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The length of time it all takes is certainly one of the biggest issues when it comes to retaining people who have actually managed to get as far as a taster session in my experience.
We had thirty or so Police cadets and their seniors come along for a go at clays, 22 prone and air rifles. Most of them did very well. One of the adults came back one more time but that was it. You could see her face drop when we said it might be a year before she could be up and running with her own kit.

Rockhopper wrote:The length of time it all takes is certainly one of the biggest issues when it comes to retaining people who have actually managed to get as far as a taster session in my experience.
We had thirty or so Police cadets and their seniors come along for a go at clays, 22 prone and air rifles. Most of them did very well. One of the adults came back one more time but that was it. You could see her face drop when we said it might be a year before she could be up and running with her own kit.

Yep and the younger they are the more they dont want to bother. I dont see it as a rush to get a ticket, certainly what I see are people who want to take up shooting, most for the competitive side too, but having to borrow guns that perhaps arent suited to them is a good way to turn them around. Also, and lets be fair here, who here doesnt like the idea of owning kit, I'm no magpie but shooting my own gun which I have tailored to what I want is more satisfying that grabbing a club gun and throwing a few down range. Our sport will never grow unless we try and make it easier to access, not helped of course by the police who in some regards see it as their duty to restrict access to firearms at every chance.

JSC wrote:What would your ideal shooting club be like?

Good facilities with a safe, friendly and supportive atmosphere for all types of shooters.

JSC wrote:How easy do you find it to get information and help from shooting clubs and organisations?

I have come to shooting quite late. For many years it was something I idly fancied trying but through ignorance and lethargy never did. Since I have started other shooters have been very supportive but the process of getting started is long, difficult and bureaucratic. It’s difficult to find places to shoot, difficult to get the necessary permissions, difficult to buy the equipment, waiting times are long, etc.

I have shot at Bisley, which is great, and looked at their website but otherwise the NRA have been largely invisible to me. Opinion seems to be low of their effectiveness as a lobby group.

JSC wrote: What could they do better?

I think we need to grow to survive and for that we need a strong pro-active national body and more places to shoot. The first club I chose to try did have places but I had discounted one club previously as their website advertised a 6 month wait and two others I’ve contacted since also had long waits. Open days would be good for introductions but if places don’t exist the main reason for holding them is gone. I have been quite vocal about my new pastime with friends and lots of people have expressed interest in trying shooting to me. There are definitely lots of people who are potential shooters. Spreading the experience will help us grow and be more widely accepted too. My two older kids have both come and enjoyed shooting, whilst my youngest has shot air rifles with her cubs pack. The American Project Appleseed looks like a great way to spread shooters but UK law might make that difficult here.

JSC wrote: Why would you join a club (apart from the obvious reason to get an FAC!)

Access to facilities is the obvious one but the social aspect is a big part of it too. Enjoying your hobby with fellow enthusiasts is usually more fun than on your own. The sharing of knowledge is also important for a healthy ongoing community.

JSC wrote: what would you expect to get in return for your membership fee?

Facilities, insurance and possibly association to a national body.

Maybe some kind of online space for clubs to register and advertise for new members would be good. Help like this should really be the remit of the NRA.


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Thorney wrote:Yep and the younger they are the more they dont want to bother

It’s a mistake to think of all juniors as FAC-holders-in-waiting. There are many, many parents of teenagers who have no issue whatsoever with them getting coaching and joining a club, but have absolutely zero inclination for allowing them to own and store their own firearms in the house. For those the length of probation is irrelevant as they won’t ever progress until they come back to it later in life.

Our sport will never grow unless we try and make it easier to access

Our sport is growing and will continue to do so. I don’t think fast tracks and shortcuts to ownership are the way to build a sustainable future for the sport personally, but that’s just my opinion. Others are perfectly valid too :). For me communication, awareness and openness are the key. Shooting is still seen as secretive and furtive - sometimes for good reason where security is concerned - but most clubs don’t make it easy.

I’ve just put in for and won a grant for our smallbore club to offer an outreach program - taking a mobile range (air, laser) to local schools, youth groups, events and shows to be more visible and offer people a route in. Demystify and destigmatise target sports and we can build a future.

Kungfugerbil wrote: I’ve just put in for and won a grant for our smallbore club to offer an outreach program - taking a mobile range (air, laser) to local schools, youth groups, events and shows to be more visible and offer people a route in. Demystify and destigmatise target sports and we can build a future.

That's a great initiative, well done. It would be useful to know a bit more about the kit you're looking at using for that and the cost of doing it.

Not sure where you get the data that target shooting is a growing sport, all the data I see is that it’s shrunk year on year for the past 20 years and more. However, I agree with your sentiment and well done on the grant.

Thorney wrote:Not sure where you get the data that target shooting is a growing sport, all the data I see is that it’s shrunk year on year for the past 20 years and more. However, I agree with your sentiment and well done on the grant.

Maybe it’s just more visible now, or accepted.

In terms of raw FACS, there are more granted now that at any point in the last thirty years - last year was the highest since 1988. Of course the split of live quarry vs target is not in the data, but I bet a shiny pound the target side has grown more of late.

From the UK Gov website:

There were 154,958 firearm certificates as at 31 March 2017, an increase of 1% (1,554) compared with the previous year (153,404) and the highest number of firearm certificates since 1988 (155,400)

And also pleasingly I note that:

The number of firearms per 100,000 people 2 as at 31 March 2017 was highest in North Yorkshire (2,670)

clapclap

Ps I think what you have done and are doing with the Silverstone Shooting Centre is fab and an incredible achievement.

Alpha1 wrote:I have been shooting for probably thirty year I have just gone through a mandatory six month probationary period with a new club. Six months is a sensible period of time in my opinion its not just about some one wanting to get into shooting and getting there hands on a fire arm certificate its about assesing wether the person is suitable to hold a cerfificate wether he is a safe shooter and has the right attitude etc. Its the club that has to be satisfied he is suitable. Six months is not a long time to get to know some one.

I agree with this.

Our club is min 6 months as well, even though pretty much every new/probation member we've had in the past 3 years has been known for sometime by at least one other club member, and more than one member in a few instances!!

Thorney wrote:Not sure where you get the data that target shooting is a growing sport, all the data I see is that it’s shrunk year on year for the past 20 years and more. However, I agree with your sentiment and well done on the grant.

Ah, so that begs the question, what data have you seen and is it detailed enough to determine any growth/decline by type of shooting/gun/geographical area etc.?

JSC wrote:

Thorney wrote:Not sure where you get the data that target shooting is a growing sport, all the data I see is that it’s shrunk year on year for the past 20 years and more. However, I agree with your sentiment and well done on the grant.

Ah, so that begs the question, what data have you seen and is it detailed enough to determine any growth/decline by type of shooting/gun/geographical area etc.?

None, and that is the issue, nothing is correlated between the shooting organisations and each of those only care about their little fiefdom, and dont bother asking British Shooting (the umbrella organisation for all of this) they have no idea.

No the data I got was from when we researched the planning application for the range, in the last 20 years there have been over 40 ranges close across the country. FAC applications are up and the sport of field shooting is relatively robust but target shooting is down. Entrant numbers are down for all the major comps in the last 10 years (they go up and down yoy of course) and we are in a declining over all market.

Of course so much of this is political, Birminghams decision to exclude shooting for the Commonwealth games is indicative of this (they blame lack of facilities but its cobblers) and of course all the bans, these have limited the whole sport. We (as a country) are unable to offer IPSC competitions as we lack ranges that allow practical style shooting to 100m.

I'm being deliberately a little provocative of course, but all I see is a market where we not effective enough in looking to grow as by and large no one really cares, its all about keeping your heads down and hopefully no-one will see, we have to shirk that idea and start to want to get people shooting or we will be even more marginalised than we already are.