I write this post for the board members of the Association of Arizona Gunslinger because I know this will come up for discussion for next year and because of some whining.
Rodeo: Rodeo has been complaining that he could win seven event and still not win the top gun award. That is simply false. Rodeo has 4 wins, Hitch 4 wins, Shady Mike 2, and Muletrain 1. Rodeo will not win because he only has 6 events. To win top gun you have to participate. If you don't shoot, you are not going to do well. The nonsense about winning seven and not winning is about the points being weighted according to the number of shooters at an event. What we do is what CFDA does.
CFDA Top Gun: CFDA points are weighted according size of the shoot. State titled events are worth 40 points, Territorial titled events are worth 50 points, National is worth 60 points, World is worth 70. The more shooters there are the more points are in play. We do the same. Our points are inverse of actual standings. If we have 45 shooters it is 45 points event. We follow the CFDA policy of weighing the points by the size of the shoot. Rodeo can whine about the snow birds all he wants. Our point system is fair. He had an equal opportunity to shoot in the January shoot, a larger shoot, as did all other members. To complain about the weighing is just whining.
Speed Bias: For scoring convenience, there is a speed bias in the CFDA scoring program. For the national top gun system it in not a problem because for those in competition, say the top 20 shooters, all of the points come from "recognized places" for which shoot offs are required. There is no speed bias at the national level. However, at the club level the speed bias is a real problem. For illustration, Rodeo always gets more points than he deserves. Rodeo can be shooting poorly and can be with a group with the same x count and he will always get top points because he is the quickest. Month after month this bias adds up. I have no answer for this bias but we do mitigate it in part.
Speed Bias Mitigation: We score by actual standings. Rio using standings after the seeding rounds. At Rio there is no opportunity to over come the speed bias. To compete for top gun you need to finish in bracket A. Because we use the actual standings after the shoot off, a shooter has the opportunity to overcome the speed bias. Our system is like the national system wherein the points are determined on the line by shoot off.
One Point Differential: In our system point decease 1 point per place. The national system decreases by more for the top 6 places. I would suggest that our system is better for club use because there really is not much difference between 1st and 2nd. Who gets first might result from speed bias, luck of the draw, or who has fastest load, as much as who is the better shooter. It all balances out in the long run. What is more important, under our system every shooter gets at least 1 point for shooting. For Master Gunfighter, Gunfighter and Sheriff this is not significant. But for Deputy, it will matter as to awards. Look at the places for this year. Those bottom points will matter. At Rio only 20 shooters get points. If we had a 40 points system only 35 would get points. If a shooter comes and shoots, he should get points.
Changes: I think the system has really worked well. The only change I might suggest is that maybe we should eliminate the overall youth award. We really do not have enough youth participation to justify the overall youth award. I have not observed any problem with sandbagging. Almost all of the shooter take pride in moving up in bracket. The bracket awards really expands participation in the awards.
