Know the Rule, Follow the Rule

 At a club practice shoot this month, we failed to know the rule, follow the rule.  Most people think our monthly shoot is a practice shoot for individual shooters.  It is not, it is a practice for the club to learn how to run a CFDA shoot and to follow the rules.

A frequent failure is Rule IV.6. which says "Each contestant must have an opponent.  If the opponent does not show up, the present contestant will win by default and will not be allowed to shoot uncontested."

My observation at titled events and local shoots we will get this wrong 90% of the time, especially if there is more than one no show. The tendency is to want to redo the draw either at the table or at the scoring shack. This delays the round and may have unknown consequences.  If you simply know the rule, follow the rule, the round runs smoothly, the scoring and computer handles everything correctly.

To the chorus who say why are you bringing this up, it is just a practice shoot, my response is there are numerous good reasons to talk about it. 

First, we need to "know the rule and follow the rule."  That is why we have practice shoots.

Second, it matters.  For our club points we give out 15 awards. Last year most awards were determined by 1 point or less.  If we had followed the rule, among the four shooters affected there would have been 3 wins and 1 loss.  As the round was redid, there were 2 wins and 2 losses.  Somebody lost a win.  That win meant 4 to 12 points in the club points race depending on who lost out.  It matters.

Third, this comes up frequently at titled events.  Failure to follow the rule causes delays.  If you have 30 shooters on a range and two no shows, you will get 30 opinions as to what should happen.  If you just follow the rules, the round will be shot and over before 30 Old Timers reach a consensus on what to do.

Scoring: There is really two separate issues here, what happens at the range and what happens at the scoring shack.   I think at the table it should be a W with 22, and an X with 33.  That way the scoring shack knows who has a match DQ.  There is a difference between someone who just missed his match (33) and someone who has withdrawn.  The scoring shack and match director need to code the withdrawn, Match DQ 99 or new 86 code.

Titled  Events:  It appears that title events this year will be at or near capacity.  Range time is important.  Following IV.6. saves range time.  I recall one title event where we lost 4 hours of range time because this simple rule was not followed.  Know the rule, follow the rule.  Shoot em as they are drawn.

P.S. Thinking about getting on my soap box about fragmentation. What do you think, are you up to it

What we learned

 The practice shoots yesterday of the Association of Arizona Gunslingers was not a club shoot for individual practice, fun, or socializing.  It was  training shoot to hone our skills as a club to put on CFDA shoots. We were training scorekeepers, range officers, match directors, computer operators, announcers, and generally all those that are needed to put on a CFDA match.  We ran to completion a last man standing event and a true bracket event.  We had individuals training on all of the skills necessary.  To have a good training we needed 18 gunfighter and I thank the 20 gunslingers that came. We are limited to 20 shooters at this venue.  If anyone is interested in learning these skills let Shady or I know and we be sure to get you trained up.  If you just want to shoot, have fun or socialize come to our monthly shoot, but remember to thank those that are willing to train so that your shoots run smoothly.

What we learned:

Computers:  We ran two computers hooked to one printer so that we could train more operators.  One computer (provided by Rio Salado Vaqueros) ran the main match from registration to the final standings.  The second computer (Loess Hills Paladin's) ran the bracket match, all shooters were entered into the bracket match.  Both were pretty flawless.  We could have done this on one computer but by having two, we doubled the opportunity for training.  I am now confident that, if the need arises, there are six members who can run a match from start to finish.  Next time we do this we will reverse the operators so that all are comfortable with both types of matches.

We generally do not run divisions in Arizona, so the next time we do this we will run divisions.  The limiting factor is having enough Ladies and Youth for one division.  We need to run the main match with divisions.

Range Time:  We had 19 shooters on a two lane range.  That is the same as having 57 shooters  on one 6 lane range at Pioneer. We started at 9:30 and finished at 2:00 P.M.  So if we started at 8:30, we would finish at 1:00 P.M. which is well within our allotted time.  We shot a 2x main match and a 2x bracket match. We did however used modified score sheets which I will explain below.

Modified Scoresheets:  We ran the main match simultaneously with the bracket match.  After round 2, we ran a bracket report and entered all shooters into the bracket match.  We started the bracket match after round 3 of the main match.

Since we were only using one range, we could have run a standard bracket match.  The problem with doing that is that some shooters would get 4 rounds while others might get as many as 16 rounds.  This would not be conducive to a club practice shoot where you are trying to get most shooters an equal opportunity to shoot.  To avoid that, we modified the scoresheets by striking those shooters still in the main match.  This resulted in only two shooters getting 4 rounds and the most any other shooter got was 11 rounds.  Most shooters got between 6 and 10 rounds. (80%)  Only two got 11 and two got 4. (10%)

Chorus:  Now for the chorus of folks telling me that this in not fair to have shooters start late in the bracket.  It is eminently fair.  It is harder to progress upward in the main match than it is to progress upward in a bracket of eliminated shooters.  You have to remember that we score by losses, not wins. What matters is the number of losses a shooter gets.  Here each shooter got 4 x s, two in the main match and two in the bracket.  They all got the same number of x s.  If there is any unfairness, it is that the shooters not in the bracket match yet, have tougher opponents, which leads me to the next and unexpected factor of resurrection.

Ressurection Factor:  This was unintended and surprising.  A good illustration was Troublemaker. She drew Shady Mike and Everett Hitch in the first two rounds. She went out in round 2.  It shows how unfair and ruthless the luck of the draw can be.  But she was shooting good  and she shot her way to the top and won the gunfighter bracket, a bracket I might add that had a Overall World Champion, a Shootist World Champion and a club Top Gun in it.  Likewise, Muletrain won the Master Gunfighter bracket even though he went out in round 4 of the main match.  Only in the  Sheriff bracket did the bracket winner, Dakota Drifter, go deep in the main match.  It is a little like the resurrection feature that occurs at Rio.

We will train on.  Want to learn how to run a match, let us know.  We are always looking for workers.

Training and Testing

I write the post for the board members of The Association of Arizona Gunslingers.  Other clubs may also find it of interest.  I think that as a CFDA club we ought to, on occasion, shoot a CFDA match. To train and test for this we are going to shoot a CFDA 2x main match with a simultaneous 3x bracket match on Saturday March 6.  A match on the mtn with 18 shooters is the same as a 54 shooter match at Pioneer assuming one range. 

Training: To facilitate training we will use two computers.  We will use Shady's or Rio's computer for the main match with Shady, Southwest and Miss Kitty or others running the main match. It will be a standard 2x last man standing event from start to finish complete with final standings.  The Loess Hills computer with be used for the bracket match with Alleluia, Viper and Lazy Eye and others running the event. It also will be a last man standing bracket event 3x.  The number of brackets will be determined by number of shooters divided by 6.

I have run this several times with 52 shooters with modified scoresheets on one computer and it works great, but we can get more training with two computers and two computers will lessen the confusion factor.

Testing:  We are primarily testing range time.  18 on the mtn is equal to 54 at Pioneer.  15 on mtn is equal to 45.  We should get a feel for range time needed at Pioneer.  It will be Hateful Eight.  

Since we are just using one range there is no need to modify scoresheets, although this takes more range time than the method used with modified scoresheets.  We will shoot Round 1 and 2 of the main match then print a bracket report.  During Round 3 of main match we will register and draw the bracket match.  Then we will shoot round 1 of the bracket match, then round 4 of main match, then round 2 of bracket and so forth until both matches are complete.

We are testing range time. My guess is that with only one range we may be limited to a 2x main match and 2x bracket shoot.  We shall see. 

 

Range Testing:  My personal opinion is that on the 27th we ought to set up two ranges, however I know that the majority of the board will be opposed to two ranges because of the work involved.  In my testing with 52 shooters I used two 6 lane ranges.  To do this you must use modified scoresheets because a shooter can not be in two places at the same time.  After round 2  you run the bracket report and enter all of the shooters in the bracket match.  Then you start the bracket with shooters that have been eliminated from the main match.  Shooters that are still in the main match get a W with an 11.00 for time. Shooters without opponents just move down the scoresheet to the next available shooter or to slot 13 for a CFDA bye. It is easy to do and works well.  Scoresheets are modified before they go to the table.

In my test run, main match ran on two ranges for 3 rounds, then main match on range A to completion, and brackets on range B for three rounds.  After round 3, the brackets were shot on both range A and B because the main match was nearing completion and there were so few shooters.  It worked great on the scoring program with correct standings in all matches.

In my test runs, I also shot divisions.  We could do this also but the limiting factor is whether there are enough Ladies and youth to make another division.  I did it and it worked well. We should practice this some time.

Club Points:  Points for the main match would be as usual for the March 27 match.  If we also did a bracket match we could have points following the current rules for that event.  Assuming 48 shooters, we then would have a 48 point event and 12 point event.