Ever go to a "friends of the nra" banquet?

[Jayne]

What's it like?

Single tickets are still spendy but I've never been and thought it might be interesting, but thought perhaps those who have gone before can relate what goes on.

 

[thrusty]

What's it like?

Single tickets are still spendy but I've never been and thought it might be interesting, but thought perhaps those who have gone before can relate what goes on.

Just like a gun bash. Your tickets get you in the door and enter you in for a main prize. There's other games you can play to win gun prizes. Beer, food, attractive chicks that walk around and try to sell you tickets, gun lovin' Americans. It's all good if you're into crowds.

 

[Phylodog]

I've been to a couple and had a good time. Pretty good food, good people and I won a revolver at the first one I went to.

 

[bm11]

The one I go to, the ticket includes the meal. There is an auction at the end. Pretty good time.

 

[pawprint2]

I've been to a couple, but have purchased two tickets for a couple I didn't attend. Usually there are some great prizes, your ticket has you in the running for, and at least one Grand Prize, last year here (Memphis, TN) it was a Barrett 50cal, the caveat was -you must be present to win. In any case if you belong to a gun club, or shoot much in your area, you're going to see a lot of people you know. A good time is had by all.

 

[T J]

I am actually on the committee for my local FNRA, this is my 3rd or 4th year as a member. We start with the local American Legion presenting the Colors followed by a brief prayer. ... We give away between 40 & 50 firearms every year & bring in a good amount of $$ to support a great cause. Your door ticket ($40) is your dinner (served Ribeye this year) ticket as well as a door prize ticket & early bird gun raffle ticket if you beat the deadline.

We have the ATF raffle- Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearm: you receive a 5th of Jack, a box of cigars & a high end weapon (To be renamed this year as the NRA asked us to remove Alcohol from it). A neighbor committee renamed theirs the FUDC raffle (figure that out for yourself). We have the ladies table: You play high/low where only ladies can play for pink guns, pink camo jewelry etc. The bullet board: There are .38 cal casings stuck into a board in the NRA pattern, each bullet is color coded & each color represents a specific # of tickets you receive for the firearm on the table. Wheel of fortune: You pay X-$ to spin the wheel, whatever # it lands on is how many tickets you get for the gun on the table. The Wall-of-Guns: A "vitrual" gun board, we sell 100 tickets, winner get their choice of firearms on the board, usually 40 or so, this gets sold over & over again untii we run out of buyers. We usually have two ladies playing High/low for the guys as well. You have the Red, White & Black tables where you have to buy tickets (from the good looking ladies mentioned above) to enter the drawing, there are between 3 & 5 high end firearms on each table. We are going to try Bingo this year as well as a FREE firearm drawing for service members ONLY.

The live auction usually has the Print of the Year, Knife of the year, Gun of the Year & the High Caliber Gun (only for committee's who net over 50K) which is usually a highly embellished 1911 with gold inlay & NRA-High Caliber Lettering. Not to mention the Silent action & oh yes... the bar

Do yourself a favor & give it a go, at least once. Like minded people coming together to support a great cause sharing sincere camaraderie. Not to mention it is probably more secure than your local PD as most folks are carrying



t

 

[kraigWY]

It's the benefits of the FNRA Banquets that make it all worth while. The money raised goes to support local clubs and activities. An example, our small town (3000) has an indoor range, paid for by grants from the NRA, improvements to our outdoor range, paid for by grants, trap range, paid for by grants. Grants support our 4-H shooting programs.

We just got a $3000 grant to buy steel targets.

All from funds & grants from money raised at the Friends of the NRA Banquets.

I go every chance I get, spend lots of money on tickets, don't win much, but like I said, its all for a good cause.

 

[ORD]

+1 on all of the above. They are a good time, but can get spendy depending on how much coin you want to drop after you walk through the doors with your main ticket which gets you in, dinner, etc. There are always TONS of other items for sale/auction. Just remember...the funds raised (both through ticket sales and auction items, etc.) are all for a good cause.

I've been to several over the years and always had a good time (although I'm not taking the wife to any more of them though as my spending does get cut into when the number-cruncher is in tow)!

 

[Maggot]

FUDC ...gosh whilikers what could that mean?

 

[T J]

FUDCView attachment 4388...gosh whilikers what could that mean?

We thought it was pretty dern good. One of their committee members does double duty & works with us too.


I forgot to mention that we're also doing the "JOE BIDEN HOME DEFENSE RAFFLE: Winner gets a double barrel shotgun

t

 

[Bronco]

Our local Friends of the NRA banquet funds the Youth hunter challenge and the women on target events that are held every year. Usually have around 500 attend from a county with only 35,000 total pop. As stated a very good cause worth the time and effort to attend.

 

[JMGlasgow]

I've been to a few. Dinner is always top notch, and the games and raffle can get you some great prizes. I've never walked away empty handed. Most of the time I'll win a gun case or something like that. You should go at least once.

 

[titandriver]

What kraigWY said. I got a $15,000 grant for steel for our Cody USPSA club, steel that we could never have afforded to buy ourselves. So a big THANK YOU to the Wyoming FNRA!!!

 

[The Mechanic]

I like them. My wife has already won a pistol, some ammo, shooting gear, and some other little trinkets. I have won some range time at a local range. I thought it was fun and worth it.

 

[Jayne]

OK, sounds like it's worth going. It should be interesting to see what sorts of things they raffle. I'm guessing hunting trips and packages more than anything else. The flyer says they're raffling off some AR platform rifle but I can't actually see that happening in CA.

Thanks for the input.

 

[T J]

OK, sounds like it's worth going. It should be interesting to see what sorts of things they raffle. I'm guessing hunting trips and packages more than anything else. The flyer says they're raffling off some AR platform rifle but I can't actually see that happening in CA.

Thanks for the input.

We do auction African Safari's & Canadian Fishing trips. The NRA does actually have Cali-Friendly AR's & they are specifically reserved for Cali, no other state can order them.


t

 

[mavrick10_2000]

What's it like?

Single tickets are still spendy but I've never been and thought it might be interesting, but thought perhaps those who have gone before can relate what goes on.

Yes. I won two tickets from my local club. Took some cash to participate in some drawings, won a muzzleloader and a Thermacell. Only one number away from winning a S&W .461 Revolver. Dang it!

The food isn't all that great, but it was decent talking with some local folks. My wife couldn't go, so I took a buddy from the club and he won a nice lockblade in another drawing.

Bring some money with you to either participate in the auctions or drawings. There's no limit on the number of tickets you purchase and you can load the bucket however you wish.

That was my experience. Should have probably played the lottery that night also.

 

[seanh]

Just heard about this...crap, Houston event- no more tickets.

 

[Jayne]

Just bought my ticket.

I'll report back into the thread after the event in case someone stumbles upon this in the future and was curious how an event in NorCal turned out.

 

[blcouch]

The one we had a few years back must have been a different NRA. After we raised raised something like $10,000, our local gun guy contacted the state rep concerning a range that was being planned. Before the banquet we were told the money would go to help local shooting activities and ranges. When we were planning our range, the state rep would never get back with concerning the use of this "local" money. No help with range planning, what to look for in a good site, nothing. The state conservation dept. ended up getting involved, who then built the range. The smallbore silhouette setup we ended up building ourselves. The proposes improvements which we thought the money from the banquet was supposed to help with have never materialized. That was back in 07 or so. I don't think our area ever saw a dime of that money. Maybe we all misunderstood, or were lied to. I really don't know. I know there hasn't been another one there since. And I never fully understood the reason we had he banquet in he first place. Hell, most of us at the time were NRA members and we could have just thrown in a few hundred each ourselves and came up with the money and came out better in the end, as far as locally. Maybe our rep dropped he ball? Maybe he embezzled it? Never found out.

What is the actual purpose and function of a 'friends' banquet?

 

[Omaga420]

Won me an AR-15 for $20 the first time I went to one of these... odds are usually pretty good I think depending on what you're bidding on there could be as low as 30 tickets. With all the craziness though these events have gotten packed and filled to the brim on pre-sale tickets. My suggestion if you can't get a ticket is to A: Call the event organizer and B: show up anyway and pay at the door. Usually there are a bunch of people that just dont show up.

 

[Wildwillalaska]

We go every year. Good time. Very good meal, great auctions, gun raffles, booze--simply a fun event. I've won a couple guns, but my wife's stepfather that goes with us every year is the luckiest bastard ever--he seems to win a gun every single year.

Our event in Kenai is fairly small I would imagine in comparison to the big city events--but always well attended and sells out fast.

 

[tylerw02]

I'm the VP of the local committee and run all the 4473s through. We just had ours this past weekend. We've got a waiting list a mile long for tickets for ours every year. Beer, food, good people, and lots of guns. We grossed 70k, which should leave a good 40k in profit to donate to local organizations, local law enforcement in need, conservation, and to the NRA. I highly recommend going. You may even win a firearm.

 

[T J]

I'm the VP of the local committee and run all the 4473s through. We just had ours this past weekend. We've got a waiting list a mile long for tickets for ours every year. Beer, food, good people, and lots of guns. We grossed 70k, which should leave a good 40k in profit to donate to local organizations, local law enforcement in need, conservation, and to the NRA. I highly recommend going. You may even win a firearm.

Tyler, I happen to be a Tyler myself. Keep up the good work & thank you for supporting the Friends.


blcouch- It makes me feel like shit to think you may have gotten stiffed like that, the FNRA is better than that. In the form of grants for various shooting sports across the the state, Wyoming received some $275K last year from the NRA, yes $275,000 to improve & build ranges, purchase new equipment for clubs & teams etc. That's what the friends (are supposed) to do.

Directly from the "FNRA" Website:
Friends of NRA - NRA Foundation


Amongst the fun and fellowship, Friends of NRA banquets boil down to one goal— fund-raising for the future of the shooting sports. Since its inception in 1992, Friends of NRA has held over 15,000 events, reached over 2.8 million attendees and raised over $200 million for The NRA Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Each year, The NRA Foundation allocates half of all net proceeds to fund projects within the state in which the money was raised and uses the other half to fund similar projects with a national scope.

Committee volunteers are appointed to State Fund Committees to make recommendations for local grant funding in areas such as youth firearm safety and education programs, hunter education, range development and improvement, women’s training seminars, and wildlife conservation efforts. Recognizing that America's young people represent the future of the shooting sports, State Fund Committee grants are frequently given to youth programs, allocating more than 50% of grant monies to this important area




T

 

[Windrunner 50]

I'm going to my first one next month, and looking forward to it!