Stage Ideas Wanted

[sperman]

We have a bay at our club that has a plate rack in each corner. The bay is about 20 yds wide x 25 yds deep. There is also a restriction at the club that all targets must be within 10 ft. of the back berm. This makes for very predictable stages from month to month. (plate rack 1 from this box, array of paper as you transition, plate rack 2 from another box.) If anyone has any ideas on how to spice this up it would be greatly appreciated.

[dajarrel]

Just for starters, a couple of cans of different color spray paint will help. alternate the colors, black, brown, white and score like paper targets. Perhaps paint some red and some blue and draw a red or blue poker chip from a hat to see which are shoot/no shoot. You can also paint them Red and Black and use two playing cards face down on a table to see which you shoot.

fwiw

dj

eta,

If you want to be real evil, place no-shoots behind a few of the plates to ensure sighting on the plates instead of "spray and pray" style shooting

dj

Edited March 1, 2009 by dajarrel

[Flexmoney]

Can you move the plate racks around and put them back when you are done?

[sperman]

Can you move the plate racks around and put them back when you are done?

No. They are permanent fixtures on the range. (If I had to guess, they probably weigh about 500 lbs. each.)

[sperman]

eta,

If you want to be real evil, place no-shoots behind a few of the plates to ensure sighting on the plates instead of "spray and pray" style shooting

dj

That's on my list of things to do. Some of the shooters already cry if the boxes are more than 10 yds from the plate rack. Fortunately the MD likes a little bit of a challenge and ignores them.

Edited March 1, 2009 by sperman

[Joe4d]

Get rid of the boxes, for starters, I hate boxes they totally contradict "Freestyle", and make for boring stages. Everyone is forced by the WSB to do the exact same thing. A visual safety line on the ground as a reminder not to get to close to the steel is all you need. Throw up a couple no shoots behind the steel at different angles and put up some vision barriers to force people to move around the bay to get everything. Give the stage multiple "answers"

P.S. I see Charlotte in your side bar, Where's the club ? Maybe I can come help.

Edited March 1, 2009 by Joe4d

[JimmyZip]

We have a similar typr of bay at our range. What we often do is as suggested before, placing no shoots behind the plateracks. Or, one that I like alot is to place a fault line across the bay and place partials down both sides and pepper poppers in the middle. The more the better. That way you can turn it into a fast-slow-fast-slow-fast type of stage with no boxes. OR you can have a start position on one side and stipulate that all shots must be made while moving. I like that one the most. Once you find which way your group of shooters shoots better, (R-L or L-R) then make sure you do this stage the OTHER way.

[Joe4d]

Mandating "all shots made while moving" is not a legal stage. see 1.1.5,

[Aristotle]

We had a fun stage at one of our matches were they made the "inside 4" plates of the steel plate rack "no shoots" and painted them white with read "x's" and placed 2 paper targets behind them. The 2 outside plates were regular steel plates to be shot. I've got the stage design at home on the home pc.

[Aristotle]

Otherwise, nothing says you "have" to use them in your match, you can only do the same thing so many times (I have a bay like this at my range). Bipass them all together and stick an El Prez in that bay.

[sperman]

Otherwise, nothing says you "have" to use them in your match, you can only do the same thing so many times (I have a bay like this at my range). Bipass them all together and stick an El Prez in that bay.

Both great ideas. Setting up the classifier in this stage would keep it useable. THanks for everyone's help.

[John2A]

Scott Check this out. I think this is what I want to set up at the next match in April.

Any and all comments welcomed.

Edited to add the stage.

Rowan_April_11_2009.DOC

Edited March 17, 2009 by John2A

[sperman]

Scott Check this out. I think this is what I want to set up at the next match in April.

Any and all comments welcomed.

Edited to add the stage.

Looks like fun. We will definitely need to spend some time on Friday to get that setup.

I plan on taking these ideas and turning them into stages for the "Bay 5" book. Now all we need are some volunteers.

Edited March 17, 2009 by sperman

[Aristotle]

Scott Check this out. I think this is what I want to set up at the next match in April.

Any and all comments welcomed.

Edited to add the stage.

If you are accepting critique. Seems as if you could shoot the last 2 arrays standing in one spot at the end of that wall on the right. If you would like a quick and easy fix, either extend the wall up range and force them to go "either or". Or you could stick a set of drums at the end of the wall (uprange) so it forces them to go "inside" to hit the array of 3, and then back up and out to hit the last set of plates/paper.

May need to be careful with putting the paper in front of the steel rack, for fear of "splatter" on the paper targets from shots on the "shoot through" for the steel plate rack, or the plates themselves. Quick fix is utilizing the last two plates, and sticking the paper targets "behind" the plate rack.

Looks like a fun stage none the less.

Edited March 17, 2009 by Aristotle

[HuskySig]

Scott Check this out. I think this is what I want to set up at the next match in April.

Any and all comments welcomed.

As drawn, the No-Shoots are pointless.

[SA Friday]

Just a thought rattling around in my head, but if you have pepper poppers that you could lock in place and use as hard cover (paint them black) you could make a quick rack with 2x4's and put the heads of the PP's in line with some of the plates and force movement to the sides to get cleaner shots or partial shots.

Just an idea, haven't put anything on paper.

[scirocco38s]

Scott, I have a permently mount plate rack also and it creates challenges as well as opportunities. I some times only use 1 or 2 plates and put poppers under the rack.(US Poppers) I some times use 1 or 2 plates and put low targets under them and some times I have shot an old school stage with all 6 plates and 6 us poppers and then paper to either side of a rack with a madatory reload between every array. Sometimes use boxes and shoot the arrays from the different boxes and then I have set up small field course using the rack and a fault line that they cannot cross to engage the steel on. I shot the last match with the course you setup on 5 with the racks and that stage was pretty good. Dont feel that both racks have to be used either. Mix it up and keep people guessing is the best answer I can give you. Oh and move the shoot positions back and make people aim, it is a novel idea.

[sperman]

Scott, I have a permently mount plate rack also and it creates challenges as well as opportunities. I some times only use 1 or 2 plates and put poppers under the rack.(US Poppers) I some times use 1 or 2 plates and put low targets under them and some times I have shot an old school stage with all 6 plates and 6 us poppers and then paper to either side of a rack with a madatory reload between every array. Sometimes use boxes and shoot the arrays from the different boxes and then I have set up small field course using the rack and a fault line that they cannot cross to engage the steel on. I shot the last match with the course you setup on 5 with the racks and that stage was pretty good. Dont feel that both racks have to be used either. Mix it up and keep people guessing is the best answer I can give you. Oh and move the shoot positions back and make people aim, it is a novel idea.

Thanks for your input Martin. You should hear a few of them whine if they have to shoot the plate rack from more than 10 yds.

[kevin c]

We have done much of what is described in the posts above. Other variations:

"Splitting the rack" 3 and 3, by having a barricade wall at the shooter's position with snow fence running from the middle of its downrange side to the front of the rack, stopping at its middle about 3 ft away. You have to shoot from both sides of the barricade to take all the plates - basically the rack is turned into two arrays.

Another wall barricade where the WSB specifies taking the plates only from one or both sides, and a low middle port in the same wall with low targets below the rack. The low port has a baffle positioned to block the line of sight on targets above port height.

Or do both...

Edited June 7, 2009 by kevin c