Saturday, July 21, 2007

CCS Tournament - Day 1 (Major Match Blues)

We just shot the first day of the two-day Columbia Cascade Section (Oregon) Tournament. I feel like the old Henny Youngman joke: "I just flew in from Vegas, and Boy! My wings are tired!"

This is a 12-stage match, presented in 10 bays. Three stages are presented in one bay - they are quick, short stages (two 8-round, one 6-round) on which I presume each competitor shoots all 3 stages, back to back to back. Or side to side to side, as it were. I'll have pictures tomorrow. We -- the truncated (9-person) "Usual Suspects" squad -- didn't shoot that bay.

The arrangement was that we shoot 7 stages Saturday, then Sunday shoot the remaining 5 stages. Then there's a free BBQ. I assume that means we have to eat ribs. I hate ribs. I hope they have Kielbasa, but that's probably too much to ask. I'm not a big BBQ fan, which is surprising because I'm a carnivore. Nothing green, please. My friends and family have horrified me with tales of dying a nutrient starved early death for the past 60+ years. I'm still waiting.


We were the 5th squad, so we started out of Bay 5, which held a 32 round stage with two Texas Star targets. Then we went to the Bay 6 and shot another 32 round stage after waiting 20 minutes for the squad before us to clear the stage.

In fact, Bay 7, Bay 8, Bay 9 and Bay 10 also featured 32-round stages, at which we had to wait 20 minutes (more or less) for the previous squad to finish. They had 12 people, and they had 'issues'.

These are The Big Bays at Tri-County Gun Club. Most of them are 20-30 yards wide and 50 yards deep, and the match administration chose to fill most of them from berm to berm and from front to back of the bay. This made for a LOT of walking whether you're shooting, RO-ing, taping or setting steel. By 2pm we were on Bay 10 and my feet were absolutely killing me. I sat on my butt for most of the stage, but with only 9 people in the squad there aren't that many warm bodies to work the stage so I only got to sit down for 4 shooters, and I taped the 'close' targets for 3 of them.


It was an overcast, warm day which should have been perfect shooting weather. Unfortunately, it has rained the past 3 days in Oregon, not hard but daily, so while gravelled bays were not soggy the atmosphere was very humid. I had worn a light long-sleeve shirt under a golf shirt, but I went to my car and changed into a tee shirt for the rest of the match in an attempt to alleviate the effects of the muggy air. There were two 10-minute showers, not what Oregonians call "Rain" but enough that we were more comfortable putting on a light jacket to keep from getting too soaked. After the rain quit, the ground and the people steamed until the worst of the moisture in shirts and pants had evaporated. But you had to keep moving, because to stand still was to create your own personal climate which reminded me uncomfortably of my sojurn at Fort Benning in 1969. It wasn't quite like breathing through damp cotton, and certainly better than the burning summer sun and 90-plus degree temperature we usually expect this time of year, but it was enough for Fat Old Men like me to feel our age.

Our last stage of the day was a 16-round 'almost-hoser' stage stage, which completed my personal downfall. My gun didn't clear the USA holster ... first time in a long while I've had problems with the draw ... and I had a 2-second feeding jam that I still haven't figured out.

The earlier stages in the day were satisfactory for me. I was shooting B-class scores in B-class times, which wasn't enough to win anything but at least I could hold my head up. In the later stages, though, I seemed plagued with every kind of silly little problem I would never have expected. In one stage I blew past a long-distance target. In the Fixed Time stage, my last of four strings ended prematurely when my weak-hand string ended with a !Click! instead of a !Bang! I pulled the cartridge, and it had no primer. I assume it was old brass with an expanded primer pocket, and the primer just fell out of the case while I was shooting the stage.

It could have been much worse. It could have happened on the first round of the string, rather than the last.

We were the LAST squad off the range today. In a 250-round match, we had shot all six 32-round stages (with waits between stages), and a 16 round stage for nearly 200 rounds total. By my count, we will have about 53 rounds to shoot tomorrow, and then we get to wait for the BBQ to be set up. I'll have something to look forward to, while I'm waiting.

This monologue is pretty depressing, isn't it? Nobody likes to hear a cry-baby. But it does me good to get it out of my system, and if I can't tell you ... who can I tell?

GOOD Things!


Actually, so far I very much enjoyed the match despite my personal tribulations.


The 32-round stages were varied, and gave us the opportunity to play hard and long. The first two were pretty much hoser stages, if you ignore that one started out with a string of 8 poppers and two Texas Star arrays. Another was all paper, set up so you could run the whole vertical envelopment without stopping. Another had an inventive mixture of 50-yard and in-your-face paper targets. Still another had you backing up
for the first five paper targets, then running madly downrange to shoot mixed paper and steel on one side, then running to the other side to shoot a mirror-image misture, with a bobber in the center to keep you honest.


The Fixed Time stage had four strings shooting 2 rounds each at 3 targets: six rounds free-style at 50 yards; the same at 40 yards with a reload in the middle; six rounds strong hand at 30 yards, and six rounds 'support hand' at 20 rounds. Par time was 6 seconds. I finished the reload-string at 6.30 seconds, just 1/100 second under the overtime-shot cut-off. I was smug, and although it was pure luck it took the sting out of the disappointment of the primerless-cartridge at the end of the 4th string.

The stage we finished on (Stage 1, Bay 1 - "Vegas Windows") had you start from a box with a holstered, unloaded gun. Two paper targets visible from the box, one was mostly covered except for the B-zone by a penalty target. Through a port on the left were 2 paper, one Pepper Popper. Same through the port on the right, except there was one more paper target to make it a 16-round stage.

The good news is, I did everything right: instead of loading and engaging the obvious targets from the starting box, I use the move-to-the-left-port time to load, took the middle targets with only a moments hesitation for the B-zone target, and hosed the right port targets. But because of the poor draw, and the jam, I got a less than impressive time. The good news was, I provided sight-gag for my squad.

Here's the funny thing. I spend the month of June having gun problems which turned out to be my own fault because I didn't lubricate the pistol adequately, despite my proclaimed advocacy of "if a little oil is good, more is better". I finally got that worked out the last month of June.

Then for the first three weeks of July I didn't shoot a single round. Instead, I've been watching Multi-gun matches and writing about them and publishing photos and videos.

Now I finally get a chance to shoot a match, and the gun works (usually), and I'm so out of shape that I don't have the stamina to bear up under 7 stages in one day.

Ironic, isn't it?

The funniest thing is, I was cleaning and OILING THE BEJIMEZE out of the pistol in preparation for the match, and I had the barrel in the slide and the recoil-spring assembly installed before I realized I hadn't installed the firing pin and spring back into the slide.

Imagine if I had started my first 32-round stage, and realized on the first trigger-pull that I had no firing pin?

Now, THAT would have been funny.

__________________________


So that it will not appear that the "Usual Suspects" squad is infested with a Bad Attitude, I offer this vidoe of our last stage, "Vegas Windows".

If it is not obvious to the viewer, we're old and tired but still having a good time.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Henning Wallgren Shoots Guns

I've never seen him shoot, but Henning is my New Hero.

I tripped over his internet website a few months ago, and linked to it on my sidebar.

Today I found his website for the 2007 Rocky Mountain 300 and fixated on the videos he presented.

(Check out the "Shoot-Off" videos.)

Then I looked at the videos on his 2007 Double Tap Championships.

This is a guy who knows how to follow the shooter closely when he's taking videos, and as a 'video blogger' I appreciate his ability to get 'in your face' (or 'in the back of your head') priorities.


I encourage you to go to the website(s) and look at the videos. Note that some of the videos of the Double Tap match don't download, which is a technical glitch and shouldn't reflect on the host ... but I wish he would clean it up. Also note that a stage which is said to feature Local Hero Yong Lee is either miss-named, or Yong Lee has scrawnied up a bit since I last saw him a couple of months ago. Okay, it's true what they say about the camera taking weight off you. And, he sure shoots like Yong Lee.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Columbia Cascade Section Tournament

The CCS Section Match is scheduled for July 21-22, 2007.

Today is Wednesday, July 18, 2007. SWMBO is out of town this weekend, my gun ain't been running right (poor maintenance -- my bad), I'm low on ammunition/time/cash, and I HATE lost-brass matches which this promises to be.

I haven't shot an IPSC match in a month, even though I've been to two shooting matches where I did nothing but wander around and take pictures of people who WERE shooting.

Two days before the match, I decide it's worth it to drive the 60-miles each way, two days straight (total gas price: about $40), pay the $90 match fee, write off $50 worth of brass and catch the match.

I owe it to myself. Besides, it's either spend the weekend shooting or spend two days wearing my Regulation Blogger Pajamas and smoking too much while I bore all of you by writing too much.

A few minutes ago I sent an email with an application to CCS Treasurer John "Big Dawg" Weil, begging him to accept my promise of a check ($90, with the late fee) when I show up at the stats shack at the Tri County Gun Club on Saturday Morning ... I wonder if I can drive there from Corvallis before 8am without SWMBO to urge me to get out of the house on time? She's going to be out of town this weekend, and I'm at a total loss without her. On the bright side, if she's not going to be around, I can stop by her house and steal all the good stuff out of her shooting bag (lots of extra magazines) on my way out of town. Now, if she hasn't locked it all into her Gun Safe I might have enough mags to handle all the 32 round stages and the THREE low-round-count stages on Bay Four.

Actually, looking at the squad lists there are three short squads I might get hooked up with. I can shoot with Big Dawg, or I can shoot with Bruce Gary and a bunch of Local Heroes, or I can shoot with Higbie (who's always good for a laugh, as long as he doesn't get excited and have another freaking heart attack. You know the joke: "Shoot the stage, drag Higbie ...") He looked pretty good when he was RO-ing the R&R Racing Multigun Challenge match at ARPC last weekend, though, so maybe he's good for another match as a competitor.

Heck, maybe Bill Salberg will show up. He's a Spokane boy, and I haven't shot with him since we were together at the TCGC Club Match in June, where he did the "Rodeo Queen Wave" when he fell down on Stage 6. He looked funny, one hand in the gravel and the other hand waving his pistol in the air trying to get up. I could squad with him and maybe get some good video as he tries to swim through an ocean of little tiny rocks, if I'm not so distracted by the performance that I forget to point the camera at him ... as happened LAST time.

It'll be nice to actually SHOOT on a weekend. It has been raining in Oregon for the past couple of days, and the weatherman at weather.com forecasts showers and 70 degrees. Perfect Oregon shooting weather. Not too hot, the rain will keep the dust down and maybe it will discomfort somebody else more than it will me. Hmmmm ... I need to remember to wear my boots and bring a light rain jacket.

Oh wait. Everybody there will be from the Pacific NorthWest, they'll all be accustomed to shooting in the rain. No wonder the match has over 70 people signed up, which isn't bad for a Section match.

Never mind. At least I know how to spell everyone's name, I can actually SHOOT for a change, and maybe I'll even get some interesting pictures to spend next week editing and posting here, and on the video gallery.

And there's a stage with two Texas Star targets ... maybe even an Evil Oregon Star, who knows? Something to look forward to.

Watch this space.

Excuse me, I have to go load ammunition for the weekend.

{sigh} I've missed that.

R&R Racing: Stage 5 - "The Corridor"

Featuring a long walk down a narrow alley engaging shotgun targets (including 'flippers', which launch Clay Pigeons straight into the air), then a rush to pick up a rifle at the end of the corridor to engage a plethora of "Metric" targets, this stage challenges the shooter at every step.

The early shotgun targets are monolithic, until the US Poppers begin flinging hunter-orange pigeons. These are NOT "extra credit" targets; if you miss them, you add precious seconds to your stage time.

At a crook in the corridor, the competitor is obliged to discontinue shooting the shotgun.

(Note: a painted white line on a gravel surface does NOT constitute a legal Fault Line. Nobody had a problem knowing when they could no longer engage shotgun targets, though, because the 'fault line' was sited at the bend in "The Corridor". This "Box B" was carefully delineated by brightly painted 2x4 boards.)

After depositing the shotgun in a box, the shooter was free to pick up his rifle and engage all rifle targets as they became visible ... which involved a lot of backing up. Although the shooter never moved downrange of the grounded shotgun, some competitors decided that they had to 'safe' the shotgun by unloading it. This is probably a good illustration of "World Series Nerves", as is often seen in the most important baseball games which are characterized by the most awkward errors in judgement of the competitive season.

I was able to watch only two shooters on this stage: Phil Brodahl (a "local hero" and winner of the Heavy Metal Division" and Ryan Richardson, who is unknown to me. I was impressed by their aggressive approach to the stage. You will be too, when you watch the video.

Monday, July 16, 2007

R&R Racing - Match Results

To those of you among the 62 competitors in this most excellent match ... congratulations! Chauncey Gardener gives you the greatest possible accolade.

You were fun to watch!

The results are available on the "NW Challenge Home" page (although by match day, it had been changed to the "R&R Racing Multigun" match.)

Here's a quick summary for those of you who hate to click on links:

OVERALL AGGREGATE
: Top Ten

  1. Taran Butler (TO)
  2. Robert Johnson (O)
  3. Chuck Anderson (TO)
  4. Chuck Mahoney (TO)
  5. Beven Grams (O)
  6. Trevor Ott (TO)
  7. Larry Lebeau (O)
  8. Gary Purcell (TO)
  9. Scott Hawkins (TO)
  10. Gordon Baladad (TO)
Top Open (O):
Robert Johnson

Top Tactical Iron Sights (TI):
Kirk Jameson

Top Tactical Optical (TO):
Taran Butler

Top Heavy Metal (HM):
Phil Brodahl

STAGES:


  1. Lined Up and Ready 2 Roll (Rifle, Shotgun)
  2. 4X4X4 and More (Rifle, Shotgun)
  3. Mr. Beal's Best (Pistol, Shotgun)
  4. Rock Around the Croc (Pistol, Shotgun)
  5. The Corridor (Shotgun, Rifle)
  6. 4's A Crowd (Shotgun, Pistol)
  7. Breaching Doors (Shotgun, Rifle)
  8. Crazy Zebras (Pistol, Rifle)
  9. Stalled in Stalingrad (Pistol, Rifle)
  10. Survivor II: The Maze (Rifle, Pistol)
Note that (a) the weapons are entered in the sequence in which they were used; (b) two guns ... no more, no less ... were used on every stage; (c) Stage 1 (the long-range rifle) had a 180-second time limit, perhaps as a response to the 10+ minute runs on the Area 1 Multigun long-range rifle stage; (d) Scoring was 'tactical', in that the time is the raw score and penalty seconds are added for errors; (e) I have some excellent videos and still photos taken during this match; (f) I have NO photos or stills of Stage 8 -- Crazy Zebras -- for the reason that I never found a squad on the stage when I walked past it; (g) these pictures and videos are being loaded to Jerry the Geek's Video Shooting Gallery and eventually ALMOST all of them will appear.

FeedBack:
If you shot the match, I strongly encourage you to join competitor Joe Durnbaugh in contribution to the Feed-Back Page for this match. (This is a feature you won't see at most IPSC/USPSA matches.)

Impressions:

The most visually interesting stage (from the viewpoint of the spectator) was Stage 7: "Breaching Doors". Hands down, no contest, this was a blast to watch. I've already posted videos of Taran Butler, Chuck Anderson and Beven Grams in the article "Super-Size It", and the Klein boys (Grandfather Jeff, son Jason and grandson Jacob) in "The Klein Family". I'm always pleased to see evidence that this is indeed a Family Sport, but when you get three generations in one squad it's something between A Real Treat To Watch and an affirmation of my personal bias.

There's more than one reason why I didn't get film of Stage 8: "Crazy Zebras". I hated that stage when I first shot it as a pistol-only stage in the 2005 Crazy Croc Match, and I admit I didn't make any special effort to find a squad on the stage during the R&R Racing match. It's an excellent, very challenging stage but one can only take so many targets with the C/D zones almost entirely masked out. In this stage, there were 30 of them.

ARRGGGGHHHHHH!

Stage 1 and Stage 2 were rifle/shotgun stages, which combined the agonizing combination of slow long-range rifle shooting and slow shotgun reloading.


I know, I know, the challenge to high-round-count shotgun stages is not quite so much the actual shooting as it is the ability to reload quickly and the 'don't-miss-because-it-will-cost-you-reload-time' factor. There were a LOT of stages with shotguns -- seven out of ten. I spent a lot of time watching people reload their shotgun, and I often caught myself sub-vocalizing "come on, come on, hurry up, hurry up!" during the reload part. Some of the reload were amazingly well timed and executed, and I was impressed. But I also saw a lot of people passing up targets because the miss penalty just wasn't worth the time it took to reload ... or at least they seemed to think so.

For comparison, there were 5 stages requiring use of a pistol, and 8 stages requiring use of a rifle.

SCORING:

I talked to Bob Higbie, RO of Stage 9. He explained to me that the scores were based on target 'neutralization', and time. Paper targets which had at least one hit in the A-zone were considered neutralized, but if they had two hits anywhere in a scoring zone they were considered neutralized. Misses, targets not neutralized and penalties added time to your score. The lowest time won the stage.


Match Staff:

No description of a match would be complete without mention of the people who actually worked the match. I know I won't be able to mention all of the workers, and for those many who I seem to slight, I apologize. I just want to mention a few people I actually watched and spoke to.

Brent Reddeway worked the Area 1 three-gun two weeks ago, last week he took his wife to visit family in The Dakotas, and the next Monday morning he showed up at the range to help set up the stages ... at least one day, he was the only one available to assist MD Bobby Wright. Then he worked Stage 10 with only one helper. He has a great tan, and he has lost at least 20 pounds since the last time I saw him.

Steve Shippey, an Albany Rifle and Pistol Club -- ARPC -- member (and President-Elect of the club) worked Stage 5 with NO assistance. He was always cheerful and helpful, but assume this of ALL the RO staff, and especially assume this of "The Shipster" because this is his usual mien. Note also that his website "2alphas" is the host of the match and the site where the stage procedures and match results are located.

Gary Taylor worked Stage 6 all by himself. When Jason Klein had completed Stage 7 with a huge number of feeding problems with both shotgun and rifle, he asked me where he could function test his guns. I dropped back downhill to Gary's stage and asked him if Jason could use his stage (there was nobody on it at the time) for that purpose. Gary replied "Sure, as long as he doesn't shoot any of the targets and as long as you spell my name right".

"T - O - O - L - M - A - N". Hope I got it right, Gary, and thanks for making us all look good to our visitors.

Bill Salberg worked the most complicated and difficult short-range stage (Stage 7) with one helper, whose name I unfortunately didn't catch. Sorry. He dealt with difficult, hot, tired competitors in his usual cheery manner and fixed an over-taxed 'breach-door' with the loan of a Leatherman between shooters with no delay in the stage. He handled busted targets, competitor controversy (see Bevin Grams in "Super Size It") and probably gave at least one too many re-shoots when he thought it was justified. Between squads, he offered to loan me his guns and ammunition and gear to shoot the stage "just for fun", and I was too chicken to take him up on his generous offer. I was afraid I would like it too much, and right now I just can't afford to start 3-gun competition with an STI pistol, a Mossberg 590 and a WWII Garand. I know I would be out buying guns, dies, bullets and cases within the week. But thanks anyway, Bill.

Bill lost his father last week to an extended bout with Cancer, but he never let it show.

Mike "Mac" McCarter, past president of ARPC, current Executive Director, Director of the IPSC discipline, and candidate for USPSA President (and if there is a God in heaven, he will win the race for the good of USPSA) spent a lot of days in the sun for this match. A tireless worker, a strong leader, and the best John Deere Tractor driver in the county, this former nurseryman not only keeps the club facilities in top shape 3 days a week but even brought in a small grove of potted trees to decorate the North Range road. He hauled water to the shooting bays, and performed whatever dirty little job was needed to make the match run smoothly.

Heidi Salman and Ed Dailey worked the stats shack. Heidi (I didn't recognize her without a gun in her holster) was Stats Mistress, and Ed willingly and cheerfully performed any other chores needed ... if you ate lunch at the match, credit Ed. He sorted the lunch orders, made sure they got where they needed to be when you were hungry.

When I showed up at the match at 9am my first stop was the Stats Shack. My slightest request for assistance was cheerfully and willingly obliged. Heidi printed out a competitor list and stage & squad schedules while Ed printed out the stage descriptions (all of which I have used to write this article). They did ALL of this while I was eating my breakfast at a table in the Stats Shack and writing the stage numbers, bays and names in my notebook. Without their help I couldn't have kept track of who shot which stage when, their names (including correct spelling) and which photo/video related to which competitor.

Robert Johnson is "The Other R" in "R&R Racing". He spent most of his time during the match on his four-wheel ATV running stage score-sheets between the bays and the Stats Shack for Heidi and Ed, and the rest of the time responding to the RO radio net and making sure that the match ran smoothly. During the staff match (Thursday and Friday), he also won Open Division and Second Overall.


Match Director Bobby Wright spend the last couple of months planning, coordinating, designing stages, building stages, finding sponsors for a $30,000 prize table (doubtless with the assistance of CCS Section Competition Director Chuck Anderson) and improvising new props. If you liked the "Breaching" door, you can thank Bobby. As far as I know, this was entirely his original design. I looked for it on the R&R Website and couldn't find it. Bobby, you have got to get this on the market. I predict that it will be a popular prop for future Multi-Gun and 3-gun matches.

Bobby ("Robert?") spent his match driving the Dragon-Mo-Bile back and forth at great speed, usually with either daughter Kaitlyn or son Jesse hanging on and trying not to laugh with glee. his wife, Lili, was all over the range helping get score-sheets to Heidi and Ed and handling such other administrative chores as they came up.

He even found time to shoot the RO Match. Well, maybe a LITTLE time. According to the Aggregat Scores, this Master-Class competitor came in next to last; he didn't have time to shoot 6 of the 10 stages.

Dead last shooter? Heidi ... she only found time to shoot ONE of the 10 stages.

That's what I call dedication.

For what it's worth: if only because of the stage designs I consider this match to be not only better than the Area 1 Multigun match last week, but even better than the USPSA Multigun Match last year at ARPC.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

R&R Racing Stage 7: Super-Size it!

Those of you who have watched the videos in the previous post may be under the impression that it illustrates the ability of lesser competitors to fail the challenges of new props and targets.

Not at all! Even the very best competitors can screw up a stage, especially when the targets (including those which offer no point-value for hits, such as the door locks on this stage) are entirely new to us.

In the included video, Taran Butler manages a new-definitive example of how to shoot this stage ... if cautiously (which may be the best approach).

Chuck Anderson follows his example, taking his time on the new stuff (and, like Butler, may eschew the extra point-value of the Clay Pidgeon launched by the 'flipper' US Popper) to the advantage of loading one less round in his shotgun.

The whole point of shotgun stages seems to be minimizing reload time. I find this a depressing commentary on shotgun shooting in Multigun, but I guess it's a sad fact of life and the clever competitor recognizes his limitations.

Beven Grams, on the other hand, takes the bit firmly between his teeth and attempts a 'non-standard' approach to breaching the door. While all other competitors backed off so as to give the shot pattern distance to expand, he bravely advances and puts his shotgun muzzle within inches of the breaching bar -- and misses. Three times.

He learns from this sad experience, and used sufficient distance from the second door to breach it with fewer rounds.


Moving from Shotgun to Rifle, Grams moves aggressively to the middle-distance Rifle-target array and shoots the stuffing out of it ... breaking the sticks supporting the cardboard target and blasting all of the tapes off it. (Although, when watching the video, Grams doesn't seem to engage the targets at a much closer distance than did Butler and Anderson.)

When Range Officer Bill Sahlberg is called upon to score the target, he announces:


Is it neutralized? Hell yes!



However, after the stage scoring is completed and it becomes obvious that the IPSC targets must be replaced, he does take Mr. Grams to task to task and shakes a finger at him. (The ever-indomitable Grams doesn't seem very contrite, which seems reasonable to me. And Sahlberg is clearly admonishing Grams in an entirely joking manner.)

Still, Sahlberg is witnessed to counsel a later competitor thus:

"What Beven did? Don't do it!"
The thing to do is to not restrict close-access to targets by fault lines and careful positioning, of course. Sahlberg knows that, Grams knows, that, and we assume that the stage designer knows it. If we're going to allow shooters to move close enough to a target to blast the tapes off and break the supporting sticks, we must be prepared to live with the consequences when it happens.

Watch all three runs at "Breaching Doors" here, and decide for yourself.

R&R Racing Stage 7: The Klein Family

Stage 7 of the 2007 R&R Racing Multigun Match is called "Breaching Doors".


For this stage, Bobby Wright has created a new stage prop. It's a door frame which must be opened by blasting the lock with a shotgun charge. The competitor must completely sever the locking mechanism (a 1" diameter wooden 'lock') before he is able to continue to the first shooting position.

This stage actually features two doors, so both 'locks' must be 'blasted' open. Sometimes, this works fine. Sometimes, this doesn't work as well as might reasonably be expected.

I watched the match this weekend, and took a lot of pictures and filmed a lot of videos. My attention was focused most often on this entirely new stage design, because it was eminently viewable (the few vision barriers were composed of 'snow fencing', so spectators could see what the competitors were doing at almost every position of the stage).


Also, this new stage prop was cleverly designed to present an unique challenge to the competitor, while making it easy for the stage crew to set up for the next competitor. In fact, it took less time to set up the two 'doors' than it would ordinarily take a stage crew to reset most target activators.

There were ZERO delays on the stage because of the need to reset this prop (twice featured on Stage 7) because of the simple and robust design of the door mechanism. The only delay ... and it lasted no more than a minute ... was when one competitor muscled his way through the door and slightly damaged the opening mechanism. Repairs by Chief Range Officer Bill Sahlberg were simple, intuitive and easy.



While filming this stage, I noticed that three of the competitors were surnamed "Klein". Grandfather Jeff, son Jason and grandson Jacob demonstrated three different approaches to the stage. Unfortunately, Jason experienced many firearm malfunctions ... both with the initiating Shotgun and the follow-up Rifle ... which dramatically extended his stage time.

In the video, you can hear Jacob exclaiming excitedly as his father determinately fights the malfunctions.

And you can see the way the door works.