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Thread: Stage Planning - Tips & Tricks

  1. #11
    Member GuanoLoco's Avatar
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    It should go without saying, but I see enough people screw this up. Make sure you are engaging each target at least once, and no more than once.

    Nothing will ruin your stage/match/day faster than forgetting a target, or finding 4 holes in a target that is visible from more than one position and 0 holes in a target that is easily overlooked.
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  2. #12
    Site Supporter Clobbersaurus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by GuanoLoco View Post
    Focus on identifying a correct plan (engage all targets), a simple plan, a low risk plan. Program the plan thoroughly and try to execute it well. Be aware of your level of skill and plan accordingly.

    I'm going to guess too much time obsessing about stage planning and not nearly enough time spent on stage programming (at least 10x, can you wordlessly do it with your eyes closed envisioning every sight picture?). In Ben Stoeger classes he routinely takes a complex stage and executes it to the best of his ability with the best and worst proposed plans. There isn't much difference - at least for him. Us mortal folk have more opportunity to screw things up with complex/risky plans.

    Compound with not enough practice so you are trying to add 'one more thing' like grip/trigger/whatever consciously and it is a recipe for inconsistency at best.
    Stage programming I am getting much better at. I run through it at least 10 times before my run. I tend to overthink the stage though and like I said above, changing a stage plan after I have already programmed one is a recipe for disaster.
    "Next time somebody says USPSA or IPSC is all hosing, junk punch them." - Les Pepperoni
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  3. #13
    Member olstyn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Clobbersaurus View Post
    Stage programming I am getting much better at.
    I screwed this up just last night. We had a stage that was basically execute an el pres @ 7 yards, then run to a second box @ 5 yards and put 2 in each body and then 1 in each head. I executed a reload I didn't need to and didn't even realize it until afterward when someone asked me why. Somehow I had it in my head that there were mandatory reloads in both boxes. Probably cost me somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 seconds for the extra reload.
    Last edited by olstyn; 03-10-2017 at 07:34 AM.

  4. #14
    Member olstyn's Avatar
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    My big pieces of advice on the topic are pretty simple:

    1) Be friends with your squadmates and discuss the stage planning with them. You will often see things that aren't obvious to each other and improve everybody's plans.
    2) Pace off different routes through the stage and see which ones are smoothest and/or have the least number of steps, or that reduce the number of positions you have to stop at; in the end, this game is all about efficiency.

  5. #15
    Chasing the Horizon RJ's Avatar
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    Good thread. I am following with interest. I can't offer anything much, because my two matches to date (one Steel, one local USPSA) were a blur.

    As a lefty, it didn't seem helpful to me to watch others. Mostly I seemed to go opposite. What do ya'll lefty's do?

    Otherwise, what I remember is:

    Count the targets. Make sure you attempt to shoot them all.

    Load 11 in the starting mag. (Somebody told me this. Were they serious?)

    Move your butt. I think I was so focused on muzzle awareness it slowwwwwed me down. (On reflection I think I was ok with that. Did not want any free Dairy Queen chits.)

    Aim high and left. (I have a persistent low and right tendency. I noticed I did better on the steel match compensating. Bad, but until I figure it out, it seemed to help.)

    About all I got. Am going to pay attention to how you guys do it and ask questions.


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  6. #16
    Member GuanoLoco's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rich_Jenkins View Post
    Good thread. I am following with interest. I can't offer anything much, because my two matches to date (one Steel, one local USPSA) were a blur.

    As a lefty, it didn't seem helpful to me to watch others. Mostly I seemed to go opposite. What do ya'll lefty's do?

    Otherwise, what I remember is:

    Count the targets. Make sure you attempt to shoot them all.

    Load 11 in the starting mag. (Somebody told me this. Were they serious?)

    Move your butt. I think I was so focused on muzzle awareness it slowwwwwed me down. (On reflection I think I was ok with that. Did not want any free Dairy Queen chits.)

    Aim high and left. (I have a persistent low and right tendency. I noticed I did better on the steel match compensating. Bad, but until I figure it out, it seemed to help.)

    About all I got. Am going to pay attention to how you guys do it and ask questions.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    Sigh, lefties. In USPSA lefties make a left handed stage plan and then try to do walkthroughs right to left swimming upstream while the reast of the squad is doing the congo line left to right. Good luck with that.

    I keep 11 in my starting mag in my left front pocket. Works as long as it is a loaded gun start. Otherwise, pull the 11th round or you will get bumped to open.

    Exist immediately after the last shot from a position, move quickly reloading as you go, then decelerate as you come in to a new shooting position with the gun already up and pointed at the target or where the target will be. This is one of your biggest areas to save time. Then shoot as fast as you can get a acceptable sight picture on eevry shot.

    Do some drills where you learn to pull the trigger straight back *quickly*. DA, SA, Striker, whatever.
    Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Doodie Project?

  7. #17
    Shoot slow, do everything else fast. Well, you want to shoot fast too, but time between shots is where you can make up time.

  8. #18
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    There is something about the buzzer that confuses all my plans............

  9. #19
    Member olstyn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Nesbitt View Post
    Shoot slow, do everything else fast. Well, you want to shoot fast too, but time between shots is where you can make up time.
    Yup. I spent quite a while as a shooter at the upper end of D class who would regularly beat C (and sometimes B) class shooters on field courses because I ran faster. I couldn't keep up with them on classifiers because my shooting wasn't there yet, but I made up a lot of time getting from position to position.

  10. #20
    Site Supporter Clobbersaurus's Avatar
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    One thing I have been doing is trying to squad with the best shooters in my club. I watch their match prep and stage planning closely and ask questions when it's appropriate.

    Thanks for the responses in this thread, it's all good stuff to think about.
    "Next time somebody says USPSA or IPSC is all hosing, junk punch them." - Les Pepperoni
    --

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