SteelDown

Preferably one you unload from your belt, not the slightly illegal, unloaded one in your bag because you just loaded up from the last stage.

It's really hard to stress this enough, HYDRATE, HYDRATE, hydrate. St. George is high desert so the temp doesn't get as hot as Tucson but you will dry out. Start the night before. I prefer a 50/50 mix of water and Gatorade so not too much sugar. If you can relax and have fun with your buddies you will have a great time and probably finish higher than you expect. As Mark said shoot YOUR plan at your pace. (Guilty of thinking I was as good as the Master class shooter before me and tried his plan. Didn't work out so good.) Pay attention to the walkthrough, it helps, ask questions. Stuff happens, weather changes, the gun pukes, you get the morning or afternoon sun directly in your eyes, that gas station sushi was not such a great idea,...etc. Remember you went to have fun so laugh a lot and enjoy the ride. Have dinner at Cappelettis Restaurant, best Italian place I've ever eaten.

If the magnet is not used to retain a magazine during the course of fire how is this any different than any other unspecified gear that may be on the belt? Division rules specify where the gun and magazines must be but not any other accessory gear like ear muff holders, flashlights, cell phone holders or any other thing you may want to have on your belt. Admittedly carrying all that stuff in front may be a distraction but it is not prohibited. The magnet is just another piece of non-specified gear at that point.

To follow up with the "in this day of electronic communications" vein, you might want to reach out with an email thanking him for coming and participating in the match and express a genuine interest in his continuing in the sport. You might ask if he has any questions you could answer and even offer the help coach or connect him with a coach if he comes out again. Sometimes a little follow up goes a long way. Also, on a club level you might start a mentor program for the new shooters. Our club does this with 4-5 people rotating as mentor and they go through the match with the new shooters making sure the new shooter understands the rules, introduces them to other club members, offers pointers on shooting the stage and generally being our "customer service representative" for that match. In return they shoot the match for free. Since starting this a year ago we have between 3-10 new shooters at most of our matches.

Our club assigns mentors to go with new shooters through their first match. All our RO's know the mentor is coaching the new shooter and allow them to fulfill their duty. Since implementation of this practice two years ago our new shooter retention rate is about 95% and those who choose to pursue a different shooting sport have always thanked us for the experience. Yes, it means our mentor is not going to have their best match so these duties are rotated but the new friends and shooters are more than worth it.

Is there a particular reason you are shooting the walls by stapling the targets directly on them? For ex. on stage 1 targets 3 & 4 could be on stands and the wall angled toward the poppers if you are trying to obscure them from the port up front then your walls don't get shot up.

I have designed several speed shoot type stages of a similar nature. I have always specified a mandatory reload after first and before last shot. The results are that the limited and open shooters take all the targets, reload and fire "downrange in the direction of" the targets, then ULSC. Every division has a reload on the clock some just have it earlier than others. This allows each shooter to solve the problem as best fits his equipment.

My favorite was the Nationals competitor who had a single D hit on a 20 yd. swinging target claiming it was a double. Unfortuantely the overlay said otherwise.

Remember, Freestyle means we moved the boxes off the ground and hung them in walls (ports) while limiting what the shooter sees to the targets to be engaged. So build out the walls with ports and this will work. Or reduce the round count to 16 and it will work.

My practice in recording the penalties and no-shoots is to make sure I mark the first one in the box. If there are others I will keep tally outside the box then change the number in the box to reflect the true number. Most of the score sheets I've had to deal with as RM only had a single mark by the box and no number in the box. Putting the first one in the box makes sure the majority of the sheets are correct and reminds me tally the rest of the marks for the final number.

From the position the RO was in and at speed I would not have called a DQ. In all uprange starts in stages I design the WSB is "turn, then draw" in part to ingrain the safe action needed to complete the stage. I can attest that being swept in a draw then turn situation definately causes a severe pucker factor. FWIW the ready positon I prefer for uprange starts is wrists above shoulders or palms flat on a wall. This usually gives enough time to complete the turn before the hands draw the gun.

Good thing I wasn't running you. After the third draw you would have heard me quietly humming the Jeopardy tune!

And if the targets were reversed believe me the shooter would be arguing for the points for the B hit. Game plays both ways, B, NS.

Congratulations to a great RM and very hard worker. Your encouragement meant a lot in my own journey. I too shall lavish libations upon you in Vegas (lest you come to your senses and change your mind).

Just hand the shooter one of these and save the steps. http://www.outdoorgb.com/p/Chrome_Pocket_Telescope/?utm_source=froogle&utm_medium=directory&utm_content=USA&currency=USD&country=USA&SelectedBundle=157642