Central Florida, My Free Get Together Shooting Group

[MagnumDweeb]

While I don't yet have a private residence that I can use for people who aren't my paying students(the two I use will only let me use their residence once a month a piece for my students). I'm an NRA Certified Pistol Instructor and became an instructor to be an activist and help newbs get into the joy, recreation, and discipline of firearms use for target shooting, and self-defense.

I was at the Central Florida gunshow last Saturday and was disgusted by the usual salesman bilking the naive and uninformed. And folks remarking that they didn't learn anything from the CWP class.

Lots of folks had little understanding or knowledge about firearms and were probably there for the first time. I gleefully passed out my business card with my meetup.com info on it. I explained that the folks could sign up for the group free and there was no commitment. That we were just a group of folks who get together, shoot together, and chat for a bit before.

I didn't/don't want to tell folks about doing 'First Steps Pistol' courses so they could get their CWP, that I taught. Or that I could 'lend' them a firearm for use when we went shooting, or about having to sign a waiver. I didn't want to scare them off. Hopefully some folks became interested and will join my little free group that will go shooting at nearby ranges that I've been known to haunt on occassion. The folks still have to pay the range, but when it's free, it doesn't hurt to have the networking of folks who have a fairly good deal of wisdom to offer at no charge or motive. I also teach target shooting fundamentals for free to folks in the group (one shot every five seconds).

My group is at- http://www.meetup.com/nrastyletargetshooting

Let me know what you think please.

 

[kanook]

Hope it works for ya. I hear the same comments at our show and when I offer to help, they don't want to take the time to maye learn or get a refresher on something. And since they have just received the signature from the show, I offer to meet them at their house if they want to show them the fundamentals and if they want to do live fire, I offer to meet them at the range. I try to make it as convienent as possible for them.

 

[scurtis_34471]

I am also in Florida and got my instructor credentials last year with the same general intentions. Unfortunately, life intervened and I never actually had to the time to carry through on my plan.

Where are you in Central Florida? I'm up in Ocala, where I used to serve on the board of our local pistol club and range (The Ocala Sportsman's Association). We've got a very nice outdoor pistol range that we finally bought out of lease last year and have spent this year making improvements to. I hadn't been shooting in a number of months and was amazed at how much the place had changed for the better when I went back this weekend.

We have a 50 yard outdoor range with target positions at 7, 10, 15, 25 and 50 yards. We have 27 positions on our covered shooting line. All positions have nice benches and netting to catch the brass that comes off the front of the bench. We have fans in every bay, safety lights (red/green) all down the line, florescent lighting on the line for overcast days, nice restrooms, a PA system, concrete walkways lined with railroad ties to prevent ricochets and a nicely paved parking lot. A number of private instructors use our range, due to the minimal $10/student guest fee. We also have IDPA, Cowboy, Bowling Pin and Bullseye matches each month. Shoot me a PM if you're in the area.