How long have you shot bullseye, time to get to each classification.

I'm curious what everyone's "story" is. How long have you shot bullseye. About how many matches have you shot. How long did it take you to achiece each classification.

I'll start. I began slowly in 2015 and 2016, in 2017 I caught the "bug" and have been going to a lot of matches. I love sleeping in on weekends but regularly leave the house at 6ish on lots of Sundays.

2015: Shot 4 matches, all with irons, attained MK
2016: Shot 6 matches, got into red dots
2017: Shot 14 matches, got SS and EX
2018: Shot 10 matches so far, trying hard for master but have plateaued a bit.

I will make this short. Shot 1st match 1972 (shot Expert). Got volunteered to shoot for 7th Army. Made Master in 1973, Got volunteered to shoot for USAMTU. Shot civilian matches till 1978. Still shot Master. Got married. Took 34 years off of Bullseye. Started shooting BE again in 2012. Came full circle and shooting Expert again. No idea how many matches fired. Got older

LenV

Humor me Len. What is the USAMTU? Same as the AMU?

Started shooting Bullseye when I was 60.  Shot cowboy action for one year before that and decided it wasn't for me.  Did not touch a gun for 20+ years before that.  My one and only classification is Expert.  Injured my shooting arm's elbow last season and had to lay off the centerfire pistols.  Trying to shoot centerfire this season but arm acts up a lot.  Just finishing a 2700 is an accomplishment.  Also this year is the year of .22 bad luck.  My Nelson is with Larry Nelson to address some issues.  My Hammerli 208s is with Larry Carter to address some issues.  My Model 41 is with Clark Custom to address some serious issues.  And my Pardini broke down in one match to the point that I could not finish the .22 aggregate.  Our league director jokingly says if anything could go wrong with a gun, I will find it.

On a positive note, I was 1st Expert at the NC NRA Regional this past June.

I started shooting in our local league (the Stark County Pistol League in Canton, OH) in 1988. My first recorded score was 100/300 in a 50-foot indoor Gallery Match Course. My first trophy, and I have it to this day, was for 8th Marksman in the fall league. 

My first 2700 (outdoor, of course) was in May, 1990. I don't think I ever got a Marksman card; I think my first card was Sharpshooter. I won High Sharpshooter in the Ohio State Championship in (I think) 1991.

I remember shooting a 2700 at Beaver Falls, PA, where I was CLEARLY on my way to a solid Expert score, my first, well above 2430, when double alibis derailed that quest. I (quite literally) broke down in tears. That was probably Fall, 1991. 

I earned Master (outdoor) in 1992. 

I broke 2600 (indoors at 25 yards reduced - SHUT UP IT STILL COUNTS) in 1994.

I earned Indoor HM somewhere around 2003, but didn't earn Outdoor HM until 2007, maybe 2008.

I broke 2650 in 2015. That's right - 21 years from 2600 to 2650.

I have had many advantages all along the line. I have been blessed with greater opportunities and benefits than any man has a right to.

(Yeah, I know: "Cool story, bro!")

zanemoseley wrote:Humor me Len. What is the USAMTU? Same as the AMU?

United States Army Marksmanship Training Unit.  Same as AMU now.


Proof I never throw anything away..

Len,
Was that at Benning or at one of the other Army bases? I thought each base had their own MTU’s. 
Jon

That was at Ft. Benning. I was shooting for the European team (7th Army) and got drafted for the Army team after the all Army matches. Great time to be there. Anderson, Blankenship and Harmon were there. I think Blankenship was retired by then but you couldn't tell it by how often he was on the line.

Len

Good ol’ 7th Army! I was in Heidelberg 85-87.  Those were the big boys!
Thanks
Jon

LenV wrote:No idea how many matches fired. Got older

Hm. That happened to you too? Thought it was just me.

john bickar wrote:I started shooting in our local league (the Stark County Pistol League in Canton, OH) in 1988. My first recorded score was 100/300 in a 50-foot indoor Gallery Match Course. My first trophy, and I have it to this day, was for 8th Marksman in the fall league. 

My first 2700 (outdoor, of course) was in May, 1990. I don't think I ever got a Marksman card; I think my first card was Sharpshooter. I won High Sharpshooter in the Ohio State Championship in (I think) 1991.

I remember shooting a 2700 at Beaver Falls, PA, where I was CLEARLY on my way to a solid Expert score, my first, well above 2430, when double alibis derailed that quest. I (quite literally) broke down in tears. That was probably Fall, 1991. 

I earned Master (outdoor) in 1992. 

I broke 2600 (indoors at 25 yards reduced - SHUT UP IT STILL COUNTS) in 1994.

I earned Indoor HM somewhere around 2003, but didn't earn Outdoor HM until 2007, maybe 2008.

I broke 2650 in 2015. That's right - 21 years from 2600 to 2650.

I have had many advantages all along the line. I have been blessed with greater opportunities and benefits than any man has a right to.

(Yeah, I know: "Cool story, bro!")

Might your march to 2650 have been delayed a tad bit because you were sidetracked by shooting on on the U.S. National Team, traveling the globe winning ISSF World Cup medals, and setting national records in ISSF disciplines?

John B, you get the perseverance award! And yes, "Cool Story bro!". Thanks for sharing.

I never fired a gun until I was 10-14 years old. Somewhere in there I think. My grandfather introduced me to shooting. Just .22LR in a Remington 513T and Winchester 52B. I now own the Winchester. Learned handgun on a Ruger MKII and Ruger Single Six. I had no interest or thoughts of competitive shooting. Just informal stuff and hunting. 

In 2007 I graduated high school and moved to Florida for a 12 month schooling program in audio recording. In 2008 I moved to Nashville TN. As fate would have it I found my way back to shooting again. And in the summer of 2013 I picked up muzzleloading pistols competitively. I practiced for two and a half months leading up the nationals which was my first match ever. Won first place in the master class and 2nd place in each gun and classified high master. 

I retired from that sport last year (2017) as a three time national champion and the new record holder for the grand agg set back in 1964. 

In 2015, October I shot my first Bullseye match - 22 agg only, for fun. Just testing the waters. Then in 2016 I short a few matches including the 45. My first classification was expert. Made master August 2017. Made high master July 2018. 

I’ve shot as many matches as I can. I shoot every Saturday and Sunday and when I can through out the week. I push for improvement and don’t stop till I see it. But really I don’t stop there. I can always improve. I can always do better. Because right now I’m not the best. So there’s room to improve.

LenV wrote:

zanemoseley wrote:Humor me Len. What is the USAMTU? Same as the AMU?

United States Army Marksmanship Training Unit.  Same as AMU now.


Proof I never throw anything away..

I have a copy of that manual!


(was not in the service nor did I shoot with AMU, )

First year made master, second year high master 2648 high score that year. Yes I had great equipment and I practiced a lot. Changed jobs stopped shooting after that. Now I took it back up for fun.

mpolans wrote:Might your march to 2650 have been delayed a tad bit because you were sidetracked by shooting on on the U.S. National Team, traveling the globe winning ISSF World Cup medals, and setting national records in ISSF disciplines?

No World Cup medals, but yeah, some of that other stuff you said may be true

I didn't say that I wasted 21 years

Like I said: I have been blessed with greater opportunities and benefits than any man has a right to.

For everything that has gone "right" in my life - my family, my education, my career, my home, the fact that I didn't end up in juvie as an early teen - I can trace a pretty short path back to a causal relationship with the shooting sports at a formative age.

Wow, a chance to talk about ourselves!  Who could pass that up?  Now why anyone would want to read mine is another story, but I’ll give it a shot.
 
I have hunted/shot/reloaded all my life.  All very informally & my handgun experience was limited to plinking and propping a 44 magnum up on a tree in the woods.
 
I am now 66.  Three years ago I joined a range because finding a place to shoot here in &*^%$^* ahhh … NJ is getting harder by the minute.  In a range newsletter I noticed a BE clinic to “come out and improve your shooting”. 
 
I signed up for the clinic and joined the Wednesday night league.  I was going to stand 50 yards away from a target and send tiny projectiles racing down range at a circle I can barely see.  Oh yeah … and I’m going to do it with one hand!  Now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are.  My first score was 554 with an iron sight Ruger Mk I.  I think I have only missed 2 nights since. The first year I only shot in the league … shooting and listening to everything everyone said.  Trying to sort it all out is no easy task.  BE people will tell you all they know so you can beat them.  It’s amazing.  I’ve learned more in the past three years about shooting & reloading then I did in my first 63 years.
 
I had simple goals that first year and didn’t shoot my first match until 2017.  Standing on that line with 30 real shooters I wondered just what I got myself into.  My goal for that match was not to embarrass myself   I shot a 2266 which was higher than some of the SS scores.  I was pretty happy about that.  A couple more matches and I got my MK card.  My first match in 2018 I got my SS card.
 
I couldn’t have done this well so far without a couple things.  One is this site.  Man, what a source of information.  You guys are just incredible.  The other is someone I could never repay.  We are lucky enough have a guy that comes to our league night and offers his help to anyone that wants to get better.  He’s a retired national champion with endless credentials that has shot all over the world.  He isn’t a member of this forum so I don’t feel right posting his name, but I’m sure someone out there has to know him.  He took an early interest in me and offered advice, encouragement and countless other things.  The first thing he ever said to me was “man, you have a 9 ring hold”.  We’ve since become pretty good friends and he now tells me “when this all comes together you’re going to be better than you ever thought you could be”.  I’m already better than I thought I could be, but how do you stop with a guy like that encouraging you?
 
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  Hope it isn’t too long and painful

I like hearing about everyone's journey. You lucky few with enough natural talent and drive to get HM in 2 years make me sick lol.

i think it took me 2 years to make master. i've put HM scores together back to back enough times for HM but my consistency hasn't been enough to take into account for delayed submission of scores.

I shot my first match two years ago.  It took 5-6 months to get enough scores turned in to get a SS card.  I would have gotten an Expert card a few months later, but scores didn't get turned in.....which was good because I was about to tank!  For some reason, the bottom fell out and I couldn't get out of a slump for about 9 months.  I mean a 100-200 point drop in scores.

Earlier this year I started to recover and I got my Expert card just before Perry.  I'm now striving to be more consistent.  I often shoot 840's and 790's in the same match with the same wadgun!   Either CF or 45 can be great (for me 840 is great) or lousy (again, for me 790 is lousy).   I'm ready to remedy this so I can begin to chip away at the Master card.   I can shoot Master level scores.  I don't but I can!

I started shooting BE with minimal training/coaching after just turning 24. My 7th match I made Master using home cast bullets and a 45 pistol with a welded up barrel. Was picked up by USAR All Reserve Pistol Team. My 14th match I broke 2600 after being stuck in the 2590’s. My 16th match I broke 2650 using Federal match ammunition.
Was grandfathered into HM when they created the classification. 
Jon

7 matches to make master huh Jon, what took you so long   I was thinking the other day it might take me 75-100 matches to make master if I can't pick up the progress lol.

Nothing to tell, NEXT!


(I think I have the mid 70's version of Lens manual)

Actually, I started when cigarette filters in the ears, and a lit one in the weak hand we're in vogue.

zanemoseley wrote:7 matches to make master huh Jon, what took you so long   I was thinking the other day it might take me 75-100 matches to make master if I can't pick up the progress lol.

+1
Let's see, I shoot about 5 matches a year .... hmmmm this could take a while

Started 4 years ago with a Ruger MKIII and a Sig 1911. found out quick the Sig wasnt ideal and bought a RO. 6 months to get all shots in the scoring rings. Sharpshooter at 1 year. Expert indoor and out  at 2 years. When I made Expert I bought a M41 and had a Salyer wadgun built. Started shooting EIC and DR matches 3 years ago and went Distinguished in both Service Pistol and Revolver at Perry this year. I switched to a Pardini SP .22 and am shooting solid Master scores with it and working on getting my .45 up there. I usually am in the 840's with .45 but had a slump over the summer.