Venting, not whining

[John Z Sr]

Just shot the best match of my life today. Did everything right, just like all the better shooters have told me. Had the privlidge of shooting with a GM revolver shooter the week before a State Section match. Stayed right on his tail the whole match, no mistakes and shot real good points. The last of 7 stages was a 32 round field course which had at the last array, going prone to engage 4 small poppers and 1 static target at 30-35 yards from a small port. Having learned last year about how to go prone long distance on poppers , with 6 shots and only 6 in the gun, I made the decision to go 4 for 4 on the steel and put 2 Alphas on the paper. Sounds like the way to go, especially after the GM had to reload to make up a shot or 2. I knew I had this, played it out in my mind over and over, and all I had to do was shoot this last stage. After going 3 for 3 on the steel, some,,, shall I say less seasoned or courtesy challenged squad member, felt the need to "whoo hoo" my 3 for 3 right as I was breaking shot 4, needless to say, a miss. Went to static and shot 2 Alphas, now the prone revolver reload for the last popper, no longer in my sweet spot and having a hard time getting the gun and sight back on the popper. 4 shots and about 6 or 7 seconds later, my now almost perfect match came to an end. In my mind, I had it and I placed better against the GM overall than I had hoped for the match. My intent for all this, is to all newer shooters, PLEASE refrain from loud talking, yelling, whatever while a shooter is still shooting. Plenty of time for that after unload, show clear, hammer, holster, the range is safe. Not complaining, just venting, thank you

[lugnut]

That would piss me off too. Stinker. Try to chalk it up as a learning experience if you can.

[GrumpyOne]

I never hear anything when I'm shooting, sometimes I don't even recall the sound of the shot firing. As far as I know, the only thing I have ever heard that I remember when shooting is the word "STOP!", and that was from the RO right behind me!

[Glockcomma]

I was shooting a jungle run and the clip board operator was running about 20 feet behind the RO yelling tape em up! tape em up! The stage was kind of a bottle neck and they were trying to keep things moving but I thought their was range equipment failure and pulled up. Once I realized what was going on I kept shooting but I lost a few of seconds, it sucks when people don't realize the ramifications of their actions.

[aztecdriver]

I hear ya. All I can say is at least he was was cheering for you. Glockcomma points out another great reason why I don't like scoring behind the shooter. If I have anything to say about it - it'll be silent. I don't look for my hits - the last thing I need to hear behind me while I'm running through the course is "Two Alpha! Charlie Delta!" John - if the GM is the person I'm thinking about - he was probably just as peterbed that your run that would have beat him ended that way. He's an class act.

[boz1911]

I'm like Grump, I never hear anything after the buzzer, my focus is entirely on the COF. Of course I do usually double plug but even the times I don't, I still don't hear anything. I imagine your situation was a little different with some serious focus required for 35 yard poppers, which is why I'm really surprised you heard the woo-hoo. It must have been really loud or really close.

It's not courteous to cheer/yell/call scores during a COF though.

[John Z Sr]

I hear ya. All I can say is at least he was was cheering for you. Glockcomma points out another great reason why I don't like scoring behind the shooter. If I have anything to say about it - it'll be silent. I don't look for my hits - the last thing I need to hear behind me while I'm running through the course is "Two Alpha! Charlie Delta!" John - if the GM is the person I'm thinking about - he was probably just as peterbed that your run that would have beat him ended that way. He's an class act.

Yes, he is the GM you are thinking of, NC's best revo shooter and one of the best people I know, and he was telling me to shake it off as the RO was offering me a re-shoot. I was out of ammo at that point and he would have given me some of his to shoot again, but he was out also. That is really my point, this is the best group of people, shooters, and the new guy did not mean anything wrong when he yelled, and I am not mad at him (anymore!!) I just hope that whoever reads this will think about it and remember to be courteous at all future matches. I am glad for the forum and a chance to vent off some frustration in a constructive way, time to get ready for today's IDPA match and then 6 more days 'till SC SEction!!!! Good shooting to all

[Graham Smith]

I wish I could say that I have not be bothered by noise from the peanut gallery while I was shooting, but I can't. That said, it sort of goes with the territory and I try (and usually fail) to completely block it out.

[lugnut]

Just thinking more about this. I usually don't hear anything during the COF either... but I imagine with small steel at those distances would require complete and absolute focus and some external noises could be worse than a "regular" string of targets.

That being said- when I'm in the start position and am mentally finishing up my visualization and all I can hear 6 feet behind me is all the competitors yapping loudly because they are double plugged... that's annoying. I've seen one shooter turn around and tell everyone to shut up... I felt bad for him as they were VERY loud.

[Jman]

When I'm the RO people keep their mouths shut...until the beep.

[EEH]

I was shooting at the SC STATE MATCH,just this weekend,had a plan stage 2,,shooter ready beep,,I fired three shots and I hear all this shouting sounds like the RO,, but I stopped looked at the RO,and notjing then I heard it,it was comming from the croud,the man with the clip board stareted shouting the next shooting order,it was so loud,well I hate to cry,it was my fault I guess should just keep shooting,when it was all over the other guys all ask did you hear that ,is that why you stopped,,did not ask for re-shoot but I told cro about it --but when you have all volenteer help some of them may not know to try to stay QUIET PLEASE.,, see you later John Z,..

[gmantwo]

For some reason I hear amazingly well when I'm shooting. I do wear electronic muffs, so that may be why, guess I'm hearing between shots. Indiana production match last year, I heard someone in the crowd say "look at his front sight, you can see it glow from here. He hasn't missed a shot on the steel yet", of course the very next shot was a miss on a popper, lol.

[benos]

After going 3 for 3 on the steel, some,,, shall I say less seasoned or courtesy challenged squad member, felt the need to "whoo hoo" my 3 for 3 right as I was breaking shot 4, needless to say, a miss.

Make it a goal to never think while shooting.

If you are fully paying attention to what you are doing and seeing, thinking is not possible.

be

[HI5-O]

I hear you. It's the time after 'shooter ready' that I hear all those voices as I'm listening for 'stand-by..' and the beep that gets in the way. I've resorted to having to use plugs and turn off my electronic muffs. After the shooting begins, all I hear is the little voice in my head.

When I RO, sometimes I have to ask for 'quiet' in the peanut gallery.

[CHA-LEE]

Here is something to think about from a different angle. If you missed one of the steel and it forced a 5 - 6 second reload, why even do the reload and reengage the steel? Your stage hit factor would suffer by doing this. This is where you need to look at the hit factor of the stage and start to weigh the risk verses reward of acquiring points at the expense of taking more time verses having a faster time and eating the lost points and penalties. Since this was a 32 round COF the stage time would probably be around 25 seconds with a hit factor was something around 6 - 6.5 . That means every second is worth 6.5 points at the most. Not making up the missed popper costs you 15 points which roughly translates to 3 seconds in Hit Factor time. A 6 second reload costs you 30 points against your Hit Factor time. If the stage run took shorter than 25 seconds before the last reload the points per second HF gets even higher making the reload even less worth it. Some examples below of different probable stage times, all of which show that taking 6 seconds to make up the miss were all not worth it.

20 Second run with a Miss Verses 26 second run with all the hits

Without reload = 160pts, Miss (-10), Minus lost pts (-5), divided by 20 seconds = HF of 7.25

With reload = 160pts, Plus 6 seconds, divided by 26 seconds = HF of 6.15

25 Second run with a Miss Verses 31 second run with all the hits

Without reload = 160pts, Miss (-10), Minus lost pts (-5), divided by 25 seconds = HF of 5.80

With reload = 160pts, Plus 6 seconds, divided by 31 seconds = HF of 5.16

30 Second run with a Miss Verses 36 second run with all the hits

Without reload = 160pts, Miss (-10), Minus lost pts (-5), divided by 30 seconds = HF of 4.83

With reload = 160pts, Plus 6 seconds, divided by 36 seconds = HF of 4.40

If it was me, I would have gone into the stage knowing that I would NOT do a reload in the prone position even if I missed one shot. If I missed more than one shot then it would be worth it in hit factor time to do a reload.

[John Z Sr]

I agree with what you are saying Cha-Lee, but this one was a pride thing, the steel was not going to beat me