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Best Training Stage


altabonita

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I'd hate to only be able to setup one but if that was the case I think I'd go with Showdown. That has a variety of close and far targets as well as different sized plates. You also get to shoot it from two different boxes so that's a benefit as well, IMO.

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I would train on 5 to go. It is a tough stage to shoot consistently well. It will teach you target acquisition and when to slow don't enough to insure the hit....i.e targets 3 & 4. The only harder stage would be pendulum.

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I would train on 5 to go. It is a tough stage to shoot consistently well. It will teach you target acquisition and when to slow don't enough to insure the hit....i.e targets 3 & 4. The only harder stage would be pendulum.

^^THIS^^
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Showdown is a good choice due to its mirror design. Simply practicing a single stage ad nauseum would be a waste of a good training setup.

For instance, with Showdown: stand in the center (between the two shooting boxes), remove the center plate, and practice drawing to one target then transitioning to a second; do that with the front two plates till your sick of it; then the rear two plates till you're sick of it; then draw to front left and transition to rear right tll you're sick of it; and finish by drawing to front right and finish on rear left. This builds your reaction time to the buzzer, transition time between targets, and it forces you to be as good going left to right as right to left. Most importantly, if done correctly, it will build your visual discipline.

Five to Go, Accelerator, etc., are good stages to practice, but if you only have one at your disposal, it doesn't offer as many alternate training options.

Having said all that, if you can master the movement between boxes on Outer Limits, you can pick up multiple seconds on the competition with that one stage rather than a second or so by running an amazing Showdown or Pendulum or Smoke and Hope. Practicing Outer Limits movement can be done without setting up a full stage, but rather just properly measured boxes to move between and having small targets in the distance.

Ultimately, IMHO, I don't think you necessarilly need to practice perfectly replicated stages. Rather, practice skills that can transfer to multiple stages... and multiple shooting disciplines...

This is all just one mediocre shooter's opinion. :devil:

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  • 2 months later...

I was reminded of this discussion this morning and decided to turn it a zombie thread with a shout out to Nimitz.  

A few weeks ago I visited Nimitz' website (http://www.steelshootbanners.com/intro.html) to look at his banners and stumbled across his reduced distance stage diagrams (http://www.steelshootbanners.com/reduced-distance-stages.html).  

Despite shoe horning into 2' less than ideal width within my dryfire area, I was able to get Nimitz's Showdown plan to work out to my great satisfaction. 

Edited by jkrispies
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How big is your dry fire area?  Those reduced distance stage diagrams are actually meant for live fire and are part of a 5-part series of articles I've been writing for Front Sight Magazine on how to become a better Steel Challenge shooter.  Article #4 in the series should be out any day ...

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30'x11'.  I had to play with the measurements a little bit because my area isn't long enough, but it's wide enough which in my opinion is the main thing when trying to create a dryfire stage.  Looking at all of your diagrams, I think Showdown is the only one I can really make fit, but it's the one I wanted!  Showdown has lots of practice benefits, as I mentioned above, but I've also been somewhat inconsistent with it in matches.  The biggest benefit to your diagrams, for me, is that they are created with properly sized plates relative to the distances. 

When my growth stagnated with dryfire, a good friend and GM shooting partner of mine told me that I needed to practice on full size targets, so I cleared myself a big ol' area for dryfire in my 3 car garage as well as the side of my house, and it's made a huge difference in my shooting.  Typically the smallest plate I shoot on in dryfire is 10", and yours are 6", but in looking at them I think it will work out well.

I do plan to get your Pendulum banner for my garage, though.  I think it will be handy when winter hits and the sun goes away...

Edited by jkrispies
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I figured either Pendulum or 5 to Go, mainly because they are the ones that give the most trouble. I had the equipment to set one stage up at the farm behind my house and chose Pendulum. I had about 18 yards to the corn field so that gave me a perfect fit by putting down a shooting box about 6 feet from the corner of the house. The shooting angles are closed in enough so that it does not cause a wide dispersion pattern. 5 to Go requires a very wide angle of shooting from side to side and it would lead me to change all the orientations to keep shots from the LH plate from going in the direction of one of the fields that usually has cattle in it. I could have done Roundabout or Showdown but I find I can shoot those in the 8's already with all my low ready firearms so I wanted to shoot a stage that I still can't get under 10s in. I know shooting Pendulum helped because at the Spring classifier at Guthsvillle I had a match win in it. YRMV

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On 9/18/2016 at 6:57 PM, jkrispies said:

30'x11'.  I had to play with the measurements a little bit because my area isn't long enough, but it's wide enough which in my opinion is the main thing when trying to create a dryfire stage.  Looking at all of your diagrams, I think Showdown is the only one I can really make fit, but it's the one I wanted!  Showdown has lots of practice benefits, as I mentioned above, but I've also been somewhat inconsistent with it in matches.  The biggest benefit to your diagrams, for me, is that they are created with properly sized plates relative to the distances. 

When my growth stagnated with dryfire, a good friend and GM shooting partner of mine told me that I needed to practice on full size targets, so I cleared myself a big ol' area for dryfire in my 3 car garage as well as the side of my house, and it's made a huge difference in my shooting.  Typically the smallest plate I shoot on in dryfire is 10", and yours are 6", but in looking at them I think it will work out well.

I do plan to get your Pendulum banner for my garage, though.  I think it will be handy when winter hits and the sun goes away...

if everyone had an area that big to dry fire you'd put me out of business ... :).  Luckily most just have an indoor room with a wall at least 10' away ... :)

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