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Indiana needs a FT club!

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binfordw

Member
Aug 28, 2015
107
2
Indiana
I've plotted, schemed and dreamed about this on and on for 10+ years. Put out feelers in the past for members, but nothing has occurred yet.

Since recently finishing design on my own field targets, I just did the math on total cost, and realized I now have a way to avoid the large investment of target cost to start a FT club.

All we need now is a location, and members!

My property would work for a shooting range, but theres no trees, would be a boring ft setup. I have a close by friend with woods that would work great I could use, hes a bit farther away from town, harder to get to.


Whos in? Who wants to make 2016 Central/SE Indiana's year for a field target club!?
 
Not sure where you live but when I lived in Indiana there was a paintball center near Kingsbury Fish and Wildlife that used the old barracks on an abandoned military base. There was lots of room and they would probably be glad to share the rent. I can't remember the name, sorry, but I thought it was a cool place. I think the base was from the cold war era. You might be able to google paintball clubs and the area.
Best of luck with the club,

Doc

PS- I still have family in Merrillville (near Chicago) so let me know when you get it going, it would give me an excuse to come home!
 
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The best way to get Field Target going is at an existing shooting club. That is what I have done more than several times. The expense of operating a club that shoots only one discipline is usually a limiting factor. Check out ranges in your area and see if they have the space for Field Target. If they do then pitch it to the club and join the club, not necessarily in that order. Running FT then gives the club another discipline to offer their members plus it provides activity at the club and maybe even a little income. It also may help to draw new members(and dues) to the club. It involves effort and you need to be politically involved with the club including attending meetings, writing match reports for the newsletter, and promoting FT every chance you get. It takes more than waiting and wishing. The more matches that are available, the more people will shoot Ft. That's just basic math but don't try to take on more than you can handle either. We only run four FT matches a year at Falls. It's just too much work for us to run more at the quality level we want to maintain.
When I started running FT back in the dark ages getting targets was a real issue. I think we started with six field targets and also used some homemade stuff that was not real exciting plus we used bottle caps and anything else we could find to make the course long enough. We bought more targets as we could from match fees and our own pockets until we had enough. Our current club(falls) fronted us money to buy some targets because they really do support the shooting sports generally which of course every club should do. We had no idea what we were doing when we started but we tried different things and what worked we kept and what didn't we stopped doing and we are still trying different things after over 25 years.
WARNING!, WARNING!, It's a lot of work, as in A LOT OF WORK!, and it is hard to stop once you get started but if you don't do it maybe nobody else will!
 
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 We do need more FT clubs! THE place to learn airguns, FT rigs, DAQ's, any airgun ever made, get to an FT shoot and learn more in a day that reading for a year.
Naturally FT is also a hoot, I went to "just one match" years ago with my .22 squirrel rig then purchased my first tiny-bore. The people are so nice and nothing else improves your shooting skill like FT.

NOTHING wrong with an open field! Woods can make everything nicer but I have shoot in an open field and had just as nice a time as shooting most ( Roz's Hollow being the nicest in the US so I keep it off the common list) any venue.

IF advertised ( not sure how other than online) folks WILL come, people do drive from IL, LA, further just to attend a one day shoot in Pulaski TN. Minor Hill Invicta club is more or less a city park, small, and an excellent venure also and folks do drive a ways to get there. Personally I drive only 2+ hours each way but when healthier would travel further just to meet some more folks and ruin the paint on some face plates.

In IL they used to have the CIA FT club ( central IL area) normally shot on one piece of land but sometimes at a different location. The "admission" price was, bring a FT target everyone can shoot at ( or 2 or three if you have them) you would set up and take down your own target, share a lunch, share a bit of time shooting everyone else rifles/pistols and go home tried yet refreshed. Folks bringing target really helps off set cost as even 30 targets is a bit of an expense. (Did I mention targets sell very well at FT shoots?).

Look at the AAFTA calendar for the dates of all clubs that could be in your area, pick a non conflicting date, put the word out far and wide, ( maybe contact every AAFTA club in the US- some people will drive that far and I know both of our local clubs would be happy to announce a match anywhere in the World if asked to, email me ahead of time and I will make sure all the TN- other - shooters know about your shoot.
Even one other shooter makes shooting more fun, 5 or 6 is great fun and 10-15 is a guaranteed great time for all.

Please do give it a try! 


John



 
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All it takes is a fair amount or work and willingness to put your own money into it unless you have several shooters on board already and you can pool resources. There's a risk element because you almost have to build it before others will see it as a thing to even give a try. Open fields are fine, but shooters tend to like variety with elevation changes and woods, but work with what you can get.

When we started there was no FT in NC. I wanted to shoot FT in NC and have people to shoot with and get to know. I had a theory that what was needed was a state-wide club thinking that there's not enough density for any kind of local airgun club to work. So far that has proven true and we have members from one end of NC to the other as well as in VA, SC, as well as another state. It is hard on shooters who aren't near the site locations and I have always wanted to find a location we could use in eastern, middle and western, NC. That has proven to be difficult, I still really want to get a match set in the eastern part of the state. Most of the time I drive 2.5 hours to Mount Pleasant NC for our matches and there are lost of members whose drive is longer. 

The way we built Tar Heel Air Gun Club from nothing in 2013 to hosting the FT nationals championships in 2015 was (in order):
  1. Come up with a name and buy a website domain name and hosting.
  2. Joined AAFTA for $25.
  3. I picked a date three months out (a Saturday in March 2013) and said there would be a field target match in the area.
  4. Used the various forums to announce it and promote it and was fuzzy on the location.
  5. After I got responses I asked which one of the responders had or knew someone who had some land we might shoot on. I had two responders who would let it happen on their land.
  6. Bought targets, made lane markers, 
  7. Once we had places to shoot, it was just a matter of organizing and promoting, going and running the matches, and encouraging others there to get involved..
  8. When funds exist and you see that it's going to be viable, get the NRA insurance, it makes the property owners more comfortable and protects them.
  9. Start going and encouraging the members to go to other club's events and national level events (AAFTA Nats, Pyramid, Crosman)
    [/LIST=1]
 
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Affiliating with an existing shooting club is well worth the effort. An existing clubs offers a lot more that location. they have a potential airgunners, they lend legitimacy in the views of firearm shooters and most of all insurance. Our FT club's insurance covers off site coverage for scheduled events.

About an open field. A good deal of the United States is not forested so take advantage of what you have. Our site is about 1/2 brush and 1/2 native grass. On the high plains of Idaho we have a buffalo herd made up of 3 targets and 20 other buffaloes cut from foam core sign board. Likewise, the FT course at Extreme Benchrest is laid out in Sonoran desert. It is all good! 

Ron
http://blueflaxairguns.blogspot.com/
 
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binfordw, I am member of THAGC the club Scott above spoke about. I live 4 1/2 hours away. I and my friend AKA (Camp Fussel), drive there each month for matches. If it weather permitting. I think, as the saying goes......If you build it they will come!
As for the open fields, it is good for the challenge as I found out the hard way at the Nationals. 

Another idea is to make you own obstacles such as a log partially blocking a target. Bury posts and put bird and other animal targets up there . Make some prairie dogs and keep them low or mound dirt in front for a challenge. Or do an urban landscape with concrete blocks as walls, etc. Add a few thugs!

To help me with shadows in the woods that I don't have on my range, I cut a black plastic 55 gal drum in half. Then put the cut half down, and made a mouse hole shape and put a target way back inside. Works great. I took some partial galvanized silo pieces and turned them on their edges to make a cover bridge to put a target under. You can go nuts with ideas.... Just think before you put them in your mowing path or you end up moving the stuff each time you mow.....Trust me..I know!

Good luck getting it going.
 
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Thanks for all the tips and info guys,

Sounds like the idea is building steam, I've got a friend on board with it so far.

We are located in Greensburg IN, just 10 minutes or so from I-74. 




A few more questions-

1. Whats the typical lane count, total target count from average clubs.

2. Target mounting, Ive seen some attached to masonry blocks, Whats the best method for securing targets to loose soil?

3. Whats the average Troyer rating for beginner/intermediate club shoots?


Looking forward to spring already!!
 
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Typical lane count
well, normally 60 shots around here, but, any number you like. Some clubs only shoot 40 or so shots and 2 shots per target. But 10 lanes of three targets per lane and two shots per target keeps it at 60 ( just because all points shoots will be 60 or 100 shots, no other reason for that number) .
I've shot a 5 lane match, 3 targets per lane then we just moved back some unknown distance and shot those 5 lanes again.

Targets do not mount on "ground" well. "Most" target need to be flat, level, square to the shooter,...... cant have bounce either as this may cause "shake downs" esp/. at a full 20fpe.
The block are easier, use the short 4" tall concrete blocks and hide the base's ( makes bracketing harder/more fun) . It is a lot easier to get the blocks level.

attach targets to tree's or posts:
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This is EVERY tree there was at Brad Troyer's TVA club:
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every shot was in open wind. At the TVA we often left the targets in place and just covered them with buckets until the next match.
Nothing wrong with Brad's home made wooden targets :
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Avg troyer rating?
30 to 50+
IF set up correctly your course will have targets that are "givemes", say 3/4" at 25 yards ( a common zero range) and targets not even the best will clear.
Roz Sumpter, Brad Troyer, David Slade all do an excellent job of setting a course this way, new people have fun, pro's get valuable practice.

Basically, until you are having points matchs,

#1 Safety
#2 Fun

Lot's of people with lot's of FT experience are very approachable. Naturally at a match is always best but do not nhesitate to email or call others. Anthoney Storey (SP) is/was near Indianapolis, is an FT shooter and decent guy, have you looked him up yet?

I'm sure you clicked every link here:
http://www.aafta.org/

and here:
http://www.airguns.net/ft.php

Mostly rigs and shooters but a lot of FT pictures, if, this is my "library" album
http://s185.photobucket.com/user/ftnationals/library/?sort=3&page=1


John 

 
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We like to shoot a lot, and we started with 10 targets, so we shoot three shots per target. The guy who had the longest drive came up with that idea. 

I use scrap 2x4s about a foot long and 8-10 inch spikes to anchor into the ground. they set the targets a little higher in the vegetation. We have used cinder blocks when there is deep snow, but I think that they are just one more thing to hall out there. Also cinder blocks tend to tip over when resetting the target.

We don’t use Troyer rating, but it can be useful. If you calculate the rating before the match, then someone has an advantage. We do try to set up the match so that a good shot can hit about ⅔ of the targets, and let the other third decide the winners. I dislike ⅜ KZs because on a real squirrel KZ is the same size no matter how far away it is, but small KZs at close range demonstrates that the shooters knows their rifles' trajectory. 

It is a learn as you go kind of thing but that is part of the fun.

Ron
http://idahoairguns.blogspot.com/
 
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Wife and I took a bit of time late tonight to finally work on a few more faceplate designs+ cnc stencil kits.

She picked out the shark and edited, I did the boar. Pretty close to finished, I might edit some areas and change some colors, especially on the boar. All the white just looks funny. The stencil sizes came out great however. The cnc cut stencils really make painting a breeze, no skill required! All they need now is messed up :D

We have 30 total designs in mind, I'm going to try to have all of them finished by early spring, time will tell.



 
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