If you were King.

[g.willikers]

If you were King and could design any kind of shootin' match, what would it be like?
An earlier attempt to engage in a similar conversation on another thread seems to have vanished.
Maybe this forum has a leak somewhere.
Probably needs new O-rings.
Anyhow, without complaints with what exists now, what would that match of yours be like?
One of the very best events that I ever attended had courses of fire from many different sources, all blended for an excellent and challenging match.
So, that's what mine would be like.
Each stage would be at least somewhat different from the others, testing skills from as many different disciplines as could fit into an afternoon.
And they would change with every match, throughout the season.
All pretty much with the same gun or two, to avoid preventing folks from attending just because they don't have a ton of guns.
Anyone want to play?

 

[taliv]

well, i am king, and have designed my own matches before.

right now i'm planning a new style which i call precision multigun. Basically 3gun with precision rifle, carbine and handgun. no stupid shotguns

 

[MrBorland]

I like taliv's idea, though the inclusion of some serious "precision handgun" requirement as well would even the field some.

Each stage would be at least somewhat different from the others, testing skills from as many different disciplines as could fit into an afternoon.
And they would change with every match, throughout the season.

Check out the NRA World Championship course of fire for ideas - 12 stages, many different shooting disciplines. At the local level, the 12 could be broken into 4 matches through the season.

NRA World Shoot CoF:
Stage 1) Cowboy Action
Stage 2) NRA Conventional Bullseye
Stage 3) NRA Bianchi Mover
Stage 4) NRA F-Class
Stage 5) 5-Stand
Stage 6) Double Wobble Trap
Stage 7) .22 Smallbore Standing
Stage 8) 3Gun
Stage 9) USPSA
Stage 10) USCA 2Gun
Stage 11) PRS Long Range Challenge
Stage 12) NRA America's Rifle Match

 

[LocoGringo]

For me, the match already exists...it's just a 33 hour drive away in Parma, ID. I'd love to be able to attend the MGM Ironman. Hopefully, the MGM Ironman East starting in 2016 will be similar to the Parma match.

 

[WestKentucky]

All the matches I have seen have been basically assault matches. I want a defense type match. Picture yourself in some fortified location, you likely are elevated where you can see a good distance so for attacking badguys you will use your long range rifle to score hits on officers to throw the assault into a confused state. This adds difficulty by making you pick and engage targets by importance rather than simply who is moving. Once they break a given barrier say 500 yards you swap to your semiautomatic and lay down a string of fire at the advancing group. At 100 yards you make a break for cover (crawl through a tube or something) and you have your advancing horde in a corridor. 8 or 10 targets moving at you. Your free to choose handgun or shotgun run it til it's empty then swap to the other and empty it.

Most matches are scored on time to complete your assault. This match could be point based. Say 25 points for an officer kill in the long range field, 5 point reduction for every enlisted kill. 15 points for the remaining targets with a 1 point reduction for each target that survives unscathed. 1 bonus point for center mass hits, and in the last stage 2 point bonus for head or heart shots. Magazine limits would have to be set, 5 for long range, 30 for inside 500, 15 for handgun, 7 for shotgun.

The setting would be really cool on this. If you went cowboy style you could have a ghost town setup. If you went modern you could do it in some of the shoot houses on the ranges, and if you went zombie apocalypse you could do it in a dimly lit alley.

 

[Bobson]

I'd love to take part in a shooting competition combined with intense physical activity. It would include pistol and carbine only (or at least have a heavy focus on those two), with shooting "stations" (courses of fire) at various waypoints of a military style obstacle course, along with cross-country running, swimming, and an intense hike or some sort of climbing challenge.

Ideally, it would be scored based on both time and accuracy (not just hit/miss), so as to discourage lollygagging through the course. Total course length would be five miles or so.

I took part in a very similar event, though on a much smaller scale, in February this year. It was the most fun shooting experience I've ever had.

 

[Bobson]

WestKentucky's idea is great, but instead of shooting predetermined courses of fire against paper targets and a clock, I'd love to see a squad-based competition series where simunitions are used in common duty weapons (again, handgun and carbine), and squads are working at completing objectives against each other, or outright elimination. Almost like taking scenario style paintball games a step further.

 

[g.willikers]

Great ideas, all.
Keep 'em coming, please.
Once upon a time, I was lucky enough to fall in with a bunch of dedicated folks who had access to a private range.
One of the responsibilities of the members was to design, set up and run matches in rotation.
The excellent results were like the ideas you all have expressed.
Namely that no two events were alike.
Lots of individual thinking.
Very enjoyable, educational, challenging and enlightening.

 

[taliv]

(mr Borland, your quote attributed to me was from g.willikers)


bobson, look up rifle's only berzerker challenge

 

[MrBorland]

du-oh....I had just finished typing "I like taliv's idea...", and must've had "taliv" on my mind when I used the quote function.

 

[LiveLife]

Sometimes we modified our practice stage setup to make it as challenging as possible (weak hand only, one hand only to rack the slide, left/right hand designated targets, prone/lay on back stage, shoot under cover from prone, shoot through swinging objects/openings, shoot behind cover while having to lean on one foot, no front sight, etc.).

The person who designed our local match liked what we did and incorporated them into the match stages. While many groaned before the "challenging" stages, most were invigorated after the stages because the nontraditional set up forced them to shoot differently than typical "face the target with isosceles and double tap" shooting.

If I was king, I would require all pistol match associations adhere to "qualifier" minimum score on stages that had various shooting situation set ups that tested all aspects of basic shooting principles including weak/one hand, shoot from all positions, point shooting, blind folded shooting, etc.

 

[1911 guy]

My idea of a good time isn't what most other people consider to be a good time. Deliberately induced malfunctions.

I'd opt for a relatively traditional 3-gun style match, but someone else loads your ammo into your magazines. Random empty cases placed throughout the magazine. And the shotgun stage would be replaced with a stage requiring use of both handgun and carbine.

 

[g.willikers]

While many groaned before the "challenging" stages

That's the hard part - overcoming the "can't do that, it ain't in the rules" folks.
When I was a regular at USPSA matches, one fellow showed up for a match with a damaged right arm.
Being the right sort, since he couldn't participate in the match, (or so he thought), he still showed up to help any way he could.
In appreciation we formed up a leftie/support hand only squad for him.
Surprisingly, some of the usually score crazies joined right in.
It was so much fun that we soon added oddball side matches to the regular ones.
Things like all knockdown steel stages with either handgun or shotgun.
.22 stages with head, oops, upper A zone hits only.
And 100 yard pistol targets.
Word got around and attendance got better and better.

 

[Sunray]

Picture yourself in some fortified location and that rat offspring of unmarried parents comes along in his tank and blows you into next year from 1,000 plus yards. snicker.
"...8 or 10 targets moving at you..." Pop up's on a timer. There was one on the PEE event at Second Chance long ago. You had 2 moving targets and a pop up that would only be up for 5 seconds, I think it was. Required 5 rounds only on each. With an SMG.
You don't need to be Royalty to design courses of fire. Most clubs are short of guys who actually do anything but whine about what those who do things are doing.
"...overcoming the..." My match, my rules. Or "There ain't no rules in combat!".
"...showed up to help any way he could...." Give him a free entry at the next match? Surprising how many guys think helping any way he could is beneath them.
Oh and I'm not Royalty, but I have a Queen's Commission.

 

[g.willikers]

The club mentioned used to do just that.
Free match for those who helped set up or take down.
Mostly as a thank you.
It made a difference, though.
One way to get folks to help is to wait until there's enough people arriving, open the storage barn and ask it they'd like to set up the stages or just shoot the targets where they are.

 

[bullzeye8]

I'd love to take part in a shooting competition combined with intense physical activity. It would include pistol and carbine only (or at least have a heavy focus on those two), with shooting "stations" (courses of fire) at various waypoints of a military style obstacle course, along with cross-country running, swimming, and an intense hike or some sort of climbing challenge.

Ideally, it would be scored based on both time and accuracy (not just hit/miss), so as to discourage lollygagging through the course. Total course length would be five miles or so.

I took part in a very similar event, though on a much smaller scale, in February this year. It was the most fun shooting experience I've ever had.

Yeah that would be awesome! Sort of like a scaled down spartan race combined with 2 gun competition(carbine and pistol).

 

[kayak-man]

I've always enjoyed questions like this. I can't speak for a whole match, but I've had some ideas for stages to make things more interesting:

Fishing guide: transfer firearm to chest rig, don chest waiters, stand inside an inflatable swimming pool. Fishing pole is in one hand. one photographic bear target. On the buzzer, draw and engage smokey

Kayaking with pirates: a kayak is on the ground, and all targets are engaged from seated within it. Several sillhoute targets with eye patches (because they are pirates) are placed around you in a semicircle that does not break the 180. Shooter may use a provided life jacket, or bring their own.

Adrenalin dump: shooters are told to engage an array of targets in a 360* bay. There are no spectators. The shooter is briefed to stay within the marked boundaries of the shoot area at all times, and is instructed that "something" is going to happen, and to just "ignore it and rock on." Shooter is not told that one of the targets contains tannerite.
(I understand that this one may be difficult to pull off safely, but I think it's doable)

 

[Skyshot]

I would like match for carbines and hunting weight rifles. A safari type course with targets from close in say 50 yards and out to 500 yards. No range finding equipment allowed and no bipods or shooting sticks. Duplex crosshair scopes and irons for sights. Shots will be made using natural rests (rocks, branches ect.). The competitors do not get to see the targets beforehand, they have to navigate with a supplied map. The course will be in difficult terrain, and allowable conditions, with some sort of time factor involved.

 

[kayak-man]

I would like match for carbines and hunting weight rifles. A safari type course with targets from close in say 50 yards and out to 500 yards. No range finding equipment allowed and no bipods or shooting sticks. Duplex crosshair scopes and irons for sights. Shots will be made using natural rests (rocks, branches ect.). The competitors do not get to see the targets beforehand, they have to navigate with a supplied map. The course will be in difficult terrain, and allowable conditions, with some sort of time factor involved.

That would be awesome.

 

[Jim Watson]

Sounds like the Keneyathlon.
http://www.scoutrifle.org/index.php?topic=277.0

 

[splattergun]

All the matches I have seen have been basically assault matches. I want a defense type match. Picture yourself in some fortified location, you likely are elevated where you can see a good distance so for attacking badguys you will use your long range rifle to score hits on officers to throw the assault into a confused state. This adds difficulty by making you pick and engage targets by importance rather than simply who is moving. Once they break a given barrier say 500 yards you swap to your semiautomatic and lay down a string of fire at the advancing group. At 100 yards you make a break for cover (crawl through a tube or something) and you have your advancing horde in a corridor. 8 or 10 targets moving at you. Your free to choose handgun or shotgun run it til it's empty then swap to the other and empty it.

Most matches are scored on time to complete your assault. This match could be point based. Say 25 points for an officer kill in the long range field, 5 point reduction for every enlisted kill. 15 points for the remaining targets with a 1 point reduction for each target that survives unscathed. 1 bonus point for center mass hits, and in the last stage 2 point bonus for head or heart shots. Magazine limits would have to be set, 5 for long range, 30 for inside 500, 15 for handgun, 7 for shotgun.

The setting would be really cool on this. If you went cowboy style you could have a ghost town setup. If you went modern you could do it in some of the shoot houses on the ranges, and if you went zombie apocalypse you could do it in a dimly lit alley.

This sounds fun, with stock guns. No mods, just the sights and magazines that JMB or WR gave them.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

I would get a pile of old Smith .38s for cheap (or Glock, etc), make sure they all shot well and then "issue" each shooter one of them for the competition.

Get to shoot true stock that way. Keeps it from being a money race and I think may get more shooters out.

 

[Lord Teapot]

drop 2 people out of a plane at 25,000 feet with paintball guns. first one to hit the other with a paintball wins. first one to deploy their chute loses, if no one has yet won.

 

[MCMXI]

I started a thread back in 2012 along these lines ...

I've shot USPSA and F-Class matches with a couple of 2-gun matches thrown in but this weekend I'm shooting my first hunting style match. It's the 2015 World Safari Challenge with scenarios typical of what one might encounter in Africa ... without the chance of being eaten, gored or trampled!

 

[Coogs.]

Sometimes self employment sucks. A lot of great ideas and a lot of good competitions out there already, wish I had the time. I know, make the time, well, gotta live first and with our illustrious Gov't comin' down hard on small business most of the time your just making ends meet, Coogs