Our club has 4 matches/month.

2 are NM match course of fire and that means by the rules.

The other 2 are both slow fire and modified JCG matches. Rules here can be bent.

I shoot the NRA/CMP matches with an AR and take it fairly seriously during the official season. Results are sent in, so it means something.

The JCGs I'll shoot with a Garand or a Springfield as practice for Perry. No results are sent in, so it don't mean nothin'.

Slow fire is when I'll break out anything. A Carbine, a hunting rifle, a Martini cadet. Whatever I'm in the mood for. No results sent in. Sometimes I'll shoot the kneeling portion sitting or whatever I feel like.

All in all, I'm pretty content because I feel I have it all. Serious by the rules competition, and relaxed fun where the rules get bent. I like having both.

What are your club matches like?

Same thing.

One NRA XTC match a month.  About three or four 600 yard prone approved matches per year.  One EIC.  This year we are also doing a 300/500/600 mid range prone registered match.

Besides that, a whole slew of informal offhand, prone, and sporter-type matches along with two JCGs a season.

Miami Rifle & Pistol Club just east of Cincinnati rocks.

Fun matches like you describe do a lot for the sport.  I hate clubs that fire full blown Highpower matches always without a sanction.  They are cheating everybody - competitors, CMP, NRA, everybody - over a couple of bucks and a little bit of paperwork/effort.  These matches won't appear in Shooting Sports USA and don't get the word out for nearby folks do do some shooting.  I go to Highpower matches and people from other areas are there shooting in our sanctioned match pasing out flyers for their matches.  It never fails you lose the flyer and then can't find the matches in Shooting Sports USA and say to yourself - " I know they said they shot every 3d or 4th Sun??"  Then the bell goes off.  They don't sanction the darn things.  Bottomline I guess I am saying if firing the specified course of fire (un-modified) sanction the darn things; but fun type outlaw rule matches do gain exposure for the timid and serve a useful purpose, plus are FUN!

My local club shoots the NMC at 200yds once a month.  We also shoot a JCG type format once a month for new shooter indoc.  After each match (ends at lunch usually), we'll have a short (7-10rds) timed run and gun event against a variety of cleverly painted and semi-obscured gongs or a CMP type pistol shoot.  There's a couple oddball events throughout the year--cabine match, WWII bolt gun match, International prone match, Garand match.  I think there's also an M1D match and a Norwegian skishooting match (I don't know how the heck that one will go).

Ty

Quoted: Fun matches like you describe do a lot for the sport.  I hate clubs that fire full blown Highpower matches always without a sanction.  They are cheating everybody - competitors, CMP, NRA, everybody - over a couple of bucks and a little bit of paperwork/effort.  These matches won't appear in Shooting Sports USA and don't get the word out for nearby folks do do some shooting.  I go to Highpower matches and people from other areas are there shooting in our sanctioned match pasing out flyers for their matches.  It never fails you lose the flyer and then can't find the matches in Shooting Sports USA and say to yourself - " I know they said they shot every 3d or 4th Sun??"  Then the bell goes off.  They don't sanction the darn things.  Bottomline I guess I am saying if firing the specified course of fire (un-modified) sanction the darn things; but fun type outlaw rule matches do gain exposure for the timid and serve a useful purpose, plus are FUN!

A lot of people are VERY intidated by all the equipment and the competition of a serious NM match, not to say shooting against people that whine if they shoot a 497, 42X.(The differenct between an HP shooter and a puppy is that after 2 weeks, puppys stop whining)

I remember the day before my first match some cheech told me "You're going to come in last place and make a fool of yourself."

"last place, huh? I'l take it! It's a lot better than no place at all," I shot back.

I didn't take last place, Larry's kid did. (Of course, Larry's kid now shoots high expert/low master's scores, but What the hell.)

At that time, we shot the NM course 2x/month and had 2 each 5V matches/month.
I shot every chance I had and slowly got a little better.

I learned to 'cheat' on the 5V matches in that I shot the kneeling in either the sitting position or sometimes prone if I felt I needed the practice. It was OK by the RO.

On the NM course, I have been known to either write 'DQ' on my scorecard, or not turn one in at all if I decided to bend the rules.

I shoot for 3 reasons: Self improvement, fun and camraderie. Scores don't mean shit to me. I shoot with a personal goal in mind.

FWIW, If I buckle down, I'm generally in the middle third when the results come out.

But that's me. Anyone out there that knows me probably would call me an odd duck, and that's OK by me. A few years ago I got myself a trophy and kept it in the range shack. If I beat my last score, the guys would hold an impromptu ceremony, share a few laughs and I'd take it home and put it on the fireplace until the next match. If I didn't beat my last score, it stayed in the range shack.

Once a bunch of 'out of towners' wondered what the hoople was all about. Was this some sort of 'keep the prizes in the club' deal, or what? When the RO told them I had simply beat my last score, they simply shook their heads. Some were amused, others didn't get it. Their problem, not mine.

(I think I gave the trophy away to some poor bastard that needed SOMETHING to show his wife to get her off his back. We gotta stick together, don't we?)

Point is, I'm not shy or bashful, but a lot of people are and a fun-type match is a GREAT way to break the ice and get new shooters involved.

They're also a GREAT way for guys to do 'crackpot' fun things.

My favorite was the guy that shot a fun 5V match with a .45/70 trapdoor. Damned if he didn't do well with it! It also helped break the ice with a couple of newer shooters in helping them realize that this was a personal sport and not some sort of 'yacht club'.

When it stops being fun is when I quit.

I shoot highpower, smallbore and Garand matches. I do it for the fun and to learn real shooting skills one can never learn on a bench.

Piccolo where about in PA are you shooting your nm/and fun matches ? thanks

Quoted: Piccolo where about in PA are you shooting your nm/and fun matches ? thanks

Pittsburgh.

North Hills area.MSC schedule

Are they not supposed to be the same thing?  I have fun whenever I get out to shoot.  In the summer we send in the scores and have service rifle  and match rifle divisions.  Junior cmp matches, 22 matches.   in the winter we have foul weather matches and a M1 garand match.