Thoughts on this stage

[SteveT-NV]

Being fairly new to 3Gun and SketchUp I'm curious as to anyone's thoughts on this stage. Too silly?

I know that it "violates" the no more than 8 rounds per position rule, but that's kind of the point of the stage.

Note on Position 1 - There is a bay at the local range where the far bank can be climbed which allows access to the long range targets.

Steve

ZombieHorde.pdf

[ClutchUSMC]

Why not have all the paper be engaged with pistol or shotgun or both, and then have shooters use the rifle for the longer targets? Maybe, put some movement in the first part, maybe 2 or 3 hordes of zombies, or even put them on the way to the rifle. Have the competitors then fight their way to the rifle and the long shots. Just my thoughts, but I try to use at least 2 guns on all stages I design. As well as avoid stand and shoot from the box type stages. Give the shooter a problem and let him figure out how to solve it.

Also, don't worry about the 8 shot neutral idea of stage design in multigun. The only time you should really worry about round count is on shotgun stages.

[StealthyBlagga]

1) Watch for shoot through problems on the close targets. For clarity, make them body hard-cover targets by painting the lower A/C/D zones black. Alternatively, use a couple of plate racks as "zombie heads" - pistol/shotgun (birdshot or buckshot) only of course.

2) Run the stage under IMA rules... no worries about making anything round-count neutral. Frankly, I don't see the point in making any stage round-count neutral nowadays, with all the divisions we have - it's the same for everyone - but that is a debate for a different day.

3) Consider making the first shooting box a pistol/shotgun option position. Competitors could have the option of shooting with pistol only, shotgun only (buckshot or slug on paper, birdshot on steel), or even both (with appropriate abandonment options). More freedom to solve the problem = more fun for the competitors. Just make sure the pistol gets left at the start position to prevent a competitor going prone at the berm with a hot holstered pistol.

4) Add a marked shooting area for the rifle to avoid confusion over how folks shoot from the second position.

5) I prefer a low-ready start for safety - why start with the muzzle pointing up in the air? But thats just me.

6) I'm not a big fan of autopopper targets due to the relative difficulty of calling hits. Again, just my personal preference, but then again I am fortunate to have lots of other targets at my disposal.

7) Depending on how many competitors you expect, the berm may start to get chewed up through the day, changing the competitive equity of the stage. For a big match, I'd have steps or a ramp.

Edited February 19, 2012 by StealthyBlagga

[SteveT-NV]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. My reasoning for using the starting box as the first shooting position, as well as grouping the targets in a bunch, was that the competitor would have to be a little cautious about making sure they engaged each target with a head shot and not leave one out, also to make it kind of like a typical "Zombie Flick". But, I can definitely see that using multiple guns, or movement could add interest. I will put together some other options.

I purposely left off adding any hard cover on the paper to make the competitor "think" a little. Is this a "bad" idea?

If I did add the shotgun, what are your thoughts on using the shotgun for head shots? Should I use a plate rack as StealthyBlagga suggested, or would using buck shot work very well for head shots on paper?

Thanks again

Edited February 19, 2012 by SteveT-NV

[SteveT-NV]

Sorry double post

Edited February 19, 2012 by SteveT-NV

[J-Ho]

I'd use birdshot on steel for head shots. Buckshot on paper gets to be a pain to tape. I like the idea of being able to go over your berm. We've done multiple bays before got to go through a berm wall once when a local range was doing some dirt work. As long as it's safe those out of the ordinary things are fun.

[SMSI]

I like this stage. There is nothing wrong (and several things right) with having a straight froward 1 gun stage, especially if it involves both up-close fast rifle and long-range rifle. the only problem i see with this is the shoot-thru problem. Although it may violate some USPSA rule, I would not paint the bodies black to indicate hard cover for the reason you state. The big brown blur is part of the problem to solve.

I am trying to come up with a shoot-thru solution to have a good multiple hostages and terrorists on a bus/train/plane scenario.

[Benelli Chick]

We had a skinny berm for Johnson 3-Gun first year, so we did an airplane stage and ALL HOLES Counted!

Know your target and what's behind it...

You could dip down and get 3 or 4 bad guys at once, but you usually got a no-shoot also!!!! It was a conundrum.

Worse part of the stage is you were shooting down into hard earth, so we had to con some poor RO into basically rototilling the whole area to not have the bullets bounce!

It's always a possibility! Count all the holes, good or bad!!!

Denise

Edited February 19, 2012 by Benelli Chick

[ericm]

.....and that was A GREAT STAGE!!!!

Every hole counted, both shoot targets and no-shoots.

Easily done with IMG rules and written course description...

...some living folks being threatened by the zombie hoard would be a good thinking target array, every hole counts....

ericm

[SMSI]

We had a skinny berm for Johnson 3-Gun first year, so we did an airplane stage and ALL HOLES Counted!

Know your target and what's behind it...

You could dip down and get 3 or 4 bad guys at once, but you usually got a no-shoot also!!!! It was a conundrum.

Worse part of the stage is you were shooting down into hard earth, so we had to con some poor RO into basically rototilling the whole area to not have the bullets bounce!

It's always a possibility! Count all the holes, good or bad!!!

Denise

do you have a diagram - or specific tips - on setting that up? I am lazy ... dont want to re-invent the wheel if someone has one that rolls well. I like the "all holes count" rule.

[Benelli Chick]

Our stage diagram just had 7 rows of 3 on each side of an aisle and 3 across the back.

You started facing up range in a chair with your hands on the yoke of the "plane". On the start signal, you turned and retrieved your pistol from the safe by the door and then entered the cabin through the door (after opening it). We used a lot of baby no-shoots in "arms" and a couple of "baby bad guys".

You had to stay in the aisle and there were some no-shoots to force you to move down a way!

We used regular target stands and did dig up the ground where the "seats" were, so the bullets wouldn't ricochet.

The rows were about 3 ft apart, so if you did shoot them from the aisle from the end of each row you would miss the row behind. We made some taller and shorter, but we crammed them in like sardines like they do on real planes!

The "passengers" started about 5 feet from the doorway.

I think back, and there were only 22 shoot targets, with more than 22 no-shoots! The little baby targets helped with both no shoots and shoot targets!

Stage 6 - All Holes Count - Pistol

22 paper targets

Start position: sitting in pilot’s seat, hands on yoke, pistol in box by door.

Retrieve pistol, proceed through door and shoot them as you see them.

We thought about putting a "foodservice cart" in the aisle that you would have to push along, but that didn't work out so good on the dirt! You ended up knocking off a couple passengers with the cart! So, it didn't show up in the actual match!

Hope that helps! It wasn't perfect, but it was a lot of fun!

Denise

P.S. That was the same year you started the shotgun/pistol stage in the outhouse with your overalls around your ankles and you had to pull them up over one shoulder, grab your shotgun out of the corner and get out of the outhouse before you started shooting bad guys! Oh yeah!!! AND it was the same year, you shot all three guns right shoulder, and left shoulder...rifle through low ports out to 300 yards! It was an evil year!

[MarkCO]

P.S. That was the same year you started the shotgun/pistol stage in the outhouse with your overalls around your ankles and you had to pull them up over one shoulder, grab your shotgun out of the corner and get out of the outhouse before you started shooting bad guys! Oh yeah!!! AND it was the same year, you shot all three guns right shoulder, and left shoulder...rifle through low ports out to 300 yards! It was an evil year!

And the blue, green, white cans (I think Denise took them "out" of the outhouse) stage too! Those sure were fun...

[SMSI]

Our stage diagram just had 7 rows of 3 on each side of an aisle and 3 across the back.

You started facing up range in a chair with your hands on the yoke of the "plane". On the start signal, you turned and retrieved your pistol from the safe by the door and then entered the cabin through the door (after opening it). We used a lot of baby no-shoots in "arms" and a couple of "baby bad guys".

You had to stay in the aisle and there were some no-shoots to force you to move down a way!

We used regular target stands and did dig up the ground where the "seats" were, so the bullets wouldn't ricochet.

The rows were about 3 ft apart, so if you did shoot them from the aisle from the end of each row you would miss the row behind. We made some taller and shorter, but we crammed them in like sardines like they do on real planes!

The "passengers" started about 5 feet from the doorway.

I think back, and there were only 22 shoot targets, with more than 22 no-shoots! The little baby targets helped with both no shoots and shoot targets!

Stage 6 - All Holes Count - Pistol

22 paper targets

Start position: sitting in pilot's seat, hands on yoke, pistol in box by door.

Retrieve pistol, proceed through door and shoot them as you see them.

We thought about putting a "foodservice cart" in the aisle that you would have to push along, but that didn't work out so good on the dirt! You ended up knocking off a couple passengers with the cart! So, it didn't show up in the actual match!

Hope that helps! It wasn't perfect, but it was a lot of fun!

Denise

P.S. That was the same year you started the shotgun/pistol stage in the outhouse with your overalls around your ankles and you had to pull them up over one shoulder, grab your shotgun out of the corner and get out of the outhouse before you started shooting bad guys! Oh yeah!!! AND it was the same year, you shot all three guns right shoulder, and left shoulder...rifle through low ports out to 300 yards! It was an evil year!

Thanks, Denise. Tha sounds like what I was thinking. Great idea on the no-shoot babies. Sounds like a plan.