[A book that takes the "dry" out of dry-fire.]

Maybe keep the gun a little higher during the reload. Don't drop the gun hand, bring the mag to the gun. That way the target never leaves your line of sight.

Yes, thank you!

[A book that takes the "dry" out of dry-fire.]

I am missing something...

what are you practicing?

the reload lacked the magazine drop?

miranda

Shoot, reload, shoot in one second.

[competition is driving me crazy]

I noticed a dramatic improvement in my match scores when I stopped caring what other people thought, or if I wasn't doing something the way I was expected to. I just shot and had fun, not really paying any attention to anyone else's times or results. When you are having fun, you are much more relaxed, and the movements, such as reloading are more smooth.

[Cleats]

Football cleats are great to keep you from sliding on wet grass, mud and loose gravel. Not so great for hard surfaces such as wood, especially wet wood. OK, I know that sounds bad, but you know what I mean.

[Cleats]

Do you guys use smartwool socks to help prevent blisters?

[Old new guy]

How do you do?

[Cleats]

I have these. http://www.inov-8.co...Black.html?L=27

I don't know if they're necessarily for men or women, but plenty of female shooters wear them too.

These look cool. Expensive, though. They do, in fact, come in hot pink.

[I want to see your stage designs!]

Here is a simple stage I designed in Sketchup for a match that's coming up in a couple weeks. In 3D I can look and see which targets are visable from each of the ports. The idea being that how you shoot it will change depending on when you need to do your reloads. Hopefully I can set it up in real life the way it looks on my computer.

That would suck for production if you can't see any more than three targets from each port. It doesn't allow for any creativity in stage breakdown, either. Is there a way you could add any distant targets visible from multiple points?

[A book that takes the "dry" out of dry-fire.]

Thanks for the constructive criticism, guys. I learned a lot.

[Grip Strength and Recoil Control]

Well as an update...I have regained the feeling in my thumb and all is good. It did take a few days. I am going to back off a bit and try to remember that too much of anything can be bad. Thanks again for the advice.

What about chocolate?

[I want to see your stage designs!]

I've always been a paper and pencil kind of guy when I design for the most part although I make my living in and around computers. I've never quite found any programs that balance the ability to design with the ease of just a pen on paper. I've played with sketchup and I still find it a bit cumbersome at times although I absolutely love the output of a well designed stage. Perhaps it's just the learning curve.

With that being said. I have an IPAD and for the past couple months I've been using an app called "paper" to design subgun and 3-gun stages. I use a stylus and it's as basic as basic gets... blue squares for barrels, red lines for fault lines, orange lines for walls or barriers. An example course of fire looks like this

That funky mess of chicken scratch translated into this

And then this in first person

http://www.youtube.com/watchh?v=kgY4ABhWgjg

Starting next month I'm going to try some setups with sketchup and see how it goes. One of the cool things you can do with sketchup is import the files into an app called SightSpace which allows you to use "augmented reality" . So you can stand in an empty space like a shooting bay and overlay the sketchup model into the real world to scale.

Regarding talent and stage design. It is most definately something learned . I've become a better shooter from designing stages as it gives me a bit of insight into what other designers may have intended. Take concepts from stages you like and piece them together. As long as it's safe

It sounds like you are able to visualize it really well without the help of computerized imaging. I need more help than you do!

[I want to see your stage designs!]

I like this one a lot! How do you come up with your ideas?

Here is one of my designs. If you want the 3D model, let me know and I can email it to you. Sketchup is awesome, but still limited. It is difficult to always get the proper view to ensure that there is no shoot through. Every stage I have designed ha needed some sort of tweaking when on the ground. The grid system give a very good reference to get things close though.

[I want to see your stage designs!]

There's a lot of stuff to shoot through one port. Your graphics are pretty cool!

[Cleats]

So...I have men's footbal cleats in a size 6. They aren't made for a woman's feet, but it's all I could find. Anyone know where I can get shoes for shooting production that are actually made for women? Without being hot pink or some crap like that.

[Finally started posting.]

Thanks, Vermont.

[competition is driving me crazy]

Maybe you are driving yourself crazy because you are competing against others rather than focusing on improving yourself!

[Finally started posting.]

Congratulations guys...we are hot!

[Finally started posting.]

[I want to see your stage designs!]

I use Google Sketchup for all my stage design work. I have a template that I use to drag and drop props into a bay. Once designed, I export the picture as a JPG and use powerpoint to create my stage WSB.

I used to put my stages in a Sketchup collection in Google Shetchup Warehouse, but I haven't lately. Go to sketchup.google.com or search google for sketchup warehouse and once there search for DVC_MarkR Collections, not models.

I need to update and add a bunch. BTW...Google Skectchup is a free download.

Do you have one you've done that you'd be willing to post here? I'd like to see it.

[Stage Design why do you do this]

Kita,

Bill didn't explain that on the prone on the table stage, they forgot to take the Big Awesome into consideration........

Mikey starts the stage (almost AD's with his new Infinity's since he car really get them going compared to his older STI's), then comes running for the table and flops on it while hitting the edge closer to him with his leg as he launches himself downrange towards the targets.Suddenly, the desk and Mike are moving down range closer to the targets while Mike is hooking his foot on the back ledge of the the desk to stop from sliding off. He ended up a good 2-3 feet closer to the targets than originaly planned.........I would have given him a 7 to 7.5 on the European Sliding scale if we were grading his dive as he didn't keep his feet together but he did maintain good muzzle control to make up for it. Another good shooter launched himself and just about slid off the desk as he is too light to move the desk. Never a dull day with our guys, eh?

There should be extra points for flare! Next time, prep the stage with froglube to increase your entertainment factor.

[I want to see your stage designs!]

I want to see pics, videos, images from computer software, or whatever you've got. I am curious about how one goes about designing a stage. It is not something that comes naturally to me. Show me your talent! Please?

[My First Stage]

Ha! I just looked at your profile, Sir Phelps! Had no idea it was you or I wouldn't have been so polite.

[My First Stage]

I like that it separates those who are able to engage the targets by leaning from those who are not. I think the more variability a stage has, the more fun it is for people to shoot. Is the steel visible as you are approaching the center wall, or is the wall too high? That would throw in another interesting alternative.

[Where do all the cool shooters post?]

Actually, I think PF feels as though they got a two-for in banning our IP address. I don't think they cared for my statements related to whether or not trophies should be given for female participation.

[Finally started posting.]

It looks like it only takes 24 replies to make a topic "hot". I feel that there should be multiple tiers of hotness.