Dealing w/ down time during matches

Status
Not open for further replies.
1

10-Ring

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
12,035
Location
California
Today was the worst in terms of down time I've had to deal with. Now, between stages, I like to top off my mags, get a drink of water or something to eat, make adjustments, go to little gunfighter's room :D , take a nap, rotate tires, & talk to fellow competitors. But today, I ran out of things to do and started to get frustrated between stages.
Are there any tricks anyone can suggest to make the time go faster so I can stay focused?
 
I like to watch other shooters run throught the stages. Gives me a better idea of things that I should do like that shooter, also things not to do like that shooter.

If you're really looking to be busy during the match, try ROing one.
 
At club level matches you are probably doing something wrong if there is that much time on your hands. I'm not working for about 1-2 shooters before me and however long it takes me to reload mags after I shoot. Other than that I am usually running the scorecards or Ro'ing. As I tell the lazy ones, "if you are not taping or re-setting targets you should be." Everyone at a action pistol event should be helping the match run smoother. The real good guys I have shot around do that, they usually RO. The younger grandmasters and junior masters often cop an "I'm too good for that attitude" Not for long. If you want to shoot, you need to help.
 
Last edited:
Not sure what kind of match we are talking about. At IDPA, and IPSC matches I usually tape targets, pick up brass for the shooter, reset the poppers etc. There is only enough time between shooters to do that.
 
Typically, it took our group of 10 shooters about 35-40 minutes per stage give or take 5 minutes for a longer or shorter stage. That, I can deal with NO PROBLEM. What sucked today was the local PD shooters interupting stages and adding to the frustration. Plus, these guys (and gals) weren't the most proficient gun handlers I've ever seen either. 1/2 of the ones I saw had trouble keeping their slow fire shots in the black a 10 yards.
 
I usually BS with other shooters.

The ROs today ran it well and it's nice that our club has dedicated ROs now. There was minimum downtime between stages.

I'm also glad the grass is long and it's muddy so guys arent pickup up their :cuss: brass while others are waiting to shoot.

Problems occur when a group with a short stage runs into a group with a long stage.
 
Talk to the people who are running the match and help redesign stages to have the best minimum manufacturing lead time, cycle time, capacity, and flow rate. Hopefully you will only end up with a small bottleneck after re-planning.

...wait...I've spent waaaay too much time studying operations management this week...I'm gonna go dryfire...
 
Skunk- I have tac-ops management class after I have assualt asset management class :D
 
Cops have priority at Prado, period. It's a public range, it was built as a public range, and it will allways be a public range, so that's the way it is.

Down time? At a local match that means stage design screw-ups or un-equal squading or too, too many newbies on any one squad.

Big matches? Waiting is what it's all about! The last shooter thru has the advantage...
 
I have gone to matches about one fifth the size, and the time was about the same (with half the scenarios, and no PD interruptions, mind you).

I was actually not too troubled with the PD guys qualifying. What was interesting was their gun handling skills (or lack thereof?).

Our squad mixed things up so each person went first or last (didn't work perfectly, 9 people in a squad, 8 stages, but close).

Say what you like, but I was impressed (given my limited experience) with the ROs, the CoFs, and the friendly people. I will be back, no question.

I shoot at Oceanside this sunday (arrive @ 7:30am for 8:00am shoot [bring IDPA card]), and it will be an indoor, 4 stage match. I wonder how it will stand up now that I've seen something I enjoy better...:)
 
You are obviously talking about a pistol sport. There IS no friggin' downtime in Highpower...if you're not shooting or scoring, you're pulling targets!


:D
 
Beorn, say hi to Heyder. If you want more fun than Prado, come up to Apple Valley this Saturday for 4 awesome pistol stages and 2 shotgun stages.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top