Tropical Sport Shooting Association again held the FIRST South Florida Defensive Carbine 5th Saturday after-match immediately following the parent club's IDPA Classifier on Saturday, the 29th of August 2009, at the Markham Park Target Range in
western
Broward County, Florida. Set up began at approximately 12:00,
with sign-in beginning at 12:15 and, after a brief weather delay due to
lightning, shots fired by 13:40. All shooters
were complete and props and targets off the range by 16:30. We had a
total of 15 shooters. Weather alternated between overcast and clear,
high 90s (approaching 100s) throughout the day with humidity in the
high 60% range.
Stage One was designed to make use of the props and
targets that were already on the range from the IDPA classifier that
had been shot earlier in the day. As such there were 4 shooting
positions already in place with 3 targets each and a Bianchi Barricade
at 20 yards, with a barrel at each station. Two steel targets were
added at the far left position which became Position 1, various
non-threat targets were added at each position, and a Lollipopper
target was added halfway between P2 and 3 at the 20 yard line which was
then engaged from P4 as the final target. All Paper must be
neutralized, all steel must receive two rounds each. Barrels were
placed next to each Bianchi Barricade and shooters were instructed to
shoot from the side of the barricade without a barrel.
Shooters
began the stage loaded to capacity with as many spare magazines as they
thought they needed. Shooters began at the far left position, Position
1, and engaged two steel and three paper, then moved to P2 and engaged
3 paper, then P3 and engaged 3 paper, then P4 and engaged 3 paper,
finishing by hitting each paddle of the Lollipopper twice from P4.
Intent
Because this was our first time for doing SFDCC on a
5th Saturday, and due to the heat, we wanted a stage that took
advantage of items already on the range and that involved the least
amount of setup necessary. We also wanted to take advantage of the
particular range we were on and do a larger scale "run-n-gun" type of
stage.
Gaming
As is often
the case with very simple and straightforward stages, there wasn't much
opportunity to game this one. We had one shooter that did not know
that our rules do not allow for the leaving behind of loaded magazines
and who thus chose to perform a speed reload at several positions
whereby partially-loaded magazines hit the deck and were left behind.
This cost that shooter two procedurals at 10 seconds each, so the
"gaming" aspect of this tactic could be debated.
Personal Lessons
Don't
bother with hold-over at 20 yards. I chose to err on the side of
caution with the targets that were partially obscured by non-threats
and held way too high. So high that my shots were going over the heads
of the targets. End result was thee failures to neutralize.
Admin Lessons
I
think the setup intent proved viable. Using the existing targets and
props worked out very well, and if it hadn't been for the weather delay
costing us an hour we could have easily been off the range by 15:30.
There are also a lot more things we can do with the same props and
targets for future matches.
Stage One View from left, Position 1-4
Stage One View from right, Position 4-1
Stage One Position 1
Stage One Position 2
Stage One
Position 3
Stage One
Position 4
Stage One
Position 4, View of steel Lollipoppers
Stage One Position 3 Dave K. engages targets while Sal F. protects his ears from Dave's muzzle brake
Stage One Position 3 Seth G. engages targets
Stage One Position 4 match winner Kevin Curran engages steel Lollipopper
Stage Two was based on simply reversing Stage One. We
moved the Bianchi barricades back so that the far right became P1 and
was at approximately 40 yards, P2 was at approximately 30, and P3 was
at approximately 25. What had formerly been P1 in Stage One became P4
in Stage Two and remained in place. One paper target from each array
was moved so that it was between positions and had to be engaged on the
move.
Shooters began the stage loaded to capacity with as many
spare magazines as they thought they needed. Shooters
began at the far right position, Position 1, and engaged each paddle
of the Lollipopper twice, then stood and engaged two paper before
moving to P2 while engaging one paper, then engaged 2 paper before
moving to P3 while engaging one paper, then engaged 2 paper before
moving to P4 while engaging one paper, finishing by engaging two steel
and three paper from P4.
Intent
Much like Stage One, we wanted to make use of the props on hand.
Gaming
The shooting on the move became the tricky part of the stage. The
more successful shooters chose to move in a kind of "L" pattern
advancing on the target while engaging it and then running horizontally
to the next position, rather than trying to contort their bodies and
engage continuously while moving in a straight diagonal path from one
position to another.
Personal Lessons
Lancer magazines. Throw them away. My malfunctions here cost me 15 seconds in the beginning and 3 FTNs at the end, making the difference between coming in second place and coming in 13th like I did.
Admin Lessons
This was successful in it's intent. We
learned a good lesson with the suggestion from one of our shooters to
place the intermediate targets that must be engaged on the move to
force the shooters to maintain muzzle discipline downrange. Without
those targets there they would have been inclined to run which would
have meant right-handed shooters would have their muzzles pointing up
range. Thanks to Rich F. for that suggestion.
Stage Two Position 1, shooter's view of steel Lollipopper
Stage Two
Position 1, shooter's view of paper targets
Two targets furthest right engaged from this position, center target engaged on the move to P2, last two targets in frame engaged from behind cover at P2.
Stage Two
Position 2, shooter's view of paper targets
Two targets on the right engaged from behind cover, remaining target engaged on the move to P3.
Video Link - Stage Two: P1 to P2 Note that this shooter transitioned to his left shoulder before advancing. One of many approaches we saw to the shooting-on-the-move portions of this stage.
Video Link - Stage Two: P3 to P4 The "moonwalk" approach to shooting on the move. Yet another approach.
Stage One
Stage One
Stage One
Stage One 
Stage One 
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Stage One 
Stage Two
Stage Two
Stage Two