matt2ace

+1 We have 3 ranges at DCPA with our widest being a full fledge bullseye pit with permanent turning target stands at 25 yards leaving us with another 25 yards of space to the berm. In addition, there is a cement wall separating range 1 from range 2 making shooting angles even more difficult to manage. We put 2 stages on each range, usually a longer course and speed shoot or classifier. Shoot-throughs are a major driver of stage redesign. It is very hard to see them on paper, even with some of the stage design programs that look for shoot-throughs when you place targets. Overall, we end up with some great stages. However, new stage designers can really get surprised by the limitations of the club layout. I miss real shooting pits and really appreciate them when I shoot at other clubs.

My home club is limited to forward shooting only, no berms for side impacts. We have space to allow for perhaps 90 degree transitions on wider/longer stages, but much of the shooting is limited to perpendicular to the 180 line (aka: straight down range). This leads to very creative and extensive use of walls and vision barriers to create challenging stages. I came to this club (DCPA) with experience designing stages at club with 2 berm shooting pits. I considered myself a fairly experience stage designer having designed stages for monthly and a few tournament level matches. The learning curve was pretty steep at DCPA. I would design stages, only to be humbled by the limitations of range, ending up with much different results that I envisioned. Fortunately had help and guidence from a very experienced stage designers from DCPA who took the time to show me what they had learned about how to use the limited layout of the range to design good stages. I have since become very proficient at stage design within the severe limitation of the range. The main lesson I learned relative to stage design versus setup is to not get too tied up in making a stage exactly like the initial design. I now think more about the intent of my stage design and setup it to achieve those general goals. I stopped worrying about the exact placement of a target or the fact that a mover has to be closer than I wanted etc., etc. If the stage was fun and challenging to shoot.....I achieved my goal. I strongly believe in encouraging shooters to try stage design and I believe in mentoring anyone who is interested. You get a whole new prespective on shooting when you actually have to 'make it up' and then step it up. Any of us who design stages regularly do appreciate the compliments we get when a stage comes out good. On the other hand, if you don't like the stage design, mine or others, try doing it yourself and see just how challenging it can be at times. I always appreciate constructive comments, input, guidence on a stage design. I am always willing to listen and learn. .......just don't whine about a stage if your not willing to try and do it yourself!

Good point Rob, one I will keep in mind if (when) it happens again. I am confident, in this case, that the muzzle never impacted the ground. This incident along with a DQ for a 180 at the same match (warned him once half-way through stage and he still managed to 180 on the last array) made me realize just how similar ROing is to shooting a stage. I think of BE's comments on 'action without thought' when shooting. We do much the same when we RO. We don't think about the rules when we RO, we simply react automatically to actions by the shooter. When I warned the shooter about getting close the 180, the words came out instantly. When I stopped him, it was the same thing, just a instant reaction.....no thought involved. When the shooter fell down, it was much the same reaction.....all of the analysis of what happened to him occured after he completed the stage, but it all felt right at that moment. This all was something of an epiphany for me at the time (look it up, it is joy to have them) Shooting well is about 'action without thought'......running shooters safely through a stage is no different. With exception of start/finish commands, it's about being confident that you can see, judge, and take immediate action when a unsafe condition occurs, the rest of the time your just a spectator with a timer in your hand. Thanks for the comments and support.

I was ROing a shooter at a local match last month when he slipped and fell while moving forward through a opening between 2 walls. I was able to observe his gun and hand during the entire episode and it was clear to me that he was in complete control the gun during fall and recovery. Gun never touched the ground His finger was outside of the trigger guard at all times No 180 violation Shooter recovered very quickly (and safely) and I did not stop him from continuing the stage to completion. I felt that I had made the right call at the time, but later I did look through rule book to see if this situation was covered. I could not find anything specific to falling, but I did feel that all of the safety rules were met by his actions during the fall. I could have stopped him simply because he might have been injured or otherwise shaken up by the event which would have meant a reshoot if I did not DQ him. I felt that was his call and my only responsibility was assure he shot a safe stage which I believe was the case otherwise I would have DQ'd him. I would welcome any thoughts from those who might have experienced anything similar either as the shooter or the RO.

I purchased this one from Brownells as a straight racker and bent it myself. I believe that SVI sells a pre-bent version. This one works best with the Barry side-mount.

Silhouette cannot be beat (IMHO ) for 9 major.

Brownell's sells a straight racker that Holliday89 has on his gun. I am using the same one only I angled it for clearance with my holster. This is another case where the Barry mount is easier to setup and use for lefties than righties. If you want a racker on the left-side of the gun with a Barry mount, it is going to take some creative engineering. I think this is an opportunity for one of the many parts mfr.

Hot gas and high velocity will tear up the polymer used for the standard C-more mount. I noticed some erosion after just a 200 rounds through the gun which lead me to put some duct-tape in that area until I could get the sight moved back. Thanks for the advice. I have the option to set the sight back by 3/4 inch which should take care of the problem, but I will check out the 3M tape option if the problem still exists.

Hot gas and high velocity will tear up the polymer used for the standard C-more mount. I noticed some erosion after just a 200 rounds through the gun which lead me to put some duct-tape in that area until I could get the sight moved back.

Racker placement is a drawback to the Barry mount, but only for righties.....as a lefty, it's right where I want it! How violent is the gun?......with the Barry mount, The dot moves up/down within the visual field (aka: always visible to me). I had a DrDot frame mount on it for most of this year, the Barry configuration made a big difference in my shooting speed and accuracy over that configuration. Some people who have shot this gun feel it is snappy, but I find it very controllable. I added a thumbrest to provide some additional stability but I don't have it back from my gunsmith yet. I do plan to build a gov't length open gun this winter (with Barry mount optics) because I do believe that gov't length with std comp will be softer and smoother than this shorty which will likely be used mostly for steel matches.

Yup, I wipe oil off it after every stage... no biggy, but yes. My gun is a real shorty so I did see residue, but easy to clean. The problem I encountered was hot gas from one of the 'jet ports' (see picture) sprayed right onto the left-side of the mount. I covered it in 2 layers of duct-tape until I could get the mount moved by 3/4-inch by removing the 2 rear-most mounting holes. This puts the back of the C-more even with the back of the slide which is fine for a lefty like me, but pretty difficult for a righty. I don't have any pictures with the added set-back yet.

I have heard a lot of good things about Ion Bonding but I cannot find a link to businesses offering it for firearms. Would someone please post a link. Thanks

I joined the club 2 months ago. I have shot open with slide and frame mounted DrDots over the past few years. I found the Barry to have all the advantages of both approaches. As a lefty, there is none of the thumb/safety clearance issues, though most righties learn to work with it very quickly.

I would love to see some other builders take on the Barry style mount. I know of one person working on a different approach to side-mounting a C-more, but I will leave it to him to post more when he is ready. I love my Barry mount. It seems to enable me to acquire targets faster, perhaps because the dot is so much closer to the slide and the optical field is larger than the DrDot I had on the gun. I am a lefty, so many of the issues with sight location are moot.

I like this version. There is another very low Dr mount on the market, but I could not find the link in a search. I shot with a similar mount with a Dr this year, but just moved to a Barry mount. The only way to get the dot lower is the go with a slide mount. I wanted to avoid the issue that come with punishing precision optics, no matter how bullet-proof they are. For left-hand shooters like me, the Barry has no clearance issues for thumb/safety.

I reached for a mag the other day and had the basepad pop off in my hand and watched the spring/follower shoot 30ft into the woods, never to be seen again. Of course I dropped the basepad and bent down to retrieve it only to have the mag with no basepad empty 21 rounds onto the ground.

I always thought that lefties have an advantage with mag release. I use my trigger finger to hit the release. I never use a large mag button on my Glock or STI guns.

http://jvdynamics.com/custom_guns/new_parts.php Fastfire has the same mounting points as a DrDot (or so I am told). This mount might need a notch cut on the left side to allow room for the on/off switch on the Fastfire. I would contact JV and see what they can do for you. I believe that Radical Precision might also be willing to modify their version of the Dr mount for a fastfire if any mods are needed.

I did the ammo collection and ran the chrono at several AWARE matches in VT. We picked up the rounds from squads well before they got to the chrono. I would randomly ask competitors for ammo from either mags or boxed ammo. If I asked for it out of box, it might be the one they are loading mags from at that moment or I might ask for ammo out of another box in from their bag. I felt that this method left little opportunity for 'gaming' ammo and was fair to all competitors. I never had a competitor question my methods or object to any request and I would gladly explain my reasons if asked. Any method of collecting ammo that casts doubt on the honesty of competitors is doing a disservice to all involved in this sport.

I have been involved in few matches that used landmines on the ground for penalties. We typcially asked the scored to watch for broken mines by the shooter so that any possible breakage by the RO/CRO would not be counted. I do not recall any controversy with that method.

I have been using my FA tumbler for about 8 years, cleaning atleast 6-8K rounds per year. Never gave me a single problem is any sort. I am careful about how much brass I load so I don't overload the unit.

+1 .... a true artist.

I have witnessed this technique 5 or 6 times over the past year. It's either a beautiful thing to watch and a train-wreck in progress (which is entertaining for the spectators only). I do try to practice this when I am working on 'gun off table' type drills........very inconsistent results to date.

That is exactly what I hear from some A-level open shooters. I got me thinking about lefty vs righty approaches to stage breakdown. I could be that my mind is just opening more to seeing all options on a stage. I have encountered a number of stages where lefties were put at severe disadvantage to righty shooters. I believe this is more about bad stage design where a righty does not 'see' that the design makes is hard or even impossible for a lefty. In my experience, it generally involves poor placement of a barrier that allows engagement of the same array from either right or left side. I don't try to run stages 'lefty' just because I am, it is about the best solution and training yourself to shoot from any approach/position/location.

I have been reading a number of threads on stage breakdown, strategy, etc. and I noticed a few comments on left vs right hand shooters approaching stage breakdown differently. I have only started to focus on stage breakdown in the past couple of years. Since I shoot (C-open) with very few LH shooters (any division) and none above C-level, I have always discussed stage breakdown with RH shooters. I only realized this year that I was putting myself at a disadvantage by running some stages just like the RH shooters. There are many stages where LH/RH approach makes no difference, but there are also plenty of stages where you can take advantage of being LH. One example would a stage where you have the option of moving left to right or right to left......I found many cases where approaching from the right (lead with left side) is better for a LH shooter while most RH shooters will approach from the left (lead with right side). Again, it is very dependent on stage layout. I was looking for comments from other LH shooters (no insult to RH shooters. It's just that you hold your gun in the wrong hand and have it holstered on the wrong side ) on how you learned to 'shoot lefty'. What other things have you learned that are unique to shooting lefty? If you took an IPSC training course, was there a lefty instructor? If not, was there any comments on LH vs RH approach to stage breakdown or other IPSC skills?