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When you fail to spot a group of targets during walkthrough...


perttime

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When you fail to spot a group of targets during walkthrough... It is somewhat unlikely you will spot them during your live run.

 

Entered a Level 2 IPSC contest after a loooong break from competition. Didn't expect to finish towards the top of the list - especially shooting 6 shot Revolver, in 357 (loaded barely Major), using speedloaders. I got that right. One stage could have gone much better, though.

 

It was a simple narrow corridor with 3 close up paper targets at one end, 3 groups of 3 close up paper targets behind narrow open doorways, and 3 poppers at the other end (with No-Shoot paper targets behind them). There was one unusual thing: there were doorways to both sides of the corridor - angle of fire was way more than the usual 180 degrees, as the stage was almost completely surrounded with earth berms.

 

The narrow corridor was a little busy during walkthrough, and I failed to spot the doorway nearest the scary poppers - or count the targets that I did find. Naturally, I also failed to shoot those targets.

 

I couldn't believe it when I saw I didn't finish last for that stage. There were two shooters behind me, but they took about twice the time I did - shooting Standard and Production.

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Were you the first shooter on your squad?

 

I pick up a LOT of info by setting steel and pasting, and watching

the first shooters navigate the COF if I'm 3rd or 4th shooter.

 

Lot of times, I 'll walk outside the lines to catch all the targets, and

study the written course description, to locate all the targets

before I shoot.

 

Bet you never make that mistake again.

 

Congrats on beating some Std and Prod shooters with a

revolver - you must do an amazingly fast reload    :) 

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Actually... I was the first on our small squad for that stage. There was a crew doing the pasting, so there was no extra observation time.

I had the written description and a drawing, so I should have known the targets were there. The targets were also visible from the entrance to the "pit". Once I was in that corridor, it was like I had stepped to a different universe, or something  

 

My reloads are not amazing. Mainly, I just don't fumble much. I was last out of 6 Revolver shooters overall - but beat a few others on all stages. Some were very slow, some were fast but got no-shoots and misses.

 

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I learned my lesson a few years ago.  Now, when i come up on the stage, i found out the round count first, then my first walk though it just counting the targets.  No stage plan.  After you walked it once, and verified you saw all the targets, you will #1 be sure you are engaging them all, and #2, you will have a pretty good idea of what you plan will be.  That way on the second walk through, you can fully bake the plan.  

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On 8/13/2017 at 11:25 AM, CZinSC said:

I learned my lesson a few years ago.  Now, when i come up on the stage, i found out the round count first, then my first walk though it just counting the targets.  No stage plan.  After you walked it once, and verified you saw all the targets, you will #1 be sure you are engaging them all, and #2, you will have a pretty good idea of what you plan will be.  That way on the second walk through, you can fully bake the plan.  

+1, I try to do the same thing 

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I have started to walk around the back and sides of the stages to count targets before I even start to make a plan, just to make sure I know if there's something that's hidden or if the stage doesn't have see through walls.

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I have been subject to a few FTE's and they get under my skin.  I went to a sectional that was designed around the "hidden" targets.  Had it been my first match, I probably would have never shot again.  Every stage was full of hidden targets.  In matter of fact several in that squad made vows to never attend that range again.  But I learned then to do my walk through and then ask or follow someone shooting my division on their walk through to double check for invisible targets or just hidden opportunities to better attack the stage.  I got to shoot with Travis Tomasie in a sectional once where he FTE  in the first stage and saw first hand how to shake it off and not to let it shape your match.  He still won by the way.   

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I think there were a couple of things that contributed to my failure:

- you couldn't see through the walls.

- It was a narrow corridor and got quite crowded during the walkthrough. Somehow, I got a rushed feeling and stopped paying attention.

- angle of fire was more like 270 degrees, which was a first for me. I missed the doorway that was on the "wrong side".

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When there's walls or barrels, I like to walk around the outside of the props to make sure there's noting I'm not seeing. Sometimes look at the stage backwards from out by the berm.  Even then, there's times I just don't see things.  

 

 

I once shot a stage with a blazing fast time. One of those ones when you hear the time you think :Hmm... that's  too fast". Missed a whole four target array. It wasn't hidden, it wasn't through a port, it wasn't even far away, it was wide open and only about 7 yards off the FFZ. It was a simple stage. I'd had my hat cam running through the whole thing, even through the walk through. Watching the video, I air gunnedI right past the array four times without seeing it, looking and turning left when I needed to turn right, then I shot it just like I walked it. :rolleyes:

Edited by cas
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what i dislike is when you can see the same target(s) at multiple positions.  makes it very hard to determine if they have been counted/shot.

 

one hint i got was to do the out of the way targets first so that you don't blow thru the easy stuff and forget the ones way off to the side...

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2 hours ago, davsco said:

what i dislike is when you can see the same target(s) at multiple positions.  makes it very hard to determine if they have been counted/shot.

 

That's part of the game.  Makes it more fun. ;)

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40 minutes ago, Part_time_redneck said:

 

...Funny thing is you can almost hear the question mark when the RO slowly says " If you are finished?"  That's when it hits you. 

 

 

 

Now that you mention it, there was a question mark there - but I didn't make the connection until after "Holster" when he knocked on my shoulder and pointed.

 

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