[duceman]

worrying about 'sucking' while learning a sport and shooting next to seasoned shooters is pointless.
if you actually have an interest in being a better offhand shooter, there is only one way to get there.
the sentiment seems to be that 'great' shooters are born and show up at a match and dominate because it is their god given right and destiny.
the dedication, money, and resources required to excel in this sport is staggering to say the least.
when i started my f-class addiction 3 yrs ago, and thought i was doing pretty well, it take long to realize that the ladder to the floor that housed the group of first losers had many rungs.
i shot pretty well considering i was new, with equipment that was a long ways behind the guys ahead of me, i ran middle of the pack in the 4 matches i attended in a couple years.
spent a ton of money, tried to prepare for a good showing last year, and never even made a match due to work!
i did make three smaller 'fun' matches, and came close to the top in a couple classes, and actually won the rifle rodeo.
the whole point is, when guys are saying they won't try because they don't stand a chance in putting up a target, the only one they are beating is themselves. you guys would be shocked at how quickly you double or triple the abilities you have now with 3 or 4 saturday sessions spent with 50 rds of ammo and someone to give you a few basic simple pointers.
i questioned rman's target when i saw it at first as well. actually, still on the fence, but i got to thinking about a friend of my that used to shoot black powder silhouette, and said he regularly would hit a 36" saw blade with his 45-70 at 500 yds, along with the rest of the guys at his club in bc.
i'm actully gonna try to hit a couple sillywet matches this year, so will be doing some practicing as soon as i get the schedule cleared up a bit.
whether rman did or didn't shoot that target, with the gun he posted, really doesn't mean squat. if he bs'ed, he did it on the internet, big friggin deal. if he did do it, good for him, and in his mind he knows he has nothing to 'prove' to the internet. if he shows up to an event, and shoots along side the rest of the crowd, doing good bad or otherwise, we'd all have a good time and none of this playground crap would even rear it's ugly head.
i suggest that if the time spent reading and typing on this thread alone had been spent on the range, a few targets could have been posted by now. lee