What we learned

We had a very enjoyable shoot at the Loess Hills Paladins Added.  It was not a CFDA event because there was no hosting club but all CFDA rules applied except as announced for testing.  22 shooters attended.  Here is what I learned.

Range Time: I wanted to shoot a CFDA bracket three winning shots 3 x event and used 24 inch targets at exhibition distance to lessen the range time.  That was effective with most matches being resolved in 6 or less shots.  Only one match went to 9 shots.  We had plenty of range time.  We completed three brackets in 2 1/2 hours.  We then shot a 1x Magnificent shoot off which took 45 minutes.

Most shooters had a substantially higher gunfighter rating than one would normally expect. 15 shooters had a gunfighter rating near 1.0 or above.  1.0 or above normally means a shooter is in the top 25% of the field.  Using exhibition distance boosted that to 75% of the field.  There were several shooters that had a unusually low rating for them.  I think for those shooters the change in size and distance must have caused them to lose their focus.

I would not use the 24" target at exhibition distance again unless I was really concerned about range time or purely for fun.  

The "Added":  The Added work well.  I thank all of the sponsors especially the corporate sponsors.  If you need wax, see Royal Wax, if you need that gun slicked up see Thirsty Gun Works, LLC;  if you need pool service, see Blue Cactus Pool Service, LLC;  need  a lawyer on the plains of Nebraska see Egr, Birkel, & Wollmer, P.C.; and for that dirt see Double Lux, Ltd.  I do not mention the many individual sponsors, but thank them also.  We had entry fees of $220, paid out $265 in prize money and still paid a range fee and the charity netted 20%.

While the "Added" worked well, I do not intend to solicit these sponsors on a recurring basis.  I do think that the "Added" may have some usefulness for our major jackpot shoots.

Testing:  The main purpose of this shoot was to test out bye procedures.  The standard bye procedure is inherently unfair because of how the "advance without competing", that is the "bye" is allocated, and there is a gunfighter bias.  In this event no shooter was allowed to advance without competing.   A very significant advantage to this is it shorten last man standing events significantly.  This results because all shooters compete in every round.

We shot three brackets, two with 8 shooters and one with 6 shooters.  All brackets were completed in 6 rounds except the 6 shooter bracket which was completed in 7 rounds.  There was only one shoot off for place which was shot during the final round of the 6 shooter bracket thereby taking no additional time.  This all resulted in a substantial saving of range time.  Using the standard bye procedure the 8 shooter brackets would have taken a minimum 10 rounds with 8 allocating shoot offs.

The 8 shooter brackets would have required some shoot offs for place but the astute scorekeepers suggested  an easier solution.  The normal procedure for a shoot off for place is to have a start over match format shoot off which requires an additional round.  The scorekeepers pointed out that the shoot off shooters were already at the line and had shot at least three shot against each other in the "Arizona bye" procedure so why not just complete that contest which is what we did.  This worked well and required no additional rounds and few shots.  This modification is easily added by the following sentence. "If a shoot off for place is required, the competitors will continue the match format to completion resolving the issue in the current match with the current score between them being used."

I doubt anyone will use this, but maybe, so here is the Arizona Bye rule:

Arizona Bye

All shooters must compete using the match format in every round except when Rule IV.6 forfeiture occurs. If there is an odd number of shooters in a round, the last three shooters will compete together using the match format to its conclusion. Each shooter will be scored individually against each other shooter of the trio, a loss to either of the other shooters results in an X for the shooter. If a shoot off for place is required, the competitors will continue the match format to completion resolving the issue in the current match using the current score between them.

Range Time Benefits:  The tested bye procedure worked well and resulted in substantial range time savings.  This may be of useful benefit for the bracket shoots at titled events but for the unintended consequences set forth below. Titled events currently shoot bracket shoots before the main match continues on championship day.  To expect a shooter to shoot a 10 to 15 round bracket match and then resume the main match and be at his or her best may be asking too much.  I truly believe it would cut the rounds required by about 30-40%. Bracket matches and for that matter, last man standing events seem to go on and on and it is in large part due to the fact the one shooter is not competing in a round.

Unforeseen Consequences:

It is as important to find out what does not work as it is to find out what does work.  While the current bye procedure is unfair in allocation and there is a gunfighter bias, the suggested procedure eliminates the allocation problem, there is a clear speed bias in the suggested procedure.  The best way to explain it is by illustration taken from the data of this shoot.  If you are down to three shooters, a low 4 shooters hitting 90%, a high 3 shooter hitting less than 60% and a low 3 shooter hitting less than 50%, under the current bye procedures the odds favor the 90% shooter.  That is the gunfighter bias of the current bye procedure.  However, if you match the three together as this suggested procedure does, the 90% shooter probably has no chance because the combined hit ratio of his competitors is better that 60%, and as we all know at 60% in three winning shots the quicker gun wins.  This speed bias could somewhat be eliminated by having the remaining competitors shoot the trio to completion as some have suggested, but this defeats the range time savings, since you have two winners and one loser instead of two losers and one winner.  You will still have the range time benefit of no shoot-off rounds.

Local Consequences:  

It was so successful I think we should have at least one bracket shoot as a class D event each year. Maybe we can do one in the summer up in the mountains to avoid our summer heat.  We had more variety in our winners which I think is a good thing.  When you shoot the same format month after month, one should not expect different results.  A change in format might open the door to some other winners. 

We did not have enough long guns for a separate bracket.  I think a separate long gun bracket is doable and would be fun.  I would note than even without their own bracket all of the long guns were in the money at this shoot.

I would not use the Arizona Bye again because of the speed bias unless we had an over capacity crowd. For example, a 5 bracket 30 to 40 shooter shoot one range would be great and a lot of fun.  If 50 shooters showed up, I would go to the Arizona Five for range time reasons.  If 60 shooters showed up I would go to Arizona Five with Arizona Bye for range time reasons.

Next Up:

How well you do at a titled match or for that matter at a club event many times has more to do with who you draw than how you are shooting. I refer to this unfairness as "luck of the draw."  Luck of the draw is mitigated by the elimination factor.  The higher the x count the more chance you have to recover from a tough draw.  The magnificent format eliminates the luck of the draw at the top of the event.  Titled events also use a resurrection feature in about a 1/3 of our events to fill vacancies in the magnificent field but resurrection feature is not open to all.  It would be really easy to remedy some of this so here is the next test.

I propose to do a 5 x test with a true resurrection for all shooters.  It would be a 3 x main match shooting down to 5 or less with a 2 x resurrection for all shooters to fill the magnificent vacancies.  All shooters would get total of 5 x s.  Magnificent 7 1 x shoot off, maybe 2x at director's option.  For range time reasons and because it does a better sort, Arizona 5 match format.

"It is hard to know what you don't know because you don't know."  "If you never try, you will never know."  Ruah

An Apology

I apologize if I offended any of the competitors or hosts of titled matches by my recent comments.  It was not my intent to do so.  To make the magnificent shoot off you have to be good, tough and a little bit lucky.  Those shooters deserve all the praise. Congratulations on great shooting.  Likewise it is tough to host a title match.  Those hosts do a great job.  I like the magnificent format, it is better that last man standing for reasons I have said in prior posts.

Everyone has an agenda. Mine is the 7 x titled match.  With just a few minor changes, we could be shooting titled matches where all shooters are still in competition on the Championship day. 

Yesterday at Rio our new Regulator,  publicly warned new shooters about the two miscreants here in the Valley of the Sun.  The miscreants publicly acknowledged the error of their ways and but both invited the shooters to come and learn how to be better CFDA shooters.  The irony is that no one here in the Valley or for that matter in the nation, has done more to promote, recruit, train CFDA shooters than those miscreants.  "Want to be quick, come to the Camp; Want to win come to Shady Mtn."

Rio was interesting yesterday.  Three of the four top shooters were Shady Mtn shooters.  The Camp shooters were all well down in the pack.  Last month 3 of the top 4 were Camp shooters, including our new Regulator.   

I know there have been some out there complaining that we are going to use 24" targets at 15' at 47".  And I know some titled matches shoot some side matches at 15 feet at target height of 50 inches, but this up coming shoot is a practice shoot.  Shooting at 15 feet with a target height of 50 inches is just practicing to miss.  We don't do that!  I will let the Sage from the mountains explain why shooting a target height of 50 inches at 15 feet is practicing missing. 

At the Loess Hills Added,  all CFDA rules apply except those which we are testing as announced.

Heh, how about a 6 x Arizona State Championship in November.  It would have to be a Class D experimental affair.  Would be easy to do, big money payout.  We could invite match directors, Marshalls, Regulators, and Quick Cal to come and see how well it would worked. When you are testing something it is just as important to find out what won't work as to find out what does work, maybe more important.

(This posts has now been sanitized, I hope it now meets standards, but if not, it is the best that I can do. 05/13/19)

Plainsight, the Comish, and Serious Matters

I recently had a post banished by the political correctness police, the Comish.  Quick Cal was right to delete my post to protect the brand.  Aspirin was originally a brand name but its owner lost the right to use it as a brand name because it did not prevent it from becoming a descriptive term. Now onto serious matters.

I am going to  move the Board of the Association of Arizona Gunslingers to maintain a log of "bracket reports" for each of our club events.  If the Board agrees we will then be able to hold a "CFDA Bracket Shoot" at a club practice shoot.  It would be identical to what is done at a title match. Brackets are formed based on the prior main match performance.  Seems easy but!

The but is what do you do about club top gun points. Here in Phoenix we have two clubs.  I am a member of both clubs.  Rio bases club points on a 24 point system and uses the seeding rounds to assign points.  At Rio, shoot off results do not count.  The Arizona Gunslingers use a CFDA-like 40 point system and base the points on the shoot off results.  In effect both club arbitrarily assign higher points to Bracket A, then B, then C as shown on the seeding report, a timeout report.

If you hold a CFDA bracket shoot as a club event what do you do about assigning club points.  The Camp followers are going say it is obvious the Master Gunfighter bracket should get the top points.  But that is not right, then you are just assigning points on a classification, not performance.  That is not the cowboy way.

My suggestion would be a Magnificent 12 1x shoot off among the top three in each bracket.  I would seed them arbitrarily for administrative ease but you could seed them as is done in titled matches using the timeout report. (We are going to test the arbitrary method on the 18th and I will compare it to the CFDA method in a later post) Those 12 would get the top 12 point numbers. For example, #1 would get 40, #2 would get 37 and so on at Arizona Gunslinger events.  At Rio, you would go from 24 points.

For the remainder of the field the gunfighters would start with the 13th position in points, 23 points for  the Arizona Gunslingers and probably 11 points for Rio and progress downward 1 point per position.   After the top twelve point positions there would be four gunslinger receiving identical points until the points are exhausted.  The points would accurately reflect the performance of the competitors.  Sounds like a reason solution to me.  What do you think?

Back to the silliness of the day. The Loess Hills Added is more of a Class D event than most club shoots.  Had we been using the Loess Hills range it would have been because that is the requirement for using the range. Anyway, I apologize if I offended anyone, as I emailed Cal, I do ride for the brand but sometimes stray a bit.

Anomalies at Oregon/Oklahoma

"If you do not see what is in plain sight, you are probably not looking."  Alleluia Ruah

The Ladies Oregon State match was very unusual. After 8 rounds there were 12 shooters left with 11 shooters having 3 xs and one shooter having 1 x. After round 9 there were only 6 shooters left and after round 10 only 3 shooters left. The match director was probably saying "Well that work well."  But such efficiency led to the following anomalies:
1. For two shooters the main match was a 6 x event.
2. For two other shooters the man match was a 5 x event.
3. For one shooter it was a 3 x event (the 2nd place shooter).
4.  I do not know for sure but I suspect that one shooter reached the final five without competing in her final round of main match.

At Oklahoma in the men's event there was similar anomalies.  For one shooter it was a 6 x event. For three other shooters it was a 5 x event. For two others a 4 x.  If I was going to root for anyone at Oklahoma it would have been Jayhawker, but unfortunately for him it was a 3 x event.

I am not necessarily lobbying for change, just pointing out what is in plain sight.  If we are resurrecting shooters, why not open up resurrection for everyone?  We normally shoot the resurrection anyway, believe it would have been Wax Killer at Oklahoma.

The "Added"

The Loess Hills Paladins, Inc is hosting a jackpot shoot on May 18 at The Camp.  It will be an "Added" event.

Many hosts of title events struggle meeting the prize requirements. They do it mainly by soliciting door prizes from sponsors.  This has always seemed to me to be inefficient.  The Paladins are experimenting with an "Added" event.  Cash sponsorship are being solicited and the cash is being added to directly to the prize money.   Business sponsorship is a minimum of $20 and individual sponsorship is a minimum of $10. For that minimum amount you get listed on the sponsors board and verbally recognized during the shoot.

The Association of Arizona Gunslinger's Winter Range jackpot shoot is always well attended, more than 90 in 2018, more than 100 in 2019, in part because it pays so well, 80% payout.  I would like to recommend to the board that we go to an "Added" event in 2020 and see if we could get to more than a 100% payout.

If this makes sense to you and you would like to see these "Added" events occur, do a sponsorship.  You can send your check payable to the Loess Hills Paladins, P.O. Box 74726, Phoenix, AZ 85087.  You might want to send me a message, e-mail or call to make sure I get you on the list. 

We are, as always, testing out some other innovations.  One of which is a separate bracket for Shootists.  This seemed to be very well received at Winter Range. I can think of a few Colorado/Utah shootists that might want to take a road trip for the 18th.  Heck, for out of staters, I could be talked into doing a seminar on mental toughness Sunday morning before they leave.

For more details on the shoot see my post on the shoot.

P.S. The Camp's address is 901 E Dolores Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85085

Loess Hills Paladins Bracket Shoot

As a fund raiser I plan to host a CFDA bracket shoot the third weekend of May.  It will be held at the Camp on Saturday, May 18th.  Sign in will be 8:00 a.m., shooter meeting 8:30 a.m. Entry fee will be $10.00 for all shooters including any youth.  

It will be a CFDA type bracket shoot with the shooters placed in brackets based on their last time out reported time except for shootists.  Shootists will be a separate bracket.  In order to have a separate shootist bracket at least 5 shootist must sign up. If there are not at least 5 shootists then shootists with be seeded with the short guns.  I anticipate two other brackets, Master Gunfighter and Gunfighter unless turn out is greater than 28 shooters.  If there are more than 28 shooters there will be four brackets. It will be a 3 x last man standing three winning shots affair.  Match Director reserves option of placing shooters in appropriate bracket if shooter is missing a time out time or has aberrant time out time.

Innovations:

1.  We will be shooting 24" targets at 15 feet set at 47 inches.  We do this because a shooter does not get better practicing missing.  Also, this should shorten the matches with most matches being determined on quickness, not chance.

2.  We will be using the Arizona Bye for bye rounds.  This, in theory, should shorten the number of rounds needed to resolve a bracket and should do a better job sorting the shooters.  

3. Entry fees shall be paid out 60% to shooters, 20% to range or host club, and 20% to the Paladins.  Prize money will be divided equally among the brackets with the top three in each bracket receiving 50%, 30%, 20%. 

4. Added.  This will be an added event with sponsors donating cash for the added purse.  The added purse will be divided between the top three shooters in a Magnificent 9 shoot-off, split being 50%, 30% and 20%.

5.  The top three in each bracket will be placed in a Magnificent 9 shoot-off either 1 x and 2 x depending on the time that the shoot off begins. Seeding will be 1) Master Gunfighter #1, 2) Gunfighter #1, 3) Shootist #1, 4) Mastergunfighter #2, 5)Gunfighter #2, 6) Shootist #2, and 7) Mastergunfighter #3, 8) Gunfighter #3, and 9) Shootist #3.  If there are 4 brackets then the seeding will be adjusted accordingly and the shoot off will be a Magnificent 12 1 x. 

Purpose:  The Loess Hills Paladins, Inc is a charity and it will not survive without a source of funds.  If you think having a second range is a good thing support this shoot. Also this shoot allows us to test out innovations such as the Arizona Bye, the Magnificent shoot-off and the "Added" feature.

We would like to get about 30 shooters to test out the Arizona Bye.  Three or four brackets of 7 or more shooters in each would be ideal, but probably not enough shootists for that, but that is okay.   It may cause some to take up the long gun to better their odds. Long guns will definitely be at an advantage because the likely short bracket.

Dance with the girl you brought, or bought, whatever!

I was going to post this on the training blog but saw only 7 reads on my "bad day on the bucket" post so I decided to post this here.

About a month till nationals, so your draw should be pretty well finalized. If it is not, you need to decide which pretty girl you are going to take to the big dance. You are not going to get much quicker in the next month, speed is overrated any way.  Most matches are won on mental toughness.  That draw needs to be finalized which means bucket work.  If you can't explain how you draw, have no memory of what you do during a draw, then you are about ready to go.  Chunk that data.  Little bitty adjustments are the order of the day. Just walken!

Alleluia shooters, "Bad day on the bucket" is worth the read. 

Dance with the girl you brought!