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- Dec 7, 2005
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I loved the match and appreciate the effort required to put it on. I do have one suggestion: use good old falling plates on the long range event rather than automated devices. I shot on the last squad and the final shooters had only two 300 yd targets; the 200yd resetting plates had died. High power rifles and mechanical devices just don't seem to get along very well.
PS I have another suggestion. Time was of the essence as this was a long match requiring a lot of rounds. Back-ups are inevitable but some can be avoided. I observed one shooter disassemble his AR during a course of fire (the RO helped him, which I thought was fine idea at the time) and then continued through the course, only to be plagued by more jams and delays. This poor guy spent over 10 minutes on a course of fire that should have taken less than a minute. Is there some way to limit delays such as this? Perhaps an overall time limit, very generous of course.
Thanks for the input. It helps us to keep the matches fun when we get good feedback.
On the 300 yard stage, we can't use any targets that require traveling downrange to re-set. The lost travel time adds up quickly and the stage is unworkable. Having said that, we are indeed working on getting some newer targets that will be adequately durable and self-resetting. (On the flip side, the 200 yard resetting plates have been through two rifle matches and an Area 7 3-Gun match, so they've seen perhaps 800+ whacks each. I guess we should have been planning for a failure and been prepared.)
Regarding repairs during a course of fire, the USPSA rules restrict competitors to 2 minutes of repair time after the start signal. At an Area match, we'd follow this strictly because those are the rules. At monthly matches, we try to keep the whole world happy and smiling, ... and usually end up wrankling everybody. It sounds like we should have given that competitor the opportunity to take his rifle to life-support while the squad continued shooting.
If you're talking about Rich Frazier, the rifle had a stuck case and we didn't know if it was live or not; then once it was out of the gun, he might as well finish the course. Stuck cases are always a logistical nightmare during matches. You just hate sending a guy to the safety table with a live round in the chamber.