New Club probationary membership.

[RDC]

I concur with the posts by the right honourable gentlemen above.

By offering more than just .22 allows new shooters to experience other forms of shooting and different calibres in order to see what they enjoy. It also gives a structured baseline of knowledge and awareness, as well as skill and competence across the entire club membership. As has been said, this then allows for more people being able to do their bit by training up newbies and supervising their shooting.

Imagine splashing out over a grand on a lovely underlever as soon as you get your ticket only to find out you don't like it because the big boys in the wouldn't let you near one as a probationer.
I appreciate that may come across as disparaging to your club, however it wasn't intended as such. Merely putting forth a scenario I have seen occur.

[GeeRam]

Imagine splashing out over a grand on a lovely underlever as soon as you get your ticket only to find out you don't like it because the big boys in the wouldn't let you near one as a probationer.
I appreciate that may come across as disparaging to your club, however it wasn't intended as such. Merely putting forth a scenario I have seen occur.

Or......in my case I was lucky enough to be able to have a go at a few other members non-Marlin underlever's as I was getting so hacked off with using the shagged out Marlins that were the club guns.
Probably why I couldn't wait to splash out a grand on a Uberti as soon as I got my ticket.

[RDC]

Imagine splashing out over a grand on a lovely underlever as soon as you get your ticket only to find out you don't like it because the big boys in the wouldn't let you near one as a probationer.
I appreciate that may come across as disparaging to your club, however it wasn't intended as such. Merely putting forth a scenario I have seen occur.

Or......in my case I was lucky enough to be able to have a go at a few other members non-Marlin underlever's as I was getting so hacked off with using the shagged out Marlins that were the club guns.
Probably why I couldn't wait to splash out a grand on a Uberti as soon as I got my ticket.

The point stands though. If you restrict all probationers to .22 and ban them from anything larger in calibre then they will not be able to get comfortable with anything larger than .22 until they take the plunge and buy their own. In the outlined situation described by another poster, they don't allow probationers to shoot anything other than .22 because they (presumably) don't trust them with anything else. Seems odd to me, but then I could be misreading the intentions of that club. If so then I can only apologise to them for misunderstanding.

[GeeRam]

Imagine splashing out over a grand on a lovely underlever as soon as you get your ticket only to find out you don't like it because the big boys in the wouldn't let you near one as a probationer.
I appreciate that may come across as disparaging to your club, however it wasn't intended as such. Merely putting forth a scenario I have seen occur.

Or......in my case I was lucky enough to be able to have a go at a few other members non-Marlin underlever's as I was getting so hacked off with using the shagged out Marlins that were the club guns.
Probably why I couldn't wait to splash out a grand on a Uberti as soon as I got my ticket.

The point stands though. If you restrict all probationers to .22 and ban them from anything larger in calibre then they will not be able to get comfortable with anything larger than .22 until they take the plunge and buy their own. In the outlined situation described by another poster, they don't allow probationers to shoot anything other than .22 because they (presumably) don't trust them with anything else. Seems odd to me, but then I could be misreading the intentions of that club. If so then I can only apologise to them for misunderstanding.

I agree.....daft to keep it .22 only prior to applying for FAC, unless only applying for .22 slots (assuming club doesn't shoot full-bore)

[bradaz11]

Making sure everybody is conversant in all firearms available to members, even if they're not interested in the discipline, can only be a good thing. You may not be interested, but at least you'll be safe.

I agree with this too. Currently going through probation at a club that operates similar-ish rules. Can't fault it - even as a coach / captain at another club. Making sure everyone has exactly the same baseline and is aware of any local constraints, issues or requirements is a good thing.

I agree with this to an extent, but if you aren't interested in it, I don't see you should do it, and then say you are ok to train other members.

who would you rather instruct a new member on a gun>? a guy who is passionate and uses them every week. or a guy who hasn't picked one up in 3 years since they were shown one? I know who I'd want!

[Kungfugerbil]

I agree with this to an extent, but if you aren't interested in it, I don't see you should do it, and then say you are ok to train other members.

Oh I agree - I was only refererring to the requirement to be a safe range user. Coaching is something completely different!

[Alpha1]

I'm excited I applied to join a local club and I have been accepted as a probationer the documentation arrived this morning. At first glance the probationary criteria is really intense its a six month probationary period and that's about the norm any way and there is lots to it.
The 25 mtr indoor range is a ten minutes drive. It looks like they are pretty competitive so I may have to up my game.
I am looking forward to it. The fact that I am a established shooter cut no ice either if I don't complete the probationary requirements I don't get in.
Fingers crossed I don't screw up.

My original post. An up date every thing is going ticket ty boo. Nothing to get excited about. Its a great facility the people are fine.
They have a lot of probationary members and they seem to be doing a good job. I'm happy to go along with there probationary regime I'm having fun. I am buying a .22 bolt action rifle so I can get involved in the .22 stuff just to show willing. Once I am hope fully accepted I will probably use it sparingly or may be sell it on. But what the heck. I decided it would probably be a good idea to attend some of the other nights just to get to know the people and let them get to know me. So I got my underlever out of moth balls blew the cob webs out of the chamber and took it along to a underlever night. I explained to them that I could not remember the last time I fired the rifle but they encouraged me to give it a go. The first two ten shot targets looked like a shot gun pattern. They were watching me the whole time Im assuming gun safety etc. Any way while the rest of the guys got on with it I got to re zero the Winchester under Supervision. The night ended with me overlooking two other probationers shooting my underlever. They both wanted to take it home with them. As a bonus because all these guys are probationers I came home with a barrow load of .38 special once fired brass.
I made some new friends and discovered a registered fire arms dealer that is a twenty minute drive from me. YES
I also got to look at a really cool black powder revolver that uses shot gun primers to ignite the powder.

Any way enjoy dont take it to seriously and what ever you do keep your powder dry.

[Kungfugerbil]

^ Excellent. I suspect it's the same club that I'm currently going through probationary membership actually!

[TattooedGun]

Making sure everybody is conversant in all firearms available to members, even if they're not interested in the discipline, can only be a good thing. You may not be interested, but at least you'll be safe.

I agree with this too. Currently going through probation at a club that operates similar-ish rules. Can't fault it - even as a coach / captain at another club. Making sure everyone has exactly the same baseline and is aware of any local constraints, issues or requirements is a good thing.

I agree with this to an extent, but if you aren't interested in it, I don't see you should do it, and then say you are ok to train other members.

who would you rather instruct a new member on a gun>? a guy who is passionate and uses them every week. or a guy who hasn't picked one up in 3 years since they were shown one? I know who I'd want!

I do see what you're saying, but I don't agree. Just because you're not interested in it *now* whats to say in 3 years you decide to give it a go, being a full member of the club you are provided full and unrestricted access to the firearms of which you have no idea how they work and no idea the safety aspects of that particular firearm or discipline.

As has been mentioned, a safety baseline is, in my opinion, paramount.

The training aspect was only to further this, really. Of course if you're not interested in a discipline you're highly unlikely to put yourself in the position to supervise, but the fact remains as a full-member of the club you are "qualified" to do so, so you should at least be conversant in the safety aspects of the firearms involved.

[bradaz11]

I agree with this too. Currently going through probation at a club that operates similar-ish rules. Can't fault it - even as a coach / captain at another club. Making sure everyone has exactly the same baseline and is aware of any local constraints, issues or requirements is a good thing.

I agree with this to an extent, but if you aren't interested in it, I don't see you should do it, and then say you are ok to train other members.

who would you rather instruct a new member on a gun>? a guy who is passionate and uses them every week. or a guy who hasn't picked one up in 3 years since they were shown one? I know who I'd want!

I do see what you're saying, but I don't agree. Just because you're not interested in it *now* whats to say in 3 years you decide to give it a go, being a full member of the club you are provided full and unrestricted access to the firearms of which you have no idea how they work and no idea the safety aspects of that particular firearm or discipline.

As has been mentioned, a safety baseline is, in my opinion, paramount.

The training aspect was only to further this, really. Of course if you're not interested in a discipline you're highly unlikely to put yourself in the position to supervise, but the fact remains as a full-member of the club you are "qualified" to do so, so you should at least be conversant in the safety aspects of the firearms involved.

I'm a full member with an FAC, I have access to whatever I can justify to my FEO, that doesn't mean the club should undertake it on themselves to have everything to 'train' me. safety baseline is the basics are just that, basics, and why do you need different mechanisms and shapes to prove that. that seems more than some sort of baseline....
also, why can a full club member not be shown how to use the rifle 3 years down the line if you suddenly develop an interest?
note, I'm not saying introductions to all the firearms the club has is a bad thing, a few rounds out of each gun to get a taste is nothing but a good thing, but to force folk to try things, and then mark them down as somehow being trained is odd in my eyes, and even on a taster, people will be totally uninterested.