RISE AND FALL OF IHMSA

[high standard 40]

No, the price of the guns in an amateur shooting game DOES make a big
difference in how many people participate in it.

Let's say for the sake of this discussion that your statement is true. Then you will also have to accept the fact that we have run off even more prospective shooters because our strict rules would not allow them to shoot the guns they already had. Let's say the rules had remained as they were in the early 80s. Just 4 categories.....P - R - U - S and a new shooter shows up at a match with a scoped gun, sorry, can't shoot it. Aftermarket sights, sorry, can't shoot it. Trigger job, sorry, can't shoot it. Cutom grips, sorry, can't shoot it. Gun owners are compulsive tinkerers. We like to dress up our guns. Going "the old rules" way, we banish more people than we gain. I'm a Match Director. I have had many potential shooters arrive at a match with a handgun that has been modified in some way and we had no category to put it in except Unlimited because of the old rules. I still say the price of the guns is not the issue. People are going to spend their recreation dollars on what interests them. There are a few people who still sit on a river bank with a cane pole and a can of worms. But there are far more folks who have a $50,000 bass rig. Another issue is urban sprall. I currently live in south Louisiana between the two largest cities in the state. There is no paid membership gun club anywhere near here that can support an IHMSA Big Bore match. There are so few shooting opportunities here that the younger generation never gets exposed to shooting sports. The matches I host are only possible because our local Sheriff allows us to use his training facility one day a month. and we can leave none of our targets or rails at the range. We bring it all in and set it up on match day, and take it all with us at the end of the day. Thats why we offer only Smallbore, Fifth Scale, and Field Pistol. There is a HUGE locally based internet Shooters Forum here (I just checked and there are currently over 800 members online at this moment) that I have flooded with information about our matches and offers to new shooters. In 5 years I have drawn one new shooter............one. But that forum is flush with Action pistol shooters...Practical and 3 Gun.
All of this is the basis of my assertion that societal changes are what we are faced with. Silhouette is just not cool to the masses anymore.

[19 Turkeys]

I have always felt that one of the reasons the sport grew so rapidly was that Elgin owned the candy store and sold guns cheaply. Join IHMSA, have fun shooting, and buy a Dan Wesson, T/C, or XP cheaper than your local gun store. Elgin owned The Silhouette, the three hit ram logo and the candy store. When he died we lost the candy store.

Steve W.

[LOCKHART]

Steve, that store was really good for us, and you are right
about the cheap prices! I bought a Dan Wesson .357 supermag
from Robert Gates, in 1990, for 390.00 laid to my door. Those
WERE the good old days!

[tking308]

As someone very new to this sport, I'll share my prospective. I was looking for and had decided to purchase a contender for hunting. While looking I was also trying to find another use for the gun. Modern gun season is only a couple weeks long here. Long story short, I found IHMSA, a great match director and very nice people.
When I went to my first match I hadn't yet received my contender so I took my glock and shot "Bordello". I shot 2 out of 40... I was holding so far above targets I couldn't even see them, and I was still hitting low. Here's what I see as a drawback to a newcomer. There isn't a class where you can realistically expect to hit targets your first time out with guns most people have laying around. A class that would allow any production gun, 6" barrel or less, iron sights without adjusting and targets at reasonably easy range would be my suggestion.
My 2¢

[260 Striker]

Us old "has beens" were there in the glory days of IHMSA when entries were maxed out for each match, we had the IHMSA honey hole for guns and I couldn't wait for the next match. I still can't wait for the next match since I can't shoot enough entries now in our one day matches. Too bad the newer shooters couldn't have been there in the early days. Those were shining times. More ranges, more entries, and less perfect scores then too. Anyone who shoots our matches today hopes IHMSA will be around for a long time. I do agree with tonedaddy, enjoy it while we have matches.

[LOCKHART]

You sure right about that, tonedaddy, I remember reading about
Phillip alot, in the old Silhouette. I believe he was one of the first
to shoot a 40 with a revolver, but, I'm so old now, I might be thinkin
of someone else, too!

[braud357]

You know what, Tonedaddy - I started not to respond to this, but I cannot help myself. My response was in jest - maybe your posting was meant to be as well. I, (and many others) cannot help but find that you come across as arrogant and condescending. You, as well as all of us - have a perfect right to your opinions. I try to look at the poster's viewpoint - I may not agree ultimately with them, but I do not do what you have done on this forum. You come across as having the opinion that all of us are wrong, and you are right. SO BE IT ! Now, if I have misunderstood you, you have my apology. Am I wrong, or am I right. And, by the way - I have donated a lot of time and expense to the promotion of IHMSA, and will continue to do so. To answer the question - "Do I shoot as well as I did 25 years ago"? HECK NO ! But my level of enjoyment has remained constant, and this is because of the friends I have made throughout the years. Tell you what - you do it your way, and I will do it mine ! ;)

[marshall623]

I think its the day and time in which we live , not a lot of folks out there who want anything they have to work hard for. IHMSA takes time and effort , and personal desire to shoot better than you shot the last match & The dedication to take a match that didn't go well and learn from it. I got a buddy who said he would go to FP-SB match with me , while a the range last week I took a 1/2 size chic.& pig on cardboard and I had at them with my 357. He wanted to give em a try after a few shots he said ( its a lot harder than it looks ) . I give him the targets to take home to play with , he said he's still wants to go to a match. Maybe that will trigger a interest in our sport. I don't know of anything else we can do to spark interest .

[braud357]

Keep at him, Marshall ! This is the only way that we will survive. If we could each add one member, we would be in pretty good shape !

[BPCR]

Couldn't resist jumping in either.

Was MD at our club in the early 80's. You had to call Wed. night to reserve slots for the coming weekend monthly 2-day match. State Championships were advance registration only. Today it is almost the inverse of what we experienced back in the day.

The decline in participation can be laid at the feet of two areas...equipment race and expansion of the categories. More categories = less entrants in all the categories=less competition, less comradarie, less fun.

We have had subtle success with an annual first time FREE shooter's clinic. While the "crowds" on match day are small, we seem to be holding our own picking up a new shooter or two each spring via the clinic.

FWIW, just an opinion.

Tom