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
No comments:
Post a Comment