Start Time

[kimel]

What time does your club start it's monthly local match? Do you vary the start times according to the season? Is there consideration in setting the match time to allow for those that are travelling in? Do you allow late entries after the match starts or do you lock the gate before first shot is fired?

[kevin c]

Our stages get set up the afternoon before the match, so you'd think we'd be able to get rolling earlier than 10. Still, we have last minute debugging by the safety committee, and a walk through of all five stages before hand, so maybe it shouldn't be suprising that we lag after our anounced starting time.

[ipscron2000]

We start at 10. I advertise to people to be there by 9:30. But there is always a straggler showing up 2 til 10. We tried starting at 9 in the hot summer months. There were 2 problems with that. 1. Some forgot and still showed up at 10. 2. For those who drive 3 hours, it might cause them to rethink even showing up.

[Jim Norman]

What IPSCron said.

We advertise 1000, Please show no later than 0930 for sign-up, and 0900 if you;ve never shot IPSC (Something we'd rather you did at our indoor training/practice match first) Set-up starts as early as 0700 and sometimes the afternoon before.

We generally shoot seven stages and during SUmmer, we shoot a rifle sidematch.

Jim Norman

[Patrick Sweeney]

We do setup the day before. Signup is from crew arrival (never later than 8:30) to 9:15. If when the MD shouts out for the shooters meeting, you are not there, you don't shoot. The rule of thumb is, if you can't shout your presence when he calls for the shooters meeting, you can't sign up. Drive in as the meeting happens, and you missed the match.

If we didn't have a hard and fast rule, we'd have guys rolling in late, trying to make up time on a seven-stage match.

Everyone knows the rule, so far no one has complained.

[wide45]

The indoor range we shoot at in Winter has two Bays, usually 2 stages in each.

Sign up in advance by e-mail/phone. 8 man squads. Usually full in March and April. Walk-ons only if spaces are empty.

Bay one gets set up Friday PM for Saturday Match

9:00 squad starts on Bay one, Bay two gets set up.

10:00 squad starts on Bay one, First squad goes to Bay two

11:00 squad starts on Bay one, 10:00 squad goes to Bay two

No 12:00 squad, 11:00 squad goes to Bay two

1:00 start new squad in each Bay

Swap sides around 1:45

Most pitch in for teardown, usually done by 3

[Wildman]

Walk-through starts at 9:00, for 4-5 pistol stages. Long-gun in the afternoon. If we start any later, the long-gun shooters are there till dark. Setup starts at 7:00 am, so the work crews are leaving at 6:00. We have enough out-of-towner’s show up that we haven’t worried about a later start.

[Dead Buff]

It's hot around here - start by 07:30 to 08:00...be done ASAP....

[Brass Rat]

Start times vary by available sun light in the Heartland. From December to February 8 AM, the rest of the year 9 AM. We some times had to refund entry fees for second shoots and multiple divisions due to fading light. after 4 PM during the Midwest winters.

Ian

[George]

I shoot at the same facility as Kevin and I also don't know why we never start on time even with the stages set the day before.

Patrick, you guys are doing what I have always wished we could do, you come late, you don't shoot. Instead, we cater to a crowd that gets to sleep in, arrive when they want and still get stuck into a squad if they get there much before lunch. I have wanted to crack down in the past, but was always over-ruled with the argument that some folks live over an hour away oh my!

The things we will do for a few extra twenty dollar bills ;-)

--

Regards,

[Jim Norman]

We are lucky I guess, virtually all of our shooters manage to make it in time to start as close to on time as we get. We generally manage to get the first shot off by 1020 or so. Not too bad with 50 plus shooters and a match that has the strages generally built in the morning.

The two main impediments to starting on time are:

Vetting the stages. Someone has to walk all the stages and check them for safe angles, operation, shoot throughs, relative bullet proofing of any activators.

Second item is squadding. We squad as people show up. We've asked people to sign up together. We need to see who is really showing up to shoot and then we need to put RO's on every squad, but then we have to balance everything else withthe fact that those of us that work on the match generally like to shoot together.

Jim

[GeorgeInNePa]

It's hot around here - start by 07:30 to 08:00...be done ASAP....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was in Namibia(did a little hunting) in '03, I should have checked to see if there was a match close by. I'm trying to set up a trip for '06, can't bring a handgun, do you have any loaners?

Our local match starts at 10am. If you show up late, the MD will fit you in.

[Chriss Grube]

Or sometimes he doesn't show up at all!

[Carlos]

I did not answer the poll since I run an indoor match at a commercial range on a weeknight; we start at 3 PM & run 6 shooter squads every hour on the hour until the 8 PM "supersquad" of 9 shooters (who are supposed to all stick around for cleanup but a few of who mysteriously "disappear" when done shooting. Thank goodness for those who stay late.). Around here, most outdoor matches begin around 9 AM. Regards,

D.C. Johnson

www.shootersparadise.com

[Sestock]

East Huntington

Set Up

Usually begins on Friday afternoon, completed Saturday morning. Staff Shoots on Saturday in the afternoon to debug stages and maximize help on Sunday.

Sunday

Registration starts at 8:30 AM. We start shooting at 9:00 (a courtesy to the neighbors) and cut off registration at 1:00 PM. Open squading with RO's on every stage. Every shooter has course descriptions on their score sheets. Our average matches are 5 elaborate stages plus a side match. Normal turnout is between 70 - 100+ shooters for a monthly match.

We usually have the match torn down and put away by 3:30-4:00 PM.