Nice medals sent for DR match by the NRA

I am running a DR match in conjunction with an NRA Regional match on June 19 at the DPRC (www.dprc.org) and the NRA just sent me some really nice medals for the top 3 finishers in the match.  This the first time they have sent anything like this so maybe they are finally trying to promote the Distinguished Revolver matches.   The top 3 finishers will get a really nice medal to take home.  And there is no requirement you must be non-distinguished, just the top 3 finishers, so get your revolvers out and practice again!

Those are nice!  You're right, this should be some incentive to get more Distinguished shooters back into the DR matches.

Yet I still don’t have my points posted for the 2 matches last year….

The medals are nice I will admit and agree. But what incentive is there to paying the match fee, working towards mastering another gun, and coming up with the ammunition for it, if the records aren’t managed and distinguished badges aren’t awarded in a timely manner? That’s the real incentive. That’s the end goal. Without the badge there is little in my opinion that can be done to fill the gap of the distinguished badge if it’s not going to handled properly. It’s a nice medal. And I feel they should continue the medals. But the program needs to be handled better if they want more people to get involved. Does the introduction of these medals mean that someone has taken charge of the program? That the scores and records will be updated in a more timely manner?

We've been saying that for years now....

I received one award from the NRA four years after the match. I'm waiting for the other three from the same match.

Attended a NRA Regional Outdoor 2700 at PRGC in Phoenix a few weeks back. NRA had medals for the first top three spots & also the top three for DR mailed to club ahead of the match….that’s a first in a very long time. Maybe things are getting better at the NRA, or maybe the CMP is waking them up?

I've gotten my new classification cards quickly it seems so why is the distinguished program a mess? Different group than precision pistol or given less priority? I wish the NRA would push competitive shooting more, I feel like real competitive shooting is on the decline but not enough people are pushing to expand it. We all love the 2nd ammendment but so much of their efforts go toward lawyers and political interests versus people competing.

My initial thought was to "save the medals, update the points".

But I realized that this could be symbolic of a shift to paying attention to DR matches again.  Which is step one to keeping an up to date points roster.  And encouraging folks to come out and compete for a placement medal might get some actual participation in DR matches (usually I'm only competing against 5-7 other shooters).

So my revised reaction is "I'll take a medal, but please don't forget about the points."

zanemoseley wrote:... I wish the NRA would push competitive shooting more, I feel like real competitive shooting is on the decline but not enough people are pushing to expand it....

What exactly does the NRA pushing competitive shooting look like? What does "... enough people pushing to expand it..." mean and what does it look like?

msmith44 wrote:

zanemoseley wrote:... I wish the NRA would push competitive shooting more, I feel like real competitive shooting is on the decline but not enough people are pushing to expand it....

What exactly does the NRA pushing competitive shooting look like? What does "... enough people pushing to expand it..." mean and what does it look like?

Would be beneficial if they had a listing of sanctioned/approved matches with an up to date contact. Promoting their own events also would be a good thing, the only promotion for the NRA Nationals that I have seen was an appeal for volunteers.

chiz1180 wrote:

msmith44 wrote:

zanemoseley wrote:... I wish the NRA would push competitive shooting more, I feel like real competitive shooting is on the decline but not enough people are pushing to expand it....

What exactly does the NRA pushing competitive shooting look like? What does "... enough people pushing to expand it..." mean and what does it look like?

Would be beneficial if they had a listing of sanctioned/approved matches with an up to date contact. Promoting their own events also would be a good thing, the only promotion for the NRA Nationals that I have seen was an appeal for volunteers.

How would you improve the listings at this site... http://www.nrapublications.org/media/1537258/2022_may_ce.pdf. 

I agree with the lack of promotion for national level events. There should be physical info sent to every range gun club for posting and emails to every NRA member on a regular basis. 

However, with a record number of new shooters all of whom shoot at targets of one form or another, what could be done to bring these into the competitive fold?

I'm not trolling here. I'm interested in people's ideas on what might be done to increase Bullseye type shooting. 

If this needs to be a separate thread then please move it to wherever the moderators think it fits.

msmith44 wrote:

chiz1180 wrote:

msmith44 wrote:

zanemoseley wrote:... I wish the NRA would push competitive shooting more, I feel like real competitive shooting is on the decline but not enough people are pushing to expand it....

What exactly does the NRA pushing competitive shooting look like? What does "... enough people pushing to expand it..." mean and what does it look like?

Would be beneficial if they had a listing of sanctioned/approved matches with an up to date contact. Promoting their own events also would be a good thing, the only promotion for the NRA Nationals that I have seen was an appeal for volunteers.

How would you improve the listings at this site... http://www.nrapublications.org/media/1537258/2022_may_ce.pdf. 

I agree with the lack of promotion for national level events. There should be physical info sent to every range gun club for posting and emails to every NRA member on a regular basis. 

However, with a record number of new shooters all of whom shoot at targets of one form or another, what could be done to bring these into the competitive fold?

I'm not trolling here. I'm interested in people's ideas on what might be done to increase Bullseye type shooting. 

If this needs to be a separate thread then please move it to wherever the moderators think it fits.

The problem with that link is you have to actively search to find it, You have to click 3-4 different links from the NRA competition's website to get to that link, and at every stop along that route you are inundated with advertisement/political articles rather than match information. 

It was also my experience the the contacts listed were often way out of date, at least for the clubs in my area.

Best way to get new shooters into the sport is to find them and mentor them.