10 Ways To Celebrate National Shooting Sports Month

August is National Shooting Sports Month! With the NSSF, we compiled a list of how you can celebrate.

If you need another reason to get shooting, we’ve got you covered for August. National Shooting Sports Month offers a world of opportunities to better your skills, shoot with friends, and brag on social media.

Snag a great deal on a gun. Enter a social media challenge. Commit to being a shooting mentor. These are just a few ways you can get involved. Read on for more.

Ways To Celebrate National Shooting Sports Month

Join NSSF’s #RangeChallenge

NSSF is giving away 10 $500 gift cards for participating in its annual #RangeChallenge. We’ve got all the details for how you can get in the drawing here. But it’s pretty simple. You download the required target, make some social media magic, use the hashtag, and voila. You’ve got a chance.

Mentoring: Join the +ONE Movement

It helps to have a mentor show you the ropes when learning a new activity. NSSF’s +ONE Movement asks experienced shooters to guide newcomers and novices on how to safely handle firearms and develop their marksmanship skills. Experienced shooters can help secure the future of shooting sports by taking the +ONE pledge to introduce someone new to target shooting this August.

Take A Friend Shooting

We all have that one friend who is gun-curious, but might lack the chutzpah to ask you to take them shooting. So, put it out there. Or, organize a friendly outing with your friends that do shoot. Maybe you’ll pick up some pointers. Reminds me of my good friend’s shooting group “Glocks and Crocs.” The dudes would get together wearing, you guessed it, Crocs. And then they’d shoot some glocks. And a lot of other guns.

Clean Your Gear

Has it been awhile since you got to the range? We know the feeling. Sometimes, gear sits longer than you like. So, have a cleaning party, dust off the ol’ membership, and head to the range to dial in.

Learn What to Expect at the Range

If you’re newer to shooting or haven’t shot at a range before, we recommend watching this video on Range Safety and Etiquette before you pull the guns out of the cases. Gun ranges are excellent places to better your gun safety practices.

Get Social with the #LetsGoShooting Hashtag

In addition to the #RangeChallenge, NSSF uses the #LetsGoShooting tag to unify gun owners of all stripes. It will be sharing community posts through the month.

Cash in on National Shooting Sports Month Deals

Participating in National Shooting Sports Month is a time-honored tradition. Ranges near you might be hosting events, or perhaps your favorite brand has an offer on gear. Find a participating business near you to take advantage of these offers at ShootingSportsmonth.org.

Tune Up for Hunting Season

August is the perfect month to dial in your rifle for hunting season. You can beat the fall range madness and ensure that it’s a one-bullet kill by sighting in now. And if you haven’t taken your hunter education, it’s not too late. Hunter’s ed offers a great way to take an affordable gun safety class and learn how to fill your freezer in the meantime.

Learn How to Practice Safe Firearm Handling and Storage

Maybe you could have a better storage solution. Maybe you’re still uncomfortable with basic gun handling. But now’s the time to sharpen your skills or better your home storage solutions.

Treat Yourself to a New Gun

Listen, we’re ALL FOR treating ourselves when the time is right. And what better time to do that than during National Shooting Sports Month? Hook & Barrel’s Insider program has the down low on new firearms, with releases and reviews coming weekly. Check it out here.