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What is your match design preference?


Jeb Stuart #65654

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My preference is a bay per stage but unfortunately some clubs don’t have access to anymore bays and have to double or triple up. In the hot months they double up to cut down on the exertion in the heat for us older folks.

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If we set up six stages,  we'd have to get real skimpy on targets. 

 

I once proposed we shoot three stages on two bays. We have a common firing line so by setting up two locations,  they could be further apart - thus less chance of lead splatter.  I was unsuccessful with my proposal. 

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I've shot several times at clubs that had limited shooting bays... always used the same target arrays, but written so that the scenarios were very different.  No excess labor changing targets arrays between "stages", but different enough to be distinct and separate stages.  

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10 minutes ago, Griff said:

I've shot several times at clubs that had limited shooting bays... always used the same target arrays, but written so that the scenarios were very different.  No excess labor changing targets arrays between "stages", but different enough to be distinct and separate stages.  

I don’t find myself saying this often, but I agree with Griff lol. For small local shoots where all the work is put on a few, I see no problem with running two stages on the same bay. Easy enough to go down range and take down a couple pieces of steel and run a totally different scenario than the first. 

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Depends on the facility I'm shooting at.  We've gone to shooting 5 stages on 3 stage set-ups.  Easier to set up and easier to take down.  We also have access to a covered area in case of rain.  We can set up three stages at that covered location, so it all works out.

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We shot five stages in one bay yesterday.  There was a little target movement required after some stages, but no one seemed to mind.

Clean up was quick.

Tough to get very many cowboys to help with set up, isn't it?

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The Southern Missouri Rangers usually shoot one scenario per stage.  At the Missouri State Blackpowder Championship in September we shot two scenarios per stage. Most folks had no problem.  I came to the sixth stage and started shooting the fifth stage all over again!  Can you say P??!!

 

It was especially embarrassing because I wrote the stages for that match!  :D

 

Shooting more than one scenario per stage shouldn’t be a problem unless you are a senile old fart like me!!  :)

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It really depends on the match.  For a monthly I have absolutely no problem shooting two or three stages per bay.  But for an annual or above I prefer one stage per bay.  I like variety.  If I'm going to pay the extra $$$ for a bigger match I'd like to get as much of that variety as I can.  

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The Whiskey Row Gunslingers use 3 bays at our monthly shoot and we shoot 2 stages per bay. The newest club in our area, The Granite Mountain Outlaws, only have 2 bays at our disposal and we are shooting 3 stages per bay.

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49 minutes ago, Shooting Bull said:

It really depends on the match.  For a monthly I have absolutely no problem shooting two or three stages per bay.  But for an annual or above I prefer one stage per bay.  I like variety.  If I'm going to pay the extra $$$ for a bigger match I'd like to get as much of that variety as I can.  

This

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As I've become more "seasoned."  The less travel time and distance between stages, the better I like it.  It's also much easier on the Club Crew.  I helped pioneer shooting multiple stages per bay in my area.  Most all really like it.  Makes the day much less tiring.

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I prefer a "town" with one stage per building. But now that I have moved to AZ the three clubs I have shot with do two or three stages per bay with no "town". But, none of them own the property and the range is available to other disciplines the other 29 days a month.

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We have wide bays at Wagram which helps with variety.  Sandhills Slim does the the stages and pulls the steel with extra steel and stands staged close to the firing line.   Generally, we have one posse of around 15 people.   We will shoot a couple of stages, shuffle, a couple more, shuffle, and finish.  If you looked at the stages on paper, sometimes you'd never know that it was all done on one berm.

 

 

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12 hours ago, Shooting Bull said:

It really depends on the match.  For a monthly I have absolutely no problem shooting two or three stages per bay.  But for an annual or above I prefer one stage per bay.  I like variety.  If I'm going to pay the extra $$$ for a bigger match I'd like to get as much of that variety as I can.  

This!

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13 hours ago, Shooting Bull said:

It really depends on the match.  For a monthly I have absolutely no problem shooting two or three stages per bay.  But for an annual or above I prefer one stage per bay.  I like variety.  If I'm going to pay the extra $$$ for a bigger match I'd like to get as much of that variety as I can.  

 

This will work if you volunteer to help pull all the steel, stands and props to make it work.   

 

I don't worry about it.  I've got too many bent body parts to worry about so my help is limited on setup and breakdown.  Whatever they set up, I'll shoot and not complain. 

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3 hours ago, Null N. Void said:

 

This will work if you volunteer to help pull all the steel, stands and props to make it work.   

 

 

 

I was thinking more of out of state matches.  I travel to SoCal as much as possible to shoot in big matches such as Gunfight Behind the Jersey Lilly or the CA State Championship. I'm also thinking of matches such as Winter Range.  I'm not able go help set up these matches.  I love the people at all these matches so would still attend them no matter what.  But the matches themselves wouldn't be nearly as fun for me if they were shot in a limited number of bays.  

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I set up 2 monthly matches here in NW Florida - Red Hills Rangers & Panhandle Cattle Company.  During the summer, we only set up 1 (RHR) or 2 (PCC) bays because setup work is damn hard on me!  When things cool off, at PCC we do 3 bays (our range only has the 3 bays).  At RHR, we set up 2 & sometimes 3 bays, but have shot all 6 in 1 bay if it rains.

 

When we first started shooting at RHR, we would set up 6 separate bays.  After a match one of our shooters said "That's too dang much walking between stages!"  I took that comment to heart & cut way back on the walking.  Our shooters appreciate not having to travel a long way between bays.  It also makes teardown go 2 to 3 times faster.

 

Holler

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I definitely prefer 6 separate stages preferably with a town like atmosphere like a bank, saloon, jail etc. There are a few clubs that just cannot do that and that's okay I still shoot there.  

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13 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said:

I definitely prefer 6 separate stages preferably with a town like atmosphere like a bank, saloon, jail etc. There are a few clubs that just cannot do that and that's okay I still shoot there.  

There are a lot more than A FEW. 

I believe most clubs shoot on what would be considered a "shared" range and must contend with a limited amount of space and not being able to leave targets/props set up.

We have access to 4 bays each month (We use 3 of them) and shoot 6 scenarios. Two on each of 3 bays. And we shoot both Saturday and Sunday once each month.

For Best Shoot by a Dam Site we have access to 5 bays and shoot 10 stages over two days with minimal target relocation.

For The Nevada State shoot (Eldorado) we have access to 12 bays, the long range area and use the trap range for cowboy trap.

 

We consider ourselves very fortunate!

 

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Everyone has made very good points. I don't have a problem shooting more than one stage per bay. I pretty much forget the shooting order once the stage is over, so the same target set up isn't a problem for me. Plus it's less set up and tear down. Our last shoot was 6 bays, 13 shooters and 2 non-shooters. A lot of work tearing it down. 

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Our club, the Blackhorse shootists host the Montana SASS state championship. We have 6 bays to use to put on a 12 stage match.  So we can shoot 6 one day and then re-set for the second day or just shoot 2 per stage.  May initial question was not how does your club do it, the question is what do you prefer.

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If done well, I have no preference.  Family and I shot this years Montana State and had no complaints, and had a great time.  Just shot a somewhat local match were they used 4 bays to do 6 stages.  If the targets are set right to shoot 2 very different stages, no issues here.  Once was at a match were you felt like you almost shot each stage twice, but they were different enough that the shooter was likely to P (and a lot did), not fun.

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Their are two ways to do two stages per bay.

 

Option one is just shoot at the same targets in a different order.

 

Option two is have enough targets set up to have two different sets of things to shoot at.

 

I prefer option two, when it can be done.   But if it has to be option one, I accept.   

Ultimately I prefer 1 stage per bay, but I recognize that sometimes realities at the club may dictate otherwise.

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I prefer targets and a place to shoot at them!!  The rest is up to the folks that put on the match to challenge and entertain the participants.  If that is done, I’ll be happy!!

 

And if I can help with scenarios or target setting or whatever, just ask!

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...................R R R R R

 

S S S S...........................................S S

.....................................P P P P P

...............E.............................T

............L....................................A

.......B..............................................B

...A......................................................L

T..............................................................E

 

You can EASILY shoot an entire match on one bay if you think it out and set the steel/ tables accordingly.

 

Utilizing the setup above. (Please forgive all the periods - it was the only way to keep my spacing)

Stage 1.  RH SG targets are not used.

10-10-4+

Rifle/ SG staged safely on left angled table.

Shooter begins centered on and facing pistol targets - hands on hat.

At BEEP:

With pistols - Doubletap sweep pistol targets from either end.

Move to left table.

With rifle - doubletap sweep rifle targets from either end.

Maje rifle safe.

With SG - Engage SG targets - any order.

Make SG safe.

 

Stage 2.  RH pistol targets not used.

10-10-6+

Rifle staged on Left angled table

SG staged on Right angled table

Shooter begins at Right angled table thumbs tucked in belt.

At BEEP:

With SG- Engage RH SG targets - any order.

Move to LH angled table - engage LH SG targets - any order.  

Make SG safe for downrange movement (on table - muzzle safely pointed)

With Rifle - Engage rifle targets in a Pikes Peak sweep from either end.

(T1-1x, T2-2x, T3-4x, T4-2x, T5-1x)

Make rifle safe for downrange movement.

Move downrange - engage R targets with pistols in a Pikes Peak sweep.

 

Prior to stage 3 - remove a single plate from the R and P arrays.

 

Stage 3.

10-10-4+

SG staged on LH angled table

Shooter begins at LH angled table with rifle in hands.

At BEEP:

Engage rifle targets in a Progressive sweep (T1-1x, T2-2x, T3-3x, T4-4x).

Make rifle safe.

With SG - Engage any TWO LH SG targets - any order - then move to RH angled table - engage RH SG targets - any order.

Make SG safe.

With pistols - Engage pistol targets in a Progressive sweep.

 

Stage 4.

10-10-4+

Rifle staged on LH angled table

SG staged on RH angled table

Shooter begins centered and facing pistol targets - hand(s) on pistol(s).

At BEEP:

Engage pistol targets in a continuous Nevada sweep starting on either end.

With SG - Engage RH SG targets - any order.

Move to LH table - make SG safe.

With Rifle - Engage rifle targets in a continuous Nevada sweep starting on either end.

Make rifle safe.

With SG - Engage any TWO LH SG targets - any order.  If shooter had any misses - shooter MAY engage remaining LH SG targets to erase up to TWO misses.

Make SG safe.

 

Prior to Stage 5 - remove a single target from the rifle and pistol target arrays.

 

Stage 5.

10-10-2+

Rifle staged on LH table

SG staged on EITHER table

Shooters choice of gun order and starting position - SASS default body position.  Pistols may be shot back to back or split.

At BEEP:

With SG - Engage ANY TWO SG targets.

Make SG safe for downrange movement.

With rifle - Engage rifle targets as follows: Middle target 3x - Either outside target 1x - Other outside target 1x - repeat instruction.

With first 5 rounds from Pistols - Engage pistol targets as follows: 

Middle target 3x - either outside target 1x - other outside target 1x.

With second 5 rounds from pistols - move downrange and engage rifle targets in same instructions.

 

Stage 6.

10-10-4+. RH SG targets not used this stage.

Rifle staged on LH table

Shooter begins at LH table with SG in hands.  

At BEEP:

Engage LH SG targets - any order.

Make SG safe.

With Rifle - Engage rifle targets in a round count sequence.

Any target 5x - then any other target 4x - then remaining target 1x.

Make rifle safe.

Move to RH table.

With pistols - Engage pistol targets in a round count sequence reverse of rifle.

Any target 1x - then any other target 4x - then remaining target 5x.

 

That's 6 (imo) pretty good stages with left, right and downrange movements - varied gun orders - 2,4 and 6 shotgun - varied sequences - split pistol - split shotgun.

 

While only utilizing a single bay, 10 plates, 6 sg targets and two tables.

 

While I would always prefer to have enough shooters that the above is not possible to pull off - there are smaller clubs with single posses that fade away because of the amount of work they believe is required to set the match.

 

There is absolutely no requirement to set 6 bays of steel to put on a interesting and fun match.

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I prefer a different bay for every stage. But, of course, I write the stages and it gives me more flexibility.

BUT... I can't make it for set up and I don't abuse my set up guys so we shoot 6 on 3 (2 stages on each bay)

I do get to go hog wild at our annual and have eight separate stages... but not this year. Damn virus!

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On 11/10/2020 at 8:58 PM, Ace_of_Hearts said:

There are a lot more than A FEW. 

I believe most clubs shoot on what would be considered a "shared" range and must contend with a limited amount of space and not being able to leave targets/props set up.

We have access to 4 bays each month (We use 3 of them) and shoot 6 scenarios. Two on each of 3 bays. And we shoot both Saturday and Sunday once each month.

For Best Shoot by a Dam Site we have access to 5 bays and shoot 10 stages over two days with minimal target relocation.

For The Nevada State shoot (Eldorado) we have access to 12 bays, the long range area and use the trap range for cowboy trap.

 

We consider ourselves very fortunate!

 

There's 5 shoots here within 2 hours or less and two of them can't have building etc. The other three all have towns that are awesome! There's also some here in Ohio that are a longer drive and most have buildings or at least a partial town. Ohio is the Wild Wild Midwest!;)

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