League shooting at Beech Grove Firearms and Range

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  • flightsimmer

    Master
    Dec 27, 2008
    4,039
    149
    S.E. Indy
    Hi Guys and Gals.
    There have been quite a few inquiries at Beech Grove Firearms and Range about shooting leagues and Gary Burge has asked me several times about starting one.
    I used to shoot on the Hoosiers Hills pistol team in association with the Indianapolis Pistol League that used to shoot at The Gun Room on Elmwood Ave. in Beech Grove, over by the bowling alley on I-465 and Emerson Ave.

    That was many years ago and that alone does not make me qualified for anything except that I remember how it worked at the time and for a short time I was the President of the league mostly because no one else wanted to be tied down with it.
    Anyway, it would be great to start one up again. It gives you a reason or purpose to shoot and to meet and fellowship with other like minded shooters, that's always fun and rewarding in and of itself.
    The way it used to work was we would all meet up on I believe Monday nights at around 7:00 pm and shoot untill everyone had scored.
    The course of fire was 10 shots in a ten minute time frame and it was called "slow fire", the target was an official NRA slow fire target shot at 50 ft.
    Nexted was "timed fire", you had 1 minute to fire ten shots using an official NRA timed fire target fired at 50 ft.
    The last course of fire was "rapid fire" in which you had 10 seconds to fire ten shots. It used an official NRA rapid fire target at of course, 50 ft. It worked like this, The range manager would call out in a even cadence, ready on the right, ready on the left, ready on the firing line and then blow a whistle to start the course of fire.
    The even cadence would give you the opportunity to be prepared for your first shot so you wouldn't get "behind the ball" so to speak and end up with your last shot being disqualified for being after the whistle which ended the course of fire. This would result in your higest scoring shot being deducted from your score for that target. Embarrassing to say the least.
    Now one problem with formal league shooting is the time frame, not everyone can "be there" at a specific time on a given day even though this enhances fellowship among shooters. So since there is "always" a range manager present at the Beech Grove range, they might be accommodating most any time if time permits.
    Targets seem to be in short supply lately so a good supply of NRA approved targets might be hard to come by, a supply will have to be worked out if there is enough interest to start a league in the first place.
    Caliber of weapon is usually 22LR but with the ammo shortage this might be a problem for some and not everyone has a suitable 22 caliber handgun so maybe a "shoot what you brung" format might be in order. It would only be 30 shots per week and if you miss a week it wouldn't count against you.
    Scoring of targets would be done by anyone other than yourself.
    Now another possibility is an Apple Seed rifle competition but I'm not familiar with that form of competition, at least not yet.
    So, wrapping this up, we need to determine if there really is enough interest to get this going. I'm going to see if Gary will let me put up a
    sign for league sign-up of those who might be interested at the range counter and when you come in you can do so and watch this INGO posting for more information. Thanks for looking.


    gfds]\
     

    fallenangel1

    Sharpshooter
    Jan 26, 2013
    412
    18
    I think this sounds good, I like the "shoot what you bring" idea as well. As for everyone being there, I think it would have a larger turn out if we had maybe 2 set times a week that people could show up and shoot at those times, part of the fun is socializing.

    If it is open to whenever then people may not get too excited about going and meeting new people and (I dont feel) the competitive spirit would be there as much if people just stopped by and shot on their own.
     

    IndyGunworks

    Grandmaster
    Feb 22, 2009
    12,832
    63
    Carthage IN
    my wife and I might be in if there is reduced range fees for the short amount of time we would be on the range... we typically frown upon having to pay someone to shoot since there are so many places we can go shoot outdoors for free.
     

    flightsimmer

    Master
    Dec 27, 2008
    4,039
    149
    S.E. Indy
    I have posted a couple of signs at the shop and range about signing up if your interested in particpating and I will keep everyone informed here on this forum page about the progress.
    I have no control over prices so that will have to come from management but I can tell you that it will take most if not all of a half hour to run the course. After you turn in your targets you can finish any time you have left.
    I'm more concerned about a place to gather before/after shooting for fellowship and such. The classroom area is nowhere near ready for use yet.
    Stay tuned.
     

    fallenangel1

    Sharpshooter
    Jan 26, 2013
    412
    18
    Yeah, I'd guess there will be more than a few 8-5'ers out there. I get home at ~5:30 with traffic and I live 15 miles away from my office. :( I usually eat after work as well, this could be a good excuse to get some fast food once and a while though. :)
     

    flightsimmer

    Master
    Dec 27, 2008
    4,039
    149
    S.E. Indy
    One thing to keep in mind is that the range closes 1/2 hour before the shop so it can be cleaned, so if you want to shoot an hour then last call is 6:30 and if you just want a half hour then last call is at 7:00pm Tuesday thru Thursday.
    Friday and Saturday the shop is open untill 10:00 pm but might be more crowded? I don't know because I'm never there late but Steve might know.
    I don't know about Sundays either because I'm not there but their hours are 12 noon untill 6:00pm.
     

    flightsimmer

    Master
    Dec 27, 2008
    4,039
    149
    S.E. Indy
    OK everyone, spread the word.
    Some of the targets are in and others on their way. You will need three targets and I'm going to guess they will cost $0.50 each, we'll have to make adjustments as we go because they buy them by the pound? and I don't know how that works out per target.
    Were going to start off on Tuesday evening March 2, 2013 starting at six o'clock and last call will be at seven o'clock.
    We will do our best and make adjustments as needed in the future.
    They will be standard range prices, $12.50 per half hour.
     
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