Sheffield Rifle Club, Tasmania

[Member-Deleted]

I guess somebody has to be objective about this, and the club scene in general. More often than not, when a club goes through a major re-shuffle, it pretty well takes off like a rocket, or seriously dies in the arse. Political correctness and the brain washed media tells us that diversity is a good thing, and expands the mind etc, however.....no-one likes change, it is a simple statement of fact about the human condition, and we tend to be creatures of habit. When a club has been doing the same style of shooting for a long time, and then suddenly has a change of ethos, it takes an enormous amount of groundwork to re-shape everything. This is nothing more than an observation on my part, and is in no way meant to discourage your efforts to appeal to a wider segment of the shooting community.

The only club I am involved in is a pistol shooting one, and they have been adhering to the same rules and National standards as were adopted when the club first formed. If you want to shoot a different style or discipline, find another club; simple, no hard feelings. It is a constant, and I always know where I stand, and merely have to concentrate on improving my aim. And I stay right out of the politics, which put me off most clubs anyway. The different types of competition mentioned for the Sheffield club are probably more in line with the SSAA, than within the comparatively strict, exclusive ( and expensive) TRA .308 mindset. It would be a terrible loss to see such an old established club like that simply wither away.

[sungazer]

You are absolutely correct about the " no-one likes change, it is a simple statement of fact about the human condition, and we tend to be creatures of habit" I take my hat off to the Sheffield Rifle Club and hope they prosper in either attracting new members to the traditional (or much later introduced) f class sport or they introduce more types like they already have changing and moving with the times and cater to what is the current asking of the shooting community to keep the club and range financial and fun.
There are many State clubs by that I mean VRA, NSWRA, SARA, QRA ect that are undergoing change and moving away from the strict and exclusive attitudes of the past that may of in some way even come from the military days and just indoctrinated into the ongoing membership. I think it is time that people start going back to these clubs and seeing what is happening and if not now give them a few trys as nearly all the clubs know that they need to change to attract a new audience.
Some are trying to do it under the existing framework, which I think will fail others are trying to change the framework so the club can cater to change.

[Gwion]

I can assure you that Sheffield Rifle Club is in no way withering and dying. We are one of the few clubs in the TRA that is actively growing.

Given that the average age of the TRA membership is probably 60 odd years old, the way clubs will wither and die is by not adapting and attracting new shooters to the precision rifle dicipline. This isn't to be ageist. Just a simple fact of the rapidly aging membership base.

Precision rifles have changed a lot since the days when 303brit was the only cartridge available. The sport can reflect that by offering diciplines that cater for a wider selection of shooting platforms. We adopted the hunter/varmint division for this exact reason. The dicipline is known in the States as F-Class Practical. I know one other TRA affiliated club, Smithton, has recently taken up the F-C H/V and are having fun with it. Hopefully more will take it up. It is a great way to introduce people to precision shooting and provides a challenge to even the most seasoned shooters.

The Sheffield Range is one of the only places you can shoot past 200yds in the Nth of Tas and we want to be more inclusive rather than the restrictive closed shop of the past.

Hope to see you down at the range sometime.

[Oldbloke]

Hey, Gwion,
Do you blokes have a web site? Googled and couldn't find one.

[sungazer]

I dont want to but in on Gwions thread and as his club is in Tasmania I dont think this is stepping on any toes. For Victorian shooters a club you may want to check out is at Violet Town. The club is called ECDRA and has a website at www.ecdra.com.au also a facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ECDRA/. I will start a new thread. It is a Target rifle club however visitors are welcome best to make prior contact as there are home and away matches like football. We also have other specialty days which I will keep everyone informed of and send out the invitation accordingly.

[Heckler303]

So how's membership going then? Any more members been arriving or old TRA participants turning up?

[Gwion]

Hey, Gwion,
Do you blokes have a web site? Googled and couldn't find one.

Not at this stage but it's something we need to look at getting up.

[Gwion]

I dont want to but in on Gwions thread and as his club is in Tasmania I dont think this is stepping on any toes. For Victorian shooters a club you may want to check out is at Violet Town. The club is called ECDRA and has a website at http://www.ecdra.com.au also a facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ECDRA/. I will start a new thread. It is a Target rifle club however visitors are welcome best to make prior contact as there are home and away matches like football. We also have other specialty days which I will keep everyone informed of and send out the invitation accordingly.

[Oldbloke]

Hey, Gwion,
Do you blokes have a web site? Googled and couldn't find one.

Not at this stage but it's something we need to look at getting up.

Try. https://www.weebly.com/

It's free and easy peasy

[Member-Deleted]

I can assure you that Sheffield Rifle Club is in no way withering and dying. We are one of the few clubs in the TRA that is actively growing.

Given that the average age of the TRA membership is probably 60 odd years old, the way clubs will wither and die is by not adapting and attracting new shooters to the precision rifle dicipline. This isn't to be ageist. Just a simple fact of the rapidly aging membership base.

Precision rifles have changed a lot since the days when 303brit was the only cartridge available. The sport can reflect that by offering diciplines that cater for a wider selection of shooting platforms. We adopted the hunter/varmint division for this exact reason. The dicipline is known in the States as F-Class Practical. I know one other TRA affiliated club, Smithton, has recently taken up the F-C H/V and are having fun with it. Hopefully more will take it up. It is a great way to introduce people to precision shooting and provides a challenge to even the most seasoned shooters.

The Sheffield Range is one of the only places you can shoot past 200yds in the Nth of Tas and we want to be more inclusive rather than the restrictive closed shop of the past.

Hope to see you down at the range sometime.

My experience of a successful club or transition of such is usually indicated by membership AND participation. Since you had a "clean out' of the old management ( sounds like a gangland hit ) has membership and participation increased, and is it more popular than the club was previously? Obviously you would not oust the old guard if the majority of members were happy with the way things were. There must have been some level of dissatisfaction in the first place. No point in having 50 members, if only a hand full show up to shoot, attend working bee'e, meetings etc.

I did mention in my previous post that I considered the TRA some what exclusive, however, the restrictions placed are there for a reason, as if you wish to compete on a state/national level, you have to abide by their rules. Not surprisingly, few juniors and younger working class with families and a mortgage are involved, due to the financial constraints, and it does tend to cater for for the older more affluent types

[Gwion]

Hi Aradoar. In short, membership is growing and participation is steady taken over averages from previous years.

Without side tracking to a negative discussion, previous 'management' was one guy who kept the club as his own private range for many years whilst alianating all other local shooters who were interested in precision shooting. A long procession of members have come and gone due to the attitude of this one person. The 'clean out' was in no way a 'gangland hit' as the previous management volutarily stepped aside but it is important for anyone with previous experience with the club to understand that we have a new, more inclusive approach and want to encourage people to try their hand at precision shooting by offering an affordable entry point and mak8ng the range more accessable to shooters in Nth Tas.

[sungazer]

aradoar234 you are correct that in general it is more expensive membership wise. This is not the local club membership fee which is often very minimal. The larger part goes to the State body and National body. There are moves underway and motions have been made to reduce these fees and introduce other categories at much lower prices.There is a new Board in Vic that is much more responsive to modern thinking and the wishes of the membership. We will have to wait and see if these changes can take place. In vic we are trying to make it a more user pays system rather than all members pitching in to sponsor a state team ect. So those that want to compete at the elite level will pay more but the general grass roots member will pay less. I believe this is a wider approach being looked at by all the states and those states taking a similar motion to the national level.

[Gwion]

aradoar234 you are correct that in general it is more expensive membership wise. This is not the local club membership fee which is often very minimal. The larger part goes to the State body and National body. There are moves underway and motions have been made to reduce these fees and introduce other categories at much lower prices.There is a new Board in Vic that is much more responsive to modern thinking and the wishes of the membership. We will have to wait and see if these changes can take place. In vic we are trying to make it a more user pays system rather than all members pitching in to sponsor a state team ect. So those that want to compete at the elite level will pay more but the general grass roots member will pay less. I believe this is a wider approach being looked at by all the states and those states taking a similar motion to the national level.

And this is exactly our thinking as well.

[Gwion]

Hey, Gwion,
Do you blokes have a web site? Googled and couldn't find one.

Not at this stage but it's something we need to look at getting up.

Try. https://www.weebly.com/

It's free and easy peasy

Check it out.
Basic but a starting point. Any feed back welcome.

http://www.sheffieldrifleclubinc.com

[sungazer]

Looks really good, you have a very artistic touch.

[Gwion]

Thanks SG.

[Oldbloke]

Looks good to me. Didn't take you long.

[Gwion]

Our ANZAC DAY SHOOT is rapidly approaching!

Details and registration here:

http://www.sheffieldrifleclubinc.com/an ... -2018.html

We put on a great feed between the 200 & 300 details and the day is generally a lot of fun.

It would be great to see all you Tassie Shooters there on the mound!
Cheers

[Gwion]

Looks good to me. Didn't take you long.

Thanks mate. I prefer getting stuff done than waiting for it to do itself!
Still a lot of work to do and Weebly really isn't the ideal editor but cheap and relatively quick to use so it is a good starting place for sure.

Thanks for the nudge because I had been stewing on it for a while.

[Oldbloke]

Looks good to me. Didn't take you long.

Thanks mate. I prefer getting stuff done than waiting for it to do itself!
Still a lot of work to do and Weebly really isn't the ideal editor but cheap and relatively quick to use so it is a good starting place for sure.

Thanks for the nudge because I had been stewing on it for a while.

Weekly doesn't take long to get used to. WordPress is another well known free one I work on. But it's much clunkier.

Looks nice and clean and gets it out there.

[sungazer]

Just make sure you do a weekly backup as there are so many hackers out there that for whatever reason want to stuff you up. I use Joomla for our club again free other than the hosting has all the bells and whistles but a bit harder to learn. I wish i had more artistic skill. These doesn't even seem to be anyone in the club with it either.

[Gwion]

Nothing artistic about picking a theme to use that you think looks good.

[Oldbloke]

Nothing artistic about picking a theme to use that you think looks good.

That's it. Then it's just copy paste what you already have.

[Gwion]

Small contingent for an Easter Saturday shoot out at 600 yards. We had a guest shooter from Sydney area who was a great bloke. He shot ok as well; considering he had to put up with my dodgy rifle and the tricky Sheffield wind, all while shooting F-class when he is a Target Rifle shooter.

Scores were:

JM: 96.3
ES: 110.4
JCS: 104.4
IS: 86

[Heckler303]

Four whole members, and one of them recent? That's a great growth in membership you've received.

[sungazer]

As a % of Tas not counting every person that has two heads its pretty good.

[Gwion]

Well. A few members have been having trouble making the range due to work commitments on a Saturday so we moved this week's shoot to Sunday. There was 6 of us down there today and one of our regular guests signed up to join the club. After a bit of discussion within the club, we have decided to alternate shooting days between Saturday and Sunday each week so as to accomodate more people's various commitments.

We had a bit of a practice session for the up coming Anzac Shoot so people chould dial in a rough zero for the 200 and I had a bit of a practice shooting off hand standing at the 200yd mound... it wasn't a pretty thing from where I was standing, I can tell you!
Got lucky with the first two shots but then it went pair shaped. Everyone else just zeroed in from prone and didn't have a crack standing.

One of our range officers then took out his old French musket and gave us a little demo from about 70yd. Lots of fire, lots of noise!
Who knew there is a Precision Black Powder classification in the NRAA rule book!!! Anyway, it was pretty fun to watch and chat about.

We then moved back to 300yd and shot an F-class Hunter/Varmint round. Only two shooters completed both details because others balked a bit at the rain and packed their rifles away to watch us get wet!
The wind played as nice as it ever will at the range today so both of us who completed the shoot managed some very nice scores for F-H/V, which is scored like TR with a high score of 50 (5ring bull and anything in the 6 ring is 5.1). I shot 49.7 (f-STD would have scored 57.4) and a 49.5 (54.3). TL shot a 49.4 and a 48.4. He changed ammo on the second detail to waste some old stuff he had lying around; had he stuck with his first batch he may have out shot me on that second detail.

Anyway. We all had fun and dialled in for the upcoming ANZAC Shoot, so looking forward to out shooting the Secretary on the day! (the Secretary has won it the last 2 years)

Cheers

[Diesel]

Well. A few members have been having trouble making the range due to work commitments on a Saturday so we moved this week's shoot to Sunday. There was 6 of us down there today and one of our regular guests signed up to join the club. After a bit of discussion within the club, we have decided to alternate shooting days between Saturday and Sunday each week so as to accomodate more people's various commitments.

We had a bit of a practice session for the up coming Anzac Shoot so people chould dial in a rough zero for the 200 and I had a bit of a practice shooting off hand standing at the 200yd mound... it wasn't a pretty thing from where I was standing, I can tell you!
Got lucky with the first two shots but then it went pair shaped. Everyone else just zeroed in from prone and didn't have a crack standing.

One of our range officers then took out his old French musket and gave us a little demo from about 70yd. Lots of fire, lots of noise!
Who knew there is a Precision Black Powder classification in the NRAA rule book!!! Anyway, it was pretty fun to watch and chat about.

We then moved back to 300yd and shot an F-class Hunter/Varmint round. Only two shooters completed both details because others balked a bit at the rain and packed their rifles away to watch us get wet!
The wind played as nice as it ever will at the range today so both of us who completed the shoot managed some very nice scores for F-H/V, which is scored like TR with a high score of 50 (5ring bull and anything in the 6 ring is 5.1). I shot 49.7 (f-STD would have scored 57.4) and a 49.5 (54.3). TL shot a 49.4 and a 48.4. He changed ammo on the second detail to waste some old stuff he had lying around; had he stuck with his first batch he may have out shot me on that second detail.

Anyway. We all had fun and dialled in for the upcoming ANZAC Shoot, so looking forward to out shooting the Secretary on the day! (the Secretary has won it the last 2 years)

Cheers

Yep, if it is still it is a perfect range for zeroing but when Sheffield is windy it is a bitch, going one way at 600 then changing direction totally by the 300 mound. I reckon it has been 7(?) years since I stopped shooting there.

I would like to support the club and shoot on ANZAC day but my daughter is playing Last Post for both dawn and midday services in Devonport for the last time, so I had better go and watch. I may turn up later in the afternoon to s**t stir but that is all.

[Gwion]

Would be good to see you there, Diesel. Too bad you can't shoot on the day but maybe some other time.

Cheers

[Heckler303]

Not that this may seem overly important, but it's something I want to note. I find it somewhat dubious to call this a fair event.

It's the odd few who try to fit the theme of 'historic shooting' in these events with their milsurps, maybe taking themselves just your old plain-Jane .303 SMLE, and they shoot alongside someone who's got themselves a barnard .308, 3x12-56 optically sighted, fully glass bedded, hand lapped action, bipod equipped rifle. Your skills as a marksman are essential yes, but you can only do as well as the tool at hand can do. No amount of great shooting ability is going to let you overcome something that doesn't hit the broad side of the barn at 10 meters to illustrate. Having something like the example listed does give you a pretty big advantage.

Yes, I understand not everyone has an interest in military surplus, that's fine. Not everyone appreciates or understands history either. Just pointing that this is isn't a level playing field.


That being said, I do remember destroying the opposition in the first round with a Pattern 1914, stock standard, just using my reloads.