Thanks for responding with some answers Green Frog.
You say that, postal matches are not a very large emphasis in ASSRA, that is, postal matches of any kind are not all that popular.   

Anyone know why this is ?. has there been any effort  to promote the offhand postal matches ?,  has there ever been bench rest postal matches ?.

Maybe the leadership should start thinking about doing more to promote postal matches, especially with the rising cost of everything, like travel and the cost of Gas.

I would think that any shooting association that has 2000 or so members would have at least a 100 + that would shoot postal matches if they were promoted, interesting, and set up as official  ASSRA matches.

Secondly, you say, this being a volunteer organization for most all of its events, including the postal matches, there has not been a person who has stepped up and volunteered to organize, publicize, run, and otherwise administer these matches which have not been strongly asked for. 

As far as the ASSRA being a volunteer organization, so are other associations, the one that I mentioned that has over 300 members shooting postal matches is 100 % volunteer, plus has shoulder to shoulder matches in different parts of the country.

As far as waiting for someone to step up and do something, that's like putting the horse behind the cart.  I believe the "word" has to come from the top that ASSRA needs someone to run certain events that they have in there program, most members will not step up and do things on there own for fear of doing something wrong, that's what good leadership is for, direct the programs and the members to the events. It's worked like that in just about all shooting associations for over 100 years.

If what tenx has said is so, that if it was offhand matches only the sport would die, 
and if what Green Frog is saying is so, that postal matches are not a very large emphasis in ASSRA and that, postal matches of any kind are not all that popular. 
My next question is why ?, they seem to be very popular in other shooting association, why not this one ?.

Again, if what tenx said is so, there should be a larger group of members wanting to shoot postal bench matches than there is the postal offhand matches, if they were available as an official ASSRA event.

I may be a new guy to this type of shooting, but I'm not new to volunteer shooting associations or to the shooting sports, been doing it for about 50 years, all offhand events by the way, very little bench rest.

I realize that none of this can be done by just one volunteer, it takes at least a handful of concerned and interested guys that want to see this sport grow, and from what has been said by guys like:

tenx,
"I agree with you entirely, but at most clubs if the matches were entirely offhand they'd go out of business very quickly. Plus not many will drive a 100 miles or so just to shoot offhand. Around here I doubt if they'd drive 25 miles."
 
J.D. Steele:
"I don't know a single soul in our 600-member club or for that matter within a 150-mile radius who would walk across the street to even witness a real Schuetzen match of any type."

tenx, again:
The plain fact is that at most clubs if all you shot was offhand not many would show up. If you shot just bench you'd have to beat them off with a stick! Maybe I should qualify that and say most clubs East of the Missouri River."

It seems to me that something is very wrong with this picture. I may be new to this Schuetzen shooting sport thing and don't know a lot about it but I think it's a very worthwhile shooting sport and should be promoted.

Everyone knows by now that I'm new at this but I'm willing to volunteer my time to help anyone that has the experience in this sport that wants to see it grow.

Does anyone know how a member gets to put something on the agenda of the next annual ASSRA meeting ?.
Shooter

Shooter,

  Let me put this true scenario to you....

  If you do a search here on shooting a .22 offhand Winter league you should come up with a thread or two on the subject. What happened was that there was a lot of talk, with everyone having their own idea of what it should consist of. Nothing ever came of it. This takes place every coupla years with the same results.

   Now if you'll go to this web site you'll see what can be done as far as shooting a league goes. 

    (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

  What's the difference? There was a lot of talk about doing it, the same as here, until someone took control of the thing three years ago and said "This is how it's gonna be. If you want to shoot fine. If not we'll see you around!". That was me! Brent's running it this year. I haven't counted the number of teams, or shooters, but they have been from all over the country and even one team from Jolly Old England.

  You can't have 14 guys with 14 different ideas on how to run a match. As like in the past nothing will get done. Like Froggy says. Someone has to volunteer and say I'll run it and here are the rules.

  Whoever takes the job on will find, as I did, that the first year is the toughest. With the help of Marty Stenback in re-checking my scoring we managed to "Get 'er Done!". After I got everybody "bent" around to how I wanted it done the 2nd year things ran pretty smoothly. Brent will have to answer on how things are going this year. I'll have to check back on my web site to see but I think each year there have more shooters than the last.

  I will agree with you that any Postal or Internet league type match should be run by someone in authority at the ASSRA. At the least say they'll sponsor it, like the WSU is doing. Maybe throw in a medal or something for the first 3 or 4 individuals/teams. But why should that have to be the only criteria for putting on such matches? The whole idea is to have some fun!

Brent 

I don't shoot the winter league, it did not work for our widely spread shooter base. Winter time at home I shoot NRA rules Silhouette and drive up to Pennsylvania and shoot shoulder to shoulder Schuetzen gallery.

Tried to get some postal matches going several years ago but was frustrated by the rules and have no way to change them.  No problem with the labor but don't want to get involved in the politics. Give us a set of rules that widely spread shooters can use and would be happy to volunteer. 
'

Boats

Brent I suspect the key is having rules that allow widely spaced shooters to compete.  In Virginia we tried to work it out several years ago but it would have required driving to a central location. We had that about worked out  Our thought was to shoot a seasons worth at one session but as I recall that was not allowed under the rules either.

Labor is one thing but the structure has to be right before it's going to be a sucess

Boats

Boats,
New guy here, about the Postal Matches. I checked the Postal Match rules and cant find anything that would be frustrating, or what would need changing. Please let us know why you were so frustrated by the rules the way they are written. 

Section 3.06 Rimfire, and Section 3.07 Centerfire,  as written seems very easy to live with. Being new I may be missing something but from shooting in Postal matches in other shooting associations I don't see anything wrong with the rules as written. 

The only problem I see that's not compatible or fair to all members that want to shoot is the fact that the ASSRA seems to discriminate ( probably not a good word to use but I don't know what else to call it ) against members that may want to shoot Postal bench rest, they seem to think that Postal offhand matches are ok as they are written up in the rule book but not Postal bench rest. This may not have been done intentionally and may have been just an oversight on there part. It seems un-balanced as far as having fair and balanced shooting events that all members can participate in.

You say that you were frustrated by the rules and have no way to change them. 
Are you saying that once the rules are made up they are carved in stone, never to be modified for all eternity ?. I don't think so, I've been told that a new rule book is being written this year, maybe now is the time to give the people involved in such things your input. I know one of the things that I would like to see is Postal bench matches in the new rule book, if for no other reason that this would allow all members to shoot in both types of Postal events, offhand and bench. I just don't know who to talk to about getting this into the new rule book. 

Again, I'm willing to volunteer and help in any way I can, but this should be an official ASSRA event, same as the "official" Postal offhand events, not just something made up by someone that feels like doing it there way that may not conform to the current rules. If a do it anyway you want attitude is allowed that may be like letting the inmates run the, well I think you get the idea.
Shooter