LOL! It is all about "marketing". That's the only reason why airgun manufacturers are involved in the "big" events.

I applaud all of you who sincerely open up your ranges to others. But seriously... LOL!

If you knew what it takes for me to actually be able to post a comment on AGN, you would not be so inclined to laugh.

It can happen to you. I was "temporarily banned" quite a while back and ever since that ban was lifted, it takes me sometimes 10 minutes to post or reply. It does get tiring, but I figure as long as I can endure it, whatever the reason for it makes fools of those who cause it.

I appreciate AGN, but my problem has been going on for a long time now and changing browsers, etc, etc, etc, has made no difference.

Sort of like shadow banning in FB. Now I will probably be banned permanently for saying it. Oh well... I have never shied away from the truth.
Sorry to say but this isn’t relevant or at least meaningful to the discussion ?
 
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I know for many that shoot ft they dont see it as a competition but as a fun challenge. There are many at our field shooting less expensive rifles alongside the high end rifles. Its about the fun and challenge factor for many.

Heck one guy broke out his springer without a dope sheet just to see what he could do with it.
It did that all last year for fun lol. Show up with a random gun with a random scope and quickly plugged in Strelock numbers and went to town. I never shot as well as I did with my TX200 but it was still pretty fun. I even shot an indoor match with iron sights once just for the heck of it. Its like you said, most people aren't there for competition. Most of us just want to take our toys to the park and play.
 
My wife and I had no AG or PB background. We went to a FT event and felt it would be a great way to get out in some fresh air, meet new people and replace my motorcycle therapy. We have met great people, been learning as we go along and have some gotten out into the fresh air.

We do not plink. FT was our reason to shoot. We may get into silhouette to help off-hand lanes.
To each their own.
 
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My match sunday I was shooting with 2 exceptional shooters, one being Tyler from Pyramid air. (super nice guy and down to earth) Could I hope to compete with their scores? No way. However their tips, advice and encouragement were amazing. The challenge for me was doing better than my last match, getting more consistent, and stringing things together.

After I finally cleared a lane, Tyler and Jeff were excited and said great shooting, now to string them together. I was lining up my 4th shot on the next lane and realized if I hit it, it would be my first back to back clears. I chuckled asking myself why I had to have that thought right then and put more pressure on myself. Thankfully I made the shot. Talk about a sigh of relief lol. I looked over to tyler and jeff and told them well you guys said I needed to string them together so I had to do it. I think they were as excited as I was.

TBH I think if we make ft events fun, welcoming and encouraging for all shooters, vs about the competition aspect all the time, more and more would participate. Thankfully our club is like this. Sadly many likely don't even know about events.
Jeff Swartz or Jeff Little?

Either way, you were in solid company. Throw a Patner into the mix, and it is one of those times that your father told you about, Close mouth and open ears. On point questions get real world answers, backed by experience, and there is zero BS in any of those fellas game.

Central Ohio Airgunners is a solid club with a lot of very knowledgeable members, and it sounds like you are having a ball participating!
 
The closest FT matches to me are two to four hours away. I made the journey a couple of times to shoot but the drive home sucked after shooting all day.

On the other side of the shooting spectrum there are about 50 Trap clubs within an hours drive and there are always ATA matches being held. Too bad ammo and reloading materials are so expensive, used to be large crowds and the events feed on a large crowd.

I am hoping for a traditional archery league for the winter to get me out of the house. Think springers are fun? Try traditional archery. Scoring a ten ring is sweet.
 
i think not enough folks veiw air guns as much more then a toy i as well as anyone can shoot a .22 for not much more. however i have a friend that seeing what i am into no longer views air guns as toys and is now doved rite in with the rest of us.
but it would take me driving two days to get a shooting comp. not going to happen.
as weel, agreement, a lot of folks myself incouldnt just dont have the funds needed to attend these shoots.
maybe someday we will see them in all states?
 
There are relatively few people shooting FT so it is not well known. There are many reasons given as to why people do not shoot it, most of which I can easily dispute however it still comes down to a personal choice. My personal pet peeves are how some of the matches are set up and run however I try not to complain because I am glad some people are willing to run matches and by the way FT is the most time consuming and difficult type of shooting event to run.

Rick B.
 
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FT is where it's at! And feel free to skip competitions. I've shot a couple of hundred shoots but only 3-4 points match events.
Got into pre-charged '98 due to shoulder surgery. A silly big-bore, then a .25 then a few more. Typical (these day's) really looking for a firearm replacement. And they dont work for that.
Went to the Brad Troyer's TVA Club (no membership needed "club" ya gotta like that) and Brad sets an excellent realistic hunting course what with a 4" hanging vine swaying in front of the target which was under the fallen tree across the way. Sort of lanes that WILL improve your hunting skills.. With a .22 cant even recall. Had THE best time. Several shoots later we all went to a new club Roz's Good Ole Boy's -The Playground of Champions- had a grand time indeed. It was all over from there.
Took a squirrel hunting friend along with an RWS 48 .22 and 4x -see don't need anything fancy- slightly over power but just ask the match director 1st. Naturally Roz had no issue with it for the 1st timer "but you'll need something else if you keep shooting" and YES. .177 all the way. THE caliber that teaches.
Well worth a 4 hour drive. In short order I got to try hundreds (literally) of different airguns of all types - FT folks never own just one airgun-, got the shoot a dozen different Prototypes before the public even heard of them. Hawke scopes before people knew of them, the head fellow from Steyr (and he had some nice prototypes- someone brought 6 March scopes for people to compare. I took my DAQ .458 just in case someone wanted to try one.
Got ole Tyler into FT. His excuse back then for not trying FT was "I only own a .30fpe BSA" nope, called the range master and he said Once but you need a different airgun if you keep coming back" (Ohio I believe). Look at how far airguns have taken him. And he no longer has just the one.
I've used a lent Daystate 2000, USFT , springers, lefties & righties, and everything in between. Proving low budget works use an Gamo Shadow 1000 with 4x duplex scope for a while. Also used a converted QB for an entire season.
Shooting FT WILL improve your shooting. Period. .177 is THE teaching caliber. Grew up shooting, played at bit with Biathlon, F class & others.
Nothing teaches as well as FT. And any FT rifle will hunt. Know someone who uses the same Whiscombe for everything.
And nothing wrong with using home made $0.00 targets. Or the finest target. No reason not to use most any airgun and scope. Most new folks are looking for some firearm replacement thus "need" POWER and Flat and.... that way you needn't learn a thing just use a computer to tell you what to do and pull the trigger. Yuk. Education is really the way to go. Learn ranges, wind, ....... using just what God gave ya. And have fun doing it.
The absolutely most fun one can have whilst learning.

Yes the world needs more Field Target. (and I didn't even mention the comradery, deals, life long friendships)

John
 
"Heck one guy broke out his springer without a dope sheet just to see what he could do with it." this is what we as a group need to do , invite anyone to the match "bring your daisy and try a few targets " Maybe a few ft targets in the sight in area ? or as i said in another thread , After the match open house
 
Jeff Swartz or Jeff Little?

Either way, you were in solid company. Throw a Patner into the mix, and it is one of those times that your father told you about, Close mouth and open ears. On point questions get real world answers, backed by experience, and there is zero BS in any of those fellas game.

Central Ohio Airgunners is a solid club with a lot of very knowledgeable members, and it sounds like you are having a ball participating!
It was Jeff swartz. He and tyler were amazing to shoot with. It was clear to tell they were people to listen to even before realizing who they were. Tyler even said how much he enjoyed hearing my enjoyment and enthusiasm for field target.

Yes I'm having a ball with it and my wallet is showing that lols.
 
It was Jeff swartz. He and tyler were amazing to shoot with. It was clear to tell they were people to listen to even before realizing who they were. Tyler even said how much he enjoyed hearing my enjoyment and enthusiasm for field target.

Yes I'm having a ball with it and my wallet is showing that lols.

You were squadded with a pair that could beat a full house my friend. Two dudes who are calm and analytical, know the game, and can drop targets.
Jeff is one of the match directors in Cincinnati, and Tyler is, well he is Tyler...... he rides that 12 ft. lb. high horse of his like a triple OG.

Having fun is the truly important part of the equation, and you got that covered.
 
You were squadded with a pair that could beat a full house my friend. Two dudes who are calm and analytical, know the game, and can drop targets.
Jeff is one of the match directors in Cincinnati, and Tyler is, well he is Tyler...... he rides that 12 ft. lb. high horse of his like a triple OG.

Having fun is the truly important part of the equation, and you got that covered.
It truly is all about enjoying your time, to me it doesn’t matter if I knock a single target down if I lifted a smile on another’s face
 
rcarlisle.2290 The same here. FT is the most fun you can legally have that is why any old squirel hunter can run what you brung and have an excellent time. a I never competed, just shot for fun. Only ever placed because I went to SO many shoots. "Even a blind hog finds an acorn in an acre every now and then". Honestly tell me you would not have fun shooting a couple hundred totally differnt airguns folks just handed you to check out.

Mystic. Tyler hasn't even been shooting FT all that long and really did own only a 30fpe (forbidden unless a match director approves and thinking they did not want him shooting the 10 yard targets) ) BSA and only went once just to see what it was because, he really enjoyed shooting airguns and just about everytime he posted a fun fun fun airgun airgun shooting post I rode him about the joy's of FT. Really nice young man who figured out how to combine airguns and employment. And who among us would bitch about his job these day's? Shot at the TVA & didnt know who anyone might be except I recognized Brad Troyers name -didnt know he shot even- from the classifieds. You should have seen the look on his face when I turned to the wife and said "Honey this is the guy responsible for the 1st 100 airguns I bought" LOL. Only caught they last 6 shoots there but then the GOB opened and I shot a number of shoots there before one day asking someone "what's with the Play Ground of Champions slogan"? and he informed me "we had a half dozen National champions here today" wouldn't have ever known. Just THE nicest people who ALL treated anyone with any airgun as a equal.

Someone. You mentioned money. Everyone thinks MONEY to play FT. READ this post glpalinkas shared this week :
https://www.airgunnation.com/members/glpalinkas.1727/
And people who dont have the money (I sure never have and used to calculate how many (all organic) Squirrel I needed to eat to break even on the cost of an airgun. And, ole Ron our resident pistol shooting/writer/FT champion certainly has used some LOW cost rigs. I certainly do still have my modded QB78 that if handed to a decent shooter could win any shoot.

I think "Club" scares off some. But no membership, $5 to shoot or $10 if lunch was thrown in along with everyone welcome wasnt exactly what I was thinking everytime I heard the word. Also think "Match" and "competition" cause pause (did with me) but 99% of the FT events I attended would have been just "airgun shooting" to me. Only attended the Nations and World's because I always shot at the GOB and Roz being the kind soul he is waived the fee.

FT. The most fun you can have with an airgun. (also great improves your "F Class" shooting even if you only ever shoot that alone)


Y'all look at that link eh?


John