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Thread: Cooper Tunnels and Related Matters

  1. #21
    Site Supporter Hambo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Caballoflaco View Post
    Just don’t try to turn the sport into the USPSAARP; there are other games for that.
    That's the quote of the year. Seriously, if you can't negotiate a Cooper tunnel, you've already got bigger problems than your match score. I say this as one who is eligible for AARP membership but not Medicare.
    "Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA

  2. #22
    Nope.
    That is what Penalty In Lieu Of Performance is for. I will bypass the Cooper Tunnel (if I ever see one, which I have not so far.) and motor on. Slowly but safely.

    I have been on Medicare for nine years now, and I get a lot of entertainment over internet posts of "they ought to make this" and "they ought to do that."
    Well, unless it is something dependent on microelectronics or ersatz materials, they probably have and it didn't sell.
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  3. #23
    Member olstyn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Watson View Post
    Nope.
    That is what Penalty In Lieu Of Performance is for. I will bypass the Cooper Tunnel (if I ever see one, which I have not so far.) and motor on. Slowly but safely.
    Exactly this. There is no need to remove physical challenge from the sport when there are already rules allowing alternatives for those who can't complete a given physical challenge. Yes, there's a scoring penalty, but if any given competitor is not agile enough to move through a Cooper tunnel safely, then they're likely somebody who moseys through a stage rather than running. People who don't at least move briskly aren't going to be competing at the highest levels regardless, and one penalty isn't likely to be the make or break difference in their final match score. IMO there is no shame whatsoever in taking the Penalty in Lieu of Performance in these situations. The person in the video was being an ass, and paid for it with a DQ.

    All that said, I've yet to see a Cooper tunnel at any of the matches I've attended here in MN. I do remember shooting from a wobble bridge once, and a few balance beams here and there, as well as a barrel start where you had to haul ass for 20+ yards uprange between engaging two arrays of targets, so we definitely do have physically challenging stages here. Are Cooper tunnels common in other regions?

  4. #24
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    As far as the elderly sedately moving - IIRC, in the Luby's massacre, two elderly women at their elderly pace removed themselves and lived. Other people were frozen in place and died. We all have our limits. If scenario introduces a physical challenge that is a safety hazard, it should be rethought. I still think the tunnel is a stupid nuance, penalties for slats - what does that have to do with anything? I'd take the penalty as a old fart, the tunnel would not teach me anything. Now, in Dave Spaulding's auto class, we old farts had to bail out of a truck, take position to shoot under the truck. That I did as it was relevant. It did turn my forearms wonderfully black and blue as I tend to bruise easily (meds). At work (PC place), folks asked if I fell down as old farts do. I said, it was from bailing out a truck in firearms class. Horrors, horrors. Students thought it was neat (TX).

  5. #25
    Member olstyn's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer View Post
    If scenario introduces a physical challenge that is a safety hazard, it should be rethought.
    At least in the context of the video in question, I would argue that the physical challenge in question was only a safety hazard because the competitor stupidly made it into one when it didn't need to be.

    I still think the tunnel is a stupid nuance, penalties for slats - what does that have to do with anything?
    Can't really disagree with you on that particular point; Cooper tunnels do seem a bit silly to me. That said, it's a game, not reality; some of the challenges presented may have nothing to do with "real-world" scenarios, and that's fine. On that note, I was at a match this fall where there was an unloaded barrel start with only one target - a single piece of steel at about 50 yards. Realistic? Nope - IMO all unloaded starts are completely unrealistic, as any time I have a gun on me, it's loaded. Fun/challenging? Absolutely.

  6. #26
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    We do stages, where you start with a loaded handgun and the carbine unloaded and magazines staged with it. I imagine folks keep a long arm around that isn't loaded. My home defense long arm does have a mag in it but not chambered. People might vary on this.

    I think the slats was what impressed me as stupid. Going through tight spaces, that's ok. We've done seated truck start stages and the truck has been known to get shot.

  7. #27
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    You boys might want to realize the Cooper Tunnel is simply a convenient facsimile for any number of physical crouching challenges that would be hard to otherwise replicate on a stage, considering space, safety, and simplicity factors.





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  8. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by wtturn View Post
    You boys might want to realize the Cooper Tunnel is simply a convenient facsimile for any number of physical crouching challenges that would be hard to otherwise replicate on a stage, considering space, safety, and simplicity factors.





    Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Tapatalk
    I believe it was originally supposed to simulate incoming fire, back before IDPA had cornered the "we're tactical, really!" ruleset.

    I think Area 7 had one a few years ago, but I only saw it in the bay from a distance, and didn't shoot the match.

  9. #29
    I've shot 2 matches with cooper tunnels. Had to retrieve a loaded gun and shoot out of that stripped out helicopter shell in Arizona. Climbed in and out of, and shot out of a handful of stripped out cars. Ran on some balance beam type stuff and some wobbly bridge type stuff.

    I'm old enough that I feel like I am at a disadvantage on some stages with low ports, etc. I am losing weight and trying to increase my flexibility because of this. Which will hopefully help the rest of my life out too.

    The most dangerous matches I feel that I have shot by far were caused by mud. Plain jane stages that were just slippery.

    I have seen 4 or 5 people fall during matches. One was on wet grass, the rest...tripped on 2X2 fault lines.
    Last edited by bofe954; 10-13-2019 at 03:57 PM.

  10. #30
    Member Zincwarrior's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TheRoland View Post
    I believe it was originally supposed to simulate incoming fire, back before IDPA had cornered the "we're tactical, really!" ruleset.

    I think Area 7 had one a few years ago, but I only saw it in the bay from a distance, and didn't shoot the match.
    Don't they know competition will get them killed on da streets!

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