How Many Stages At Your Local Match?

[ipscron2000]

I've been shooting USPSA for about 3 years in my local area and 6 stages seems to be the norm. If I go to another club and encounter 5 or 4 stages I feel cheated. My gunsmith said in the early days he and a friend would travel 3 hours to shoot 2. There is no way I would now. But I guess back then it was the only game in town and he didn't know any different.

Do you think more people would come if you had more or less stages? More or less round count?

Let me know what your local club is doing.

[ipscron2000]

I forgot to tell our round count. Usually 125-150, and 6 stages.

[Dead Buff]

Normally around 8, sometime more or less. Round count as per IPSC recommendation on 3:2:1 principal short:medium:long CoFs gets roughly to 120-140.

[HQBrass]

I shoot the Steve Anderson/Flexmoney matches. I voted 4 but there have been as many as 6 I think. The round counts are around 100 rounds +/- 30. Steve likes high round counts and field courses, which I think is sweet. Steve’s courses really make you think and test your skills. I would like more stages but the club facilities sometimes don’t allow for more stages because of weather conditions, i.e. mud. My personal opinion is if I’m going to drive for nearly an hour, I would like to put at least 100 rounds down range.

[markm]

We have four or five depending on the range. Round count is 80 - 100. We also always have a classifier so that keeps the round count down some.

[MikeFoley]

I voted 6, we are a monthly USPSA match, and we shoot 3Gun, so 4 stages of pistol, 1 rifle, and 1 shotgun. We did a multigun shotgun/pistol last month, and we have done multigun before, but those are scored as rifle or shotgun courses to avoid the major/minor issue. I drive to several othe clubs who run 4-6 stages every month, and that seems to be the norm.

[Shepard]

In Tallahassee we have 6 pistol and then 2-3 rifle or shotgun each month. We are fortunate to have Superman as our MD.

[sargenv]

One of the clubs I shoot at has 5 bays and usually has 5 stages. However sometimes there are classes on one of the bays, so that cuts us down to 4 bays. However when this happens, we adapt one of the larger bays to 2 smaller stages so that we still have 5. Round count there is generally 120-150. We always have a classifier. You shoot with only 1 gun unless there is a special classifier.

The other club I shoot at only has 3 bays and usually has anywhere from 4-6 stages, splitting up one bay into two courses of fire. Round count there is about the same, 120-150 rounds. That club allows more than one gun to be used in a day.

Vince

[shred]

people get kinda grumpy if the local 4 or 5 stage matches go much over 100 rounds.. mostly the people that buy ammo, but it's what everybody expects too.

IMHO, high-round-count matches had better be high-stage-count matches too, with very few exceptions.

[dctag]

Our local club does 2 fun shoots a month with 3 stages each and round count varies from 80 ish to about 120. Everything is scored IDPA but you are allowed any type of handgun and accessories. When we do our official IDPA matches we do anywhere from 3 stages to I think 8 stages. Our fun shoots are indoors and our official matches are outside so the real matches have a whole lot more shooting stations.

-David

[SRT Driver]

We shoot 4 stages until we get more berms up. Round count is usually about 85 with a classifier, and two 18-24 round stages and a long one.

[John Heiter]

We're running five stages and we're in the 120-150 range on round count. Typically three field, 1 speed shoot, and 1 classifier although we have been known to do four field and a classifier. We'd like to be able to run more stages but we are berm limited and up to now have been squeezing those five into three bays which means we run three squads. We've had a good influx of new shooters lately so I'm trying to come up with options to better manage the match. In general, I think people in this area want to do more shooting and spend less time doing it so I'm trying to work out getting another bay so we can run six stages and four squads (3F,2S,1C). Using the five minute per shooter rule, we should be able to run 6 stages and do it 25 minutes faster than we currently shoot 5. It all depends on squad size and the number of squads that can be shooting simultaneously.

IMHO, I like a few low round count straight forward stages but if I want to simply test someone's shooting ability I'll put a single 8" plate at 50 yards and call it a stage. To me, it's more fun to also test the shooter's ability to "solve the puzzle" and often times it takes a few more rounds to make a really interesting puzzle. How a person moves through a stage, which targets they choose to engage and in what order, etc. It's fun to watch and the shooters in this area don't seem to mind the higer (25-30) round count stages. Of course, shooter preferences seem to change depending on the region you come from so to each their own I suppose.

[stingerjg]

up untill this year we only had 2 bays to run our monthly matches. Now we have 4 bays. On average we run 2field, 1short, and 1classifier every month. We also shoot 3-gun on a seperat weekend. Pistol round counts are usually between 75-100. This year we are planning on doing a sectional match of 8-9 stages, but then we have access to the 100 and 600yd range.

[ChuckS]

Norco: 6 Stages every Saturday with a classifier every other match or so. Round count around 150-160. It used to approach 180 or so but stages lately have been a little less hoser. Some of the locals are going to the World Shoot, so stages have gotten very interesting. Last week there was a stage with 3 prone positions. Flenz did a really entertaining reload while rolling to a port. It's nice to be young...

SWPL: 4th Sunday. Usually 6 stages with a classifier, 3 medium and 2 long. The stages are usually very interesting. Taran still wins though.

There are also matches at Piru, Pala and Palm Springs but I don't get to them often. If you are willing to drive, there is a USPSA match on every weekend day except for the Second Sunday in SoCal.

[Dave Marques]

Here in Jersey Old Bridge runs 7 stages at about 150 rnds avg. We like the 20+ rnd field courses. Two other clubs in the Midlantic Section of A8 run 7 stages as well (Topton and York) most others run 5 stages.

Dave M.

OB IPSC Match Director

[Precision40]

Normally we have 5 stages and around 140-150 round count. IDPA is the same except for the round count is around 75-80rds

[Flexmoney]

I shoot the Steve Anderson/Flexmoney matches.  I voted 4 but there have been as many as 6 I think. 

I shoot those same matches and I voted 6.

We only have use of 4 of the bays for the pistol matches (I want to hit the club BOD up for a 5th bay), but Steve usually sticks in a speed shoot or two when he can.

Rayner's Range has been running 6-7 stages. And, they are often Major match quality. Pretty impressive. If you can get to south-east Ohio on the 3rd Sunday, do so (and bring enough ammo to reshoot the match a time or two)

[Jasonub]

normally 4 in the phils, sometimes 5

[MikeyG23]

USPSA: 4-6

IDPA: 3-4 indoor, 6-8 outdoor