Stand Alone CFDA Bracket Shoot

The Association of Arizona Gunslingers, Inc., held a stand alone CFDA Bracket Shoot yesterday with 37 shooters  participating on 2 ranges. I think is was a very successful practice shoot.  You hold club practice shoots not only for the shooters to individually practice but also for the club as a whole to practice.  We did this, in part, to practice the bracket shoot which we are going to use as a second chance shoot on Championship Day at the 2020 Arizona State Championship.  At that shoot all shooters, let me repeat all shooters, will be still be shooting for substantial prizes and prize money on Championship Sunday.  We also needed to test out the Loess Hills portable range after significant improvement were made to the range.

Here is what we learned:

The results:  All four brackets were very competitive. The only adverse comment I heard was, "Boy, there are no easy draws in this shoot."
Bracket winners were: Master Gunfighter: The Draw, Gunfighter: Half Cock Willie, Sheriff: Cort O' Whiskey and Deputy: Detox. I regret not having photos and awards but maybe next year.  Congratulations to the winners and all the other shooters.  There were no easy matches with most brackets going down to the last shot of the last match.

The Range:  The Loess Hills range worked well.  The new netting was much easier to put up and maintain.  Bounced backs did not appear to be a problem.  The CFDA timers with the Beaver Creek box worked perfectly.  Shooters were able to see misses easily.  There was no microphone interference with the location used.  

It took two men two hours to put the range up.  Take down was done in 20 minutes with five men and the range was down and on the trailer before the shoot was completed on the other range.

The one negative that I observed was that the shooters were facing into the sun with the north/south orientation. It might be better to turn the range to a east /west orientation with the shooters shooting to the west.  It would take some more modifications to do that.  We would have to weld two more brackets the back of the target panels and get two more braces. The range then would be completely free standing.  By doing this we would also get the benefit of a darker background behind the targets there being a fence to the west.  We could also then park the truck and the trailer in the parking lot freeing up some space for the shooters.

Not our first rodeo:  Although this was the first ever CFDA Bracket shoot by a club in Arizona, it was not our first rodeo. The Loess Hills Paladins (not a CFDA club) has held several this year and on Shady Mountain we have been using this bracket shoot for our 19.5 (7) training sessions. We normally shoot a 1x main match followed by a CFDA bracket match.  It gives those training the chance to use the full range of options on the CFDA scoring program.

The Format:  This was not a classifications shoot but a bracket shoot based on actual prior performance. For most of the year, I obtained bracket reports from those clubs that use the CFDA program and entered those on a spreadsheet which had a column that recorded the quickest bracket report time. I then sorted by quickest bracket report time (2nd fastest).  I had times on 79 shooters and all 37 shooters had prior bracket report times.  Registering the shooters was based on these times and the brackets were fairly even.  Only two shooters needed to move to even out the brackets.  These shooters are what I refer to as border shooters, shooters right on the border between brackets that may go either way depending on the numbers. In most titled events I am a border shooter.

It is remarkable how consistent most shooters are.  There were a few shooters, mostly new shooters, who showed improvement as the year progressed in their bracket times.  I did not use any discretion in making up the brackets, it was not necessary.  

Future:  I was a little disappointed in the turn out.  I was hoping for 60 shooters.  I would suggest that this might make a good annual affair for Arizona.  October seems to be a good month to do it.  If all the clubs got behind it by using the CFDA scoring program at their club shoots and printed out a bracket report, it only takes a click to do, it could really become a fun event.  Gives you the chance to compete against those of your speed. What do you think?

Gunfighter Rating:  When I get my hands on the scoresheets I will do a gunfighter rating on the 37 shooters and email it to them.  It is always interesting to see why you placed where you did.

Bring me another shoot!