Friday Night Steel. MCF&G

[BrandonM]

Had a good time hobbling around with friends.

Oldest son shot with me as well, his first time and he learned he's not as good a shot as he thought he was

I learned I've got to do a LOT more shooting. Need to get more trigger time on my new gun.


and we had a good laugh on my "turnaround" start on stage one.

I thought you did pretty good on the turnaround. You were faster than some of the others in our squad. You just did this like "180 jump" to turn around. It actually looked pretty quick..and painful

 

[trafalga]

Thanks to everyone that came out last night, our RO's Mark, Nick, Don and Chuck, and to everyone that helped setup and tear down.

On to the important stuff....The Results are done and posted. Get 'em here: http://www.indyrange.com/Programs/FNS/Results/FNS%20Results%2010-03-12.pdf

I hope to see everybody next month!

Adam

 

[chizzle]

Fastest results in the West!

Adam,
Thanks for getting the results out so quickly, as always! Burl was asking where you were last night; he was going to buy you a beer at Union Jack's after the match to say "Thanks"!
Great job,
Chuck

 

[HICKMAN]

woot, won a stage in Limited and didn't finish last.

 

[BrandonM]

Im happy with my result. Thanks for getting them up so fast! Can't wait for next month already!

 

[jason conley]

Never reloaded that was my only goal wish somebody would have told me I shot out of order the first time that way I would have not done it again two more times for two more penalties. I want to stress that I am not complaining. Thanks to the R.O.s I had a great time.

 

[slow1911s]

Regarding the shooting order: Was it the intent of the match staff to have us shoot all plates in a specified order, or was it freestyle? Excepting the plate rack stage which had a clear start plate and stop, and the other stages that had a stop plate, was there a "Engage the targets in order." requirement on any of those stages? I know that's how our squad's leadership interpreted the stage descriptions, and that's what I went along with.

Regarding 22 divisions: there is need for at least some clarification. I know at least one of the finishers in 22 Open (22 pistol w/ optics, comps, etc.) was shooting a rifle.

 

[shooter521]

was there a "Engage the targets in order." requirement on any of those stages? I know that's how our squad's leadership interpreted the stage descriptions, and that's what I went along with.

The targets were numbered on the CoF diagram, and the instructions were to "engage targets as they appear". I made what I thought was a logical assumption, and applied it to all the stages with that description. Chuck (chizzle) was the Match Director; I will be interested in hearing what his actual intent was. My apologies in advance if my assumption turns out to be wrong; next time I'll know.

 

[chizzle]

Clarification

Guys,

Sorry if there was some confusion on Stage 2; if RO's ever run into this type of issue at a future FNS, please feel free to bug me before you shoot so that the playing field is as level as possible.

Our intent for Stage 2 was that people would engage the green plate as the start plate, engage the white targets in any order, and then engage the red plate last.

We do our best to make the instructions clear so that someone new to our match interprets the instructions the same way as a seasoned veteran. Sorry if the Stage Description left a little to be desired, we'll do our best to explain better in the future. I've experienced bad Stage Descriptions at matches before, and I can appreciate than an apology from the Match Director isn't much consolation after you've shot the stage and the scores are final. What I've learned personally from my experience, is that I've got to ask questions before the RO says "Make Ready", or I'm ultimately responsible for any goof ups in my shooting. This would be a great teachable moment to discuss at the Shooters' Meeting in April.
Sincerely,
Chuck

 

[rhino]

Small suggestion:

If you're going to have table starts, it might be a good idea for the ROs to remind people that there are safer and less safe ways to retrieve a loaded gun from a table, especially if the lighting is questionable.

Most problems with table starts occur when people try to retrieve their gun with one hand, especially if they are not ultra careful to keep their trigger finger out of the way. It's significantly safer and not much slower to use two hands. The firing hand goes over the grip (trigger finger straight), while the support hand lifts the slide so that the grip meeting the waiting firing hand. At that point, the feel of the grip should be familiar (even if you can't see) and with a straight trigger finger, negligent discharges are thus avoided.

If anyone wants to learn how to do this, just ask me or Coach or anyone else who knows. It only takes a few seconds to show. The only potential problem is if someone is too stubborn to try it because they are convinced that it's "too slow" to use two hands.

 

[mjrducky]

Everyone that puts FNS together and makes it happen I wanted to say thanks. I had a great time for my first time and got to meet alot of the folks I see on here. Now as far as how I did. I was terrible at the start. and was holding my own by the end. Once get the nerves out of the way Starting on stage 1 and 2 probably wasn't a good warm up having never started from surrender or shooting from a sitting position with a handgun. So I was happy to return to more normal position after that. I'll be ready for next months course.

Thanks again everyone

 

[slow1911s]

More to the point, Chuck: do you intend for the shooters to solve the problem freestyle or follow an order?

Using Stage 5 from last night as an example: Did you intend for us to shoot the IPSC plates from right to left, then the stop? Or, could we engage the IPSC plates in any order, so long as we made the two required hits on each and then engaged the stop plate?

The reason I bring this up is because most steel matches are shot freestyle. SCSA uses freestyle. If I have the option, I want to use it. If I don't, fine, but I'd like to know. I'm sure others would as well. And, did any other squads use a defined shooting order with the targets (start and stop plates notwithstanding)?

 

[HICKMAN]

am I the only one who practiced picking up my gun from the table a couple of times before each string?

Seems we have to remember during the "load and make ready" stage, we're allowed to take a loaded sight picture. That means practicing and preparing for each string before we start.

learned that tidbit from an ACT class.

 

[shooter521]

Sorry if there was some confusion on Stage 2;

Actually I think the question/confusion was on a couple of the stages that had no start or stop plate and the description "engage targets as they appear". In that case, do the target numbers mean anything (i.e. engage left to right, T1 through T5) or is it freestyle?

ETA - what slow1911s said.

 

[chizzle]

Freestyle unless specified

Good question Dave. Our intent is for the stages to be as freestyle as possible, to allow shooters some creativity in solving the problem. We do sometimes have stop and start plates, and clearly our intent with those plates is for shooters to start and stop on those plates, respectively. For other plates, unless the stage description says to engage targets "In Numerical Order" you're free to engage them freestyle.

Thanks for bringing up this question, because this is the first time I've heard of this issue. Our goal is to make Friday Night Steel good practice for the other shooting disciplines, learn to shoot safely, and to help people get better.

More to the point, Chuck: do you intend for the shooters to solve the problem freestyle or follow an order?

Using Stage 5 from last night as an example: Did you intend for us to shoot the IPSC plates from right to left, then the stop? Or, could we engage the IPSC plates in any order, so long as we made the two required hits on each and then engaged the stop plate?

The reason I bring this up is because most steel matches are shot freestyle. SCSA uses freestyle. If I have the option, I want to use it. If I don't, fine, but I'd like to know. I'm sure others would as well. And, did any other squads use a defined shooting order with the targets (start and stop plates notwithstanding)?

 

[shooter521]

For other plates, unless the stage description says to engage targets "In Numerical Order" you're free to engage them freestyle.

Duly noted; thanks for the clarification.

 

[Slow Hand]

So does this mean that our penalties will be removed? ;-]

Just kidding, but thanks for the clarification. I think in our squad it was assumed that because the plates were numbered, they were to be shot in that order.

Doug K

 

[chizzle]

Example of good sportsmanship.

Thanks for taking this in the spirit was intended. These issues are unfortunate, but they seem to happen at any match. I hope that in the future my veteran shooters will take the time to run over to my squad (or Anton's) for clarification. Like I said before, the more experience I get at shooting matches, the more clear it is to me that it is the shooter's responsibility to make sure they're safe, following the rules, etc. Thanks for being such a good sport about it; I really appreciate it!

So does this mean that our penalties will be removed? ;-]

Just kidding, but thanks for the clarification. I think in our squad it was assumed that because the plates were numbered, they were to be shot in that order.

Doug K

 

[Cowboy1629]

WOW... Sounds like I missed a lot of fun. Didn't realize you could shoot from under cover since I have never been there before. It was raining pretty good here and I decided I didn't want to stand out in the rain and shoot my gun so the wife and her family drug me out to the bowling alley with them that night. Been about 25 years since I knocked down pins with a ball. I did ask the manager about old bowling pins and he told me 2 weeks ago they just replaced all of their pins and threw their old ones in the dumpster. Needless to say I was disappointed but now the manager has my name and number for the next replacement set!

Hopefully I can make it over there and shoot a match with you guys this year but it's looking like May before I have a Friday night off again.

 

[Bob45]

What are the typical ranges and size of the plates? This looks like a lot of fun