NSRA clubs, are they shy?

[-Mongrel-]

Is it just me?

 

I have contacted four local NSRA listed, shooting/target clubs by email enquiring after membership requirements. 10 days later not one of them has bothered to reply. Are they all like this?

[RED BEARD]

the club i'm in is not 5 minutes from were i live,but i didn't even know it existed for years! and they wonder why they don't have many members.

[JonathanL]

Not very surpiring, to be honest. Clubs seem to be very good at hiding themselves away and very bad at attracting new members. Unfortunately a lot of it seems to be intentional rather than simply bad management. Many clubs are still very new-member-phobic and are too worried about attracting 'the wrong type' (whatever they think that might be), I'm afraid.

 

J.

[Dunkield]

Yes they all seem a bit odd, in my experience anyway

 

I contacted a local on years ago asking if I could use their range to zero the .22, we ended up having the most bizarre email exchange ending with her asking me how I got an FAC :blink:

 

A friend of mine was in the same situation recently, contacted 2 local (different) clubs, ones website hasn't been updated for about 5 years and never replied to his enquiry, but apparently they are still 'active'

The other one replied and he is now a happy member of that.

[RED BEARD]

well anyone reading this that wants to visit the club i'm in (at hucknall) is welcome to pm if they need any information.

[SakoQuad]

They are a varied lot that's for sure and some simply don't want new members they are often smallish groups of friends who have shot together for years, shoot prone only and don't have any club equipment to offer people trying the sport out anyway. The greeting you get should you "find" them is often pretty cool too, they don't want new folk.

Sadly many of them end up folding when the numbers drop too low and slowly the number of clubs are diminishing overall as a result.

 

Not all are the same though and there are usually one or two that have a different attitude so it's worth trying to find them. The Secretary of your County Association ought to have an idea of which clubs in the County welcome new members and which don't and the NSRA site has links to them. Not all clubs are affilliated though so you won't get a complete list of local clubs from them

[JonathanL]

They are a varied lot that's for sure and some simply don't want new members they are often smallish groups of friends who have shot together for years, shoot prone only and don't have any club equipment to offer people trying the sport out anyway. The greeting you get should you "find" them is often pretty cool too, they don't want new folk.

Sadly many of them end up folding when the numbers drop too low and slowly the number of clubs are diminishing overall as a result.

 

Not all are the same though and there are usually one or two that have a different attitude so it's worth trying to find them. The Secretary of your County Association ought to have an idea of which clubs in the County welcome new members and which don't and the NSRA site has links to them. Not all clubs are affilliated though so you won't get a complete list of local clubs from them

This is an important point. If a club isn't afiliated to either the NRA or NSRA then it will not have home office approval either. Henxce, it will be of use to a new shooter as you cannot handle firearms and ammo at a non approved club.

 

On the wider point; it should, in my view, be a requirement of a clubs' affiliation that they have an active programme to recruit new members who do not already shoot.

 

J.

[Imperfection]

Do remember that the people who run the various shooting clubs often have a full time job so they do club stuff in their spare time.I cant vouch for other clubs,but i do the memberships for one and when i get emails from people wanting more information with how to join/open days etc i aim to reply within 24hrs.Until you get involved you wouldnt believe the amount of time a gun club requires.

[SakoQuad]

This is an important point. If a club isn't afiliated to either the NRA or NSRA then it will not have home office approval either. Henxce, it will be of use to a new shooter as you cannot handle firearms and ammo at a non approved club.

 

On the wider point; it should, in my view, be a requirement of a clubs' affiliation that they have an active programme to recruit new members who do not already shoot.

 

J.

Agree this is a nice theory but those clubs that are now really just groups of old friends or acquaintances who meet socially and do a little shooting periodically are not interested in all the effort involved in recruiting and dealing with new members whilst slowly heading toward the day when there are no longer enough of them to stay viable and simply will not do this. By and large their motivation for affiliation is insurance and not much else I am afraid

 

Do remember that the people who run the various shooting clubs often have a full time job so they do club stuff in their spare time.I cant vouch for other clubs,but i do the memberships for one and when i get emails from people wanting more information with how to join/open days etc i aim to reply within 24hrs.Until you get involved you wouldn't believe the amount of time a gun club requires.

Agree 100%! The amount of work and effort involved is not appreciated by most club members (who quite reasonably pay their fees and expect a use of service / facility in return). It is this time and effort requirement that some clubs haven't got the energy to deal with anymore and in response they can become closed to approaches for membership.

In my County we seem to lose one or two clubs per year with no new ones opening to take their place. Some of those that survive welcome new members and are well managed. These are growing strongly or at least seem to be staying healthy enough whilst others don't welcome new comers and are slowly shrinking and heading for the exit. Not good for the long term but no easy answer sadly!