shooting for living

[kozi]

Hi guys,
I HAD A DREAM!!

Shooting for living!?
Is it posible at all??
I'm not talking about ''rigger for hire''
Competition wise.
And if... In what field?

Thanx

[mawibri]

If your any good the Army would pay you to got to Afghanistan and shoot a Barrat 50 cal, take your ear muffs

Hi guys,
I HAD A DREAM!!

Shooting for living!?
Is it posible at all??
I'm not talking about ''rigger for hire''
Competition wise.
And if... In what field?

Thanx

[tim s]

Join the US Army. If you are an exceptional shot you stand a chance of being assigned to the Army marksmanship Unit.

Otherwise, no not really.

[Hemmers]

Not in the UK - other than as Police/Army or in civvie street being a game keeper or as a professional pest controller or one of a very few professional coaches. But even then it's going to be a small part of wider duties in either role. Jobs that involve shooting rather than shooting as a job.

A few sporting clay shooters like George Digweed make a living out of the sporting circuits, as these tend to gain decent sponsorship to generate prize money, which most shooting disciplines don't (or if they do, it's sponsorship for national squads to subsidise travel to major events, etc but not to pay the team members a salary/living expenses in order to train fulltime as a job).

Clay shooting in general seems to attract more sponsorship at both a competition/prize level and an individual level compared to rifle, but then that makes sense as clay shooting is a business, with many grounds run as businesses, where as rifle runs on a private members-club model.

Some countries have sufficient sponsorship for their shooters to train fulltime. I believe the likes of Matt Emmons and the US Shooting teams live on camp (as civilians) and borrow the facilities of the US Army Marksmanship Unit or something, benefitting from the available range facilities, physios/medical teams & gym facilities, armourers/gun smiths, etc.
A case of the civvy groups piggybacking off the military to get access to subsidised facilities and staff.
If you represent the military you can likewise get relief from duties to train and compete, although if you're serious about a long-term career in the military, competing in sports is a detrimental way to go (I was talking to someone who represents the Army, forget which sport. He said they hooked you in with promises to let you train, reduced deployments, they'd cover competition entry fees, accommodation, etc - sounds great! Problem is, if you're not getting the courses under your belt or going on exercises, your promotion prospects slip, and you end up behind your mates who are on courses/exercise/deployment and working up the ranks, which ain't good if you have hopes of getting anywhere ).

There's a fair few "exhibition shooters" in the US as well who do various roadshows round the states as part of a travelling entertainment group. Good fun, but a tough life - always on the road, running quite similar shows (there's only so many variations to shooting water melons before you as a shooter will be sick of it!), not always good for partners/kids/whatever. It's a lifestyle choice I guess.


We had a discussion on another forum about what it would cost to properly fund an Olympic shooter (i.e. no job, just paid a subsistence allowance to train). We came up with a figure of ~£100k/year, or £400,000-£500,00 for an Olympic cycle.

That included rent, utility bills, food, clothing allowance, equipment allowance, ammunition, range hire, coach's salary, travel, accommodation and entry fees to relevant competitions.
Of course you can reduce that amount if the shooter has a partner who works and covers the rent and some of the food bill, and if the shooter takes on a part time job say one or two days a week, which generates another income stream.

Obviously no shooter in the UK is funded that well, because British Shooting doesn't have the money to do that. They all work to support themselves, I think there is some squad-level sponsorship from Eley, and the British Shooting funding covers the costs associated with attending international matches, coach fees, etc.
A couple of shooters did manage to land some individual sponsorship for a while, but it's pretty rare. Who sponsors shooters?

[jpayne]

I met a guy who is a champion target shooter whose day job is armorer in a gun shop, does that count?

[BigAl]

There are quite a few guys out there earning a living as professional (ie payed) clay pigeon coaches.
My last job before having to give up due to ill health was as a shooting (and Archery) Instructor, I had to do clay pigeon, air rifle and archery sessions, this was working for a local Holiday resort. We only had the Clay Shooting as the Chairman is a keen game shot and wants somewhere to practice himself. The job wasn't too bad but the pay was crap, although as I was the only member of staff who actually knew anything about the subject I at least was able to get on and do things the way I wanted without interferance from management. The other problem was that it actually had quite a detrimental effect on my own shooting.
So there are jobs out there where you can do some shooting.
Alan

[Rickenbacker]

Become 6 years old and live in China, with an incredible aptitude for pistol shooting