79S,
On a National Match level, this is my perspective as a competitor. I have shot at Perry multiple times, and Atterbury twice.
The NRA should have never left Perry. It is my understanding the NRA and CMP were acting like petulant children. Not blaming one or the other, but for their customers (shooters) it was a bad move.
At some point how can you call it a National Match when attendance is under 50? The military is not sending teams, some military shooters are going, but not on orders.
Also the NRA rifle matches are now held in mid August. Junior shooters are back in school. They are the key to growing the sport.
What needs to change at a National level?
In a perfect world the NRA and CMP work together, the NRA matches go back to Perry, The CMP Cup matches become the 2400 aggregate for the NRA with all of the NRA trophies, same for mid range and long range events. However this will not happen, attendance will continue to dwindle for the NRA, at some point the NRA National Matches will cease to exist.
On top of everything else, high power is not an easy sport. Between hauling gear around, the difficulty of shooting three positions, the overall expenses, pulling targets, and it is not very glamorous or exciting like the popular run and gun stuff. F-Class has grown but in general you shoot under cover, in one position, from a rest.
On a local/state level a good junior program is a must. In Louisiana, we have not sent a kid to Perry since I started shooting again in 2017, other than one that I introduced to the Texas coaches and they took him. We do not do a good job of promoting matches, getting scores out, cutting grass at the range, updating range calendars and attendance has dwindled to low levels. I think the last time two Legs were awarded was in in 2017, there are no state or regional matches held. I emailed the Junior director about plans for the program, no response.
In Texas they will send three teams of juniors to Perry, promote their local matches, keep websites updated, keep up the ranges, have adult teams for Perry (they were high civilian team again this year). But the population of Texas is 6 times that of Louisiana and 40 times that of Alaska.
A lot of rambling however to improve attendance on a local level we have to get juniors involved in the programs. Poach kids from 4H and Boy Scout programs. Electronic targets will help with participation. Promote through Facebook, newspaper, gun stores, etc. Have rifles and gear for new shooters to borrow. Start them on a 100 yard range. Send results with a write up to everybody you can. And the hardest of all is to have a High Power director committed to growing the sport. It is a time consuming and thankless job.
Those are all very good points, and pretty much what we talked about up here. We pretty much accepted the fact these folks like instant gratification and hearing the bullet hit steel is what the want. The bad is that bullet doesn’t have to hit X,10,9 just hit steely out get points. I have bud built a 338 Norma mag he will shoot 30-40rds at the range at 300yds. I tell come to one our 600yd mid range prone matches nope won't show up. Back to high power xtc some don’t understand why we do slow fire, some think it’s stupid how come they can’t jam 20rds in a magazine and let them fly. At 20rd rapid fire at 600yds be pretty interesting 😁. I’m trying to get my daughter into it she’s 21. Far as advertisement our club has fb and website it’s constantly updated with up to dates match results and upcoming matches. We also have 7 shot markers now. With the intention of buying more for nra/cmp xtc highpower matches. Right now we glue 200yd centers on the back of 500yd targets and use our 600yd frames. With few more shot markers we can set up dedicated 200/300yd frames. Our club has loaner rifles as well no scopes on them, the only hurdle we saw this year was ammo ie 77gr ammo for the 600yd line. But even with all we have for a small club our xtc mstches don’t have many folks showing up. Now our midrange shoots we have anywhere from 15-28 show up on Tuesday evenings.
