closing because of this one facture. Now we need to get even some of the older shooters back to the line and advertise our sport to the younger generation so it could turn our sport back around, but, that takes each and everyone of us to do our part to help support the younger generation and get them into the swing of our sport again.
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64XP-100
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Re: The Future of IHMSA

Post by 64XP-100 »

Does the board have a plan to increase membership or interest?
Pat Camus
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Re: The Future of IHMSA

Post by LOCKHART »

I have been a member of IHMSA since December 1980, and luckily for me the early 80's were the glory days. The matches I attended back then usually started at 9am and sometimes didn't end until dark! I've seen shoot-offs at 200 meters illuminated by car headlights! I don't have the answer to your questions, but I started when I was 35 years old and now I'm going on 73! I will keep on until there is no longer any IHMSA. Or maybe longer, if my local club keeps having matches after that.
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captainjohn
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Re: The Future of IHMSA

Post by captainjohn »

Always interested in increasing membership! Yes it’s on every board member mind, discussion at meetings.
The things we’re trying now :
Having match/State directors reach out to past members that we haven’t seem for awhile.
Lowered yearly membership dues.
Lowered shooting fees at World Champions.
Trial period for reflux sights on production guns for senior shooters.
500 meter scope and open sight categories .
Revolver challenge .
Cast Bullet challenge.
Updating our membership data base.
Using a constant contact email server for membership news updates.
Getting our newsletter back and out on a schedule.
Reworking match software for match directors, updating categories and classes,making it more user friendly.

I don’t think their is anyone thing that’s going to be the magic one. We need to promote the enjoyment that our sport brings and the camaraderie between shooters . Show up early and help set the range up, stay late and help tear down. Support your match directors and make sure they also have time to shoot. Bring a friend shooting with you.

If anyone has any other thoughts/suggestions please let us/me know.You can always email or call whatever works for you.
jrich@mchsi.com
Thanks for asking, JR
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64XP-100
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Re: The Future of IHMSA

Post by 64XP-100 »

Thanks for the reply, John.
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dan in mi
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Re: The Future of IHMSA

Post by dan in mi »

To be honest I think we are/were our own worst enemy.

When I started in '83 the guns and sights weren't really up to snuff for the game. You had to work at shooting well to score. Beginner scores were generally single digit.

We complained with a loud a voice and quality guns and sights came out of the woodwork. The game got much easier. Beginners were shooting high twenties to low thirties. Then we diluted the game with way too many variants. Then we bastardized the production rule(s) and interest waned.

it is still a fun game, but nowhere near as challenging as it once was.
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borregos
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Re: The Future of IHMSA

Post by borregos »

dan in mi wrote:it is still a fun game, but nowhere near as challenging as it once was.
At my age and with my eyes shooting iron sights is way more challenging than it has ever been :))
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Re: The Future of IHMSA

Post by LOCKHART »

Amen, Borregos, Amen! lol!
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Re: The Future of IHMSA

Post by 260 Striker »

The young shooters today are run and gun, shoot fast, spray and pray type shooters. We are more for accuracy and also working with cartridges that need to be handloaded for our game. I don't know how we can entice someone who likes to buy two or three boxes of 9mm (or other caliber) and blast through it in 10 minutes. Back in the beginning of IHMSA, accuracy out to 200 meters with a handgun was unheard of and that was the challenge to all those shooters in the beginning. It didn't matter if you shot a TC, a revolver or an unlimited gun, the 200 meter challenge was there for everyone. We do have people today who shoot at extreme ranges with handguns but they like to build 15 pound guns and shoot at steel plates with no time limits. I wish I knew how to encourage young shooters to try our sport. When you go to matches today you mostly see gray hair, or no hair in some of our cases. I'm 71 and will continue to shoot too as long as I am not dangerous. Our club has also commented, if heaven forbid that IHMSA should fold, we will keep shooting as long as possible but we are down to three long term members to host our matches. Maybe 2018 will bring us some answers.
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