Florida Open 2013

[fayetteflash]

Time to chime in...

First and foremost, thanks to all who worked so hard to pull off the match and recruit such a talented field of shooters. It's good to have all the gun porn under the vendor tent and see people from all over the world. Ken and I brought our boys and they thought it was an awesome weekend.

Next, as to the difficulty, welcome to the FL Open. It is known to be one of the most challenging matches in the US each year and they delivered again in 2013. If you want to machine-gun stages and look at the targets for holes instead of your front sight, this isn't the match for you. It is an excellent case study in how fast is too fast and can you miss fast enough to still win. Anyone (aka Max) that can shoot this match at full speed and still make their hits will be richly rewarded. Beyond that, you have to figure out how your style will do best in the match and either slow down and make the hits or speed way the heck up. I don't believe all the hits on the tough swingers were pure luck. Some were, but many were strategically handled and well executed. This is a technical match. Each stage, each target and each shot requires thought and respect.

Finally, as to the discussion on this forum. As long as it stays civil and factual, I love the discussion so that people in the future can have more info before making a decision to spend hard-earned money to travel to matches. Most majors consistently deliver on something. Choose wisely!

I'm still working on my video and will post soon...

[lugnut]

I don't know the stage or target in question but from stages I have seen before where a swinger was made to be challenging sometimes its better just to forget it. If its so difficult to hit that 90% of the shooters took penalties, it has become an "option" target. If nobody is scoring full points on it then it really doesn't matter if you do or not. Activate it, engage it and leave. You hit factor will probably be way higher not worrying about it then if you hang around trying to get your hits. Minimize the time spent in that position. I have literally seen stages where your HF is way higher by just firing one or two at it and moving on then seriously trying to hit it.

Might be true- but some of the more challenging swingers had two targets on them. 4 misses is devastating even if the HFs were high.

On the cannon ball stage I took 2 extra shots/target. It was a gamble to take that much time... I was about 9 secs off Sevigny's time. But it was one of my better stages (took 5th on that one) because I got all my hits on the swingers. 3 hits/target.

Edited February 18, 2013 by lugnut

[38supPat]

Like I said I didn't see these particular stages, but there was one at Area 7 a couple of years ago where a swinger appeared very briefly between two steel no shoots. The gap was barely an a zone wide between them. Todd Jarrett walked up, pulled out a stop watch and quickly figured out that you were best to just fire two quick shots through the gap as the target went by, you'd likely hit one of the shots but not the other. If you waited for the target to come back, even if you made up the miss with an A, your hit factor would be lower than just taking the miss.

Fwiw in this case no GM's in pretty much any division on the stage. 1st and second usually went to A and B shooters, lots of top shooters like Travis (IIRC) zero'd it. It was pure luck to get two A's. I was third in open because I took another route and just shot two D's since because the tapered bottom of the steel no shoots presented that portion of the target for a lot longer.

[Trent1k1]

I'm so new to this sport, that never even crossed my mind. Great point though!

[Matt P.]

I can say for me on stage two, the hit factor was low enough that eating a miss or two was not an option. Mike I said before, I took a different route and it worked out well for me. There were choices on that stage. You just had to think about a viable different plan.

The swinger was so slow by the time I got to it, that I could seenthe zones. I can't imagine anyone walking up to a 5 hit factor stage and think that a miss or two would be worth it.

[facelessman]

Matt, quite frankly, that's exactly how I walked up to that stage. What I saw other people do, and did NOT want to do myself, was stand there for several passes of the swinger and still not be sure of hitting it or not. All while the time is passing by. I chose a way to shoot it, which was 4 best I could aim shots on two passes and GTFO. I did eat a miss, and accepted that as a possibility ahead of time. I was 3rd on the stage and 91% of the stage winner who also ate a miss.

One of my squad mates stayed for an extra pass of the swinger and connected on 4 of the shots. He was 2nd and a point or two ahead of me. So it was almost a wash.

Then again, we shot production so maybe it's different without a dot lol. Either way, I loved the stage.

Edited February 18, 2013 by facelessman

[latech15]

Here is my video. Like everybody else said, it was a very technical match and had to be shot that way. I went into this match knowing that I would have to slow down. I have developed a tendency to go too fast and lose too many points. Leading up to this match, I had been practicing getting all a's and it really paid off here. I was one of a small handful who shot the match completely clean, no mikes, no no-shoots, and only 4 deltas for the entire match. Ended up 2nd master by .71%.

My thanks to all who put the match on and attended. BTW - I don't think I have ever shot with a harder working squad than ours. You had to get downrange quickly if you were going to have a target to paste. I think we only had one reshoot as well. Good job, guys.

[38supPat]

I can say for me on stage two, the hit factor was low enough that eating a miss or two was not an option. Mike I said before, I took a different route and it worked out well for me. There were choices on that stage. You just had to think about a viable different plan.

The swinger was so slow by the time I got to it, that I could seenthe zones. I can't imagine anyone walking up to a 5 hit factor stage and think that a miss or two would be worth it.

How did you place on that stage?

[Matt P.]

I can say for me on stage two, the hit factor was low enough that eating a miss or two was not an option. Mike I said before, I took a different route and it worked out well for me. There were choices on that stage. You just had to think about a viable different plan.

The swinger was so slow by the time I got to it, that I could seenthe zones. I can't imagine anyone walking up to a 5 hit factor stage and think that a miss or two would be worth it.

How did you place on that stage?

I placed 10th on the stage but my reason for taking 5 papers targets first was because I was banking on my competition to make mistakes and I wanted the points because I felt like I could get ahead of my competition on that stage.

[fayetteflash]

Here's a little more video...

[a matt]

Congrats on the win Randy!

[lugnut]

Matt, quite frankly, that's exactly how I walked up to that stage. What I saw other people do, and did NOT want to do myself, was stand there for several passes of the swinger and still not be sure of hitting it or not. All while the time is passing by. I chose a way to shoot it, which was 4 best I could aim shots on two passes and GTFO. I did eat a miss, and accepted that as a possibility ahead of time. I was 3rd on the stage and 91% of the stage winner who also ate a miss.

One of my squad mates stayed for an extra pass of the swinger and connected on 4 of the shots. He was 2nd and a point or two ahead of me. So it was almost a wash.

Then again, we shot production so maybe it's different without a dot lol. Either way, I loved the stage.

I placed 5th on that stage. I gambled and took extra shots on those swingers. It seemed like I was at the cannon for eternity but I didn't want misses on that swinger. I saw people with a LOT of misses on that stage. Once miss would be one thing. But 2 or more would be devastating. My times were much slower than BOTH of you guys but I got good points. If I could do it over again in this match I'd likely do the same thing.... at least at my current level. fwiw.

[Matt P.]

I placed 5th on that stage. I gambled and took extra shots on those swingers. It seemed like I was at the cannon for eternity but I didn't want misses on that swinger. I saw people with a LOT of misses on that stage. Once miss would be one thing. But 2 or more would be devastating. My times were much slower than BOTH of you guys but I got good points. If I could do it over again in this match I'd likely do the same thing.... at least at my current level. fwiw.

That's why I love this sport. Choices.

[lugnut]

I placed 5th on that stage. I gambled and took extra shots on those swingers. It seemed like I was at the cannon for eternity but I didn't want misses on that swinger. I saw people with a LOT of misses on that stage. Once miss would be one thing. But 2 or more would be devastating. My times were much slower than BOTH of you guys but I got good points. If I could do it over again in this match I'd likely do the same thing.... at least at my current level. fwiw.

That's why I love this sport. Choices.

+1 And we are always trying to find ways to be better... which allows us to try more different things!

[mikeg1005]

Here's a little more video...

Wow... this match looks like an absolute riot shooting SS. Might seriously consider trying it next year.

[fayetteflash]

Wow... this match looks like an absolute riot shooting SS. Might seriously consider trying it next year.

totally. makes it very interesting when every shot counts. really fun match in SS.

[fayetteflash]

Congrats on the win Randy!

thanks, man. we had a great time. good to see you and david. time to get ready for AL and A6. with Sevigny in the field of SS, that should change the outcome!

[a matt]

Ah, you can handle him. Lol, We had a chance to chat with Dave and Brook with Todd in the motel. Good folks, great shooters.

See you in Alabama.

[SmittyFL]

I'd like to thank everyone for their support of the Florida Open and Universal Shooting Academy. We appreciate all the shooters, sponsors, staff, vendors and spectators that came out this year for the 15th Annual FL Open.

Personally I welcome all comments good and bad about the match, stages, staff, whatever. My job here is to run matches and the only way I get better is to take in all the info, analyze, and make changes.

As to the difficulty of the match, that's our signature. This is a championship caliber match with championship caliber competitors put on by champion shooters. If you come to the FL Open, I promise you will be challenged. That said I thought this year was a bit more reasonable. Good mix of speed stages and accuracy stages. Big round counts is also a signature, while not necessarily my personal favorite it is a crowd pleaser and not likely to change.

I didn't feel the swingers were unreasonable or gimicky. With the exception of the upper one on stage two, that was a bitch. I took 3 aimed shots and missed them all. In fact I had a class Monday and we shot the hell out of it.....I still never hit it twice with only two shots. However that target was about one half of one percent of the match points so I doubt it cost anyone the match. Plus there were many, many folks that hit it. Yeah, the rest of the swingers had no shoots on them, we thought it would be interesting to have folks aim at moving targets rather than hose at them. I think it worked out well.

We gave away 70 guns, about 3K in cash (not positive on that amount), plus a ton of plaques. Hope everyone had a good match and we hope to see you back next year!!

[lugnut]

70 guns??? Wow. Great work!

[Leftylivesmatter]

I'd like to thank everyone for their support of the Florida Open and Universal Shooting Academy. We appreciate all the shooters, sponsors, staff, vendors and spectators that came out this year for the 15th Annual FL Open.

Personally I welcome all comments good and bad about the match, stages, staff, whatever. My job here is to run matches and the only way I get better is to take in all the info, analyze, and make changes.

As to the difficulty of the match, that's our signature. This is a championship caliber match with championship caliber competitors put on by champion shooters. If you come to the FL Open, I promise you will be challenged. That said I thought this year was a bit more reasonable. Good mix of speed stages and accuracy stages. Big round counts is also a signature, while not necessarily my personal favorite it is a crowd pleaser and not likely to change.

I didn't feel the swingers were unreasonable or gimicky. With the exception of the upper one on stage two, that was a bitch. I took 3 aimed shots and missed them all. In fact I had a class Monday and we shot the hell out of it.....I still never hit it twice with only two shots. However that target was about one half of one percent of the match points so I doubt it cost anyone the match. Plus there were many, many folks that hit it. Yeah, the rest of the swingers had no shoots on them, we thought it would be interesting to have folks aim at moving targets rather than hose at them. I think it worked out well.

We gave away 70 guns, about 3K in cash (not positive on that amount), plus a ton of plaques. Hope everyone had a good match and we hope to see you back next year!!

+1 I agree that this year was not as difficult as in the past, dispite my 4 mikes on the stage 2 swinger (long swingers are now on my practice list). We had a great squad and everyone worked hard. Still the best match of the year. Great match Smitty and crew!!!

[a matt]

Well said Shannon, I 100% agree!

A big thanks to Frank, Shannon, Manny, USA and all stat folks that worked hard on that end, thanks to all the ROs CROs and all who busted it putting up the great stages and another big thank you to all my new shooting friends on squad 30. Great Job. Always one of the best matches of the year! See you next time!!

Edited February 19, 2013 by a matt

[Recon'sHide]

Hey anybody know how they awarded shooters...apparently 70 guns given away!!!!!!!!! I did not see any info on the prizes and how they were given out other than the obvious top class guys/gals prob won a gun.

Great match, my first...had a great squad too everyone worked hard. The swingers were good to me and I was surprised pleasantly so.

Thanks to all you guys and gals who worked the match and put it all together so we could have a blast...and that we did, I'm just sorry it is over!

Now to Area 6!

Edited February 20, 2013 by Recon'sHide

[Recon'sHide]

Stage 2 had only had 16 shooters out of 127 in limited come away without a penalty.

Getting your hit on that swinger wa luck, no skill.

Stage had only had 23 shooters out of 127 in limited come away without a penalty.

The Limited match winner shot 84% of the points.

You are flat WRONG. if you drop the cannon (bowling) ball shoot the rest or the stage quick enough then return to shoot the swinger in would almost be motionless. No luck at all you just have to make 4 thirty yd. shots and don't hit the no shoots. = skill not luck & thinking, not giving up. Thanks

Allan, how did you shoot the stage??? I dropped the cannon and shot the 5 paper in front and then shot the swingers and hauled ass for the rest of the targets...I guess I got lucky on the stage, got all my hits...no skill???NADA.

[a matt]

Same when they showed you how the swingers worked in the walk tru. I found a leaf that I marked and trapped the swingers I did take me a couple swings to get 3 outta 4. I was cool with that..