Justin

That might work better than concrete if it presents less of a ricochet hazard. So, who's going to be the first one to try it out? I'm kind of conflicted about this idea. On the one hand, shooting bottles of some kind of awful beverage is always a lot of fun. On the other hand, using beverage containers for 3 gun targets just seems kind of trailer park. I mean, I know it sounds stupid to say that targets for 3 gun should be uniform and/or purpose-made, but that's kind of how I feel.

Graham, click on the link in my previous post and that will give you a bit of an idea of what we've got. We're in a high-altitude arid climate, so mostly scrub brush and a tree or two. For the most part, I've defined shooting positions in a fairly lax manner, e.g. "within arm's reach of this bush" or "from the area of this tree." However, this has obvious problems, and I think we need to take steps to kind of move beyond it. I think that your suggestions are good, and by paying a bit more attention to the layout, I can tweak the positions to get that result. Also, the inclusion of 3x3 boxes should work better as a visual indicator to the competitors of what is expected of them at any given position. I know a lot of this is super basic stuff, but for whatever reason I find it very helpful to solicit input as it helps to kind of solidify the solution to the problem.

Ah, one of the things I should have emphasized. There's really only a pretty small group of us running this match. Probably three of us showing up, so the match tends not to have a whole lot of prop or barricade use. To complicate matters further, the area where we run the natural terrain stage is quite a bit removed from where all of the normal barricades are stored, so we try to use as much natural terrain as possible. Also, I would like to believe that there should be a way to set these stages up using the natural terrain and cover that is available at the location. I like the idea of using some 3x3 shooting boxes, and it seems like using the boxes to visually differentiate the positions that require offhand vs. "whatever works" would be a pretty obvious solution. The only criticism I could find would be that you would have to omit engagement of the long-range target at those particular positions, but I don't see that as being a deal-breaker. To give you guys an idea of what this match is like, here are some pictures from the last match: Close-range stage, note the target sitting just beneath the bush. You can see more photos here: https://picasaweb.google.com/117091622448351939326/Oct232011RifleMatch?authkey=Gv1sRgCPf47LHC3_eqOw#

So, this past month has concluded the second season that I've helped to run a local Tactical Rifle match, and I'd like to get some input from match directors and stage designers with more experience than I. For this match, I've been in charge of designing our open-terrain stage. Generally I try to keep the minimum round count for this stage at around 30, so generally the stage will have five targets and six positions, or six targets and five positions, with one target at ~400 yards, and the rest at around 150-200 yards. (Due to the lay of the land, the long range target is placed in the same location at each match, and the other, closer targets are interspersed at the base of some hills in a kind of bowl-shaped area.) In past matches, we've had some confusion with designating shooting positions by natural features, e.g. shoot from this bush, this tree, this rock, so we decided to mark the positions with some steel plates we had laying around, and some orange traffic cones. Now here's where I am in need of some help. Since most of the targets are less than 200 yards, I'd like to have at least one or two positions at each match that require the competitors to engage at least some of those targets from positions other than prone, primarily offhand and kneeling/sitting. Now, it seems like there are a couple of ways to do this, and they both have their problems. On the one hand, I could just simply put something mandatory in the stage description along the lines of "Targets 1-4 are to be engaged from standing at position X." I dislike doing this for philosophical reasons, though, as I think that practical shooting should leave the scenarios open enough to allow people to try to solve the problem with different approaches. The other approach that I've tried was to mandate that the competitor must be within arm's reach or touching the steel plate. However, at the last match, there was some confusion on the part of some competitors as to which positions they had to be physically touching a plate, and which ones they only needed to be within arm's reach. So, what are some ways to set up a field course so that engaging some of the targets from, say, standing, is organically built into the stage design, rather than just mandating it?

Why not concrete? A four inch square target that's, say, 1/2 inch - 3/4 inch thick. Concrete is super brittle, but not as fragile as clay pigeons, it will hold up regardless of the weather conditions, it's cheap, and if you wanted to, you could paint it. The only downside is that it's not biodegradeable. I wonder if you could build a mold out of some 2x4s and a piece of particle board so that you could make four or eight of them at a time?

I've been under the impression that AR10 pattern rifles have a tendency to be finicky and somewhat less reliable than AR15s. Is this still the case, or have those issues been resolved with the latest generation of AR10s? Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk

A friend of mine has one of the 1-4x ones on his rifle. He's used it at a couple of matches, and I've shot with it. For an entry-level scope, it works pretty well. The magnification ring is pretty stiff, though, and would benefit mightily from a cat tail. Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk

I've run mine at two local rifle matches, as well as doing testing at the range, and it's been 100% so far. No issues whatsoever, including running a VTac wall and monopodding. Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk

Are you shooting a CZ? Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk

I've finally gotten my video from the match up and on YouTube. Learn from my fail!

CHA-LEE, thanks for the mental process for breaking down a stage. I followed this at LaRue, and it seemed to help quite a bit. When applying this to 3 gun, I think there are a couple of minor tweaks to be made, insofar as you have to mentally program transitioning from one gun to another, and there's a lot more prop manipulation as well. For instance, one of the stages at LaRue required you to use a Mosin Nagant's bayonet on a target before dropping it in a dump bucket. I spent a bit of time mentally prepping the whole bayonet thrust, and none on dumping the gun in the abandonment bucket. At the sound of the buzzer, I hit the target, but when I dumped the gun, the bayonet went through the wall about a third of the way up, so I had to pull it out, and then dump it again. A proper stage plan would have accounted for that, and the video would be a little bit less hilarious.

Maybe I'm a sociopath, but the thought of feeling guilty for going to the range is, quite frankly, an utterly alien concept to me. I kind of feel guilty that I have to sit at a desk at a dead-end job churning out crap no one will ever look at rather than blowing it off and going to the range. I guess it's an issue of priorities.

Just a quick post to thank Sheldon for his tremendous generosity as well as to express my gratitude to the folks at LaRue for helping me out with what is the worst equipment failure I've ever suffered. You guys were tremendous.

Charlie, that may very well be the issue. The stage was a pretty straightforward layout, and one that I figured I could blaze through, so I may have taken success for granted without noting that hammering a target on the right side might cause me to not return to the port near that target. In retrospect, I think I may have broken this one down into chunks without giving thought to the transitions in between positions. In any event, while I'm sure the archives are already probably full of this sort of thing, I'd be interested to know how you guys go about planning a stage so this sort of thing doesn't happen. Under ideal circumstances, the way I plan a stage goes kind of like this: 1.) Walk up to the stage. 2.) Walk through the stage two or three times to get a general feel for the layout. 3.) Look at the stage description, try to memorize how many of each target there is on the stage (e.g. 6 steel, 12 paper, etc.) 4.) Walk the stage again with an eye towards finding positions where I can shoot all of the targets. 5.) This part's kind of fuzzy, but try figure out where I should reload, and maybe refine exactly where I stand. (e.g. stop here at this barrel/stick/stake/prop and shoot what I can see.) 6.) If there's a particularly tricky target, remember that I need to shoot it. (e.g. the short target through the port next to the barrel) That's kind of my ideal way of planning a stage, though I'm open to suggestions on how to modify my thought process to be more effective. Also, it seems like some guys can walk up to a stage, walk it two or three times, and have a plan down. For me, I feel like I have to walk a stage more like five or six times, and maybe even more if it's a memory stage. Additionally, there are times when I walk up to a stage, give it a walk through or two, and kind of panic. I assume that panicking when walking a stage isn't conducive to good planning, so I've been working to remain calm, and force my brain to look at it logically rather than freaking out and failing to put together a coherent plan. Regardless, I think that stage planning is one of those things that I might need to apply more concentration to, especially if I can figure out a way to reduce the number of walk-throughs required to get a solid idea of it in my head.

That's the thing that kills me when I think about it. We got to the match a day early and walked all of the stages. The day of the match, I watched three or so competitors shoot the stage before I did, so it's not like I had a lack of opportunity to walk the stage. In retrospect, I wonder if I had failed to consider the possibility of walking past that port and making a mental note to remember to go to that port? No. At the Vegas match, the stage where I missed a position was the second one we shot, and at SMM3G, it was the first.