Actual AAR...
1. Both matches, day time 3-Gun and the Night 2-gun were a blast and couldn't have gone more perfectly. But that's the last time we'll do both on the same day.
2. I was worried about the "big" stages with lots of movement, I thought that was a mistake. I was wrong. Everyone I asked after the match said that's what they really like about our matches; I did not get a single complaint about having the physical nature of the match at all.
3. We had a couple minor logistical issues (timers, pasters, paint, etc.) but I don't think most shooters noticed. The guys on my squad may have noticed more because I was dealing with them while also shooting the match.
DAY MATCH
Stage 1: Hillside Blues
- Begin with rifle inside a small shooting area. We had a milk crate (low to the ground) if desired for support.
- Engage 2 static steel at ~75 yards. ~8" gongs. Then, clear a dueling trees (6 plates), also ~75 yards.
- Run ~40 yards to position 2.
- Clear 6 paper targets (2 hits each) at 20-35 yards with the rifle. THEN, 4 steel targets hidden in the woods up a slope at roughly 100 yards. The elevation change and woods screwed with people's perception of the distance.
- THEN, clear an array of 10 knock down steel with either shotgun or pistol (I ran all shotgun)
- THEN address a spinner with either shotgun or pistol.
Stage 2: Shotgun Creek
- Begin with rifle in hand. Shooting area had a variety of props (tire, spool) to shoot off of.
- Clear 7 steel targets on the hill, in the woods, across the creek. Targets were somewhat hard to see given the vegetation.
- Move to position 2, a short 10 yards away. With shotgun, engage 2 steel poppers that threw a clay as they fell. Poppers were ~20-25 yards away, making choke and ammo selection important.
- Then advance to P3, about 25 yards away, to clear 6 clays
- P4 to clear a couple more clays plus an array of knock down (pistol or shotgun)
- End with a pistol shot on a gong at about 15 yards.
Stage 3: Bay Watch
- Start with Rifle behind a VTAC board in Bay 1.
- Engage 3 small scale papers with rifle through any port in the VTAC. Targets from 3 yards to 30 yards out.
- Dump rifle and run to Bay 2.
- In Bay 2, we hid a pistol bullet or shotshell under a clay. Shooter had to flip up the clay to figure out what to shoot next.
- Shotgun side required movement between 3 postions to clear the course.
- Pistol side required 2 positions for a variety of steel knock downs and then featured a double plate rack (2 arrays of 6 plates each one right in front of the other).
Stage 4: You Spin Me Right Round
- Stage prop was a tire hanging from a 2x4 frame.
- With rifle, with some part of the body in contact with the tire frame, engage the spinner at ~80 yards. Rifle spinners are just fun and challenging!
- Then, with some part of the body in contact with the swinging tire, engage targets at 120, 220 and 320 with 2 hits each. My squad (including myself) went through all sorts fo gyrations trying to steady that damned tire. The smart squads just put their support hand on the tire and laid the rifle across the 2x4 frame.
- Then, engage 2 static steel at ~25 yards with pistol
- Then, engage a dueling tree with pistol
Stage 5: Shotgun, Rifle and 4WD
- JUNGLE RUN! Always a crowd pleaser...start with shotgun and run up the path (UP the path...) about 40 yards clearing 16 clays on the way.
- Dump the shotgun, and run another 40 yards through the woods to position 2 trying not to take a header in the mud. With pistol, clear 4 small sized papers and 6 (?) knock down steel.
- Then with rifle, clear 6 static steel hidden in the woods. 60-100 yards.
NIGHT MATCH
Stage 1:
From the day match, we eliminated the dueling tree, 2 static steel and 40 yard run.
We added some reflective tape to 2 of the steel on the hill from the day match. The tape worked well for both white light and NODS shooters and seemed to hold up. We swapped out the small paper for full size IPSC targets, but otherwise kept the same layout.
The IR Laser under NODS was amazing on those targets on the hill. Tons of fun!
Stage 2: skipped
Stage 3:
- Swapped out the small rifle targets for full size in Bay 1
- eliminated the small knock down steel in Bay 2
- Made Bay 2 all pistol
- Otherwise same stage plan
Stage 4:
- Moved the start position back about 50 yards
- Rifle engaged 2 x static steel at ~75 yards with 2 hits then advanced down range to Position 2
- Anywhere between the start line and P2, engage a full size IPSC steel with rifle at 120-140 yards. Again the lasers and suppressors (less smoke!) ruled the day here.
- Dump the rifle, with pistol 2x static steel and the dueling tree
Stage 5.
Skip the shotgun jungle run, but otherwise kept the stage pretty much the same as the day match.
The targets hidden in the woods got awfully hard to see after the pain wore off!
