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Load in order of signup, load when your ready.


Warden Callaway

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In my limited experience at shooting at three clubs, we have always loaded and shot in order of signup - with exceptions made. Usually there is a rotation of one shooter so the first shooter shoots last on next stage and so on.

 

Yesterday was our first match where we loaded when ready. No big problem but often the loading table was empty. Barking for people to come load was common. I'm not sure if they were too busy visiting. Score keeping on three pages was hectic. Keeping track of who shot and who hasn't was more of a hastle. I got to where I jumped in and got a spot on the loading table early.

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Hate shooting in any designated order. It's more of a pain trying to keep track of who's supposed to be shooting next. Shooters often have a strong preference of when they like to shoot (early, late, etc.) so why not let them shoot when they are ready?

 

Most posses will almost always fall into a rhythm after the first stage when the "pecking order" is sorted out.

 

Around here we almost NEVER have an assigned order.

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I like shooting first so that I can man the unload table. At all of the clubs that I shoot at there is no set loading order and it works out well. If I can't shoot first for some reason it's no big deal and I load up whenever I can get someone to man the table for me. I've shot some larger matches where they load alphabetically according to aliases.

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Our club has shooters who generally want to shoot first, as well as those who would like to see some folks shoot the stage to help them determine strategy. We occasionally get the call of "room at the loading table - come on up", but it is never an issue nor does it cause any delays in finishing the stage in a timely manner.

 

Of course that is what our club members are used to. If the club had been doing the stages "load in order" for years, and then changed quickly to "load when ready", then maybe it wouldn't go as smoothly for a few stages?

 

Seems to me like the only advantage to "load in order" is that it makes it a little easier on the score-keepers if they don't know the names of the shooters.

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After years and years of shooting in the same order as the score sheet, often determined by when you arrived and signed in, I much prefer to load and shoot when I'm ready. I Shoot at several places now where shooting order is shooters choice. Score folks know us and there is no problem keeping everything straight. Oh, too long winded

 

Shoot when ready.

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Shoot when ready!

 

clubs get used to it and if anything there's too many at the loading table....

 

last time, I let a posse decide vote to decide if it they wanted in order or when ready, they wanted in order,, fine, but the second day we started from the bottom and worked up!!! and each day we dropped the first shooter off,,, and I told them, I'm posse marshal, I'll shoot when I want

 

next time, it will be shoot when ready

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It's really not that big a deal; both ways work. At the last shoot I attended the nice young lady who volunteered to be scorekeeper only knew two or three others on the posse. We shot in order to help her keep our scores straight, rotating the starting position on each stage.

 

There are enough other things in life to get upset over rather than this.

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the one problem with shooting in order, some scorekeepers don't keep track of who the shooter is, and if you don't catch it quickly you can have several wrong times per shooter written...

 

not to say mistakes can't be made with in order tho

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I like in order for the reasons listed by the Warden. At one club 1 posse shoots in order the other is mayhem .......I mean they shoot as ready or randomly. Keeps everybody happy that way.

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When I first started I liked a designated order. Just one less thing to worry about. Now I prefer when ready. I'll use stay behind and shoot toward the end while score keeping. Then someone can replace me after they've finished and I'll shoot. Now if I'm shooting cap guns, I want to go near first so that I will be able to man the ult while reloading. I'm still not that fast at it so it takes me 3-4 shooters to finish.

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I much prefer "shoot when ready."

 

We normally ask the posse and they nearly all prefer that, but if shooting with a "new, unknown" group, we give a warning that if we get messed up or have to search out loaders too much, we fall back to the listed order.

 

That way, if folks want to shoot first, they can, etc.

 

I hate when it is listed then rotate. I don't prefer to shoot first, but I will, but hate to shoot last.

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I am a huge proponent of shoot when ready.

It allows shooters to address their preparedness at their own pace.

It allows newer shooters time to see the stage shot and ensure they fully understand the stage prior to shooting.

It allows shooters to strategize if they so desire.

But the most important component of shoot when ready has little to do with shooting. Shoot when ready allows the posse to cycle thru their willing/ capable timer operators thru the stage on their schedule to ensure there is someone available to run the timer without being rushed to shoot before or after.

As someone who is often the posse marshal and often a timer operator; this flexibility is invaluable.

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I'm too old to be told when I'm ready to shoot

 

Yesterday we had a shooter who normally loads and shoots early. He was having difficulty with an unusual sequence. He watched most of the posse shoot till he could get it in his head....................He shot clean yesterday

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When shooters signin and sign up, they have a choice of posse and position on the posse - first come, first serve. A majority of shooters don't care and fill up what's left. Then some trading goes on to ballance out the posse sizes. So there is some accommodation to who wants to shoot when and with whom.

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around here for years it was always shoot in order, but a couple of years ago shoot when ready started gaining popularity at a few places....now it's about 50-50....I can do either one but shoot in order works MUCH better than when ready, it goes way smoother and iz easier to get thru the stages without a bunch of chaos.....when ready only seems to go ok when the posse is mostly folks that are used to shooting with each other a lot

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I'm too old to be told when I'm ready to shoot

 

Yesterday we had a shooter who normally loads and shoots early. He was having difficulty with an unusual sequence. He watched most of the posse shoot till he could get it in his head....................He shot clean yesterday

I'm sure there has never been a case when a shooter was forced to shoot in turn when he or she asked to shoot sooner or later. Loading at a different time than scheduled happens at every match.

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At the club I shoot at, we shoot in order of sign up unless there are circumstances such as people sharing guns, etc.

 

The way it works is the score keeper will call out the first three shooters. They go to the loading table and start to load. After each shooter completes the stage the score keeper will call out "next is shooter x, then shooter y. Shooter z is on deck." Which signals the next shooter to the loading table. Seems to work fine, keeping in mind we usually only have 8-15 shooters.

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I refer to my preference as the "free market" shooting where those who want to go first can go first, those who prefer to see a few shooters can count or pick brass, and everybody just sorts themselves out. Scorekeepers need some special attention to be sure they get everyone right, and it usually takes a stage or two for folks to find their preferred spot, but it seems to work out.

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Shoot when ready...I have enough structure in my life...don't need more...Jim

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I'm sure there has never been a case when a shooter was forced to shoot in turn when he or she asked to shoot sooner or later. Loading at a different time than scheduled happens at every match.

 

Never.................don't bet money on that one

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I'm sure there has never been a case when a shooter was forced to shoot in turn when he or she asked to shoot sooner or later. Loading at a different time than scheduled happens at every match.

once at the WV state shoot I HAD to shoot first for the entire match! what made it worse tho, is that we voted on it and the deciding vote to shoot in order then asked to shoot when she wanted to so that she cud keep score...

 

then the next week at the regional in near there I had to shoot 2nd the entire match! was not happy

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I don't and won't shoot in order. Luckily every club I patronize feels thebsame way.

 

 

Yup. Down here in the great state I have never run across a club that shoots in order. We are kinda independent minded thataway. I like to shoot last or close to last so I can watch the stage being solved by others as I get nothing from the reading. I would never travel to a club that shoots in order. If you impose this control on people please state it in the match flyer. Bad surprise to spring it on match day.

 

This is one of those perennial topics for the wire, like should the loaded pistols be holstered or left on the table until called to the line.

 

The main problem with shoot when ready is too many want to go first. You will have a posse of 7 or 8 and 4 of them will line up at the LT at the start of the stage.

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I don't and won't shoot in order. Luckily every club I patronize feels thebsame way.

+1

You will never shoot as well if you are told when to shoot. You may need time to decompress over a previous mistake or plan out your transitions.

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I absolutely hate loading in order. Every once in a while you have to shoot behind an a$$hole. Doing it over and order makes for a long day. One major match I shot behind the new shooter, first match, girlfriend of a so called fast shooter. He insisted on giving her detailed instructions on loading her guns, and way too many details on how to shoot the stage, those only needed if you were trying to shave 0.01 seconds off your time. I politely asked him 3 stages in a row to leave after her guns were loaded. He refused, so I complained to the match director. He got into a big argument with thr match director and got ejected from the match. She continued to shoot with help from everyone and went from no fun to having a ball. She came the 2nd day by herself. To this day, she still shoots but not with boyfriend.

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I guess I should have said "WE" have never forced anyone to shoot when they asked to go later - or earlier for that matter.

 

Again, there is a lot of shooters choice in OUR signup procedure. It's not like the shooter is assigned a place in the order.

 

I don't see a problem either way. Going down the signup order tends to make the score keeping job easier - especially when the score keeper is not familiar with everyone. Maybe it helps the new shooter gun up and load rather than hang back.

 

Yesterday it looked like half the posse was lost as what to do. But I'm sure they can adapt.

 

Maybe at the next match's safety meeting, I'll ask how the group feels about it. Eater way, I doubt anyone will load up and go home because they felt imposed upon.

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once at the WV state shoot I HAD to shoot first for the entire match! what made it worse tho, is that we voted on it and the deciding vote to shoot in order then asked to shoot when she wanted to so that she cud keep score...

 

then the next week at the regional in near there I had to shoot 2nd the entire match! was not happy

Change your alias to Zane Zillow

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"Shoot When Ready" gets my vote.

 

I don't like being told that I have to shoot last because my name starts with a 'W'.

 

Plus, I always like to shot atleast somewhere in the top 3 or 4 shooters on the posse.

 

 

..........Widder

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the one problem with shooting in order, some scorekeepers don't keep track of who the shooter is, and if you don't catch it quickly you can have several wrong times per shooter written...

 

not to say mistakes can't be made with in order tho

The other problem is you have to watch you don't have the whole posse waiting in line to load, leaving the work to just a few guys! Other than that and what CC said, I prefer to shoot when ready!

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Don't mind shootin' as signed up or alphabetical... :)

Don't mind shootin' when ready.. :)

 

Problem I have is posse member duties.. :(

 

I've seen at big shoots when ready matches 7-9 at the loading table.. Short workers to run posse..

I've seen posse leaders making rule "No more than 3 at the loading table at one time!"

To overcome this happening..

Then there were 3 at the loading table and 4-5 standing in a line prior to the LT.

 

Rance ;)

Thinkin I don't care :). as long a posse chores are getting done..

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