Tony's Bullseye Blog

An Easier Way

It’s been some time since I’ve said good bye. Last September was supposed to be my last post.

Although, one of the things I’ve noticed over the past few months, according to the stat counter, readership hasn’t dropped off. Last year a few people lobbied me to leave this up as a resource, which is fine with me.

When I review the stat counter, it reveals, most readers simply scroll down the page and eventually get lost. Let’s face it, that’s a laborious process. There are 10 years worth of posts stuffed in here and scrolling thru it is incredible cumbersome. So, back-in-the-day, I labeled each post by topic so that they could be easily searched (click here to read the entire post).

Sep

The Last Post: Where are We Going?

As mentioned in my previous post, I want to review how the sport came into its current predicament with declining participation. For those of us who might be concerned about our sport’s survivability, I think it’s useful to place things into context by reviewing how we arrived here.

Let’s look at the very recent past first. Lately we had a great debate that lasted almost three years, it was over the potential use of electronic targets.

Sep

The Next to Last Post

I’m doing some soul searching and have come to the conclusion my time here is nearing its end.

This past July, 10 years ago, I launched this blog. I never thought it would ever become a resource for new and budding bullseye shooters. Although, I knew firsthand how incredibly difficult it was to get started in the sport. I simply thought, through basic instruction, new shooters wouldn’t have to learn the hard way much like I did.

Sep

Initiating the Genuine Beginning

Over the years new shooters have asked me what’s the most important thing to know when first starting out in the sport.

Well, knowing what the fundamentals are and then having them down pat is a good beginning. Finding a good mentor is usually high on a newbie’s list. Obtaining guidance with equipment eventually ranks up there as well, especially when it comes to gun selection.

Aug

Air Travel and Guns

I thought I’d give y'all a little background on what it’s like to lug pistols around during domestic air travel. With heighten security at all airports not only here in the States but everywhere, the process is still far less complicated than you might think.

The first step before making air travel commitments is acquiring a flight worthy gunbox.

Aug

The CMP

Over the past few weeks, the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) has taken a lot of criticism for their management of the 2017 calendar dates for the National Matches.

The basic problem is a national holiday falls within our typically scheduled week. I don’t know if other accommodations could have been made. And yes, there will be a domino effective forced on local matches across the country to accommodate them.

Aug

Our Future

During my entire tenure with bullseye, I’ve heard nothing but how far the sport has declined. From a practical viewpoint, I really haven’t been around that long. And I don’t have firsthand personal experience about how things were back-in-the-day. Apparently, fifteen, twenty or more years ago there must have a lot more bullseye shooters.

I still hear stories about how the census of pistol shooters at the Nationals numbered around one thousand in the early 1980s. Today it’s generally about 650.

Aug

A New Extractor

A little over a month ago at a match I sponsored, a competitor had an unfortunate problem arise when the extractor in his 1911 broke.

I’ve had it happen to me but never at a match.

For him it was initially an intermittent problem with case extraction. It quickly devolved into a complete catastrophe where nothing would function.

Why did it break then, or for that matter, why did it break at all?

Who knows?

Possibly it was improperly fitted in the first place.

Jul

2016 National Matches

Since my return from this year’s Nationals at Camp Perry, I am convinced the field conditions there are possibly the most challenging anywhere.

For those of you who were there, and for those who weren’t, a cursory look around most Facebook and Bullseye-L Forum posts clearly note much about how wind contributed to everyone’s performance.

For years, long before I ever participated at the Nationals, I could easily find written references to the shooting conditions at Camp Perry.

Jun

2016 Capital Area 2700 Regional Pistol Championship

This past weekend I sponsored a 2700 Regional Championship at my local club in Harrisburg, PA. It’s something I’ve been doing for several years. My volunteers and I attempt to make it a truly enjoyable event. All of us here understand the need to make this a social event as well as a formal match.

One of the things that surprise me, year after year, is someone who can really shoot shows up.