Thinking about the Group Shoots

**mjfletcher** · October 17th, 2008, 03:26 PM

Each time there's a group shoot planned, theres always people that say they'd love to attend, but the X hour drive is a bit much for them. Each time an eastern shoot it planned, it seems to always be planned for near Philly, as far southeast as you can get. Western shoots tend to be planned for near Pittsburgh, as far southwest as you can get. The result ends up being that people living in the northern half of their side of the state are going to have really long drives to get to the shoots for their half.

So, I got to thinking, with PA being a fairly square state, it wouldnt be difficult to quarter the state and then plan shoots based on that to make it as convenient as possible for people to go to their regional group shoots and help get more people out to them by equalizing drive times as much as possible.

RED: NE/SE/NW/SW group shoots
BLUE: Eastern/Western/Northern/Southern group shoots
WHITE: Full State group shoots

Possibly also split the state into thirds and hold Western, Central, and Eastern shoots.

A good example of convenience was the shoot at topton. Its not perfectly centered in the SE corner of the state, but its within about 35 mins or so of it (if my guestimating is accurate lol). Even the furthest drive from anywhere in SE PA was only about an hour and a half.

**Koli01** · October 17th, 2008, 03:34 PM

That's all well and fine.
Now all YOU have to do is find a place on your dots that are willing to have a group shoot. And YOU can organise it.

It is very easy to come up with these great ideas.

The reason there are group shoots in sw, se, nw (erie has had at least one), and i think central (has had a couple) is that someone was willing to find a place that would allow such a thing and then organised it to start with.

So go to it and best of luck to ya.

**96D** · October 17th, 2008, 05:53 PM

I feel the same way about the meet & greet!

**P-11 shooter** · October 17th, 2008, 06:42 PM

It's one of those "great idea in theroy" ideas.

The reason we have these shoots near pittsburgh is we have a great club. Anyone who has been to a westy group shoot will tell you we "gots the hook up"

That's the reason we've had 20 consecutive sucessful shoots when other parts of the state have had a handfull, or none at all. I say, the northwest and southwest side of the state is fairly well covered. I think others need to find places in their own local areas and get them going. Hell, I'll drive to shoot with you guys.

**Emptymag** · October 17th, 2008, 09:52 PM

When D-FENS and I started the shoots that are held in Pgh each month, there was a ton of interest in holding them at different ranges around Pgh.(There are TONS of ranges here) The problem? Nobody wanted to do a damned thing.
I had a bunch of people ask me if I would plan one at another club, and I replied that I'd love to, but would need the assistance of someone who belongs to another club. All I heard were crickets chirping.

We are fortunate to have a combination of factors that make for great group shoots. A club that allows non members to attend these events, and a crapload of pafoa members who live within driving distance are the two biggies.

Just pick a range, announce a day to go shooting, and whoever shows up, shows up. You don't need 50 people to have a good time.

**soberbyker** · October 17th, 2008, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by Emptymag

When D-FENS and I started the shoots that are held in Pgh each month, there was a ton of interest in holding them at different ranges around Pgh.(There are TONS of ranges here) The problem? Nobody wanted to do a damned thing.
I had a bunch of people ask me if I would plan one at another club, and I replied that I'd love to, but would need the assistance of someone who belongs to another club. All I heard were crickets chirping.

We are fortunate to have a combination of factors that make for great group shoots. A club that allows non members to attend these events, and a crapload of pafoa members who live within driving distance are the two biggies.

Just pick a range, announce a day to go shooting, and whoever shows up, shows up. You don't need 50 people to have a good time.

This has been the biggest problem in the southeast. A range with a decent variety of shooting, without a million rules, and allows non members.

Last winter I announced every Sunday I was going to SPAG, a small indoor range in south Philly. About three or four different folks showed up on different days.

I've been to the western shoots three times now, those guys really have a great find in the PMSC. It took some time build up to what it is today. I just don't see the kind of club PMSC is around here to have as much freedom to grow & fun as those guys out west have.

The first shoot we had over this side was put together by Chamberedround and it wasn't easy and took a lot of time and effort. The range was very very strict. Kind of took the fun out of it. Outside of finally meeting some eastern PAFOA members the shooting just wasn't fun. Pennsyplinker organized a couple this year and although I didn't attend it seems it was a tad tough to set up as well from what I read in the thread.

It's a great idea on paper but it's been my experience around the southeast you need to have a member bring in a guest, not multiple guests, at the outdoor ranges I know.

I'd love someone to find a PMSC clone over this side, I've never had a better time meeting my fellow PAFOAers and shooting some fine guns.

Bill
.

**PennsyPlinker** · October 18th, 2008, 07:05 AM

What Bill said. At least, about it being a little tough to set it up. And as has already been mentioned, the two main criteria so far for any shoot is having someone who is willing to do the work, and someplace to do it. We just can't arbitrarily pick a place and go shoot there like we do a place to eat.

Topton has some real nice ranges, but the officers don't want to see the guest pass system used to turn it into a public range. For people who are close enough, the membership fee is not onerous, and if we had a bunch of people here who were members there, perhaps we could get something official going. But I don't see that happening any time soon.

I got to visit the PMSC range a couple of weekends ago, and all I can say is I was sorry I did not have time to do some shooting while I was out there. The westies have a great place. It all comes down to this. If someone wants a shoot local to them, all they need to do is the work to organize it. Easy, huh?