Target Gun Accumulating and Their Lack of Use

[PaulB]

I am interested in finding out if there are any other people in the Target Talk world that are similar to myself in their gun accumulation addiction. By latest count I have gathered together 15 free pistols, 30 standard pistols and 25 air pistols (spring air, CO2 and CA). You can add to this a handfull of target 38's, 45's and 9mm. Most of these just spend most of their time in the vault and a few get used by the minimally active college team (that owns a large number of target pistols also) that I coach. I would love to have these used more by junior or college shooters but the local interest in international or bullseye is very minimal. IDPA, Cowboy Action or just recreational plinking seems to be attracting the majority of shooters. Hard to get someone to stand still and shoot 60 free in two hours when they can blast away the same number of shots (with a bigger bang) in a combat course in just a few minutes.

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

[Guest]

That's a damn shame that there are too few people willing to take advantage of this phenomenal resource and your generosity.

I feel your pain PaulB. I'd say sell the guns that you wont use, keep the ones you are sentimentally attached to and spend the money on a once in life time family vacation. Hell, with that many guns you could easily make enough to go to Beijing to watch the Olympic shooting events.

Enjoy yourself while you can - you cant take them with you.

Sure wish I had this kind of opportunity when I grew up !!

[IPshooter]

By latest count I have gathered together 15 free pistols, 30 standard pistols and 25 air pistols (spring air, CO2 and CA).
Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Hello Paul,

I would recommend that you start running USAS/NRA ISSF matches in FP, AP and SP. Eventually, warm bodies will start showing up for your matches, some of which will need their first pistol or a better pistol. At that point, your stock will find its way to new homes, and you will be doing a great thing for ISSF shooting in your area. :-)

Stan

P.S. Don't put all those pistols on the market at once. The market will crash!

[CR10XGuest]

And if you've got a Kidd or Sams Beretta 92 looking for a home, I can help out as well. And I can guarantee it will be used at Perry.

I don't see anything wrong with having a bunch of guns, if it makes you happy. Like you, I don't have time to shoot all of them as much as I'd like. Hopefully, one day retirement will come and I can try to catch up.

Cecil Rhodes.

[pilkguns]

I seem to be gathering target air guns, mostly rare variations or something owned or used by someone famous in this sport.

If you enjoy them, they are like paintings or fine wine, you just need more wall or basement space...

[Gwhite]

I would think the various existing collegiate programs would be happy to discuss any donations you might care to make. I've donated an air pistol and some other gear to the MIT team in the past. The NRA could tell you what schools have active programs. There may be schools trying to get a program going that would be delighted to make use of almost anything that shoots, but established programs may only be interested in getting more pistols of the same sort they currently have. Maintaining a wide range of pistols (especially older ones with hard to get parts) is a headache many coaches will be reluctant to take on. I donated a Walther CP-1 to MIT, on the theory that they already had some CP-2's, but it turns out they had recently sold all of their Walthers to get more Hammerllis. I beleive my CP-1 went the same way, which I was OK with. If you want to be certain the pistols will be shot by the team as opposed to just being sold off to buy something else, you might want to discuss it with the coach up front.

You might also ask around about clubs with active junior programs. There are clubs that sponsor junior teams at Perry. Donations to colleges would be tax deductable, but giving them to a club team wouldn't be. Club junior teams & programs tend to come & go with the availability of coaches with the time & energy to commit, so I would recommend finding a larger club with a long term track record.

[Paul Ha]

Gentlemen,
Kindly please consider contacting Buddy Duvall (Director of Marketing, USA Shooting). He and I have been kicking ideas around as to how to get more people interested in International-style shooting.
One idea of some interest is that, on a major match day of another shooting discipline, may be we could ask for permission from the match director for one of us to show up with a card table to display a few APs and FPs and their associative targets, and may be a couple of Olympic posters. This might help to publize our 'passions' for our sport.
Another idea is that one could "assign" APs (and FPs) to local clubs for their members to try out with a fixed time limit. This might be benficial to the juniors and younger people to let them have a taste. Currently, a young engineering student is looking in earnest for an AP to buy, after missing out on a FWB 65 Shorty.
For some of the bigger clubs, may be one could have a few 'extra' APs on hand, and offer new comers at-cost match fees, when you are running AP matches? (I did not get any 'takers' when I made this offer with FP for a FP league though.)
Thanks for your time and considerations,
Paul.

[mjgericke]

I've been zapped by the addiction. In the last 3 months I've purchased the following:

Daisy Avanti 753
Walther CP88 Tactical Air Pistol
Walther CP99 Nickel Air Pistol
Daisy Avanti 747
Walther PPK BB Gun (with blow back action)
Ruger KMKIII512

I'm actually thinking about selling a couple of the air pistols to buy another Ruger. :D

~ Matt

[Turbo Daggit]

Paul or anyone else the 4-H shooting education club in Roanoke would love to use some of your guns!! we are always short and the kids sometimes have to stand in line or (god forbid) shoot air rifle or bb gun. A couple of our youth have bought their own but being a little pricey it is rare. We don't have any .22 bullseye guns and we have started that recently utilizing personally owned revolver .22s and semis. The older youth are intrested in the 9mm beretta competition guns.

Look for some bullseye matches, rapid fire matches (once we get more pistols we will probably use some sort of light for the timing) and air pistol matches down here soon!!! I have the use of a 25 yard indoor range (with a nominal fee) and we are building an indoor 10 meter airgun range that can hold up to 14 shooters at a time! (JUST WAITING TO GET THE RANGE APPROVED/CERTIFIED) See youth forum 4-H needs a certified range or a program to certifiy a range. STILL Looking for the JROTC JMIC instructor manual with the range certification procedures!


We will happily accept donations or loans Paul and we are just down the road if/when you need them back!!!!!

Paul I will see you this weekend at the council meeting?

Get out and get those kids involved in air pistol etc. They aren't going to come to you in droves till the word is out! Try to contact some home schoolers I picked up 5 team members in one question about my shirt at a homeschool rollerskate night with my kids.

Coach Chris
Roanoke, VA

[James.]

As a Junior myself, a lot of my equipment (freepistol & bullseye equipment) belongs to my coach or the 4h group.

I'm surprised there is no interested, there is a thriving jr program here in florida.

[SRichieR]

I run a junior rifle program in Birmingham, AL. We've been around for 5 years. I've been talking with Bob Foth about progressive pistol and we are interested in starting a program. Possibly we would hold the state PP JO this year.

There is no 4H pistol in Alabama and I am not aware of any clubs shooting pistol air pistol around here.

To get this off the ground, we've got to beg/borrow/buy some pistols. Parents won't buy a kid an expensive pistol if they aren't sure of their child's interest. If there is no opportunities for competition the kid can't try the sport and develop the interest. It's kind of the chicken or the egg question.

If anyone has some pistols we could borrow to hold the PP JO in Alabama and/or a PP clinic, we would be interested and most appreciative. We're looking at sometime in early May.

Sam Richardson
SCSSA

[Paul Ha]

Sir,
Do you know Tony Wood? I might be coming thru (from Colorado) to Benning in April where I'm quite sure Tony will show up. I can give him the couple that I can loan you for your May shoot if you guys can work out somewhere to meet. How are you going to return them to me if this materialize?
Paul.

[SRichieR]

Paul,

Thank you for your consideration/offer. I don't think I know Mr. Wood. However, Benning is only about 3 hours or so from Birmingham. I could drive down and pick them up. As for the return, can they be shipped UPS? If not, we'd just have to find where our paths cross reasonably close.

I have trouble posting on target talk at home, so, if you are still interested, please e-mail me directly at SRichieR@aol.com.


Sam Richardson
SCSSA

[c2700]

Sorry to hear that issue...it's a sad state of affairs when we (US) get away from the international level shooting and all the diplomatic benifits it could provide. Hopefully the "A" personalities that shoot the run scream and reload stuff will continue to carry the torch.
Afraid I would side with the gentleman who suggested selling off the 'excess.' Sounds like a heck of an investment or some really nice heirlooms.

[Fred T]

to find kids that are willing to put forth the effort to become proficient in the international shooting sports. I think that socially they are used to more instant gratification like from video games and if they dont like the outcome they can just start over. Not so with a paper target and a hole in it. We as coaches are fighting several things at once; Other sports that are more in the limelight, football , scoccer, baseball, etc., More socially acceptable sports, baseball , football, soccer, and sports that are endorsed at school. My junior team won the Nationals at Camp Perry in 2006 and they werent even allowed in the local paper. THe high school news paper wouldnt touch the article because it was not a school sponsored sport. The only place they wre mentioned was in the Insights by the NRA. Couple all of this with the workouts/practices that the school sports require if the kids want to play and there is hardlly any time to shoot. So it is no wonder we have trouble finding kids. I will get off my soapbox now.
FredT

[TargetTerror]

Slightly off topic, but I may be intersted in purchasing one of your guns. I'm 23, so not a "junior" per se, but I am just getting into precision shooting. Would you consider selling a sport or free pistol to me?

[Jeffrey N D]

When I left Bavaria, Germany, in1998 most villages had an AP league. Gasthofs and sportsclubs usually had a back room where many both young & old participated in some form of AP shooting. Competition was strong between vilaged and clubs.The Bavarian Shutzenbund had a 10M range at the back of their beer tent at the Octoberfest which could accomodate over 100 shooters at one time. It was quite a competition whch went on for two weeks!

Maybe AP shooting has to be separated from percussion shooting so that is can be done away from the traditional Range, it only needs 10M, and perhaps attract participants.

Jeff