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[battlemidget]

Hi!
Want to put that hardware to work and have fun? Shoot competitions. You can find precision rifle matches for that American with the Vortex, .22 matches for that 10/22 (great choice btw), and a plethora of rifle and rifle/pistol competition for that AR and .40
Just about all the matches are on practiscore.com, a free website that's used for registration coordination. Most matches are inexpensive (15-35 bucks) and total round counts for the day are ~100-~200.
Checkout ammoseek.com to find good prices on bulk ammo.

[nighterfighter]

Thanks all for the welcome.

Thanks for the resources, battlemidget! Those sound fun! I don't think I'm nearly good enough for a competition yet, though.
Luckily I knew about ammoseek, and have gotten several thousand rounds already.

[Irving]

Everyone who is new to shooting says they aren't good enough to compete. The secret is that you get good enough by showing up and competing in matches. The hardest part is showing up ready to shoot.

Don't be that guy that just shows up to watch. That's like ordering a taster at a brewery. Man up, get the full 12oz, and go to town.

[nighterfighter]

Everyone who is new to shooting says they aren't good enough to compete. The secret is that you get good enough by showing up and competing in matches. The hardest part is showing up ready to shoot.

Don't be that guy that just shows up to watch. That's like ordering a taster at a brewery. Man up, get the full 12oz, and go to town.

You mean I can just show up and watch, for free? That sounds fun to me too! (To be fair, some coworkers got me into watch Topshot on Amazon Prime...)

I think I'd just embarrass myself at a competition. I'm happy if I can get all my shots into the middle 3 circles of my target when shooting my handgun.

[Irving]

Seriously, there are new people at every competition, it's no big deal. The problem is the word competition. That IS what it is, but it's not like everyone is a bunch of aggressive alphas. Think of it more like showing up to Test and Tune up at Bandimere on a Wednesday night. If you start with IDPA, that is a smaller pool, imo, than USPSA which can be more intimidating.

[Gman]

I was that guy watching a couple of weeks ago at the Big Ben Tactical Rifle match. I also have some physical limitations so I wanted to see if it was even an option for me, or what I need to work on to be able to make it happen. (thanks Irving)

If I could get into and out of a kneeling and prone position, I'd compete, no worries. There's all kinds of folks from newbs to serious competitors. What I did see is people with experience willing to share what they know and not much of folks being critical of those that were having a tougher time of it.

If I still had the physical ability, I'd do it as often as I could. It'll make you a better shooter, even if you're not at the top of the scoring.

[Irving]

I think I shot my first match within 12 months of buying my first gun. I really need to get into rifle matches so I can learn how to shoot them.

Gman, in all my years of competing, I've only seen a competitor act like an asshole one time. I know of some RO's that I really don't like, but that's a different story. Also, just don't be the guy that shows up to watch a match more than once. I've seen that guy and become suspicious of him.

[nighterfighter]

Doing a match sounds really fun. I did a little research into IDPA.

I think I'll start actually scoring the targets at the range from now on, (instead of going "wow i suck, gotta fix that down-and-left tendency) to try and get some objective measurements of improvement.

[Irving]

The best thing I ever did was shoot with people who were better than me. Yes they were helpful and supportive, but I've noticed that if there is no one around that's better than me at something, I don't tend to try any harder at what I'm doing.

[buffalobo]

Obligatory chart.