VRA Support?

[Drop shot]

G'day;

I'm currently involved with a regional VRA range in Vic and we are striving to make it grow, but it's seeming like an uphill battle. I'm interested in peoples opinions and experience as I've only been a member of the VRA for 12 months on how i can gather more support from the VRA and if anyone knows where to find the regulations that govern our ranges.

I emailed the VRA direct for information but was told not to contact directly and go through my club captain for requests.

Our club captain has called an AGM to discuss, but i want to go into the meeting with as much information as possible, so i know what can and what can't be done so as to keep the meeting as productive as possible.

Where we are at;
Our club was down to 4 members at the start of the year.
Our butts area is in a state of decay. It is rotted wood, filled with termites and starting to collapse.

What we have done;
One of our members organised a "come and try" day which bought in nearly 70 people and we are planning another at the end of the year.
We picked up 4 new members after the come and try event which is positive - all 4 signed up to sporting hunter.
We then offered to host a firearms safety course as part of step one for obtaining a rifle license.
For our small town and region, the safety course filled up within 6 hours of advertising with 30 people attending.
We are capped at 30 people due to the size of the conference room we have borrowed.
Because of interest, we have 14 people who have already registered for a SECOND course in a couple of weeks time.
The support we have received has been phenomenal from the local community with lots of engagement on our Facebook page.
As a result of the Firearms Safety Course, and helping people get their license, we have been approached for assistance learning about firearms and learning to shoot.
We have had individuals who are interested in running training out of our range enquire who have offered to work around our club meets, and hire the range, but the range needs to be modified (they have offered to contribute materials and finances for this).
We have contacted local government about grants and I had a meeting with a gentlemen to discuss the terms and how we should proceed. The biggest hinderance at the moment is low range usage and low club membership. At the current state of the range and membership, we are not eligible for grants so we need to bolster our club numbers and increase range usage to prove we offer a service to our community.


What we want to do;
Open the range for non-VRA members to use.
Both rec shooters and organisations. We need to look into the writing around if/how this is permitted. If anyone has a link it'd be greatly appreciated.
By doing this, we could;
Rent out the range to businesses/organisations and have people pay a small fee for range usage on days we have it open to zero and conduct load development.
Not everyone is going to want to shoot f-class competition, but we have 50 people locally who want to get their firearms license. By not offering training, by not offering them somewhere to zero and shoot, they will simply go somewhere else, and when they do, chances are very high they won't come back.
This is especially the case when you factor in cost. VRA membership and club membership are far higher than that of the SSAA, so if you put people in the position of having to choose, they are going to go the cheaper, and frankly, better option of going with the SSAA because the SSAA is providing more variety in their shooting options for more shooters.
This is a detriment to the VRA, our club, and our range, and ensures we don't obtain any grants.

Range modifications -
We want to emplace a 100m mound. Either a firing line 100m from the butts, or, more preferably due to the height of the butts vs 100m location, a mound 100m infront of our 300 yard firing line (and possibly another at 200m)
This would enable load development and zeroing on our range. With nearly 50 people so far about to start the process of obtaining their license, we should be aiming to capitalise on these people to make money for our club, and provide the service shooters need.

Steel plates -
We want to emplace 4 x permanent steel plate targets on the face of the butts/mound. This is partially for us, but also for outside organisations to use. Steel is in a lot of training now as it provides instant feedback to the shooter and instructor. The instructor can observe safe handling and technique of the shooter, and be given an auditory indication of an impact.
The VRA/NRAA has a zero steel stance it would seem, however the writing says that no steel plates are to be used on VRA Ranges unless a steel plate bunker has been constructed. So there's a caveat to steel use. Not a hard no.
One of the training providers has offered to provide the steel plates, and their upkeep, partly to keep costs down for us, partly to facilitate their training, and partly because we don't want damage and excessive wear and tear on our Electronic targets.
If we are saying no to our targets, then we need to provide an alternative or we will miss out on this opportunity.

It seems steel would be ok provided we abide by the construction requirements of mounds and steel plate target bunkers.
We are fortunate in our position that we are quite isolated, and therefore should have more freedoms than ranges in high traffic areas.
I can't understand how every SSAA range has steel plates no problem, but the VRA/NRA is aggressively against them. We need to look into why this is the case and what we can do to alter this stance and provide these options within safe boundaries and in compliance with relevant regulations.

Our club now has 8 members but i still consider our club to be on life support.
One of the other regional clubs has been closed due to safety concerns by neighbouring properties - so we are becoming more prominent for regional use.
To upkeep and cater for more people per F-Class event, we need money.

We are missing out on incredible opportunities for growth of the VRA, our club, our sport, by not offering a variety of shooters options for our range and having their use exclusively be for F-Class shoots.

So;
How do we fix this?
How do we work within the rules to get more support to shooters?
How do we change the rules if they aren't working?

I'm looking forward to discussing

Thanks

[MarkS]

PM sent @drop shot
Keep up the great work

[ajvanwyk]

Hi Drop Shot,

I have just sent you a PM with my mobile number and email. Feel free to contact me directly.

In the meanwhile I will have a closer read of your message and try to address some of the items you've raised.

Albert van Wyk