How many ranges have the facilities to host Nationals

[ima45dv8]

South River Gun Club just ESE of Atlanta certainly has the proper facilities, access to food, lodging, air transportation, etc. to host a Nationals, and was in negotiations to do so about 7-8 years ago. The deal came off the rails due to demands from the host club that didn't fit with USPSA's model. 

 

As for props, SR was told a truck with the necessary props would be delivered for the event (I got to read the email exchanges of the negotiations). 

[shred]

On 10/11/2019 at 2:13 PM, Dutchman195 said:

I hate the fact we have 17 different nationals now. 1 match, same stages, pick your division. Also, Not that I'm tired of Florida, Can somewhere else host them? Would like to attempt to travel elsewhere. As Rowdy said....its probably a money thing. 

I'm a huge fan of one big match, pick a division and shoot it.  I shot the European Handgun Championships which run like that.  They had 1000+ shooters shooting half-days 4 out of 5 days, all the divisions on the same stages.

 

I suspect there may be pressure from sponsors and shooters to get more than one bite at the apple for 'their guy', plus in the US it seems like there's a lot of shooters that shoot multiple Nationals per year for whatever reason.  Those entries obviously drop to one at a combined nats and maybe then the US numbers don't look so good unless others step in.

 

[JonathanH]

I think Talladega only has 15 action pistol bays at their facility, granted many of the bays are large enough to put two stages in a single bay. I shot the IDPA Nationals there last year and they had 18 stages in 10 bays. 

[OPENB]

We’ve all shot 2 stages in 1 bay, and I think it sucks. No matter how it’s ran, it’s slow and annoying. Open Nats had 6 stages in 3 bays, one on each day. I’d rather they had a medium course in those bays, and just reduce the stage count. 

[Racinready300ex]

28 minutes ago, OPENB said:

We’ve all shot 2 stages in 1 bay, and I think it sucks. No matter how it’s ran, it’s slow and annoying. Open Nats had 6 stages in 3 bays, one on each day. I’d rather they had a medium course in those bays, and just reduce the stage count. 

 

I think short course have there place, but you need to slow them down to keep the match flow consistent. One way is double up stages in a bay if there is room. I don't have a problem with this.

[MikeBurgess]

2 hours ago, OPENB said:

We’ve all shot 2 stages in 1 bay, and I think it sucks. No matter how it’s ran, it’s slow and annoying. Open Nats had 6 stages in 3 bays, one on each day. I’d rather they had a medium course in those bays, and just reduce the stage count. 

I shot that match in 2 divisions and the double stages were never a backup for us, I think they did a very good job balancing the stage times at that match.

 

 

[motosapiens]

2 hours ago, Racinready300ex said:

 

I think short course have there place, but you need to slow them down to keep the match flow consistent. One way is double up stages in a bay if there is room. I don't have a problem with this.

it doesn't bother me to finish a stage 5 mins early and grab a snack and clean/load magazines in a leisurely manner while watching the last few guys on the previous squad shoot our next stage.

[Racinready300ex]

5 hours ago, motosapiens said:

it doesn't bother me to finish a stage 5 mins early and grab a snack and clean/load magazines in a leisurely manner while watching the last few guys on the previous squad shoot our next stage.

 

No, that's reasonable. But when you get done in half the time of the squad ahead of you and then start to create a back up it causes problems. I've seen doubled up stages used to slow down a bay, or add a bunch of hard cover and activators to the short course to slow down the reset. Then if the next stage is a 32 round field course with all open targets so it's really fast and you can balance out the match.

 

But, I like short courses. I don't think matches need to be all 28-32 rounds just because we can. I'd like to see a mix of short, medium and long courses. But, I'm probably just weird.

[MikeBurgess]

On 10/15/2019 at 1:46 PM, Racinready300ex said:

 

No, that's reasonable. But when you get done in half the time of the squad ahead of you and then start to create a back up it causes problems. I've seen doubled up stages used to slow down a bay, or add a bunch of hard cover and activators to the short course to slow down the reset. Then if the next stage is a 32 round field course with all open targets so it's really fast and you can balance out the match.

 

But, I like short courses. I don't think matches need to be all 28-32 rounds just because we can. I'd like to see a mix of short, medium and long courses. But, I'm probably just weird.

I don't think your weird at all.

My experience is the higher level the shooter and or the longer they have been in the game the more they appreciate short and medium courses. 

[motosapiens]

17 hours ago, MikeBurgess said:

I don't think your weird at all.

My experience is the higher level the shooter and or the longer they have been in the game the more they appreciate short and medium courses. 

 

darn. I must be a low-skilled newbie. or i just like running around and shooting alot.

[MikeBurgess]

17 minutes ago, motosapiens said:

 

darn. I must be a low-skilled newbie. or i just like running around and shooting alot.

I should have stated  interesting/challenging short and medium courses, as part of a well balanced match. 

 

[Chuck Anderson]

There is no requirement for a Nationals range to require 23 bays.  This is an artificial stipulation imposed by the current president.  For years we've had Nationals with less bays/stages.  It's possible to do it.  In general having more bays allows you to get more people in shooting a match.  But that shouldn't be the overriding concern.  To be honest, I'd be happy if Nationals were a bit harder to get into.  There was a time when the majority of the slots were performance based and you "might" be able to get in if you didn't earn your slot.  Then we started making them bigger and bigger and performance went away.  I think it's neat in USPSA that everyone has the opportunity to shoot a National Championship alongside the best in the sport.  But when it starts eliminating venues and quality competition, I'm OK with making it just a bit harder to get in.  (Note I'm not saying GM only, but performance in D class should be rewarded as well).  

[motosapiens]

15 minutes ago, Chuck Anderson said:

I'm OK with making it just a bit harder to get in.  (Note I'm not saying GM only, but performance in D class should be rewarded as well).  

 

in other words, sandbagging should be encouraged.  meh....

[Racinready300ex]

5 hours ago, motosapiens said:

 

darn. I must be a low-skilled newbie. or i just like running around and shooting alot.

 

It's more likely I've just seen more interesting short courses then you have so I know they can be good. I've also likely seen more 32 round hose fests that are a bunch of 8 round positions and know that simply making a stage 32 rounds doesn't make it better.

 

Take it to extreme this time of year all the clubs around seem to put on "monster" matches with 50+ round stages all close range little to no aiming. Just pull the trigger constantly as fast as you can. I've never been to one, they look dumb. They are also vary popular.

[Chuck Anderson]

2 hours ago, motosapiens said:

 

in other words, sandbagging should be encouraged.  meh....

It's a concern, but you resolve that through updating the classification system, not Nationals.  Frankly if someone wants to tank all their matches for the year for the potential of getting a slot to a National match, I doubt anything will fix them.  If memory serves, and they might have changed this, you can already earn your way into Nats with a class win at an Area match. I can't see the current Nats slot policy because the link doesn't seem to work.