Community USPSA Stage: Shooting Revision A

Over the past week I have been up to my neck in USPSA Stage Design, and lovin’ it. There have been a few snags along the way but nothing that couldn’t be worked through with the advice of readers and email exchanges with the guys over at the Power Factor Show.

When the concept design was posted, I received a fantastic shooting plan from Justin. In fact, Justin’s plan was so good that had I been shooting after him, I would have altered my plan slightly to match his.

Because Justin did so well on the first go-around, I asked him if he wouldn’t mind putting a shooting plan together for the revised stage. In a few days I received an email from Justin with his thoughts on the revision. Like the first, he did not disappoint.

My method is to drop the four steels from the first box, again right to left so that I’d end up facing the left side paper as I transition into the second shooting box. In the back-left corner of the front shooting box, I’d go for the paper between the walls on the left and stay there to take out the paper that’s obscured by the barrel in the front. I’d do this because I can shoot way faster than I can run, and I think the angle would be an advantage the further back you are… and the uber geek in me measured the line length and compared it to your known target distances and my target #6 is only about 7 yards. If I couldn’t hit a paper target at 7 yards, I’d kick myself. Note that I’d only engage targets #5 and #6 in the back-left corner of the front box – the lines just happen to overlap for my target #3 that I’d engage in the first box. Then after my move #2 I’d go after the right side paper between the walls and along side the right side barrel, again I’d stay back as far as possible for the reasons I just said. In my final move #3 I’d center myself in the box and just mow down the paper as I rotate from right to left… for some reason I shoot better swinging from right to left.

I think this should minimize the shooter transitions and yet keep the shooter at a good hitting distance of the targets at each position. Looking forward to your thoughts.

Regards,
Justin

I think Justin did an excellent job of minimizing shooter movement. Because I am shooting Production Division, his plan presents me with a problem. When the shooter moves into the third, and final, shooting position, more rounds need to be fired than are in the gun.

If a reload was done while moving from Position 2 to Position 3, there would be one round in the chamber and ten rounds in the magazine. From Position 3, six targets are to be engaged, using up twelve rounds of ammunition (if all of our shots are well placed and none need to be made up).

To prevent myself from doing a static reload, I would move into Position 3 a little differently. After engaging Justin’s target 7 and 8, I would attempt (I say attempt because I’m not very good at it) to engage Traget 14 on the move. If I were feeling especially good, I might engage Target 9 on the move as well (the stakes are high for me with a no shoot next to the target) before reloading and stopping at Position 3 to engage the remaining targets.

If you are shooting Single Stack (8 rounds in the magazine), things get even trickier. Limited and Open can mow down a great deal of targets without reloading, so that changes things as well.

I must say, I’m enjoying this Community Stage Design project a great deal. Seeing how others would approach the stage has made for a great learning opportunity. I have made a couple of small tweaks to the stage (mostly just re-adjusting targets), which you can see when I release the finalized stage.

I would like to thank everyone that has viewed and offered suggestions to the stage. Please feel free to continue to make suggestions or use the comment section below.

The Progression of this USPSA Community Stage Design Project:

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