Oh, man.
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Matches at independent done
- Thread starter Steve_P
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Oh, man.
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Making suggestions to the membership, rather than pulling the "you in a heap of trouble boy" card when something sub-optimal, but not dangerous, happens (like shooting outside of hours) is the style of El Prez. You don't find any heavy handed attitude or self important ROs playing the "I'm safe and you are not" game you hear about from some clubs.
You won't find people getting on your case for drawing from a holster; loading more than "N" rounds in your gun, shooting on the move in the pistol bays or shooting quickly (as long as you are hitting the target).
The activities tend to shut down a particular range (rifle, pistol bays, or indoors). It's very rare for an activity to shut them all down.
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I really wish i could, have young daughters in all types of sports! I have a small 2-3 hour window on sundays and thats it. Maybe when they are older ill be able to, until then....IM SCREWED!
Overall HSA is a great club, like i said, some of the best people ive met there and made alot of friends!
I personally only get to shoot sundays, last week was open, (which i couldnt go) but the three sundays before, the rifle range was closed due to matches, and the pistol bays along with the all purpose bay was closed 2 weeks ago. Trap and skeet get old, i need my rifles...lol. ReAlly wish there wernt so many events on the weekends so paying members can shoot, most of us shlubs work all week and get the weekend to shoot.
And from what i understand is there is going to be a member/RO during norm l hours from now on
To me... We are slowly rolling to be ONE OF THOSE CLUBS!
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My understanding is that the board is making an effort to get out to see what is going on, but the club is not going to become a place where you only shoot when an RO is on duty. In face, what you will probably see is some of the club officer and directors stopping by to say hello. It is doubtful it will take on the flavor of an RO.
As to the rolling - When I joined that club, it was 5 rounds loaded, no loaded gun in a holster, lead ammo only indoors. I remember back around 1987 having a board member demand my membership card and giving me a stern talking to because I was shooting too fast indoors (even though I was on target). Besides getting rid of those silly range rules, the club has added a half dozen pistol bays, expanded a few positions on the rifle range to 200 yards, fixed the well, painted the building, and replaced an aging access system with one that actually works (and can accommodate our expanding membership).
The club tries to make its decisions based on "how to best serve the members". An example was the replacement of the card key system. When the old one died, we knew it would take a couple of weeks to spec out a new system, order it, get it installed, and distribute 700 cards. The club president had the lock to the clubhouse temporarily changed, and gave a key to any member who wanted to use the range while the access system was down. Many clubs would have simply said "clubhouse range temporarily unavailable".
But, the club president has been in office for a number of years and will probably retire within the next decade. The key to the continued "good attitude" is getting a successor with similar attitudes.
I read on other social media outlets that it wasn't the entire BOD that decided to ban the scary sport, just a few guys...anyone have the full scoop?
OK, that IDs it. You are referring to Ames. Ames has a decent facility but a real dictator at the helm. Anyone that crosses him will get a "lawyer letter" or thrown out. BTDT, he threatened me for 2 pics posted here on NES of the grass overtaking the target stands. I resigned and won't step foot on the property as long as he's a member. I hope to see the day that there are news pictures of him being led out of their in silver bracelets.
Damn, ISC was one of my favorite matches. I'm going to miss them, and the great bunch of guys, many of whom probably won't get out to many of the other USPSA matches because they don't have all the gear. It's a shame what the BOD did to the crew that did such an outstanding job running fun, safe matches.
Does anyone know what actually happened?
Does anyone know what actually happened?
Effing fudd's.
As an HSC member who used to do most of his shooting on Sundays before I started IPSC, this post confuses me. What event(s) keep happening every Sunday that shut down all the ranges you want to shoot at? Even the IPSC(Sundays) and IDPA (Saturdays) events never happen on the same weekend, and they never use all the Pistol bays. Any other events may use one range and one pistol bay (Biathalon) or something.
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You appear to be talking about Harvard Sportsmens Club.
The Op was talking about Hopkinton Sportsmens Association.
Hopkinton does not currently offer IDPA or Biathalon.
Well aren't I a complete Idiot? Ignore me!
If you want to keep it from happening at other clubs make sure you have good "action shooting" representation on the clubs board. Also make sure that your club isn't setup such that a few people on the board, or in the membership, can't force through changes like this when they get sand in their vaginas.
It's not just "action sports", another clubs board went batshit crazy with political garbage and shutdown the bullseye team a season or two ago. Some people are just *******s with a whole lot of time on their hands and nothing better to do.
Reviving an old thread at the request of a now former BOD member there.
So what happened was that one of the FUDD shotgun only board members saw a youtube video of an action rifle match and saw someone with a jam. When clearing the jam the rifle barrel became elevated above the berm, mind you finger was off the trigger and action was open. He then searched some other videos and found another one of a short person shooting at an upper target which made the shot angle hit more than halfway up the berm and saw that there was a white (No-shoot) target up high in front of a tree to discourage shots that were too high (Target was still well below the berm).
Because of this a closed door, unannounced meeting of several board members was held. When the Action Pistol group members found out about this meeting after the fact, they tried to educate the other board members about the sport, rules and safety requirements but it was too late.
The following rules were imposed on the ranges which made it impossible to continue to hold action pistol matches:
- All shots must be directly at the rear berm, no angle shots of any kind
- All movement of the shooter must be conducted at a walking pace with unloaded firearm and action open
- The shooter may only have the minimum number of rounds required for the course in their possession at the start signal (ie: if you miss or pull a shot low you do not have any spare rounds to make up that shot)
- There must be 3 separate Range Officers. 1 to watch and travel with the shooter, one to carry the timer and a third to do scoring. No range officer can do double duty.
I believe that was it but will amend if I forgot something.
So what happened was that one of the FUDD shotgun only board members saw a youtube video of an action rifle match and saw someone with a jam. When clearing the jam the rifle barrel became elevated above the berm, mind you finger was off the trigger and action was open. He then searched some other videos and found another one of a short person shooting at an upper target which made the shot angle hit more than halfway up the berm and saw that there was a white (No-shoot) target up high in front of a tree to discourage shots that were too high (Target was still well below the berm).
Because of this a closed door, unannounced meeting of several board members was held. When the Action Pistol group members found out about this meeting after the fact, they tried to educate the other board members about the sport, rules and safety requirements but it was too late.
The following rules were imposed on the ranges which made it impossible to continue to hold action pistol matches:
- All shots must be directly at the rear berm, no angle shots of any kind
- All movement of the shooter must be conducted at a walking pace with unloaded firearm and action open
- The shooter may only have the minimum number of rounds required for the course in their possession at the start signal (ie: if you miss or pull a shot low you do not have any spare rounds to make up that shot)
- There must be 3 separate Range Officers. 1 to watch and travel with the shooter, one to carry the timer and a third to do scoring. No range officer can do double duty.
I believe that was it but will amend if I forgot something.
Seems like action shooting sports match venues are dropping like flies in the past year or so. MRA (which had great steel matches for years), Sig Acad. and now Independent. Geez I take one season off to get a little repair done and many of the spots I like close down. This is bumming me out.
Actually the action shooting sports are on the rise, particularly Steel Challenge matches. I believe that the problems at MRA are political and that the folks responsible for the success of these matches have quit the program. SIG's withdrawal from action shooting is most likely a cost cutting measure as business is not as good as it once was and they have been laying people off.
Independent is, however, a real loss. The matches were run by a great group of people who put on a good show. I am really disappointed that these matches didn't convert enough of the club members to support the program. I guess the lesson here is that you need both a well run program and the ability to sell it to the club. I hate it when a program like this becomes a victim of politics.
There is a nice little heated house with leather recliners, and cable TV at the Pistol and Rifle range. But it is not for use by the members. It is for use only by the one rich guy who invested his money into the club improvements and in exchange was allowed to build his place. I refused to piss in the porta potty. I would use the side of his building!
Another small thing that I didn't like about ISC was that they send the renewal notice to pay your following years dues of $155 in December. Really, like I need a $155 bill while trying to pay off my children's xmas presents. MFG is due in the late summer/fall IRC. That time of year is less painful.
That is definitely the impression I got at ISC from my one visit. It looks like an awesome place for shotgun sports, but not anything else. Worth noting, that was my impression of Massapoag Sportsmens Club many years ago too.
Sadly most orgs are Jan to Dec membership, probably a spin-off of the "normal" tax year. Yes it is a hardship when all the org bills come due at the same time. It was part of my motivation to go life membership with just about every org I was a member of, starting with NRA back in the late 1970s. IIRC, currently I only get hit in December for my BR&P, Constables assn. and one LE group.
I understand that the destruction of Independent from the inside by the membership continues. Bay 3 has been completely flattened/removed and is slowly turning into a pond. This is so sad. I found the action matches at Independent several years ago and was a very frequent attendee. They worked hard to run good, fun, accessible matches which were a GREAT jumping off point for those not used to competition. they made allowances to make newer competitors comfortable. When we started the USPSA program at Hopkinton, I very much looked towards their matches as something to emulate.
I feel very sad for the wonderful people who worked their butts off to make those matches happen. I will cherish the memories. Thanks guys and gals.
R.I.P.
I feel very sad for the wonderful people who worked their butts off to make those matches happen. I will cherish the memories. Thanks guys and gals.
R.I.P.
