Bisley Live

[HeatherW762]

I should be there all weekend...

MY gf is butt marking and her mom is RCO all weekend, so I've got no-one to talk to :(

Does that mean your mum is Mo?

Come & chat to us on the NRA stand.

Heather

[TattooedGun]

I should be there all weekend...

MY gf is butt marking and her mom is RCO all weekend, so I've got no-one to talk to :(

Does that mean your mum is Mo?

Come & chat to us on the NRA stand.

Heather

haha, yeah, well my GF's mom is Mo, we are unrelated... yet

[HeatherW762]

I should be there all weekend...

MY gf is butt marking and her mom is RCO all weekend, so I've got no-one to talk to :(

Does that mean your mum is Mo?

Come & chat to us on the NRA stand.

Heather

haha, yeah, well my GF's mom is Mo, we are unrelated... yet

Oh yes, sorry, got it the wrong way round

Heather

[scoobydoo]

I'm an RO on the centrefire "try before you buy" stand. We had 12 rifles there today and a fair few punters. The weather was fantastic and I'm expecting a higher attendance on Saturday and Sunday.

Not an enormous trade show but enough to be interesting.

[M1Charles1M]

Hi all!

Sitting here at Bisley Live in the caravan thinking about this. Have been here since Thursday and would like to add my two penneth as feedback to the organisers and as a paying member of the public.

Static Displays - quite good, all the ususal suspects varied and intereting even if small - but early days so well done!

Shooting - the chance to try different types of guns - brilliant idea - well done!

Shooting - TOO EXPENSIVE! - if the intention is to increase the interest in the sport, which by offering members of the general public the chance to try seems to be the purpose, then eg: £10 for six shots for gallery, bpp, etc is hardly encouraging after you have paid quite a high entrance fee to get in. Cover costs yes but £10 for six shots?

Catering - Usual story - CLA Game Fair was the same - all events are similar - blatant profiteering!

Food Hall - great - the chance for those unfamiliar to try game

Fashion show - not bad from a blokes perspective?

As a first time event all seems fairly well organised, good facilities, helpfull staff and I have enjoyed the event the only downside is the fair seems to have been a money making exercise rater than a genuine attempt to attract new entrants to the sport or the NRA, surely in the early years it is prudent to cover costs and maximise the encouragement to the unititiated, even use the shooting for all as a 'loss leader' to get bums on seats?

Sorry organisers in the pricing regime you have failed!

[ovenpaa]

As a first time event all seems fairly well organised, good facilities, helpfull staff and I have enjoyed the event the only downside is the fair seems to have been a money making exercise rater than a genuine attempt to attract new entrants to the sport or the NRA, surely in the early years it is prudent to cover costs and maximise the encouragement to the unititiated, even use the shooting for all as a 'loss leader' to get bums on seats?

Sorry organisers in the pricing regime you have failed!

I do agree GBP10 for 6 shots at GR is way too much, even allowing for insurance, ammunition and wear and tear I would not expect the cost to be much more than a fiver for ten shots.

This was not organised by the NRA, they just provided the venue and I hope it will wet the appetitive of some of the visitors and they will seriously consider joining local shooting clubs as a result of the three days, it will be interesting to see if there is a bump in local membership numbers. Personally I really have my fingers crossed for the first year, hopefully it will be well received and the NRA can negotiate a good deal with the organisers for a second year, it could be both a useful revenue stream plus some handy promotion for the sport and all of the shooting organisations.

[Dave 101]

So far is all I have heard about this event is the NRA arent running it and its too expensive , the question is who is running it and why ? Is just a profit making event for a company , is it an event for the ordinary shooter , are the helpers volunteers or are they being paid ?
People vote with their feet and if its no good who will go again or recommend it to others ?

Dave

[AL8]

I went on the friday, and for a first attempt I thought I was ok. Food prices where high, entrance fees
:-O. I have paid less at CLA Blenham Palace for more. Unless the prices change I will think twice before going again, which is a shame as a lot of people put in a lot of hard work (well done)

[IainWR]

Hi Dave et al

Answers:

It's being run by a company called Westech, who (I assume) intend to make money out of it. Westech is a subsidiary of a Singapore-based events organiser called GSA. The directors of the two are broadly the same group (and are very British people and are shooters). All that can be found online from the company websites and information freely available at Companies House. They contracted with the NRA (actually, I think, with NSC Ltd, but that's a wholly-owned subsidiary of NRA so it's a distinction without a difference other than in tax terms) for use of the site and some facilities and services that only the NRA can provide, on a fee-plus-expenses basis.

The helpers are being paid. Unlike an NRA Open Day, which is a single day and is staffed with the concept of selling the sport to the wider public and many of the temporary staff stay on and shoot on the Sunday, we needed people who could commit for 3 days and meet all their own expenses for that period. Necessarily, it cost more than the NRA days. BTW, helpers at NRA open days are paid, but rather less and on a per-lane rather than a per-person basis.

Westech, not the NRA, set the prices for the shooting events (and everything else). To be fair to Westech, the cost of a shoot in a single lane in any of these events is about £3-£4 plus the cost of the ammo, plus on Century the cost of the marker or reactive target. Black Powder Pistol has a high staff-to-shot ratio (because there is a team in the background loading the cylinders). Westech, not the NRA, decided to sell shooting vouchers only in £5 units (thus setting the minimum price for anything at £5 and the next available increment at £10). Westech, not the NRA, dictated the range layout (in accordance with the commercial deals they had struck with the exhibitors ) other than as limited by range safety.

Can't answer about the future or people's view as I'm in Oz for the World LR Target Rifle Champs, which was arranged about 3 years back...

BTW, does anyone have a view about how the exploding targets worked? I did some of the trials firing and thought they were really fun.

Iain

[Dave 101]

Hi Iain

Thank you for your reply it gives an inside veiw that I didnt have , Iam glad that there are paid staff if its a profit making exercise , I hope it wont price itself out of the market . Its good to promote shooting to a wider public but I wonder if it will ever be a vote winner with any government of the day to relax our stringent gun laws and give us back the ill conceived ideas of the past 20 years or so which have had a drastic effect on shooting as a recreational sport .
The problem that I find myself in now as a seasoned shooter I cant afford to support more than one or two events a year , as much as I would like to be able to attend and compete its just not viable .

, Dave