Getting non-competitors into the shooting sports

[BillD]

There is training and then there is training. Some trainers will have a real high round count in their courses. They may help some with stance, grip, etc, but some of them will just let you shoot.

3 days and 1500 rds later the student feels like they have made vast gains. They made vast gains because they shot 1500 rds in 3 days, became more familiar with their pistol and started improving accuracy. They could have done this at the range without paying the $500 to the trainer but, who does that?

Gabes job is selling Gabe. He is kinda like Ayoob. They both have their faults, just that being wrong isn't one of them.

 

[Iron22]

We need to start inviting people we work with go to church with etc.. just to watch then they will be hooked after seeing how much fun it actually is

 

[FieldShunt]

I have an incredibly long and boring blog post on exactly this topic, but I'll give you the (slightly) shorter version.
I run USPSA, IDPA, ICORE, steel, and outlaw multigun matches. I'm an NROI range officer and have run hundreds and hundreds of shooters though hundreds and hundreds of stages.
I can pretty much tell you- if you haven't participated in one of the modern action pistol disciplines, your gun handling skills probably suck.
Your muzzle discipline is poor and your finger discipline is worse.
You're probably sloppy with your holstering, too, and are willing to stop thinking occasionally (or often) when you still have a gun in your hand.
It's been said above, but nothing is better for gunhandling skills in real life than a few USPSA or IDPA matches. The lessons learned there about being hot, being cold, muzzle and finger control, and the whole mindset of operating a gun in the real world are far beyond the mere ten or twenty bucks you spent to have an RO watching you like a hawk for three hours and crabbing about that finger you're leaving on the go-button during magazine insertions (where most competition negligent discharges happen).
It so happens I helped out at an IDPA match Saturday and was asked to take a squad. As usual, they sent me the newbie, a forty-something fellow named Mike with a 1911. He'd never even been to match before.
And in the course of three hours, we advanced his gunhandling further than the previous thirty years had.
He was an excellent shot, accurate and with good speed. He nailed lots of zero-downs (the high scoring areas in IDPA).
But he was careless, sloppy, and showed the effects of spending thirty years at the range with no specific discipline. His muzzle was everywhere, including our feet, once, his finger dragged on the trigger like a wet blanket, and he lost concentration again and again as he spent mental energy trying to figure out where he was and what he was doing under pressure.
The poor guy was embarrassed as hell, and I worked almost as hard as preventing that as preventing him sending a slug over the berm while he was pounding mags in the handle.
By the time he left, he was beat-tired and dragging butt, but he tracked me down and thanked me pretty seriously for keeping on him.
I finally had to say, "Mike, a few years ago I thought I was a dang good gunhandler, right up until I went to my first match. But I wasn't. I sucked.
Now, we all go through this- every person here has been.
Next time it will be much easier, and a couple more times and you won't have to think of it."
And he agreed whole-heartedly. He came to realize the buddies-at-the-range thing wasn't good for keeping perfect control of his Colt, and perfection is what you need with a potentially dangerous tool. He began to understand that that muzzle did indeed get away from him a couple of times in subtle and sudden ways he previously didn't recognize.
Now, he does see it, and he left happy.
A very nice morning, for me.

 

[Cannondale]

I have done a couple of USPSA matches and really enjoy it and would recommend it to others