Stage Breakdown/Planning

[Ripper10]

As a new shooter (4 matches), I am still struggling with stage breakdown and planning. Long courses really give me problems. I always lose a target along the way. The misses and FTEs add up very quickly.

During the walk through, I try to make mental notes of how many and where, but it gets a little overwhelming at times. I usually do a decent job of planning reloads (when moving) but have run the gun dry a few times.

I have tried to visualize the COF, but I get lost. The folks that can do that amaze me. 5 minutes is not enough time for me.

I usually try to get a solid count of paper and steel targets and shoot them as I see them, if I can see them. The targets that are hidden by cover may get forgotten.

Any help (reading materials, drills, etc) would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

[RangerTrace]

As a new shooter (4 matches), I am still struggling with stage breakdown and planning. Long courses really give me problems. I always lose a target along the way. The misses and FTEs add up very quickly.

During the walk through, I try to make mental notes of how many and where, but it gets a little overwhelming at times. I usually do a decent job of planning reloads (when moving) but have run the gun dry a few times.

I have tried to visualize the COF, but I get lost. The folks that can do that amaze me. 5 minutes is not enough time for me.

I usually try to get a solid count of paper and steel targets and shoot them as I see them, if I can see them. The targets that are hidden by cover may get forgotten.

Any help (reading materials, drills, etc) would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Paul

5 minutes still isn't enough for me either (on complicated stages) and I've been enjoying this Sport since 2008. You will continue to improve as you gain experience. Anxiety hurts your ability to memorize the stage. However, you must be able to shoot the entire stage from your memory. So, first determine where you have to make your reload(s), then memorize each array. Then put the arrays and reloads together. Walk the stage a few more times then go off to yourself and run it from your memory. You're not ready to shoot the stage until you can see/shoot every target in your memory.

Try to practice this in your dry/live fire practice too. It will make it easier on match day.

Keep up the good work and remember this is a game!! Have fun!

Trace

Edited June 26, 2012 by SV-COP

[h4444]

What are you shooting?? Depending on what division you're shooting and what your capacity is of course will change things a bit. But, basically, I make sure first I know where all the targets are at. And when I plan/shoot, I'm not counting as I'm shooting. When I was a new I tried to keep count of the shots as I was going and that would get me in trouble quick because I'm trying to focus on too many things at once,,,,got math going on with the count, hide and seek targets, a front sight to keep track off, a muzzle to keep pointed down range,,,,,all kinds of stuff. If I could eliminate things to think about, I could think and see other things going on in the course of fire much better.

I plan around a target at which I make my reload and since I've been shooting L10 and Production and the courses of fire are 8 round neutral and I try to take advantage of that. I know I'm going to make reloads somewhere around the 8th between starts and mag changes in what is generally going to be the most efficient approach to most stages (note: that isn't always the case).

Now there may be exceptions where I'll do a reload on say the 6th round in a 16 round course of fire when I know that the last 10 are shots that I won't need to take any make ups on, but that is going to depend on the course of fire.

But, I often plan around that 8 round neutral concept and I find what target that shot occurs on and that's where I make my reloads, then I don't let round count factor in again meaning I'm not counting/shooting at the same time. Since I've got 11 in the pistol at the start, I've got to throw at least 3 make ups before I get in trouble with standing reloads. I generally try to plan around groups of 8, but if there is a way I can safely take 10 and there is a good place to reload, I'll do it.

But in the end, the courses of fire generally will not force you to take more than 8 shots from a given position. As shooters, we can take advantage of this fact and simplify our game plans. So, you can look for 8 round neutrality and if you don't see it up front, then start looking at ways to minimize risk of standing reloads/slide lock.

Also, talk to your friends you're shooting with. At club matches, I bet you've got some great people/resources at your disposal to help you learn how to plan stages. It is a skill that you'll develop just like everything else in this game. It takes a little while, but in the end, it is just like all the other aspects of practical shooting, simplify, eliminate wasted motion, and shoot A's.

Lastly, if your shooting revolver,,,,,forget everything I said, and I'm sorry for wasting your time. LOL.......

[DerrickJ]

When I first started shooting this sport in college, I felt like things were going so fast. I had the sensation of tunnel vision going into a lot of the field courses. I found that I was really pressing, and trying to drive in the fast lane a little too quickly. I was getting so frustrated with having the same issues, and finally sought out some advice from more seasoned shooters. The main thing I took away was to slow down and not get stuck on a specific array of targets and neglect something in the process.

I was focusing so intensely on a part of the stage that I would let a lot of it go by, and either I would notice when it was too late (and have to either back track or risk breaking 180), or miss it all together. My advice would be to walk or slowly jog while moving from position to position for a bit and let your mind adapt to learning the best way to digest the stages. It is like anything new, you have to take those baby steps to teach your mind what you what it to do.

Good luck!

[Corey]

If 5 minutes isnt enough, get there early to walk them before things start up. Some of our local matches can get technical and they love long stages, so I like to get there about 30-45 minutes registration opens up to walk each stage and get a rough idea of what I want to do. Then I can take the regular 5 minutes to fine tune things.

[Poppa Bear]

Break the long stages into 3 or 4 shorter ones. By this I mean each array between reloads is its own stage. Start here and engage T1-T4, reload as you move to the next stage where you engage T1-T3 (actually T5-T8), reload as you move to the next stage.....as each stage is completed forget about it and move on. It is much easier to remember these short stages rather than the one long stage.

[dkwatch]

For me even I broke down the stage perfectly, there have been a few times screw ups(misses, firearm malfunction, magazine drop, not enough rounds in the magazine, etc) mess up my original plan. There is one time I missed a steel and somehow costs me the whole array.

That is part of the fun of the sport, I guess.

[Ripper10]

Thanks for your thoughts guys, I will use many of your suggestions and see what works best.

I will try to make better use of the 5 minutes.

Thanks again.

Paul

[Shadow1]

If 5 minutes isnt enough, get there early to walk them before things start up. Some of our local matches can get technical and they love long stages, so I like to get there about 30-45 minutes registration opens up to walk each stage and get a rough idea of what I want to do. Then I can take the regular 5 minutes to fine tune things.

Ditto here, I'm still new to this sport but I've found that showing up early and walking the course without all the other shooters allows me to concentrate more on what I'm seeing and hopefullly putting more to memory. Then when I get up to the stage, I do my 5 minute refresher.

[Mark Cotton]

If 5 minutes isnt enough, get there early to walk them before things start up. Some of our local matches can get technical and they love long stages, so I like to get there about 30-45 minutes registration opens up to walk each stage and get a rough idea of what I want to do. Then I can take the regular 5 minutes to fine tune things.

Ditto here, I'm still new to this sport but I've found that showing up early and walking the course without all the other shooters allows me to concentrate more on what I'm seeing and hopefullly putting more to memory. Then when I get up to the stage, I do my 5 minute refresher.

I am still new but I found that video of my shooting has been very helpful in learning where I went wrong. On one stage I engaged the same target twice because it was visible for two locations and I counted it twice in my walk-through. Another time I started shooting an array far to near, reloaded, and went back to shooting near to far and somehow forgot the second target Hopefully I'll get better at planning and when I look at my video I won't find such obvious errors. Until then have fun and try different things.

[Bunchies95]

If 5 minutes isnt enough, get there early to walk them before things start up. Some of our local matches can get technical and they love long stages, so I like to get there about 30-45 minutes registration opens up to walk each stage and get a rough idea of what I want to do. Then I can take the regular 5 minutes to fine tune things.

Break the long stages into 3 or 4 shorter ones. By this I mean each array between reloads is its own stage. Start here and engage T1-T4, reload as you move to the next stage where you engage T1-T3 (actually T5-T8), reload as you move to the next stage.....as each stage is completed forget about it and move on. It is much easier to remember these short stages rather than the one long stage.

These are probably the two best pieces of advice I think anyone can give on this matter.

Other things that may be beneficial is to help set-up if at all possible. You will learn a lot about stage design when you help put a course of fire on the ground. Plus you get the hour or so just setting up the stage to get familiar with the target location. Also, since you are pretty new, most people will not object to you shooting near the end of the squad list. Take this time to go out and paste targets; if you paste in different areas, you will find any targets that you may have missed.

When I start my walk through, I first look at the round/target count and find every target. If you do this before even breaking the stage down into sections, chances are you won't miss a target.

[bikerburgess]

Break the long stages into 3 or 4 shorter ones. By this I mean each array between reloads is its own stage. Start here and engage T1-T4, reload as you move to the next stage where you engage T1-T3 (actually T5-T8), reload as you move to the next stage.....as each stage is completed forget about it and move on. It is much easier to remember these short stages rather than the one long stage.

Similar to this I try to find all the targets in the course of fire and break it down into locations I can see them from then I plan to go to these locations and shoot what I see from there.

Mike

[Coach]

I second the advice to arrive early to the match and break the stages down ahead of time. This allows the five minutes to be for fine tuning as mentioned above. Plus you have more time to pick out your plan, and look for ways to improve you score with your plan. A good field course will have options and your plan should be decided upon based on what you can do and do well. An average plan executed well will be a great plan executed in an average fashion.

If you cannot figure a complex stage out try this. From the start figure out your first position or two, and then work backwards to that point. If you are getting lost in the middle somewhere this usually fixed the problem for me. Decide on a plan early and then just stay with it. Don't change your plan after the shooting starts as this almost always does not work out.

Plan everything into your plan: Positions, when to reload, order or engagement,cahnging of speeds on targets or in different arrays.

[Poppa Bear]

An additional hint for stage planning if the stage is a memory stage where some targets are available from 3 locations and some just from one. Go behind each target and look at the available locations to engage it from. Sometimes you find locations you did not consider when you first looked at it. It is not unusual for a target to be placed lower than normal or have some form of hardcover painted onto it. This gives you a visual reference for the targets around it.