Monday Match # 9 Results - March 24, 2014

Here are the Monday Match #9 overall scores as well as the scores for each stage.  We found a spread sheet that automatically calculates the adjusted scores.  It is easy and simple to use and will dramatically cut down on the time we spend scoring.  In addition, it will eliminate potential math errors. Our manual entry method produced a couple of errors for this match that have been corrected in the tables you see below.  The new & improved accurate scores actually caused Tony to move up one place and Gary to drop down one place.

We have given up on the idea of electronic scoring.  It is clearly not worth the time and trouble.  Also, the potential for input errors is very high.  It's not worth the risk.  Now that we have found and can use this spreadsheet, there is no need for onsite electronic scoring.  There are several photos below screen clips of the spreadsheet.

NOTE: The only thing I have not been able to tackle is to have the spreadsheet do the rankings for final adjusted score and for each stage as well.

 Hands in the cabin's kitchen sink, palms touching bottom of sink.  Yep, that's real water in there!

 After running to the nightstand, Cyndy W. opens the draw, loads her pistol and engages 3 cabin robbers in tactical sequence.

 The Most Accurate Shooter in Monday Match # 9 -Michael B.

 Ben T.'s dedication and practice have paid off.  He finished first in Monday Match # 9.  Way to go, Ben!

 Tom B. gets ready to tackle "The Zombie Nightmare."

Tom turned in a really great time running through all those Zombie head shots.

Cyndy W. shooting the Baby Stage.  Match Director John P. looks on.

Monday Match #9 was one of the best Matches of the 2013-2014 Season.  Unfortunately, we haven't had time to produce a more detailed spreadsheet of everyone's results.  Here is the basic data from the match.

Monday Match #9 Stage Designs

Greetings, Dear Friends!  Monday Match #9 will be held at the Forest Road 9235G site.  We communicated with the Forest Service about the 60 bulls and there's a good chance the livestock will have been moved by Monday Morning.  Bear in mind that if the bulls haven't been moo-ved and, if any of them are in our firing radius, we may have to alter or cancel the match as conditions and circumstances warrant.

Tom B. and I had a great time at the Prescott Action Shooters monthly IDPA Match March 22.  PAS has some really, really Great shooters.  The highlight of our day there was meeting Jeff Brown.  That's a long and fun story we will tell in a separate post later today.

Any, we have some new developments for Monday match #9.  First and foremost. Match #9 and the season's final Match #10 (April 7) will be run totally according to IDPA rules.  Concealment garments will be required of all participants.  There will be no re-shoots of any of the stages counted in your final adjusted score.  (If we re-shoot any stage, the re-shoot time will not be counted in the adjusted score.)

The purpose for requiring the concealment garment and using your first shoot of all stages is to mimic a "real" IDPA match.

OK, let's move on to the Stage Designs.

Stage #1 - Thunder Ranch Pucker Test

Our first Stage Design honors Jeff Brown.  Tom and I shot this stage March 22 and it's a real challenge.  We have modified it slightly to accommodate our stage design resources.  These photos will show Jeff's Stage Design and Tom shooting the stage.  Narrative comments are below the photos. (Note that Jeff was the SO when Tom shot this stage.  GREAT STAGE, Jeff, THANKS!)

OK, We will be using Three Metal Heads for this stage.  We will be using our PVC wall structures and "cover" will be indicated by designated survey flagging.  All shots must be taken using strong hand only while holding the flashlight.  When reloading, shooter must retain flashlight by holding with the upper arm of your strong side. Metal heads must be shot until down.  No more than two hits to the non-threat targets will be scored.  T4-6 receive three shots each.  Additional instructions will be provided during the walk-through.

Stage #2 - Utah State IDPA Champsionship Match "Big Cottonwood Cabin Caper."

OK, finally, here it is.  The Real Deal we have talked about since last November.  We will conduct this Stage precisely as it was conducted during the UDPL Match last fall.  Yes, the sink WILL have water in it!

In the UDPL video, this stage shows up at the 3:00 mark.  Watch the video carefully and read the stage scenario below.

 http://youtu.be/LwzvTOj2LpU

Stage #3  UDPL State IDPA Championship Match Stage #1

This is a fun short stage.  It shows up about 21 seconds into the UDPL video.  Between the video, the stage description here and the two photos, you get it, right?

http://youtu.be/LwzvTOj2LpU

Stage #4: UDPL State IDPA Championship Match Stage #9

Here's another simple, fun stage that will be changed slightly for safety reasons.  When we shot this stage in Utah last fall, we thought the shooters were all very close to breaking the 180 degree plane.  We consider that aspect of the original design to be a significant safety issue.  Consequently, the shooter's turning radius will be reduced to fit the geometry of the dry wash in which we conduct this Course of Fire.  This stages shows about the one minute mark in the UDPL video.  Other than the turning radius, everything else will be the same.

http://youtu.be/LwzvTOj2LpU

Stage #5  - The Zombie Nightmare

This is a Monday Match Classic that keeps coming back like, well..A Zombie Nightmare!  You are sleeping and, suddenly, we are awake in a cemetery and you being attacked by brain-eating Zombies.  You look down and, as if by magic, there is a loaded pistol in your hands.  You must walk through the fog and shoot each zombie until you get to a large tombstone ahead.  Beyond the tombstone are the most-feared Midget Zombies.  By magic, once again, a loaded magazine appears on the tombstone just as you must reloaded to engage the Midget Zombies.  All Zombies MUST be shot in the head because, as you know so well, body shots do no harm to Zombies.

Prior to loading and making ready, shooter will place a magazine loaded to 8 rounds (CDP) or 10 rounds (SSP/ESP) on tombstone.
Shooters will load to division capacity.  Shooter will start from P1 in the low ready position with safety off.  At buzzer, shooter will advance toward tombstone, shooting each zombie (T1-T6) once in the head.  Shooter will be at slide lock when reaching the tombstone.  After reloading, shooter will engage four Midget Zombies (T7-T10) with one head shot each.

Note that shots to the body of a zombie count as a miss.  Missed shots will be scored as a miss AND an FTN.

This is a Vickers Stage so you have some extra rounds to try to get your head shots.  Note that in the IDPA rulebook, FTNs may not be assessed in a Limited Vickers Stage.

(4.13. A Failure To Neutralize (FTN) is defined as any scored target without a down zero or down one hit, no matter how many hits are made. A reactive target (steel, reactive polymer, etc.) must react properly to a hit or it is scored as a FTN in addition to applicable points down. A Failure To Neutralize a target adds 5 seconds to the shooter’s score, per infraction. The FTN is not applicable to Limited Vickers scoring or disappearing targets. See rule 6.17 on disappearing targets.) See: http://members.idpa.com/Content/Rules/g0hunysc.eoc.pdf

Each Zombie target in front of the tombstone will have an orange foot fault line.  Shooters must engage each zombie before reaching the target's respective foot fault line.  The foot fault lines are placed to prevent shooters from breaking the 180 degree plane.  We will explain this safety feature in much greater detail during the walk-through.  IDPA cover rules apply at the tombstone.  Procedural penalties will be assessed for breaking foot fault lines and/or improper use of cover.

Stage #3  -

Monday Match 8 Scores

We ran short on time after the last Monday Match on March 17th.  All we have are the basic scores and Pat's great video of The Schmuck & Son Jewelry Store Robbery.

Here's the video link:  http://youtu.be/FwRnmvfrWjY

Monday Match #8 Stage Designs

Greetings, Dear Friends,  Monday Match #8 is going to have only TWO Stages.  Stage #1 is a "warm up" for Stage #2.  Stage #2 will be shot at least twice.  If time and consensus allow, Stage #2 will be shot three times.

Stage #2 is the Legendary (and some say infamous) "Schmuck & Son Jewelry Store Robbery."  Here is the scenario:

You and your son run a jewelry store.  Each year you have a huge anniversary sale near Saint Patrick's Day.  The sale draws customers from far and wide.  Everyone wants to say they bought their diamonds from a couple of Schmucks.

As usual, there's a huge crush of customers during the first couple of hours. YOu tell your son you need to eat lunch and head down the street to a local diner.  As you approach your store after lunch, you hear screams and gunshots coming from inside your store.  You must take action.

Shooter begins at P1, hands at side.  At the buzzer, shooter runs to store door and uses the LEFT door jam as cover to engage T1 and T2 in the lobby of the store.  After engaging T1 & T2, shooter runs behind counter to the wall and moves along the wall to the hallway corner.  From hallway corner, shooter must engage T3 & T4 at the far end of the hallway.  Shooter then proceeds to Door #2 to engage T5 & T6 inside the room.  Afterwards, shooter runs down hallway to next hallway corner to engage T 7 & T8 in the other hallway.

At this point, the robbery gang leader has escaped from your store with a bag of your best jewelery.  In addition, he has your son as his hostage.  You must save your son and recover your jewels!  If the robber escape across the alley, your son and the jewels are gone. Shooter must cross hallway to the window and engage T9 from window.  Note that T9 is a moving (and traversing) target with a hostage.

All targets (including the moving target) will receive 2 rounds each.  Some targets will be holding hostages.  FTNs will be given only is no shot is recorded on paper for any given target.  Otherwise, standard IDPA scoring applies.  Depending on space, safety and stage layout, T1 "MIGHT" be Al's swinger target.  The layout of this stage is notoriously difficult.  It may not be possible to use the swinger but we will try.

Obviously, the round count for this stage is a MINIMUM of 18 rounds.  This is a Vickers Stage so you can shoot as much as you wish.  All shooters will load ALL magazines to 8 to equalize the reloads between SSP, ESP and CDP shooters.  It is highly unlikely that you will shoot more than three magazines in this stage.  However, you should be prepared to use a 4th magazine, even if it is unlikely that you will need it.

Stage #1 is simply a warm up to remind each shooter of how to properly use cover according to IDPA rules.
We are going to be very strict on giving procedural penalties for improper use of cover on Stage #2.  We will NOT be giving procedurals for improper use of cover on Stage #1 as it is a "skills refresher" stage.  Stage #1 will be timed and included in your match score.  Here is how stage #1 will work.

Shooter will have two mags loaded to four rounds each.  At the buzzer, shooter will advance to cover and engage T1 with 2 rounds from the left and then T2 with two rounds from the right of cover.  Shooter will reload from slide lock and engage T1 and T2 with two more round in the same sequence as above for a total of 8 rounds (Limited Vickers). Stage #1 should move very quickly so that we will maximize our available time to devote to Stage #2.

We will have a slight change in the scoring procedures for this Monday Match.  ALL of your times on Stage #2 will be included in your score, not just your best time as we normally have done in the past.  This is the equivalent of using each shooter's overall average time for Stage #2 instead of their fastest time as we ordinarily do with reshoots.

It takes quite some time to run each shooter through Stage #2 so that's why there are no other stages for this Monday Match.  This is the only time we will be shooting the Schmuck & Son Jewelry Store Robbery this season so we intend to wring out as much fun as possible for this stage.  Those of you who have shot it know just how much fun it is.  Those who haven't shot it are in for a real treat.

As of Friday, March 14, we were able to set up the traversing target and verify that we have enough parts to create the simulated jewelry store.  We will fully set up the store layout to provide additional verification that we are able to do so prior to Monday.

Please be on time for the Safety Orientation at 9:50 am.  We will be shooting at the Donga Din Dry Wash Site, NOT off of the Beaverhead Road.

Note that if we shoot Stage #2 three times, the round count for this Monday Match could easily be at least 62 rounds and possibly much higher, depending on your accuracy.  Please let me know if anyone has "ammo availability" issues.

Here are photos of the traversing target taken Friday afternoon.  It's been 15 months since we last set it up so we were gratified to know we could remember how all the parts worked together.

(Yes, this is an excessive number of photos but we included them all here so anyone who comes early to help set up will fully understand how this structure is assembled and laid out.  The distance between the poles is 7 yards.)

Here is a blog post from early January 2013, that includes a video of the traversing target in action.

http://montezumamarkmen.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-moving-target.html