I am a member of a Rotary Club and most of you know that when the club is not meeting or performing a project, they are fund raising.
Five years ago, our club president was looking for a "new" type of fund raiser. As a member of our city's Crime Stoppers committee, my suggestion was a shooting event, at our then new, indoor shooting range. Our Crime Stoppers group had held a skeet shooting event that was successful but, outdoor range events are, as we know, subject to the weather.
The idea of "Hot Shots" was born and with the full support and assistance of the owner of Templar Shooting Range, different formats have been used over the years for handgun shooting, at various ranges.
This year's format, similar to prior years, called for 50 shots to be fired in 10 shot strings at 5, 7, 10, 15 and 25 yards. Handguns only, without caliber or sight restrictions. All shooting to take place standing, without support, using either or both hands.
A couple of fellow members with military and shooting experience and myself, acted as range officers to supervise the participants, run the targets and verify that the shooters had fired the required number of shots at each yard line.
As a lifetime firearms enthusiast and shooter, I found it interesting to make note of what make, model and caliber of firearm the shooters were using.
The majority of the shooters used a Glock and the favorite caliber of the day was the 9mm. There were two 1911's, one Colt Gold Cup, in .45 ACP and one Springfield Armory Range Master in 9mm. The Springfield was shot by a competent shooter and was very accurate but, I noticed a failure to feed or lock up properly with that handgun, once or twice in every other magazine.
There was a smattering of .22 semi auto's with the Ruger semi auto target pistols being preferred. There was only one revolver, a Mod. 15, used by the wife of a friend of mine. In fact, he had bought the Mod. 15 from me.
Almost equal in number to the Glocks were Sigs. The P365 was the most popular model among the Sigs. There was one Taurus and a couple of S&W semi autos. Only two shooter used "red dot" optical sight devices. One was a Glock Mod. 34, MOS with a Leupold Delta and me with a Sig P320 RXP with a Romeo 1 sight. The Glock shooter, an accomplished handgun competitor, took first place. I came in fourth. The second place shooter used a Glock Mod. 19 with factory sights. The third place shooter, also an accomplished handgun competitor, used a S&W Mod. 617, 10 shot revolver.
There were few if any malfunctions experienced by the majority of the shooters. Thanks to the watchful eyes and directions of the range officers, there were no range rule infractions or issues.
Before someone gets to excited, let me say that each shooter is required to sign a Waiver of Liability and Release as it relates to the range, its owner and employees, the Rotary Club, its officers and members. Any shooter under 18 is required to have a parent or guardian sign a waiver on their behalf child or ward.
For the fifth year in a roll, Hot Shots has been our most successful fund raiser. The participants had a great time and commented on how they looked forward to getting to shoot their handguns for a good cause.
We had over thirty shooters for the event and sold three or four times that number of tickets. The range received $10 per shooter for the use of the range and the targets with the rest of the funds going to our club.
The range sold a lot of ammo to the shooters and in some instances, they were able to rent handguns to the participants who did not own a handgun.
The shooters were a combination of men, women and a few under 18 with their parents. It was great to see so many folks getting to enjoy shooting and very interesting to see how competitive they became when their targets were scored.
There were prizes. First place, $200, second, $100 and third, $50. To a person, each place winner donated their winnings to our club. This only proves what great people gun owners and shooters are as a group.
Sorry for the long post but, I thought that they may be another member out there looking for a alternate fund raising event. Our local newspaper ran a very nice and supportive article the week before the event. They also had a reporter and photographer show up during the event and will be running a follow up article.
Five years ago, our club president was looking for a "new" type of fund raiser. As a member of our city's Crime Stoppers committee, my suggestion was a shooting event, at our then new, indoor shooting range. Our Crime Stoppers group had held a skeet shooting event that was successful but, outdoor range events are, as we know, subject to the weather.
The idea of "Hot Shots" was born and with the full support and assistance of the owner of Templar Shooting Range, different formats have been used over the years for handgun shooting, at various ranges.
This year's format, similar to prior years, called for 50 shots to be fired in 10 shot strings at 5, 7, 10, 15 and 25 yards. Handguns only, without caliber or sight restrictions. All shooting to take place standing, without support, using either or both hands.
A couple of fellow members with military and shooting experience and myself, acted as range officers to supervise the participants, run the targets and verify that the shooters had fired the required number of shots at each yard line.
As a lifetime firearms enthusiast and shooter, I found it interesting to make note of what make, model and caliber of firearm the shooters were using.
The majority of the shooters used a Glock and the favorite caliber of the day was the 9mm. There were two 1911's, one Colt Gold Cup, in .45 ACP and one Springfield Armory Range Master in 9mm. The Springfield was shot by a competent shooter and was very accurate but, I noticed a failure to feed or lock up properly with that handgun, once or twice in every other magazine.
There was a smattering of .22 semi auto's with the Ruger semi auto target pistols being preferred. There was only one revolver, a Mod. 15, used by the wife of a friend of mine. In fact, he had bought the Mod. 15 from me.
Almost equal in number to the Glocks were Sigs. The P365 was the most popular model among the Sigs. There was one Taurus and a couple of S&W semi autos. Only two shooter used "red dot" optical sight devices. One was a Glock Mod. 34, MOS with a Leupold Delta and me with a Sig P320 RXP with a Romeo 1 sight. The Glock shooter, an accomplished handgun competitor, took first place. I came in fourth. The second place shooter used a Glock Mod. 19 with factory sights. The third place shooter, also an accomplished handgun competitor, used a S&W Mod. 617, 10 shot revolver.
There were few if any malfunctions experienced by the majority of the shooters. Thanks to the watchful eyes and directions of the range officers, there were no range rule infractions or issues.
Before someone gets to excited, let me say that each shooter is required to sign a Waiver of Liability and Release as it relates to the range, its owner and employees, the Rotary Club, its officers and members. Any shooter under 18 is required to have a parent or guardian sign a waiver on their behalf child or ward.
For the fifth year in a roll, Hot Shots has been our most successful fund raiser. The participants had a great time and commented on how they looked forward to getting to shoot their handguns for a good cause.
We had over thirty shooters for the event and sold three or four times that number of tickets. The range received $10 per shooter for the use of the range and the targets with the rest of the funds going to our club.
The range sold a lot of ammo to the shooters and in some instances, they were able to rent handguns to the participants who did not own a handgun.
The shooters were a combination of men, women and a few under 18 with their parents. It was great to see so many folks getting to enjoy shooting and very interesting to see how competitive they became when their targets were scored.
There were prizes. First place, $200, second, $100 and third, $50. To a person, each place winner donated their winnings to our club. This only proves what great people gun owners and shooters are as a group.
Sorry for the long post but, I thought that they may be another member out there looking for a alternate fund raising event. Our local newspaper ran a very nice and supportive article the week before the event. They also had a reporter and photographer show up during the event and will be running a follow up article.
