Anything Wrong With Shooting Long Range?

gth said:
Good point and I agree....but golf courses also cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build. A beauty range could be built for likely less than the initial cost of the land to build it on.
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The land purchase is not the problem, where to purchase it is. And who will maintain it and control it? The only organization in Ontario that wants 1000 yard ranges is the Ontario Rifle Association. Our membership is about 250 shooters annually, for ALL of Ontario.
At this time we use DND ranges in Ottawa, Kingston, Borden, Winona and Cedar Springs. We run about 80 events/days each year. A well attended Target Rifle/F Class match will see about 35 shooters. Annual Match will see about 110 with about 40 cadets included.
Our problem is we don't have enough members to support our own 1000 yard range.
How many rifle shooters here on CGN belong to their Provincial Rifle Association? What do the PRA's have to do, to get new members?
 
What is needed is not just memberships in PRA's, but us bringing our friends and associates out to the range on an individual basis and showing them what fun it is to shoot at fun targets at different ranges. I do this a number of times a year and have been able to get half a dozen so far this year to join our club and this is only Feb. It is easy, but how often to we pack the gear up and say to our selfs, who should I invite to the range today? I think this aproach would increase memberships across the country. I would like nothing more than to push our facility out to 1000+ meters and that is the reason I personaly am trying to get the numbers of long range shooters up, as you can see by the Ft.Mcmurray thread. We can't always be saying what does the club need to do, what do the PRA's need to do, sometimes its what do we need to do.

Just an opinion
 
Shooting on Crown land is most definitely legal in ALL parts of Canada. If you can hunt there, you can LR shoot there.

BUT there is a very simple requirement and liability...you are responsible for where that bullet goes and what it does. That includes after it has sailed through a record buck while standing in the same direction of a home.

There is nothing wrong with shooting at any distance, as long as the shooter has a clear line of site and a large enough impact area so that no one can enter the target area and that area has a safe backstop.

Where my bullet lands, there is 200 to 300yds to the treeline. As long as you are aware before you shoot, nothing can enter that impact area without you seeing it.

Be aware of trails where people may travel, be aware of any and all public areas, have a safe backstop (mountains work real well), safety, safety, safety.

Otherwise, have at it.

If shooting far is bad, shooting close can't be that far behind.

Jerry
 
LRC,
I agree with getting people out. We hold a couple of Intro Days every year and can also invite guests out for the day anytime.
I think there are 2 reasons people don't come out and join the PRA's.
The first reason is cost, from everything like rifles to ammo to entry fees, membership fees and so on. The second reason is they have a fear of the unknown and fear competition. I have had guys phone me wanting to know if they can shoot a 1000 yard match with their SKS. Sure you can, bring lot of ammo.

Our Intro Days are designed for the shooters that may be interested, but want to find out more. They could be 12 or 80 years old. Novice to world benchrest champion. We give them the information about what we do and then get them on the range. The cost is $30 for the day and we supply the rifle and ammo and coach them. We give the a handbook written for the ORA by MilCun with excellent information in it on everything from reading wind to selecting a rifle.

We have made great steps in improving membership numbers in the past 5 years, but we just can't get over the hurdle to double or triple our membership.
 
Wec also have an open hhouse at the range in the Spring in Ft. Mcmuray .
I make point of trying to get people out to the range, and will always encourage anybody who wants to try my rifles , to give them a go.
Most fellas have never seen a proper iron sightred match rifle till they look at some of ours, and there is starting to be quite few in town!

At one time there were only a few, and all except one were owned by two people.:confused:
Now we have a bout 20, but there are still only about 6 shooters.
We have a membership of 500+ in our association, but only a very small percentage compete, or seriouslly shoot at targets.

'Tis a continuall uphill battle to try and get guys to come out and enjoy themselves, but we do get new shooters every year that want to shoot in comptition or at least are interested in trying......
Cat
 
Don't get me wrong here, Open houses and public shoots are great, but what a lot of people need is a little one on one time, time to enjoy a rifle, pistol, or what have you without a line up of people, a wide range of rules, and the presures of crowds. Take someone out say once a month and let them play, let them ask questions, plant the seed of interest, let them smack a clay pigeon at 500 yrds (that one works every time) its simple to you and I but to an inexperianced shooter he just took down the moon. I think all of us doing this once in a while will generate as much interest as any of our open houses does for memberships and to interest new shooters.;)

Just an opinion
 
I spwend countless hours out there coaching other shooters, helping newbies, and brining out new shooters and freinds of my son, trying to show them some of the bacis thoinngs that will improve theirs shooting.
I have lost count of the number of rifles that Old badger and I have bought
"on spec" because wwe know that SOMEONE wwill likely be looking for just that rifle in the near future, or we may meet a person new to thee sport that needs a rifle just like it.

It gets a bit tiring sometimes to break drag my tool box to the range sometimes, only to have to work on a rifle I do not own, for no other reason than to get it fixed for someone who would have to ship it souht or at the very least be screwed for the day till they got it home to fix it.

Does it get me down , discouraged, or wanting to quit, telling them
"No, I don't do that any more, I don't have my tools with me, " or " I'm kinda busy here getting my own gear set up" or " ya , I've got to pull the action out and relieve that forend a little" or
" just a littlre less presssure on your right hand this time, and keep looking at only the target when the shot breaks"?

NEVER!!:D
I love it, live for it, and if we don't keep doing it, no one else will, right?:cool:
I heading to the range this morning to wring the bugs from my 1 mile rig, wanna bet that before I can take a shot I will have to pick up some brass, tighten a scope for some one, bore sight and zero a rifle, or replace a frame at the 50 meter line?:D
Life goes on, and so does the shot string......:)
Cat
 
Cat, don't miss understand what I am saying... I know you put an increadible amount of effort into the club and helping others at the range and are more involved than most, not what I was getting at at all...Just saying that all of us as individuals can do our part to encourage others to get involved in the shooting sports and it doesnt take much. nothing more nothing less. And its good for all in all diciplines and all clubs.;) :)
 
I have to agree with the other fellas on this one. I have found that most of the people who condemn long range shooting are people who are afraid to try it because they think they might embarass themselves or have tried it and didn't do well then decided to give it up.

I think as long as a safety practices are observed there is no good reason not to shoot long range. After all shooting long range can only help your accuracy at short range. Having a high power rifle capable of shooting long range and not doing it is like driving a stock car around town. I also have to agree with others on this one saying that once you've got the bug the bank account will be the one to suffer, as suddenly the old 30-30 with the tasco just doesn't quite have he accuracy you are looking for.

That being said everyone is entitled to their opinion, however it doesn't mean much to me if they are not speaking from experience. I'll generally tell them to come on out and try it before passing judgement.

Just my .02

P.S. LRC we should grab a couple chainsaws and start clearing bush for the 1000 yard range ourselves. Or better yet we could get the 1 CMBG to come up with a few LAV III's and some .50 HMG's to start clearing the bush. Could be fun. What do you think Cat what would happen if the 1000 meter range just "appeared" one day?

Just kidding!

John
 
All of the shooting disciplines require skill, long range can be extremely demanding in the skill dept. The greater the distance the harder to keep the groupings tight. Another big bonus I find is that getting older means slower, but long range is not a fast discipline, so it levels the playing feild for us more experienced shooters (long in the tooth)
 
Long Range Canuck said:
Don't give up on the AR's and HG's yet, they are still a hoot and I still play with them, but the precision takes the cake. Remember BRRRRRRRRRP keeps them down.....Bang takes them off.;) :)
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I haven't! ;)
 
Max,

I find the people who think long range shooting is "Bad" fall into one of two categories:

1. People who are opposed to any kind of shooting sport.
2. People who aren't good enough to shoot at long distances.

I shoot ORA matches regularly and I have to drive for a few hours to get to the range, and still think its worth it. If you live right near Winona, what are you waiting for? Join the ORA!
 
maynard said:
The land purchase is not the problem, where to purchase it is. And who will maintain it and control it? The only organization in Ontario that wants 1000 yard ranges is the Ontario Rifle Association. Our membership is about 250 shooters annually, for ALL of Ontario.
At this time we use DND ranges in Ottawa, Kingston, Borden, Winona and Cedar Springs. We run about 80 events/days each year.
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You forgot to mention Milcun. I've attended a couple of ORA matches held at Milcun.
 
Quiet said:
Max,

I find the people who think long range shooting is "Bad" fall into one of two categories:

1. People who are opposed to any kind of shooting sport.
2. People who aren't good enough to shoot at long distances.

I shoot ORA matches regularly and I have to drive for a few hours to get to the range, and still think its worth it. If you live right near Winona, what are you waiting for? Join the ORA!
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I used to live about 10 minutes away from the Winona DND range..... My rifle that was supposed to be in, in 4-6 weeks was 6 months. Didn't show up untill I moved out here.

And yeah. I can't shoot long range.
 
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