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Where's the train going?


Dusty Devil Dale

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30 minutes ago, Silver Creek Jack said:

I just got one of my best pards who is a black American going in this great game we play and another black gentleman in our club who  is very interested in CAS and has started buying his guns, this being an “old white mans sport” doesn’t seem to bother them at all. 
 

I doubt it will bother any of them, that’s not the point. The point is how do we reach more of them? With the two black gentlemen that you mention that makes 5 African Americans that I know of that play our game nationwide.

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33 minutes ago, Yul Lose said:

I doubt it will bother any of them, that’s not the point. The point is how do we reach more of them? With the two black gentlemen that you mention that makes 5 African Americans that I know of that play our game nationwide.

It would be interesting to hear from South Africa.  I believe they have a CAS club in Johannesburg that shoots in an old diamond mining pit.  (How much fun would that brass picking be?!!) One of their shooters is Dust Devil.  (He got to that name before me, which is how I learned about their club)

But I wonder it is an "old white man's" game there too?   

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14 hours ago, Dusty Devil Dale said:

That's pretty much the norm, sadly.  When you look at other shooting sports, they are dominated by minorities; Asians and Hispanic folks in particular.   But we in CAS make no serious outreach to those groups.   Each year, the Central California Pistol League holds its championship match in our Fort Miller cowboy town.   They're a great bunch of folks to visit with, except they're focused on winning big prises, like last year's Jeep and 16 Dillon 750 loaders.  They do love our props, and a few have come around to watch our matches.  But I think we're a bit slow moving for their taste.  

But watch out if we ever start attracting them.  Those men and women can shoot VERY fast and accurately.  They're used to shooting on the run at targets with scoring rings.   

Tell her "Thank you" for some very nice work.  

If what you say about minorities in other shooting sports is true, my question is how is the marketing directed to them or other minorities?

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4 hours ago, Boulder Canyon Bob# 32052L said:

If what you say about minorities in other shooting sports is true, my question is how is the marketing directed to them or other minorities?

That is the question I’ve asked in the past. How do we get CAS or SASS in front of them so they’ll see what it’s about?

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8 hours ago, Boulder Canyon Bob# 32052L said:

If what you say about minorities in other shooting sports is true, my question is how is the marketing directed to them or other minorities?

Sorry, I don't have an answer.  But I think I can get one by asking.  I will try to get back to you. 

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Here is my take on promoting SASS/ CAS in our current society.

 

The marketing should be done in a tiered fashion.  By that, I mean that we should target demographics for "immediate" and "future" participation.  Why would we want to do this? 

 

I am going to speak in general here.  There are always exceptions like Chickie and myself who do not have kids.  Therefore we do not have the same time or financial burdens that go along with those who do.  Or the younger shooters who shoot with their parents, or more so, their grandparents who typically pay for the younger shooters.  And, again, there are ALWAYS exceptions to every rule.

 

The "future" participants will probably not be in a position financially or have enough free time to participate right now.  Those would be the potential shooters under the age of about 45, give or take.  These younger shooters typically do not have the disposable income due to having children that require most of their financial expenditures. This leaves very little left for a hobby.  They will also have little extra time as most children's activities are on weekends, the same time that we host matches.  But, this does not mean that we should ignore promotion to this demographic.  Because, when they do finally get to a point in their lives where they will be looking for a hobby to fill their free time, we want to have already planted that CAS seed in their minds.

 

The second category, the "immediate" shooters, would be the next generation of retirees.  They would be in an age range of 55+.  You may notice a big gap in the ages of my tiers.  This is becuase it depends on when the potential shooters started to have kids.  But I digress.  These shooters typically have more disposable income and time to devote to a hobby such as ours.

 

Next, how do we promote our sport to these different demographics?  In my opinion, short videos of anywhere from 30 - 90 seconds are the perfect medium.  These have the most impact and appeal and can reach a very large audience with the current landscape of social media platforms available.  They would need to be tailored towards each demographic as each would have different interests within our sport.

 

The immediate shooters would mostly have been brought up on the westerns of TV and the big screen and Old West nostalgia would be very appealing to them.  The videos should be customized to highlight the old west aspect like costuming, start lines, props, aliases, etc.

 

But, the future participants (I can speak to this as I am 42) were not brought up watching westerns.  We had a few like Tombstone, Unforgiven, and Maverick; but by and large we were not inundated with the western genera like the generations that came before.   For this reason, the romanticized old west is not the appeal.  The appeal comes from the challenge of shooting single action guns.  Therefore, the shooting should be the focus for this demographic.  I am not one, but this is also the generation of "Gamers" wherein they were brought up playing video games instead of watching westerns.  The 360 and first person videos seem to appeal to these shooters more as they feel more like a video game. 

 

In both demographics, we should really drive home the atmosphere of the matches.  We all know how special this is and how wonderful most SASS shooters are.  This needs to be shown for those potential shooters, young and old alike.

 

Distribute these promotional videos across the plethora of social media networks via the Official SASS social media profiles.  This will show that the organization itself values the importance of promotion.  Not that SASS doesn't, but those who are not members will not know this.  Right now there are a handful of us really pushing the boundaries trying to reach as many people as we can.  But we only have so many personal resources (time and money) to devote to this as most of us have to work full time jobs to pay the bills.  SASS could help promote these individuals content as well as create their own content.

 

SASS does not have a consistent presence or identity on social media.  These are both VERY important to how well the promotion works.  Potential shooters want to know what type of organization they will be joining and creating an identity will do this for them.  The importance of presence should be self explanatory.  Out of sight, out of mind.

 

YouTube is, by far, the best platform for this type of promotion.  But this does not mean that we should ignore others such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter, etc.  

 

These observations come from my personal experience in social media promotion.  This goes back over 15 years to when Facebook first started to become more popular than MySpace (yes, I went there).  I used to manage MMA fighters and my best and most effective tool for promotion was social media.  And that was over 10 years ago and social media has only grown exponentially since then.  I also ran a small one man company that businesses could hire to run their social media profiles in order to drive more sales.  I am constantly on social media and going through analytics.  I work with any and all content creators that are willing in order to help them and to find out what is working for them.  This all works better as a team.  And would work even better if that team was lead from the top down.  Just my 2 cents.

 

The OTJ

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On 8/29/2021 at 10:56 AM, Dusty Devil Dale said:

This is a huge scope, that is hard to wrap around, so I'll try to start.  

I am seeing quite a number of young people being keenly attracted to our sport.  By young, I mean in their late 20 or early 30s.   Many of them have some military history.  They like the nostalgia of CAS and they are getting into it with enthusiasm, shooting matches, buying clothing, handling reloading, participating in club work, and even running for club offices, so I think the opportunity is there for a bright CAS  future.  

 

Our sport has some weaknesses, and I think confusing rules and restrictions may be a big one.  Every WTC thread here on the wire is witness to the confusion between readers.  I think rules could be consolidated and indexed more effectively, and be written with less jargon, to enable clearer understanding and faster interpretation.

 

 Spotting/counting, in particular seems to generate some of the hardest feelings at times.  Going into the future, I envision our spotting eventually  being assisted technologically, just as video or other tools have been used elsewhere to resolve human differences in perception.  But until then, I am an advocate of Spotter Training.  We all can recite the "if you think..." rhetoric, but there is much more to careful watching and seeing than that.  

 

Regarding categories, it's a matter of balance between having too few or too many.  Too few pits folks like me against guys like Matt Black, which isn't much fun for either.  Too many becomes a sea of "participation trophies" and gunbelts too short for all the buckles.   Right now, it's about in balance, IMO.  Nothing is particular broken there.  

 

Regarding local clubs, they are the mainstay of our sport.  They are our learning ground, and also the source of most of our personal interaction (speaking for myself here).  They can be the major recruitment sites, as well.  Most of us spend many more days at local matches than at larger State, Regional or World-level ones.  So we need to continue to take those local ranges and clubs seriously, keep them operating,  and not gradually move toward just having bigger matches.  

 

Regarding our participation, I think we have pretty much plateaued in numbers now.  We don't attract people by the thousands in most locales, but we do see enough spectators to maintain interest and bring in new people. Some adjustment is warrantef, given the reduction in western focus in movies and TV programming, but I see our attrition about being replaced by new people.  We also should be considering how big we WANT to become.  It isn't just about money and market share.  Many local clubs have no space or much desire to have to run ten posses at every monthly match.  

 

Those are just some "seed" thoughts.  What are you seeing?

 

 

Give me some primers, and then I will worry about the SASS glacier.

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4 hours ago, The Outlaw Travis James said:

Here is my take on promoting SASS/ CAS in our current society.

 

The marketing should be done in a tiered fashion.  By that, I mean that we should target demographics for "immediate" and "future" participation.  Why would we want to do this? 

 

I am going to speak in general here.  There are always exceptions like Chickie and myself who do not have kids.  Therefore we do not have the same time or financial burdens that go along with those who do.  Or the younger shooters who shoot with their parents, or more so, their grandparents who typically pay for the younger shooters.  And, again, there are ALWAYS exceptions to every rule.

 

The "future" participants will probably not be in a position financially or have enough free time to participate right now.  Those would be the potential shooters under the age of about 45, give or take.  These younger shooters typically do not have the disposable income due to having children that require most of their financial expenditures. This leaves very little left for a hobby.  They will also have little extra time as most children's activities are on weekends, the same time that we host matches.  But, this does not mean that we should ignore promotion to this demographic.  Because, when they do finally get to a point in their lives where they will be looking for a hobby to fill their free time, we want to have already planted that CAS seed in their minds.

 

The second category, the "immediate" shooters, would be the next generation of retirees.  They would be in an age range of 55+.  You may notice a big gap in the ages of my tiers.  This is becuase it depends on when the potential shooters started to have kids.  But I digress.  These shooters typically have more disposable income and time to devote to a hobby such as ours.

 

Next, how do we promote our sport to these different demographics?  In my opinion, short videos of anywhere from 30 - 90 seconds are the perfect medium.  These have the most impact and appeal and can reach a very large audience with the current landscape of social media platforms available.  They would need to be tailored towards each demographic as each would have different interests within our sport.

 

The immediate shooters would mostly have been brought up on the westerns of TV and the big screen and Old West nostalgia would be very appealing to them.  The videos should be customized to highlight the old west aspect like costuming, start lines, props, aliases, etc.

 

But, the future participants (I can speak to this as I am 42) were not brought up watching westerns.  We had a few like Tombstone, Unforgiven, and Maverick; but by and large we were not inundated with the western genera like the generations that came before.   For this reason, the romanticized old west is not the appeal.  The appeal comes from the challenge of shooting single action guns.  Therefore, the shooting should be the focus for this demographic.  I am not one, but this is also the generation of "Gamers" wherein they were brought up playing video games instead of watching westerns.  The 360 and first person videos seem to appeal to these shooters more as they feel more like a video game. 

 

In both demographics, we should really drive home the atmosphere of the matches.  We all know how special this is and how wonderful most SASS shooters are.  This needs to be shown for those potential shooters, young and old alike.

 

Distribute these promotional videos across the plethora of social media networks via the Official SASS social media profiles.  This will show that the organization itself values the importance of promotion.  Not that SASS doesn't, but those who are not members will not know this.  Right now there are a handful of us really pushing the boundaries trying to reach as many people as we can.  But we only have so many personal resources (time and money) to devote to this as most of us have to work full time jobs to pay the bills.  SASS could help promote these individuals content as well as create their own content.

 

SASS does not have a consistent presence or identity on social media.  These are both VERY important to how well the promotion works.  Potential shooters want to know what type of organization they will be joining and creating an identity will do this for them.  The importance of presence should be self explanatory.  Out of sight, out of mind.

 

YouTube is, by far, the best platform for this type of promotion.  But this does not mean that we should ignore others such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter, etc.  

 

These observations come from my personal experience in social media promotion.  This goes back over 15 years to when Facebook first started to become more popular than MySpace (yes, I went there).  I used to manage MMA fighters and my best and most effective tool for promotion was social media.  And that was over 10 years ago and social media has only grown exponentially since then.  I also ran a small one man company that businesses could hire to run their social media profiles in order to drive more sales.  I am constantly on social media and going through analytics.  I work with any and all content creators that are willing in order to help them and to find out what is working for them.  This all works better as a team.  And would work even better if that team was lead from the top down.  Just my 2 cents.

 

The OTJ

Wow, amazing insights.   I've not heard those ideas previously, but they surely do make a lot of sense.  

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5 hours ago, The Outlaw Travis James said:

Here is my take on promoting SASS/ CAS in our current society.

 

The marketing should be done in a tiered fashion.  By that, I mean that we should target demographics for "immediate" and "future" participation.  Why would we want to do this? 

 

I am going to speak in general here.  There are always exceptions like Chickie and myself who do not have kids.  Therefore we do not have the same time or financial burdens that go along with those who do.  Or the younger shooters who shoot with their parents, or more so, their grandparents who typically pay for the younger shooters.  And, again, there are ALWAYS exceptions to every rule.

 

The "future" participants will probably not be in a position financially or have enough free time to participate right now.  Those would be the potential shooters under the age of about 45, give or take.  These younger shooters typically do not have the disposable income due to having children that require most of their financial expenditures. This leaves very little left for a hobby.  They will also have little extra time as most children's activities are on weekends, the same time that we host matches.  But, this does not mean that we should ignore promotion to this demographic.  Because, when they do finally get to a point in their lives where they will be looking for a hobby to fill their free time, we want to have already planted that CAS seed in their minds.

 

The second category, the "immediate" shooters, would be the next generation of retirees.  They would be in an age range of 55+.  You may notice a big gap in the ages of my tiers.  This is becuase it depends on when the potential shooters started to have kids.  But I digress.  These shooters typically have more disposable income and time to devote to a hobby such as ours.

 

Next, how do we promote our sport to these different demographics?  In my opinion, short videos of anywhere from 30 - 90 seconds are the perfect medium.  These have the most impact and appeal and can reach a very large audience with the current landscape of social media platforms available.  They would need to be tailored towards each demographic as each would have different interests within our sport.

 

The immediate shooters would mostly have been brought up on the westerns of TV and the big screen and Old West nostalgia would be very appealing to them.  The videos should be customized to highlight the old west aspect like costuming, start lines, props, aliases, etc.

 

But, the future participants (I can speak to this as I am 42) were not brought up watching westerns.  We had a few like Tombstone, Unforgiven, and Maverick; but by and large we were not inundated with the western genera like the generations that came before.   For this reason, the romanticized old west is not the appeal.  The appeal comes from the challenge of shooting single action guns.  Therefore, the shooting should be the focus for this demographic.  I am not one, but this is also the generation of "Gamers" wherein they were brought up playing video games instead of watching westerns.  The 360 and first person videos seem to appeal to these shooters more as they feel more like a video game. 

 

In both demographics, we should really drive home the atmosphere of the matches.  We all know how special this is and how wonderful most SASS shooters are.  This needs to be shown for those potential shooters, young and old alike.

 

Distribute these promotional videos across the plethora of social media networks via the Official SASS social media profiles.  This will show that the organization itself values the importance of promotion.  Not that SASS doesn't, but those who are not members will not know this.  Right now there are a handful of us really pushing the boundaries trying to reach as many people as we can.  But we only have so many personal resources (time and money) to devote to this as most of us have to work full time jobs to pay the bills.  SASS could help promote these individuals content as well as create their own content.

 

SASS does not have a consistent presence or identity on social media.  These are both VERY important to how well the promotion works.  Potential shooters want to know what type of organization they will be joining and creating an identity will do this for them.  The importance of presence should be self explanatory.  Out of sight, out of mind.

 

YouTube is, by far, the best platform for this type of promotion.  But this does not mean that we should ignore others such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Twitter, etc.  

 

These observations come from my personal experience in social media promotion.  This goes back over 15 years to when Facebook first started to become more popular than MySpace (yes, I went there).  I used to manage MMA fighters and my best and most effective tool for promotion was social media.  And that was over 10 years ago and social media has only grown exponentially since then.  I also ran a small one man company that businesses could hire to run their social media profiles in order to drive more sales.  I am constantly on social media and going through analytics.  I work with any and all content creators that are willing in order to help them and to find out what is working for them.  This all works better as a team.  And would work even better if that team was lead from the top down.  Just my 2 cents.

 

The OTJ

Good information. My oldest daughter does social media building for some fairly large businesses and says it is a very inexpensive way to promote your business or other entity compared to all broadcast media and most print media. Hiring someone with the IT skills and promotion background would be key. She also assists businesses In finding people qualified to do this stuff and most of it can be handled from non centralized (main office) locations. According to her print media will be obsolete in the not to distant future.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Dusty Devil Dale said:

Wow, amazing insights.   I've not heard those ideas previously, but they surely do make a lot of sense.  

OTJ is an example of a person with ideas and energy doing the work to promote SASS clubs in Florida. His Facebook group SASS Florida gives shooters in Florida a central place to find information. He posts A LOT of video content. 

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53 minutes ago, Mister Badly said:

OTJ is an example of a person with ideas and energy doing the work to promote SASS clubs in Florida. His Facebook group SASS Florida gives shooters in Florida a central place to find information. He posts A LOT of video content. 

We have some very talented people from many walks of life.  They contribute their help and expertise unselfishly, and get little recognition, in most cases.  Thanks to OJT.  Thank you for recognizing him. 

DDD

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Case in Point, this would be geared towards the younger shooters.  But it doesn't mean that it won't attract shooters of all walks.  

 

My latest 360 Video is up on my YouTube Channel.  
Head over and let me know what you think in the comments.

 

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I think it's important to include the comraderie/ social interactions off the firing line as well as the shooting. But I know that is a whole lot more time in video collection and editing. I would say Gini Lee's promos from awhile back balanced that very well. 

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2 hours ago, Mister Badly said:

I think it's important to include the comraderie/ social interactions off the firing line as well as the shooting. But I know that is a whole lot more time in video collection and editing. I would say Gini Lee's promos from awhile back balanced that very well. 

Yes they did but in order to do that I would have to not work the posse at all becuase I would haver film during stage reset.  I would feel like a total slug if I did that.  

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1 hour ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

 

Unless the activity can be accomplished with a Gaming Controller, In front of a BIG Flat Screen, We're digging UP. 

Such a positive attitude.  Good thing we aren't relying on you to recruit the future of SASS.  Just the plain truth.  If it was easy, everyone would do it.

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1 hour ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

 

Unless the activity can be accomplished with a Gaming Controller, In front of a BIG Flat Screen, We're digging UP. 

Hands on is ALWAYS the best sales pitch.

So how do we get hands on - if we dont have the customer at the range.

 

Gun shows?

We put a group of old fat white dudes at gun shows where they engage in conversations with other old fat white dudes.  Actively avoiding engagment with anyone that doesnt comply with the old fat white dude demographic because "they wouldnt be interested anyways".

 

No.

We need to be at fairs, festivals and events where we stand out (deliberately seeking out demographics varied from fat old white guys.)

 

We need to be utilizing the tools we have to be hands on. 

I loved the wax bullet events at the SASS conventions - but they should have been used as promotion to get guns, hats and holsters on non shooters - not to create yet another meaningless "championship match". 

Imagine how many non cowboy shooters in the Riviera we simply let walk by instead of selling them on the game.

 

Drag a set of steel to a fall festival.

Set up some backdrops and let folks handle our firearms. 

Let them pop off a WAX round or two.

Shoot a demo stage for them.

 

Imagine the crowd watching and the variety of people you would attract.

Big screen TVs playing well edited ACTION videos when you're not actively running a demo.

 

Put the gear on them (holsters, guns, hats, man with no name poncho, etc.) and take their picture - get their email for the picture and add them to a mailing list with links to youtube videos, SASS and your club.

 

If people touch - they buy.

 

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2 hours ago, Mister Badly said:

I think it's important to include the comraderie/ social interactions off the firing line as well as the shooting. But I know that is a whole lot more time in video collection and editing. I would say Gini Lee's promos from awhile back balanced that very well. 

Stop trying to sell this game as an old folks social outing.

It is NOT a selling point for most prior to coming in.

 

Folks will discover that PERHAPS they enjoy that aspect of the game as well after they begin playing - but I would avoid like the plague any event that had so little confidence in their product that "you might make a friend" is considered a selling point.

I already have friends - Im looking for a shooting game to play.

 

And the generation younger than me?

They play online games with zero camaraderie or personal interaction other than cursing at each other thru their headphones.  An ice cream social and fellowship with their competition is not going to draw them in.

 

I began playing this game in SPITE of the dress up and social interaction component.

Because I liked the guns, the era and the game.

Over time I have embraced some of the other parts; but they were never the draw.

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3 minutes ago, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:

Hands on is ALWAYS the best sales pitch.

So how do we get hands on - if we dont have the customer at the range.

 

Gun shows?

We put a group of old fat white dudes at gun shows where they engage in conversations with other old fat white dudes.  Actively avoiding engagment with anyone that doesnt comply with the old fat white dude demographic because "they wouldnt be interested anyways".

 

No.

We need to be at fairs, festivals and events where we stand out (deliberately seeking out demographics varied from fat old white guys.)

 

We need to be utilizing the tools we have to be hands on. 

I loved the wax bullet events at the SASS conventions - but they should have been used as promotion to get guns, hats and holsters on non shooters - not to create yet another meaningless "championship match". 

Imagine how many non cowboy shooters in the Riviera we simply let walk by instead of selling them on the game.

 

Drag a set of steel to a fall festival.

Set up some backdrops and let folks handle our firearms. 

Let them pop off a WAX round or two.

Shoot a demo stage for them.

 

Imagine the crowd watching and the variety of people you would attract.

Big screen TVs playing well edited ACTION videos when you're not actively running a demo.

 

Put the gear on them (holsters, guns, hats, man with no name poncho, etc.) and take their picture - get their email for the picture and add them to a mailing list with links to youtube videos, SASS and your club.

 

If people touch - they buy.

 

Not to be argumentative but my personal opinion of wax bullet shooting is a negative. I've had too many people come up to me and say "don't you shoot wax bullets". You're concept is good. Open house at the range is another idea. Yes, thinking out of the box is going to attract members. Fliers in beauty shops, barber shops,  hardware stores, pizza parlors, sub shops, flower shops, etc. That's a crowd that is standing around waiting and folks might have time to read a flier. Video is the way to go, good video. Not video of boring stand and deliver shooters, that's the old fat white dude way of shooting.  Exciting video with lots of movement and nice props.

We do have some early 40 something shooters and they love movement. 

 

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24 minutes ago, Assassin said:

Not to be argumentative but my personal opinion of wax bullet shooting is a negative. I've had too many people come up to me and say "don't you shoot wax bullets". You're concept is good. Open house at the range is another idea. Yes, thinking out of the box is going to attract members. Fliers in beauty shops, barber shops,  hardware stores, pizza parlors, sub shops, flower shops, etc. That's a crowd that is standing around waiting and folks might have time to read a flier. Video is the way to go, good video. Not video of boring stand and deliver shooters, that's the old fat white dude way of shooting.  Exciting video with lots of movement and nice props.

We do have some early 40 something shooters and they love movement. 

 

Dont get me wrong.

Wax bullets lead to a number of "wrong" opinions too.

 

But if I want a crowd to hear bangs, smell smoke and hear dings... 

And we CAN'T utilize live ammo - then wax is better than nothing.

 

Any questions that arise are at least showing interest.

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I shot the USPSA match that utilizes the Fort Miller cowboy town. They did have a bunch of Dillon 750s and these were distributed by random raffle not to the winners, just to be clear.  But that is not the norm for level 2 matches. You usually don't see that many good prizes.

 

There is a very big level of participation by Asian/Filipinos shooters. Shooting is very popular with them but most tend to shoot in more of the "race gun divisions". It's really fun shooting with them.

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1 hour ago, Singin' Sue 71615 said:

Yul...hmmmm...

We shoot with white, black, Latino/Hispanic, Asian, Hawiian, Native American and 'others'...

From Az to East Tx and Co.

 

Demographics?

 

As usual you missed my point.

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4 hours ago, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:

Stop trying to sell this game as an old folks social outing.

It is NOT a selling point for most prior to coming in.

 

Folks will discover that PERHAPS they enjoy that aspect of the game as well after they begin playing - but I would avoid like the plague any event that had so little confidence in their product that "you might make a friend" is considered a selling point.

I already have friends - Im looking for a shooting game to play.

 

And the generation younger than me?

They play online games with zero camaraderie or personal interaction other than cursing at each other thru their headphones.  An ice cream social and fellowship with their competition is not going to draw them in.

 

I began playing this game in SPITE of the dress up and social interaction component.

Because I liked the guns, the era and the game.

Over time I have embraced some of the other parts; but they were never the draw.

We all have our reasons for participating. We all have our opinions too. You sell it your way and I'll sell it mine. 

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I was hauled/draged/hi-jacked/shanghi'd into this game decades ago by a presentation by a local club at one of the larger Gun Shows in the country.  Had an Overland Stage Coach, some tables, couple of TVs with VCRs and a few folks is really funny clothes talking the game up.  Hands On.  Wasn't sold as a "Social Gathering" but as a way to have fun with real guns and live ammunition.  Sold Hands On.  No flash "Social Media" that look like lo-budget commercials.  Of course, most of them and I, at that time, weren't "Fat Old White Guys."  We were in our thirties and 40s.  We were all raised on the Western Genre of Entertainment as kids.

 

Regardless of "Pie in the Sky" advertising, Flash Social Media bytes, and You Tube channels, if you don't have the interest to start with, You're digging UP.  Prior to following this thread, I had never heard of "The Outlaw Travis James  on You Tube or any other  Platform.  Young folks today don't run around the neighborhood with "finger guns" playing cowboys and Indians.  If they did, some Near-Do-Well Karen would call the police down on 'em.  The majority of the young we are attracting were exposed at an early age and encouraged by their already participating parents.  Unfortunately, as those folks age, go to college, start careers, etc., large numbers walk away and don't come back.  Life gets in the way.

 

While I may not agree with the majority of a 12 paragraph dissertation on the answer to World Peace, By all means, continue.  I wish you success in your endeavor.  Just don't be too disappointed if it doesn't have much if any effect.  We will continue to struggle for a goodly while yet and I still really really enjoy playing this Game. 

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No offense really intended but...

 

Anytime you come upon an uphill grade you...

Give up and go home?

Go around?

Or press the throttle harder?

 

I have a destination in mind and the only way to get there is over that hill.

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1 hour ago, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:

No offense really intended but...

 

Anytime you come upon an uphill grade you...

Give up and go home?

Go around?

Or press the throttle harder?

 

I have a destination in mind and the only way to get there is over that hill.

You forgot to downshift.

 

 

:ph34r:

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This is openly directed at Colorado Coffinmaker because he provided the "opening" but it applies to a lot of people.

 

No one ever said it would be easy or anything other than an under appreciated under achieving slog thru apathy and resistence.

 

But...

I dont know you - I dont believe we have ever met (if we have - I apologize - my memory is not the best right now), but I know a little bit about you.

 

I know you are a Gunfighter and likely you didn't begin this game as a Gunfighter.

You saw a challenge and stepped up to it.

There were likely times and stages where your inner monologue was shouting, forget this stuff - I can go back to whatever.

 

But you didn't - that tells me you don't back down from challenges or give up.

 

Next, I know you are a Jedi Gunfighter.

That tells me even more about your attitude towards the game and your fellow shooters.  There are a lot of Gunfighters - Jedi recognition does not come for all of them and is based on more than shooting style alone.

 

These items alone tell you dont back down, give up or walk away from challenge.  That you give of yourself to your fellow shooters, to your club and to the game.

 

We already know the future will be challenging - that observation is easy.

 

The challenge is to get all the folk that have already proved their mettle, dedication to the game and willingness to fight uphill battles to join in and fight just as hard for the games future as we did for our own achievements.

 

We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard. 

Those words still mean something.

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32 minutes ago, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:

Automatic transmission.

It's ok, I won't think any less of you. :D

 

There's some great ideas here and it gives a person something to think about what they can do to help.

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On 8/29/2021 at 12:48 PM, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

FIRST:  PLUS ONE for Tyrel Cody

 

SECOND:  QUIT calling it a "Sport."  Go cheque your loading table and tell me how many athletes you see there.  It's a GAME.  Nothing more, nothing less.  A really fun Game.  Just like Neighborhood Cowboys and Indians when we were kids.  Only we get to use real guns and live ammo.

 

THIRD:  Taint anybody got a crystal ball to see into the future.  We have what we have.  Sit Back.  Enjoy the Ride.  The Train is running along just fine without a Physic Annalist.  

Those who excel though are some of the best athletes.

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