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First IPSC impressions


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I attended my first ever IPSC shoot today. Brings to mind the message that Brian posted the pet hate section of this board. I understand why. Lots of people, all dressed like each other, all wearing variations of the same kind of equipment, all shooting at targets that are very close, throwing up vast clouds of dust and sand from the amount of roundage and the sheer adrenaline pumping around, not to mention other hormones.

It's fun. I do like it, and I will become a competitor and join in to support the sport.

Maybe if someone invented self-resetting targets then the organizers would put them further away? I noticed that the closer you set the targets, the easier it was to reset them, and the more people could be clubbed together on the same stage. Or am I seeing this wrong? The UIT/ISSF sports have electronic, self-resetting targets, and they're not even sponsored by anybody...

So maybe if those targets were used, then they could be 50 yards away as well as 5, and then maybe all that fancy equipment could be put to good use??

Again, I'm a total newbie, and so I probably have this all wrong, but I saw people letting off twice the number of rounds required actually to shoot the stage properly, and do that consistantly.

(Hmm. Maybe that's the purist side of me speaking. Guess I'm going to have to get into it and see things from another perspective...)

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Chris,

There is an automatic re-set target out there.  It has two problems, one procedural and one economic.  Economics:  It costs $800 per target.  My club spends a grand on new cardboard and replacement steel a year.  One re-setting target would shred the budget.

The second problem is the plate can't be adjusted to calibrate according to the rules.  It uses a vibration sensor and drops to a hit of any kind.  If it could be calibrated, and was affordable, my club would have one or two for 50 yard popper shots.  We're cruel, and don't particularly like paster-blasting stages.

Patrick

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Following in Chris' footsteps, I attended my first IPSC match today.  The longest shot in the match was maybe 15-20 yards.  I didn't find the actual shooting to be a great challenge; missed one round on one target in the whole match, shot a coule of d's and a few c's.  What I found difficult though was just trying to remember what to do next ---- I guess I found the quantity of targets on each course somewhat overwhelming.  

That having been said, I'll be sure to return next month.  And considering how much I learned today ---- and how much labor is involved in planning for and setting up a match ---- maybe I'll be ready to design a stage in a few months.  Maybe even a stage with some difficult precision shots ----- to slow down the hosemasters.  (Besides, that might be the only way I'll ever place high in the standings.....if I design a stage that plays to my strengths...... yes that was tongue in cheek!)

Bottom line was the same for this match as for the bulk of IDPA  or GSSF matches I've shot: I was happy with my accuracy, thought that I should be capable of shooting the courses faster, and I had a great deal od FUN!

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Wow, only 1 miss and a few Cs and Ds is a great first match. You are obviously an accurate shooter, so you've got somewhat of a head start on a lot of the other new shooters.

But I predict frustration in your near future! You're gonna wonder why your best stages are shot at half the speed of the winners. You're gonna try to speed up and end up with multiple misses on a single stage and/or shoot many more Cs and Ds. Been there, done that. But that's what it's all about, improving your skills and shooting ability.

There's no sense in trying to out-design the best shooters, who will do what they have to do to win stages. I think you'll find precision shots don't slow them down very much.

But by all means, get in touch with the club and offer to help build stages. It's always the same people putting on matches and they are burned out. They'll welcome new blood. You'll probably want a few more matches under your belt before you design a stage. You need to know how to keep the shots in the berm, how to avoid shoot-throughs, and how to avoid shooter traps and RO traps. When you help build a stage, ask about these things.

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  • 5 months later...

I got to watch my first IPSC match last month.  I was allowed to shoot some of the stages at a night practice the day before.  I can't wait to participate!  A whole new world has opened up.  It is a lot different than the GSSF Matches.  The RO's said I did really good on the stages, I think they were just trying to keep me interested though.

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Hi Chris,

Hope all is well with you and yours (and that brand new baby..).

I have seen you shoot and you are far from a BEginner...

I plan on shooting my 1st IPSC match in 2002 and am having a ball shooting steel...

(steel is pretty hard and I AM a BEginner...).

How is that Burkett video project going???

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We had our 3-gun match yesterday, and one of the handgun RO's designed a stage like in the old days:

Two shooting positions, start seated at a table with the gun on the table.  Once you sat down, but before you loaded, the RO would go uprange on the second target set and hang a purse around the neck of one of the targets.  That was the no-shoot.  You didn't see it until you'd shot the first batch and left the table.

Reminds me of how we did similar things a long time ago.  We once set up a stage where each target array had three targets, each with a painted band on the bottom, red white or blue.  (And not always red-white-blue in the array)  At the start table, the RO would pull a poker chip out of his pocket and place it under the can.  You would then step forward, load and make ready.  On the buzzer, lift the can (strong hand)and then engage ONLY the targets of that color.  For you, the other colors were no-shoots.

We also did the same thing with playing cards and four targets per array.  The RO would press a card into your strong hand before the start but after you loaded, and you couldn't look at it until the buzzer went off.  Then shoot only the diamonds or hearts, etc.

I'll have to remind the course designers about that.

(Edited by Patrick Sweeney at 8:57 am on Nov. 12, 2001)

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  • 22 years later...

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