Survey: Bullseye shooters only?

[L. Boscoe]

When I go to my indoor range, what I see mostly is young guys blasting away at man sized targets. A few of us geezers shoot bullseye, but no young guys.
Any of us going to be replaced?

[Aguila Blanca]

The indoor range where I shoot used to hold mini combat shoots every Thursday evening. I asked the owner about the possibility of starting a bullseye league, he polled the regular customers ... and there was basically zero interest.

[TunnelRat]

A private range I used to belong to did a bullseye style competition every week in the summer. Most of the guys that participated were older and lived close to the range. They also didn’t have kids at home. The times they chose for the competitions were such that most of us that were younger and either commuted and/or had kids couldn’t make them. So the only people that attended were older. On the other side of things, when the younger guys started a small IDPA group on the weekends the older group weren’t really fans (various reasons) and eventually shut that down. I ended up leaving the club as did a lot of the younger guys (by younger I mean sub-50).

I do think there is generally a lack of interest in a lot of the bullseye sports with younger groups. But in my experience the older bullseye shooters aren’t always welcoming or encouraging either. The caveat to this in my experience has been the shotgun sports. I’ve found them generally very welcoming. Of course I can only speak for my experience.


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[reynolds357]

We used to shoot bullseye and 'action pistol" shoots at our range. The action pistol later transitioned into IDPA. When we stopped bullseye, there were 3 to 5 showing up for the matches. 40 to 60 showing up for "action pistol".

[Logs]

I want to start up shooting bullseye myself. I shot one match a few months ago and would like to get a nice set up. Most of the guys were shooting the Smith 41 pistol which is a little rich for me right now. Looking at a Browning pistol with mount for an optic.

[TunnelRat]

Originally Posted by reynolds357

We used to shoot bullseye and 'action pistol" shoots at our range. The action pistol later transitioned into IDPA. When we stopped bullseye, there were 3 to 5 showing up for the matches. 40 to 60 showing up for "action pistol".

Sounds like a big club. How big was the range? One issue our club had was it was small and we didn’t have much space for the courses.


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[L. Boscoe]

When I was a lot younger, 50 something, we had a lot of bullseye
shooting, the ipsic was just getting going, and was increasingly popular, then I was out of the picture until last year, so it looks like
bullseye is too boring for a lot of folks. At 85, it is the only thing I can still do-have to sit while shooting otherwise the back goes out.
Only one good eye, so red dots to the rescue. I think we are just
seeing change, which is fine. I enjoy what I do, load all kinds of rounds for testing on the chrono, and have a machine bring my targets back to me instead of hiking downrange. What could be better.
Are there still Bullseye competitions? Where would one see one?
I am in North Carolina

[JohnKSa]

I shot Bullseye. I did pretty well--took 3rd in the rimfire portion in my first match.

I enjoyed it, and shot in matches for awhile. I've never really cared for 1911s, so I bought a different .45ACP pistol for the centerfire portion--nothing fancy. A Tanfoglio in .45ACP--under $300 new at the time, as I recall. It shot well and I liked it. I did check the official rules before buying it to make sure everything was "legal".

The old guys who made up the rest of the competitors ( I was probably in my late 20s--at the time they seemed old ) didn't like me using anything other than a 1911 even though I was following the rules. They made sure I heard them talking about it. I figured that I would leave them alone and find some other way to enjoy shooting that didn't bother them.

I think it's kind of funny now to hear bullseye shooters complaining that there aren't enough new shooters in the sport.

[Brit]

Before I moved from Canada, Ontario, to Florida. I belonged to a Pistol Club in Toronto.
Myself and one other member were the two top shots, he had the most misarable peronality which finally got him ejected from the club.

It was a large Club, some 300 members. I also shot IDPA in an outdoor club. My Club here shot both sports, I only shot IDPA. But I have dropped out of competition.

Being a Licensed Security Officer I still claim the top spot in our yearly refresher courses.
And at 86 YOA by far the oldest!

[Willie Lowman]

In the spring, summer, and fall, I shoot USPSA.

In the winter months I go to a indoor range that doesn't allow much other than bullseye shooting.

[L. Boscoe]

the post is not intended as a complaint, just wondering if the sport
is popular or not, as I don't get to other venues much. Right now the only competition is the target mocking my lack of shooting prowess.

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by TunnelRat

Sounds like a big club. How big was the range? One issue our club had was it was small and we didn’t have much space for the courses.


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400 members and a long waiting list. Non members showed up on shoot days.

[FlyFish]

My club has an active Bullseye team that competes in an overwinter postal state-wide Gallery Pistol league and runs informal "fun" matches outdoors in the summer. Prior to COVID we had two dozen or more shooters but we lost several and are just now starting to get some back. We're probably about 50% gray-hairs and 50% younger shooters. Red dot sights have kept a lot of us with compromised vision in the game.

[SIGSHR]

It seems to be out of fashion or old fashioned at present. I firmly believe that Bullseye shooting is the best way to teach pistol shooting, requires concentration, developing all the proper habits and skills.

[Green Frog]

Originally Posted by SIGSHR

It seems to be out of fashion or old fashioned at present. I firmly believe that Bullseye shooting is the best way to teach pistol shooting, requires concentration, developing all the proper habits and skills.

Amen SIGSHR! In these days of "Run and Gun" and "Spray and Pray" style shooting, the truth still remains, "You can't miss fast enough to win". There's no substitute for learning the basics.

Froggie

[Rob228]

Saying it like this is a good way to encourage people new to the sport to give it a try:

It seems to be out of fashion or old fashioned at present. I firmly believe that Bullseye shooting is the best way to teach pistol shooting, requires concentration, developing all the proper habits and skills.

Saying it like this keeps people away:

In these days of "Run and Gun" and "Spray and Pray" style shooting, the truth still remains, "You can't miss fast enough to win".

Just because a discipline of shooting sports or a skillset that is trained to is on a shorter time limit does not mean it is "spray and pray". By my count I'm the third one to mention the attitude of bullseye shooters turning people off to it. I could just as easily walk into my old gun club on a bullseye evening and make the statement that none of them have the athletic conditioning needed to compete in other pistol disciplines. But that is going to turn them off to the idea of looking to expand their skillset, so I don't.

[TunnelRat]

Originally Posted by Rob228

Saying it like this is a good way to encourage people new to the sport to give it a try:




Saying it like this keeps people away:



Just because a discipline of shooting sports or a skillset that is trained to is on a shorter time limit does not mean it is "spray and pray". By my count I'm the third one to mention the attitude of bullseye shooters turning people off to it. I could just as easily walk into my old gun club on a bullseye evening and make the statement that none of them have the athletic conditioning needed to compete in other pistol disciplines. But that is going to turn them off to the idea of looking to expand their skillset, so I don't.

If I could +1 this I would.

It’s been my experience that the shooting “community” is really a collection of niches. One niche often cares little for the others, sometimes they seem outright hostile. It’s unfortunate because in trying activities from the different niches there’s something to learn in all of them. Not only that, but there’s fun in the new experiences.


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[expendable]

I have never noticed the bad attitude that people talk about with the different disciplines when I’m actually attending an event, only on forums have I noticed people acting that way and it isn’t just the bullseye guys

I think there is less of an interest in Bullseye because people think it’s boring and it’s difficult to master.

I don’t shoot in matches anymore, but I do shoot bullseye just for my own enjoyment, I find it relaxing.

[L. Boscoe]

One thing I notice is the need to exercise the arms, shoulders and back to be able to hold a point of aim for any length of time. That makes the sport more of a challenge, and a bit of Zen.
A friend who was on the Army Olympics team gave me some pointers about "stringing shots" i.e. in a vertical line. He said to
get a sight picture, close your eyes, a pull the trigger-it worked-no more stringing.

[Mike38]

For "formal" competition, I shoot Bullseye (Precision Pistol) only. Occasionally I try a club level shoot they call Combat Pistol which actually is a 48 shot PPC match. I tried starting a Bullseye Legue at the range I'm a member of. The club Board seemed very open to the idea, as long as I was willing to run it. Sign up was placed on the club's web site. It got one reply. Needless to say, no Bullseye Legue at this club.

I shot Bullseye back in 1997 to 2001, then started again 2017 to date. Back during my first go-round the talk was the same. Only old guys are shooting Bullseye. The sport is sure to die. Well, it sure has dropped off in number of matches state wide and number of shooters, but it's not dead yet. Now I'm one of the old guys, and trying to boost the sport, but no luck so far.

[L. Boscoe]

Mike, the survey says 38% are Bullseye only, so maybe we won't be the last
of the bunch. Personal concentration, much like meditation, is a big part of the Bullseye appeal-IMHO

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by TunnelRat

If I could +1 this I would.

It’s been my experience that the shooting “community” is really a collection of niches. One niche often cares little for the others, sometimes they seem outright hostile. It’s unfortunate because in trying activities from the different niches there’s something to learn in all of them. Not only that, but there’s fun in the new experiences.


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I agree. Over the years, the niches have fought like cats and dogs in our club.
I shot everything at some point in time over the years. Honestly, they are all at fault. The stupidest thing I have ever seen done was by bench rest rifle. Less than 5% of our club shoot B.R. center-fire. Almost everyone deer hunts. They closed the rifle range the entire weekend before opening day of Deer rifle season for a registered shoot. I thought someone was going to get shot over that.

[Mannlicher]

I have been shooting for over 70 years, and never had any interest in traditional bullseye shooting.

[mrray13]

I got my start in bullseye in high school as part of the rifle team. Eventually stepped away for football as the seasons were at the same time and football coach made me choose. But it got me hooked and taught me the fundamentals.

Got into law enforcement, during my mandatory 40 course, the instructor yelled at me because I was literally shooting the heart out of my target and he couldn’t count the holes. Told me I was practicing “marksmanship masturbation”. As the years went on, he quit yelling at me because I wasn’t changing. I always felt a person could shoot fast and keep ‘em close at the same time.


Now that I’m retired from law enforcement, I still practice both bullseye and tactical shooting.

[Rob228]

the instructor yelled at me because I was literally shooting the heart out of my target and he couldn’t count the holes. Told me I was practicing “marksmanship masturbation

On the Marine Corps annual pistol qual if three or more holes are touching and there are 'missing' shots the scorer has to assume that the missing shots went through the existing mess of holes. Its not common, but not unusual to see people start to miss the whole target on purpose on the 7 yard line after firing their second pair. (much less common on the 15 and 25).