CHA-LEE

I know..... I am a EAA/Tanfo Quitter If EAA didn't raise their prices on uppers so much I would still be shooting their stuff. That and their horrible customer service really didn't help matters either. If they didn't raise their prices to ass raping levels I would still be shooting am EAA/Tanfo today. But they priced me out of it. If I am paying custom 2011 prices to maintain an off the shelf Tanfo/EAA blaster it does not make sense to keep shooting those off the shelf guns.

I am not saying that having effective standing reload skills isn't a skill people should have. I am just saying that it should be a lower priority skill than effectively reloading while leaving a position. The skills you choose to practice need to be put into perspective to how they are leveraged in a match. The fact that you will be tasked with doing reloads while exiting shooting positions the majority of the time can't be ignored. We all want to get better but the main failure I see most shooters make in their training is excessively practicing skills that produce very little return on investment during a match. Stationary draws & reloads that are rocket fast yield very little actual match performance/result improvement on match day. At least in USPSA pistol matches that is. Steel Challenge is a different story because you are forced to do a crap ton of stationary draws. For most shooters who are "Stuck in B Class" their main road block isn't gun handling skills. Its usually visual patience skill issues in not calling their shots so they can do the "Next" thing as soon as possible. A close second is poor movement skills between shooting positions.

A shooting buddy of mine turned me onto two products from Advocare for staying properly hydrated, mental clarity, and maintaining energy. One major limitation I have with these kind of supplements is that I am diabetic and can't do sugar or carbs or by blood sugar gets all out of whack. The Advocare stuff works great with my diabetic dietary requirements. This is going to sound like a commercial, but I want to point out up front, that I use this stuff personally and pay full price for it. I am not compensated or sponsored by Advocare in any way. This is a 100% honest, unbiased opinion of these products based on my own experience using them. The first Advocare product is called "Spark". Spark is best used for waking you up in the morning and basically does the same thing as a 5 hour energy, Energy Drinks, or Coffee. The advantage that Spark has is that is not too powerful giving you the caffeine jitters or shakes. Its also packed with vitamins and nutrients that help sustain your mental clarity for many hours. Its made in many different flavors so you can get whatever flavor you prefer. I get the "Tub" size of Spark powder and use one full scoop of powder in a 12 oz glass of cold water. It takes a little while of mixing to get all of the powder to fully dissolve but once its dissolved I drink the whole glass in one quick setting. The main thing I really like about this product is that it makes me mentally alert early in the morning when I would otherwise be groggy and there isn't a noticeable "crash" in alertness or energy later on. The link below will take you to the Advocare website that talks about the Spark product. https://www.advocare.com/products/Active/A2094.aspx The second Advocare product is called "Rehydrate". Rehydrate is best used for maintaining your hydration and energy level through the day while at the range. If the weather at the range is in the 60's or 70's and you are not feeling "hot" I really don't notice much of a difference in using Rehydrate verses drinking plain water. Where this product really shines is when its HOT at the range and you are sweating quite a bit. When drinking Rehydrate I have seen a dramatic improvement in my mental clarity as well as energy level while outdoors for many hours in very hot / sweaty conditions, verses drinking the same amount of plain water. I get the "Tub" size of the Rehydrate powder and use 4 scoops in a 1 Gallon jug of water. Then force myself to take a decent chug from it when I get to a stage, and right before I leave a stage. If I have stayed on that "Twice a stage" drinking regiment I will have consumed the whole gallon over a long day at the range shooting 8 - 10 stages. For a local club match I will usually drink about half a gallon since the time at the match and outdoor is usually half as long as attending a full day at the range at major matches. I was skeptical about this actually working as the first few times I used it in "pleasant" range conditions didn't yield any mental or energy difference verses drinking plain water. But then I tried it on a super hot day where I was sweating pretty much all day long and was very surprised how I mentally clear I was by the end of the match along with not feeling run down with reduced energy. Basically, the more you sweat, the more effective Rehydrate is. https://www.advocare.com/products/Active/A2412.aspx One thing I really like about using these Advocare Spark & Rehydrate powders is that I can easily take these with me while traveling to major matches. I make "Serving" packets with little zip lock bags for each day of the match and simply add them to the appropriate quantities of plain water and mix it up the morning of the match before I leave the hotel. Finding a bottled water or gallon jugs of water is super easy no matter where you go so its a very effective strategy when traveling to major matches. This stuff isn't magic and the basic hydration rules still apply. The basic rule of "If you are not peeing regularly, you are not drinking enough" still applies. The same goes for not drinking until you "Feel" thirsty. By the time you "Feel" thirsty you are already significantly dehydrated. If you Drink and Pee frequently you will be a lot better off than not doing those things regardless of what you put in the water to assist in the hydration or nutrition process.

You are not doing "0.8 sec" reloads if your not breaking an accurate shot post reload. That and who really cares how fast your standing reload is? If you can't do an aggressive, fast, and accurate reload while launching out of a shooting position aggressively then you are just wasting time. Answer this question. How often are you tasked with doing a standing reload during a stage run and not have already fubared the stage due to running the gun dry? We are not talking about classifiers either. If you can do a 1 second reload as you are aggressively launching out of the shooting position then doing a standing reload faster that that is a piece of cake. This type of thought process is no different than practicing 30 yard partial shots so the 15 yard partial shots are "easy". As for breaking out of B class. The answer is simple. If your goal is to make A and you are only practicing to an A class level, then making A class is going to be difficult. If you practice for achieving a GM class performance, then making A Class is relatively easy.

Without knowing which sanctioning bodies rules were used for the match its impossible for anyone to answer your question accurately. If it was an "Outlaw" 3 Gun match with home grown rules, then only the match director will be able to answer your question because they are the one defining the rules and how they should/could be enforced.

Yeah, there is a TON of pre/post match work that needs to be done. I didn't want to dive into that in fear of making some peoples heads explode. I think that defining what happens the day of the match alone is a significant eye opener for many competitors that are not currently involved with making matches happen in their local area. Hopefully this helps these uneducated shooters understand the magnitude of effort and dedication that goes into running a simple club match, much less a major match. Matches can't happen without the dedicated volunteer efforts from many different people. If you are not pitching in to help make the match happen you might want to think about changing your stance on the subject.

I also agree that if a match allows the targets to get totally beat to shit with tape over tape over tape patching, it becomes increasingly difficult to make quick and accurate calls. Tape without any cardboard behind it does leave funky size or shaped holes some times. This was a local club match with almost 70 shooters with very few targets getting replaced mid match due to being beat up too much. To my knowledge the only targets that got replaced proactively were the head shot targets and that is because I was the one who replaced them because they were too beat up to make quick and accurate scoring calls. All of the the other full or partial targets were not replaced mid match.

I have been ROing for a long time now, both in local and major matches. I have seen some pretty strange looking holes in targets. But I have never needed to manipulate the hole its self to make a call. I have had to remove a target from the lath to get a better view of the hit(s) or get better lighting, but that is it. If you know the trajectory of the round entering the target and actually know how to use multiple overlays together to determine two distinct radius's there shouldn't be any need to manipulate the hole its self to make the call.

I agree that RO's can "touch" the targets while trying to determine a score. But physically manipulating the hole of a hit? That seems pretty sketchy to me.

I had this question asked of me during the last club match. The shooter who asked me was on another squad and I didn't see the event happen myself. So this is all second hand information on my part. But this is what was described to me. Paper target that required 2 hits has one "hole" in it but its oblong in size. Shooter believes its two very close hits on top of one another, but not a double since the hole is oblong, and calls for an overlay. The RO pushes in the back of the target to flatten out the hit/hole to use the overlay to make the call. The shooter disagrees with this manipulation of the target from the back side to use the overlay in confirming if its a single hit or two different hits. I looked in the rule book but couldn't find anywhere that defines what an RO can or can't do from a target manipulation perspective. There are rules defining what competitors can do with regards to touching targets, but not RO's. Personally, I would never touch the back of a target to "Flatten out" the hit to make a call because doing so can change the actual size of the hole or angle of the hole which would make finding two distinct grease ring radius's very difficult or subjective. The only time I have "Manipulated" a target hit is to pull back a piece of tape to see the perf if the hit location is totally covered with tape. But even then, the hit is confirmed and I am simply trying to determine the value of the hit. The RO in question just attended an RO class and claimed that the NROI instructor said "He could touch the target any way they want to determine the hit/score". My question is this. What is the official NROI stance on manipulating the actual hole/hit in this scenario, such as pushing the hole back in from the back side of the target?

If you want to hand over the scoring process to someone else, you can't simply have an "outline" and expect them to be successful. There is too much left to interpretation or experience which can and will trip people up. The only way to do it properly is a step by step, spoon feed every single detail, type of procedure. I have attached my procedure to this post in a .pdf format as you requested. If you want the Word document version shoot me a PM with your e-mail address. EzWinScore to Nook Scoring Procedure 10-8-2013.pdf

This past weekend I was pretty busy doing pretty much everything else other than shooting. I did get to shoot the Aurora USPSA club match on Sunday but I wasn’t into it and had a dismal performance. Shadow targets + Mentally disengaged = poor performance. I racked up 5 misses and 4 D’s total for the match so I was sucking big time. I could blame a host of things that didn’t go my way, but in the end these excuses really don’t matter if you are not mentally “There”, which I wasn’t. It was fun shooting with friends though and at least I got some blasting in over the weekend. Right now I am 100% focused on getting the Mile High Showdown match pulled together. There are quite a few loose ends to wrap up before the start of the match in two weeks. It’s coming together though and I am feeling good about being as prepared as you can be. The number one factor that I have zero control of is the weather. It’s been a really wet spring so far with rain just about every day. I can only cross my fingers that we can avoid the rain during the match.

Just an FYI, My match scoring procedure is 9 full pages of step by step procedures. Yes it requires that quantity and detail of procedure steps to make it "Monkey Proof".

I understand that, but it's inefficent and confusing to setup 1 match in EzWinScore to do registration then setup another one to successfully import the registration, stages, and scores. It's easier for us to leverage the EzWinScore created Walkin's then not screw around with the registration in practiscore. We use Nooks for all of the practiscore stuff and inputting match registration on those things is painful. If we do switch 100% over to practiscore we will get a normal android or iOS tablet for registration. I understand that there are different ways of doing the registration and scoring stuff. That isn't in question. The point I was trying to make is to create a 100% documented procedure for YOUR specific scoring process so it can be handed off and deployed with success and minimal guidance needed. The process we currently use may not be optimal, but it works and is 100% documented so anyone can do it if needed.

Mostly the competitor numbers don't line up or match. But a close second is uncontrolled editing of the practiscore data usually leads to something else getting jacked up in the match, stage, or shooter config. I have had the best luck with mandating that NO EDITS be made at the practiscore level. Doing this has eliminated virtually all strange issues when trying to sync or import data back into EzWinScore. That and a shooter being called "Walkin45" all day is a good motivator for them to show up early next time so they can be called by their name instead of a walkin. Squad mockery is a good motivator to learn lessons most of the time.

Graham> If your procedure can't be picked up by anyone and successfully executed by simply following the procedures then it's not detailed enough. Let me ask you this, how many pages is your procedure?

O.K. Then the question would be: What's your preferred method of solving the timing issue? Fix the timing issue. You can change the angle of the loop on the trigger bar or change the height of the striker block leg on the striker. If this does not make sense then get it to a gunsmith to fix it for you.

I think I was having this problem with one of my guns. See the attatched photos. image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg Yep. The leading edge of the striker block leg is beat up. Timing issue.

Since we create the registration in EzWinScore, any "Screwing Around" with the registration at the Practiscore level leads to inconsistent problems at the EzWinScore level when we try to import the results. It is a pain in the butt to use EzWinScore and move stuff back and forth. But it works for now. We may end up switching over to 100% Practiscore in the future but I really don't want to make that leap until USPSA "Officially" makes Practiscore their scoring software of choice. Currently USPSA and Practiscore are still separate entities that don't really work together proactively. That makes me a little leery of putting all of my scoring eggs in the Practiscore basket.

Once again, are you guys checking the striker block leg on the striker to verify that its not a timing issue? If the leading edge of the striker block leg is beat up or rolled over, then you have a timing issue and the striker is smacking into the striker block before it can hit the primer. This takes a crap ton of energy out of the strikers forward velocity, thus light strikes. Any time you start jacking around with the trigger bar loop, or swap to after market triggers or sears, the timing of when the striker block gets pushed up gets jacked up. If you don't verify that the striker block is being pushed up and out of the way before the striker comes forward, then YOU WILL have light strike problems. If the striker vs striker block timing is setup correctly you should be able to shoot CCI primers + the APEX competition striker spring with ZERO light strikes.Or you can not fix the timing and keep putting stiffer and stiffer striker springs in there to try and overcome the timing issue using a brute force method. One of these methods of solving the issue leads to an actual solution, the other only leads to a delayed failure mode. Decide wisely.

To help with the total match scoring support from start to finish, I put in the effort to create a step by step procedure on how to do the scoring process. This procedure is written in a way that it can be handed to ANYONE who can read and run a Windows PC. It took me a few days to compile the procedure and a few iterations of updates to account for things I missed or needed further clarification. But this procedure has been a god send in insuring that a "Stand In" score keeper can be put into place by simply giving them the scoring gear and handing them the procedure. This procedure fully defines how MY club specifically performs the scoring process as we still use EzWinScore for doing the registration and compiling the results and activity reports. I have given this procedure to other Colorado clubs to help them successfully deploy an EzWinScore + Practiscore type of scoring process. But I also tell them to update the procedure to fit their unique process if needed to make it 100% solid process that can be followed by anyone thrown into the task of scoring their matches. If you want the procedure PM me your e-mail address and I will send it your way. Just keep in mind that it is defining the process that MY club uses. You may need to tweak it to match what YOUR club does from a scoring perspective. At a bare minimum it would serve as a good template or format to use for defining your own clubs unique match scoring process.

I have found that the duration of setup time is dramatically affected by the below factors. (1) Having a dedicated resource that has a vested interest in the stage they are setting up dramatically reduces the "How do I put this jigsaw puzzle together" thinking time. I have my board members create and submit the stages for the match a week before the start of the match. That way I can vet them for being legal, polish the verbiage of the start/procedure, and point out potential issues. Doing this allows the setup crew to hit the ground running with a solid action plan to deploy for their stage. (2) Since we vet the stages in the days before the match we try our best to minimize the total props needed for the stage. There is no need to have a small village worth of walls, barrels, or whatever else to make a fun and challenging stage. Doing this also allows us to inventory what props we are using for the match to make sure we don't use more than we have. Lastly, if the picture in the WSB matches what is needed for the stage, such as 2 walls, 10 target stands, etc, then you will end up with an accurate population of props for the stage verses having to go back to get more props half way through the setup or taking too many props and then the other stages can't be completed because there are not enough. (3) Properly distributing and balancing the "Worker Bee's" across the stages is key. I have found that the optimal setup team per stage is about 3 - 4 people. Below that and there isn't enough sweat equity to get the stage setup quickly. Above that and there is too much standing around by the workers "Waiting" for something to do. At the start of setup, I work towards getting 3 - 4 people on each stage. If a stage more than 4 people I will pull those extra people off and send them to another stage that is short handed. (4) Working on all stages at the same time is WAY MORE efficient than trying to wrangle 10 - 20 people all trying to setup one stage at a time. Most clubs that I have seen take an excessive amount of time setting up are usually trying to do the "One at a Time" setup process. The reality is that there is only so much that can be done at any one given time. For example, you need to lay out the walls, targets, and fault line to double check placement or access to targets before ANYTHING can be nailed down. When you setup one stage at a time, the "Nailers" are standing around waiting for the props to be placed or tweaked before they can nail anything down. The "Nailers" standing around waiting to nail stuff could just as easily be working on another stage or task at the same time. (5) Empowering your setup crew to deal with the stage setup as they see fit and make decisions on their own is also a very good way of speeding up the setup time. What ends up on the ground may not look exactly what the picture shows on paper, but as long as the stage has a legal presentation of targets, maintains safe angles of fire, and matches the target count as well as start position requirements of the WSB, that is good enough. I see way too many stage designers or match directors trying to micro manage the setup of the stages so what is physically setup exactly matches what is shown on the drawing. Sure we all want things to be accurate, but in the end the stage should be testing specific or general shooting, movement or gun handling skills. If the stage successfully tests those skills, then the objective has been achieved regardless of it turning out exactly like the drawing or not. Some of the best and funnest stages I have ever setup have been created by simply throwing up some props that somewhat matches the drawing then move targets or visual blockers around to eliminate any possible shoot through issues, or unsafe angles of fire.

It would take the same if not more time to review the stages with a small group of squad RO's verses forcing the "Mob" to go from stage to stage for the walk through. The other factor is that doing the "Mob" style walk through does foster good questions about the stage that may be a little gray or misunderstood for many shooters. Being able to give a solid Yes/No answer that everyone hears goes a long way to minimizing the same question being asked several times by many different shooters during the match. That and the answer is coming from the proverbial "Horses Mouth" so there is no ambiguity to what the answer or stance is for a given question. Pretty much all of the clubs here in Colorado do the stage setup the morning of the match. Yes this is a lot of work and creates a Chinese fire drill type of event during setup, but it also promotes a volunteerism environment for competitors to pitch in and help setup. The basic mantra is "If you want to shoot today, get to work in helping with setting up and tearing down". Distributing dedicated match staff across each stage works wonders in keeping the volunteer worker bee's coordinated and efficient in stage setup. For my matches I have each board member create their own stage days before the match and assign it to a specific bay. That way, they know exactly what they are setting up and where. This works out a lot better than me creating all of the stages then the setup crew really doesn't have confidence in setting up the stage how I wanted or envisioned.

This one probably took me a couple of hours to compose and review. When work gets slow I try to make use of my time.

Setting up the day before the match isn't possible due to range access and use by others. That and Mother Nature would probably rip up the stages anyway as we get crazy windy weather on the plains of Colorado. Lastly setting up the day or days before the match promotes "consumerism" instead of "volunteerism".