Recently I received an email from a former student as to whether Extra Shots and Extra Hits applied to Fixed Time stages. Actually, his question dealt more with extra shots fired under the time limit. I think he understood any extra hits would be penalized if they were on the scoring area of the target.
[Read more…] about Fixed Time vs. Virginia CountSome thoughts from 2024
As 2024 comes to an end, I thought I would take the information I learned in 2024 and pass on to 2025. Some of this is Chronograph related, the rest is general information a prepared competitor might want to think about for next year.
[Read more…] about Some thoughts from 2024Match Preparation or Not (Oops!)
I just got back from the Carry Optics Nationals and again the chronograph stage became the place where people’s match crashed and burned. Ending up shooting for no score (sub-minor) or being put in Open because your equipment failed testing should not happen but does.
[Read more…] about Match Preparation or Not (Oops!)Words Do Matter
When I was a younger person I remember a comedy routine by George Carlin. It was called “Words you cannot say on TV”. I think it was 10 words, but I don’t exactly remember. It came to me that I should write an article entitled “Words and Phrases Good Range Officers should remove from their vocabulary.” But it seemed to be a bit long for a title.
[Read more…] about Words Do MatterRange is clear?
Recently I received an email from one of my former students. Apparently at a recent match the timer RO would not call the “Range is Clear” until he removed his hand from the butt of his handgun. He asked under what rule was this a correct call. That brought back distant memories to a rule change that occurred in 2008.
[Read more…] about Range is clear?From the Beginning: The evolution of the USPSA Target
For many years I have discussed how the “Classic/IPSC” target was nothing of the sort. In fact, it was mis-named and was a sore point to some older USPSA/IPSC shooters. So, to bring some order to this conversation let us go back to the distant past and explore where we came from.
[Read more…] about From the Beginning: The evolution of the USPSA TargetWhich shoulder?
Every once in a while you get a question and just have to go hmmmm? Recently during set-up at an all classifier match, the issue of what is the shoulder of a USPSA cardboard target when the specified target height of “5 feet at the shoulder” is used. If you think about it, there could be two answers. Is shoulder height the top of the main body of the target or is the shoulder where the lateral edge of the target breaks down at an angle? I would guess most people would say the former rather than the latter example but is it as cut and dried as that?
[Read more…] about Which shoulder?No-shoot vs. hard cover in stage design
Over the years I have designed over a hundred courses of fire shot at all levels of our sport. Many people have made a comment that I seem to use a lot of hard cover targets rather than no-shoots. A good friend of mine Ray Hirst once told me, “A hard cover target is the waste of a perfectly good no-shoot.”
[Read more…] about No-shoot vs. hard cover in stage design