MD Notes for August 4th Match

The Montezuma Marksmen (MM) IDPA Club #633280 is back in action at the SEIPS Range near Idaho Falls August 4th.  We are very grateful to SEIPS for making it possible to stage a MM Match this summer.

Match Attendance

So far, there are five participants signed on for the Tuesday morning match.  As our Arizona MM's know, we will stage a match for as few as two people.  Large attendance is not a defining prerequisite for conducting an IDPA Match.  In fact, we prefer smaller rosters.  Generally, we'd prefer a max roster of 14 shooters in two squads.  We have been known to allow up to 16 but less is better in our perspective.

We sent out ten invitations to this match.  Four people signed up almost immediately.  Three others sent a note saying they could not attend.  That leaves four folks who haven't replied one way or another.  Happily, we feel a match with five people is a delightful number of shooters that makes for a fun event.

Since this is our first match conducted here in Idaho, we are starting small with a low round count of only 35.  If the participants want to reshoot their favorite stage, the round count will be higher.  One stage has a round count of 2 while another has a round count of six.

Match Exercises

Generally, we try to design Matches with Stage Designs that inherently contain practical/tactical shooting exercises.  In this particular match, we are mixing long shots with single hand shooting, as well as single hand shooting on the move.  Neither of these exercises gets very much play in a typical IDPA Match.  We feel they are important skills and tend to include them in a fairly regular rotation.

Sixty percent of the shots in this match are single hand.  Twenty six percent of the match shots are single hand shooting while moving.  In addition, 23% of the match shots are long shots.

And just so you know, it is legal to have two 25 yard targets in a match.  IDPA rules state:

6.7. Seventy-five percent (75%) of all shots required in a match must be fifteen (15) yards or less. No shots longer than twenty-five (25) yards may be required in scenario stages. 35-yard shots are only allowed in standard stages and limited to 6 rounds per stage.

So, as long as we fit with the 75% rule, we can have more than one 25 yard target.  In Tuesday's Match only 8 rounds are fired at the 25 yard targets.  That means 77% of the Match rounds are fired at targets 15 yards or less.

A Brand New Stage 

New York State Trooper Jay Cook

The two-shot stage is brand new and it's called "No Sweat."  We might rename it "Cooking." We're hoping to perfect this particular stage and make it part of the regular match rotation.  It honors New York State Trooper Jay Cook, who took down the prison escapee this summer.  It was a classic one-on-one incident that required a cool head and an accurate shot on the part of the trooper.  Although the escapee was not an assailant in the typical IDPA context, the incident embodies important elements of a successful IDPA stage.  First, it was a high stress, win or lose moment in time.  Second, it was a long distance shot with mere seconds remaining until the high value target disappeared.  Third, the shot required training, discipline and focus, all of which are fundamental to a typical IDPA Stage.

In other to get the heart rate and some of the adrenalin factors activated for this stage, shooters are required to sprint 10 yards from P1 before arriving at the actual P2 shooting position. At the shooting position, they may only take two shots.  If they are satisfied with their two shots their stage ends at that point.  If they feel compelled to take more shots, those shots must be taken on the move but within a 5 yard zone in front of P2.

Since the target will be set 25 yards from P2, any shots on the move will be at a distance greater than 20 yards.  Shooting out to 20 yards while moving is definitely a real challenge.  The shooter has to balance time and accuracy while at P2. If the shooter hurries his shots at P2 in order to have a lower time, he risks missing the target entirely.  If he slows down to attempt to carefully place his shots, he risks running up the clock.  Even though this stage is technically only a two shots stage, there are plenty of "head games" at play in the stage.  It's going to be very interesting to see how the stage evolves in the hands of real shooters.

An Oldie But A Goodie

The Texas Good Ol' Boy Stage is one of our favorites.  It gets tweaked every time we use it.  This time is no exception.  We've built a better TV; acquired a real nice old folding chair; added a beer; and created a brand new window, too.  The window is going to be far more challenging than our previous windows.  In fact, we'd now rate this Stage as "Difficult" rather than previous rating of "Moderate."

Texas Good Ol' Boy Vic Stacy

We have also changed the Stage description to attempt to equalize the time spent during the first visit to the window.  We found a much better gun box that our other versions.  Hopefully, all the changes will help vault The Texas Good Ol' Boy into the next dimension.

This will be perhaps the 5th or 6th time we have shot a version of this stage.  It is based upon a very sad but very true story.  The Texan was using a .357 revolver, presumably a long barrel pistol.  We have, of course, had to adapt the stage to suit modern IDPA rules.  We've also had to compromise the original target distance from 55 yards down to 25 yards.  However, the Stage retains much of its original challenge, especially with a short barrel automatic pistol.

Inherent in this Stage Design is a timeless question: "What would you do?"  Would you pull out a seldom-used long-barrel revolver to attempt a 55 yard shot?

The Wicked Standards Stage

A easy variant of Bruce's from 2008.

We can't take credit for naming this Stage.  We first saw the Stage at the Idaho State Championship Match in Parma last fall.  Over there it was called "Bruce's Wicked Standards Stage."  We were clobbered in that match and did terrible.  Bright spots were few and far between.  Fortunately, we did very well in the Wicked Standards Stage.  We actually spent a couple hundred rounds practicing it prior to the Match.  We wound up being one of only nine people who shot it with zero points down. Yes, that qualified as one of the VERY few bright spots in that dismal match.

Anyway, as is so often the case, one Stage Designer will take ideas from someone else's Stage Design and mix and modify and create a brand new Stage.  That's the only way you can put your name on a Stage.  You simply can't rob another guy's design and call it your own.  No, no, NO!  It don't work that way in IDPA.

Anyway, John's Wicked Standards Stage is WAAAAY out ahead of Bruce's.  If fact, it's not just wicked, it's diabolical!  It's mean.  It's devious.  Yes, all of that and more.  I seriously doubt I will be able to shoot this one Down Zero.  There will probably be more Mike's on this Stage than there are Mike's living in Idaho Falls!

Even though it isn't really required to include a Standards Stage in a Tier 1 Match, we always do so anyway.  You can get away with a lot of crazy stuff in a Standards Stage that would NEVER fly in a scenario stage.  I think that's the appeal to Stage Designers--it helps them let loose their Crazy Stage Designer side!

The Gold Standard

The "Take It To The Bank" stage is a variation of a very common IDPA Stage Design typically called "The Courier."  In most variations of "The Courier," you are, well....a Courier!  And you are carrying something important from Place A to Place B.  Naturally, the Bad Guys attack you and attempt to take whatever it is that you are transporting.

We like the fundamental elements of the Courier and we've done five variations of the theme since 2011.  This represents a brand new variation we've never tried before.  Instead of working for The Man, you are actually "working" for yourself, taking a fat gold bar to convert it for cash so you can buy more guns and Montana Gold Bullets.

We even got a vintage lunch box and actually filled it with the precise weight to mimic a 100 ounce bar of gold (plus the tare weight of the lunch box, of course).  Now, in an IDPA Match, single hand shooting is fraught with peril.  It's ALL TOO EASY to sweep your non-shooting hand.  That's why whenever we are doing extensive single hand shooting, we always "occupy" the non-shooting hand with something to keep it out of the way.

What could possibly be better than a 100-ounce bar of gold?  Since you are required to keep the gold in your possession at all times, your non-shooting hand is, by definition: S-A-F-E!  Normally, in "The Courier," there is a mix of shooting and the targets typically get 2 rounds each with some possibly getting 3 rounds.  Sometimes there are hostages, etc. etc.  We kept this one clean and simple with a single shot to each target so that pistols from all Divisions except BUG & REVO could be on equal footing from the "git go."

Now the biggest trick to this stage is very easy to see.  Since you have only one shot per target...and since you are shooting single hand...and since you are shooting from around cover...and since you are shooting while moving...said targets are going to be very difficult to hit with only one shot!  Bear in mind FTNs apply to each target in this stage.  Oh, my, how we can see the FTN-O-Meter spinning crazily on this one!

Scoring

We will be doing paper scoring on a score sheet designed by the Dallas-area IDPA.  It's a heck of a lot easier to use than the score sheets used at SEIPS IDPA matches.  We take the paper scores home and then enter them into Practiscore.  That way we can provide a nice and tidy score summary for you.  Yes, it takes extra time but it is a very efficient way to manage the scoring.  Also, Practiscore does all the math so we know the final tallies are added correctly.  (This presumes the initial data input was correct, of course.)

Well, that's about all the MD Notes we can think of at this time.  There will be at least one additional email sent out Monday afternoon.  Thanks for reading.

Any garden variety Android tablet works great with Practiscore.  Of course, you can't use any garden variety Android tablet in direct sunlight but that's not an issue if you use it only for data entry at home.