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putting on a good match, Practical stage design


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Everybody seems to remember certain stages or favorite parts of stages or least favorite parts of stages.

What makes up a stage? You have a brief descriptive overview, a start position, a descriptive list of

requirements, some props, targets, round count, and scoring method. It sounds easy enough, heck any

yahoo with a brain, a bay, and a pencil can design a stage. A good stage will be one that challenges

everyone either by taking them out of their comfort zone or by giving them a false sense of ease about

the stage. A good stage will have subtle changes in it or can appear very similar to another stage but

with more or less challenge to it. Stages should never be HARD!!! I have heard MD’s apologize to

competitors for stages, saying “I’m sorry, that was a very hard stage”……..What were you thinking!!!!

Every prepared competitor you expect at your match should be able to complete every stage. If you

have more than 30% of your total competitors timeout on a stage, you have yourself to blame. When

stages are designed, especially any with long range rifle targets, they should be looked at from a

“C” class or limited experience perspective, even better would be to add an iron sights or a 1x optic

perspective into the mix. Have your stages shot in by average “C” class shooters, before the RO’s shoot

for score otherwise it’s too late. An example of verifying a realistically placed target or stage is that for

IPSC practical shotgun matches all target presentations are shot using a cylinder bore shotgun, thereby

allowing the MD to know that the target is able to be hit with all chokes. The better shooters will

challenge each other with speed, but all will be challenged and all will be able to complete the COF, and

all will walk off the stage with a sense of accomplishment instead of dismay and disgust. Stages should

be designed simple, it’s much easier to keep a simple stage up and running throughout the match and

keep it flowing with little to no down time. Simple does not mean easy, take 8 rifle targets, 4 moa in

size and place them from 75 yds. to 200 yds. with no prone or artificially supported position available

and it easily becomes a 30 round COF, for the average competitor. By keeping stages simple they can

be run fairly and as all weather neutral as possible, just because you have access to acres and acres of

terrain or bays does not mean that you can set common sense aside, and have elaborate and complex

stages and still expect to everything to run smoothly and on time. Stages need to be set up around an

idea or design and then built into a final stage. Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance, do not

throw targets into an area or bay with no idea or sketch to work from and then produce a stage

description from that, that is lazy and shows a lack of respect for your paid competitors, they will

notice. Target placement, shooters pathways, and shooting positions need to be considered doable and

fair in all weather conditions or be prepared to throw out stages due to lack of fairness and consistency.

Hiking in 4 miles around a mountain, canyon or creek to put up a target on a hillside may sound cool, but

getting back to that target to replace , repair, paint, or other reason is foolish and time consuming. On

the subject of painting targets, a good match with good stages, RO’s and MD/RM will as a MINIMUM,

paint all steel targets for every squad, and no shoot steel shotgun targets should be painted whenever

they are hit. This is easily accomplished by locating your steel in areas that are easy to get to (where

have I heard that before) and by utilizing any mode of transportation you can get, ATV’s, golf carts,

cars, trucks, bikes, horses, whatever………..or by positioning someone safely downrange and

coordinating their movement by radio. I have not been to a 3 gun/ multigun match that did not have at

least one of these options available and yet rarely is it ever done. I was told that a certain MD/RM was

suddenly and regrettably placed in a position to experience firsthand how humiliating it can be to be

shooting a match with iron sights and not be able to see the long range targets, hopefully the

experience will enlighten them to its importance. It is one thing to know where your target is, it is

another to be able to see it. Another aspect that seems to be uniquely 3 gun, is the use of more and

more prop guns. I think I get the general idea, sponsors want their toys introduced to shooters, or

a MD/RM wants to add an “exotic flair” to a stage. Somewhere back there I said, a good stage is

designed to be simple. Having a prop gun in a stage instantly makes a simple stage a prospect for being

thrown out. If the prop is from a match sponsor, then asking a competitor to shoot it and enjoy and

appreciate it on the clock is ridiculous, also asking the competitor to be gentle with it while on the clock,

is ridiculous, if you want to showcase a prop gun at a stage, do it off the clock and allot time for the

demoing of the gun. If you as a MD are not willing to do that then why should the competitor care for

your concerns. If you simply want to add an exotic flair to a stage, then do it off the clock and start the

stage when the competitor is finished ogling your exotic flair.

Good Stage descriptions to follow.................thanks

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I can't emphasize shooting in the stages BEFORE anyone shoots for score enough!! You need three shooters who ARE NOT going to shoot the match. One very good, one average and one fairly new. This will not only show you the problems of the stage but it will also show you what turn around tiime is expected. This is crucial to stage flow. It is extreemly unrealistic to have the R.O.s shoot all the stages the day before FOR SCORE and expect them to either finish in one day, or not run into problems that need to be addressed and then have the re-shoots. At one match we attended the R.O.s were chided that they never got done on timie "because we spent too much time chatting and goofing off" and yet the first two stages needed to have major changes on them which cost almost an hour each to fix let alone re-shoot and then continue on! If they had been Pre-shot these problems would have been apparent and fixed before the first round for score was fired.

Also the stages should be pre-shot in early morning as well as late afternoon, that way you will find out about sun induced "invisible targets", or at the very least have the M.D. and R.M. look at the stages durring those times! ONE BIG PLUS!! is to have the average shooter shoot the stages with IRON SIGHTS to find out about target presentation! Kurt& Trapr

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I would like to post my resume for such a position, Keurtt.

I am an average shooter, I shoot iron sights, I will shoot for no score.

Feed me and my rifle, pay my travel, say nice things about me when I leave. No additional compensation required.

Now booking for the remaining '10 season.

:roflol:

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On a serious note, what do you think using only one good shooter for the shoot-thru and setting a par time of 1/2 the max time? I've seen this used a couple times and although not as good as your system, it seemed to work ok.

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