What a blast!

Having just finished my second Magnificent Seven of the year all I can say is "what a blast."  Great competitors, great outcome, more fun than one person should be allowed to have!  Looking forward to meeting Quickstrike, Delta Whiskey, Whiplash on the line again.who knows maybe with a black badge in the balance, them boys need to practice missing more, not fast enough yet.

Had a chance to lobby some for my pet project, a championship with a true resurrection, to the uniform outcry of "you can't do that."  By the way, by CFDA rule, 7th place was resurrected in the men's match.  I think it is the "word" so I decided to quit using it.

Positives:

What would be wrong with a three day championship where:

- Every shooter would get 6 x s in main match;
- Every shooter would be alive through day two;
- Half of the field would get to shoot in a Magnificent shoot-off:
- Half of the field would be alive until their last shot on day three;
- Preliminary sorting after day one, half of the field would be shooting for their lives in a 2 x  match; half the field would continue in main match and be shooting in  2 x category championships;
- There would be 18 champions on Championship Sunday:
- Eighteen Championship Buckles; balance in gold coin, no frills or goodie bags;
- All matches on Sunday would be set by Saturday night;
- No computer needed on third day;
- If less 120 shooters, shot on two 6 lane ranges;
- All matches on Sunday set at a specific time, you would know the schedule and opponents Saturday night;
- All  included in one entry fee;

What do you think? And if you say "you can't do that" think about it some more.

Last man standing favors me, would have won in that format, those speedy guys would have knock each out, but a Magnificent shoot-off is a blast.

Oklahoma was a great event, great venue, great folks. Looking forward to the Southern Territorial there next year. Next year, loverboy will come so you better be practicing missing to get faster. Bring me the next shooter cause I ain't missing!

Team Competition

Team Competition

MAIN MATCH:       3X, 3 shot (Arizona summertime best of 5), last man standing format. Standard format, team members will shoot against team members if so drawn.

TEAM COMPETITION:

            Entry fee $5 per shooter for first team entry. A shooter may join as many teams as he would like but subsequent team entries are $10 for the second entry, $15 for third and so on. Youth shooters are free. 

  All entry fees from team competition go to Shoot for the Stars.

            Teams are 4 to 7 shooters with the four top placing shooters considered for team scoring.  Team scoring is the sum of the top four placing shooters, low score wins.  The 5^th through 7^th team members are important because you never know who the top four will be and a team’s 7^th shooter may be ahead of an opponent’s 4^th shooter thereby moving that opposing shooter down in the placings.

            Placings of shooters going out in the same round are determined by fastest time out.  Ties will be shot off before next round.  Ties in team standings will be determined in favor with the team with the highest placing shooter.

            No requirements as to guns, division, residency or club membership.

ARIZONA SUGGESTED TEAMS: The Champs, The Young Guns,   The Shady Mtn Gang, Rio Salado Vaqueros, and Old Publeo Gunfighters.

Shooters may sign up on any team first come first signed on or make up their own teams, for example, family teams would be fun.

EXAMPLES: 

Thirsty might want to sign up on The Champs, a team of Territorial, State, and Club Champions, and on a family team of Thirsty, Lawless Speed, Half Cock Willie, Calaboose Bill, Buckeroo Ben, and Coyote Kid (Grandpas, Kid and Grandkids.)  His entry fee for team competition would be $5 plus $10 for second entry for total of $15.

A young guns team of Lawless Speed, Col Hip Shot, Holli Day, Prickly Pear, Dirty Dan, Hot Flash and High Strung would be a tough team.

AWARDS:   Magnet Awards for team members memorializing their victory are available from azgunslingerstore.com at reasonable costs.

Sample Sign-up Form

Team Name:________________________________

Team Members:                                  Place       Top four

1 _________________________       _____     _______

2 _________________________       _____     _______

3 _________________________       _____     _______

4 _________________________       _____     _______

5 _________________________       _____     _______

6 _________________________       _____     _______

7 _________________________       _____     _______

                                        Team Total Score         _______

Comments:

1.     Team scoring is only the top 4 shooters are scored.  If all team members are scored, then a shooter or two who are having a bad day might drag down an otherwise good team.  Also, since the bottom shooters of the match have the highest placings numbers scoring 100% of the team members unfairly considers the bottom team members over the top team members.  On the other hand, only scoring the top one or two shooters really makes it into an individual event.  There needs to be a balance.  Best balance would be shooting seven and scoring 5, like cross country.  However, I suggest shooting 7 and scoring 4 to be more accommodating to clubs to enter teams.  For example, if Rio Salado brings seven shooters they could enter seven on one team.  If they bring 8 shooters, then it makes sense for them to enter two 4 shooter teams.  Other shooters could  join their teams and since it is always better to have 7 shooters than just 4 because you never know who is going to be shoot well on any given day, it is to their advantage to have other shooters sign onto their teams until full.

2.    Many shooters have multiple connections to other shooters.  For example, I practice on Shady Mountain and would like to join a team with those shooters.  I also have family members shooting so it would make sense for me to enter a family team.  This format allows multiple entries.  However, the fee goes up to discourage someone from joining every team.  All teams are open to everyone as long as there is a slot open.  Once seven shooters have joined, then no more entries on that team are allowed.

3.    Added workload:  There really is very little extra work needed to have this event if you are have a last man standing shoot since it utilizes the CFDA scoring system.  You need someone to collect the money and supervise the sign-up sheets.  You need someone to add up the score sheets near and at the end of the event.  Since 90% of the shooters will be placed by the last several rounds of the event, most team scores will be known by the last round.  The ideal match would be to have four teams within a point or two of each other at the end with team members still shooting.  That would be exciting.  The more likely situation is to have the team competition determined before the last several rounds since the best team top to bottom should win.

Good Luck and Have Fun!

Winter Range, Tombstone Revisited!

I did not mean to say, but did say, that one of the top four should have intentionally lost for a competitive advantage.  That is not the cowboy way.  I apologize.  My wife has said for years that my thinking is a half of bubble out of plumb.

Having said that, we are now in the planning stage for next year's shoot, be it a jackpot or state championship.  It is informative to look at this year's shoot at Tombstone (Last Man Standing) as compared to Winter Range (Magnificent Five).

Had Winter Range been a Last Man Standing shoot the results would have been completely different.  Last Man Standing would have resulted in Marshall Cooper 5th, Cobb 6th and Brasanda Spur 7th.  Most likely Cowboy Up would have won since only he had no Xs among the top four shooters, although you never know because he would have been shooting the top four in every subsequent round, two of whom were as quick as he. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th places would have been determined on the line between the Draw, Short Keg and Hyde Hunter.

Which do you prefer?  Last Man Standing is the fairer of the two.  (To highlight the unfairness, 1st place had 4 Xs while second place had only 2 Xs at Winter Range)  Magnificent Five/Seven is the more entertaining. Magnificent Seven is used as nationals and world so that is a good reason to use it here. I have been to other State Championships that use Last Man Standing format.

Having won a Magnificent Five I prefer that format.  We can do either in a jackpot shoot or a state championship.  I have been lobbying for a major shoot with 17 Magnificent Five shoot-offs, I find that format so much fun, even if a little unfair.

Think about it then let the board know which you prefer.  I suggest an e-mail to a board member, something in black and white has more staying power than word of mouth.

Thanks for reading the ramblings of an old fool.

Lessons learned in Tombstone

It was a great venue, a great day, and a well run shoot, but there are always lessons to be learned.

There was an abnormally high number of no hit times.  That must have resulted from either the netting being too tight, there being a hard surface behind the netting or the backstop being set to close to the netting.  Anyway it really slowed down the matches.  We don't have this problem with our range, but it is good to note in the event someone wants to move the targets closer to the back stop.

Money was paid out to the top five and it was a last man standing event.  Since the final five shooters were very consistent in their times and accuracy a comparison can be made between last man standing and magnificent five format. (Analysis of men matches only, assuming the same speed and accuracy) All matches among the top five were decided in 5 shots or less, everyone shooting better than 60%, with the top two shooting 80% or better.   Therefore among the top five all matches were decided on speed.

Number of Rounds:  There were 5 regular rounds and 4 bye rounds necessary to sort out the top five. 4th and 5th place were not determined on the firing line.  Both went out in the second round of the top five after a bye and I don't know how the placings were determined whether by time out or first out.  It is normally customary to shoot this off because money is involved but that was not done. (I don't think it was done but I may be mistaken cause I was distracted by the pretty girl in the front row.) So there should have been 10 rounds instead of 9 rounds.

A magnificent five shoot off would have taken  five regular rounds.  A round of two shooters, three rounds of 4 shooters and a round of two shooters.  There can be no bye rounds in a magnificent five format.

Wear and Tear on the Shooter:  Alleluia shot in 8 of the 9 rounds (4 bye rounds and 4 regular rounds), Spraying Lead Ned shot in 7 of the 9 rounds (4 bye rounds and 3 regular rounds), Rodeo shot in 6 of the 9 rounds (4 byes and 2 regular), EB and Pillsbury both shot in 2 of the 9 rounds (1 bye and 1 regular).

In a magnificent five format, EB would have shot in 2 rounds finishing 5th,  Pillsbury would have  shot in 3 rounds finishing 4th, Spraying Lead Ned would have shot in 2 rounds to finish in 3rd place,  Alleluia would have shot in 3 rounds to finish in 2nd and Rodeo would have shot in 2 rounds to finish 1st.

Final Placings: Because the quickness of the final five shooters was so well delineated and because everyone was shooting better than 60%, the final placings would have been the same whether in last man standing format or magnificent five format. However, if any of the shooters dropped below 60%, format may have made a big difference.  In magnificent five the seeding would have been Spraying Lead Ned, Rodeo, Alleluia,  Pillsbury and EB.

Last Man Standing v. Magnificent Five: When shooters are consistent, the biggest difference between the formats is that Magnificent Five will be determined in five rounds whereas Last Man Standing may take up to ten rounds counting byes.  The other difference is that if you have a clinger  (clinging to that last X) he may have an abnormally high number of rounds, the Magnificent Five spreads the wear and tear out.

Winter Range is Magnificent Five!!!!!!!!!! February 28, 2015.

For those of you that missed it, the venue was awesome.  It was set in a natural boulder walled  terraced location,  targets were set up in the Oriental Saloon, score officials set up in the next door hotel and bordello with the sheriffs office and jail at the end of the street. The terraces were paved and wide enough for shooters chairs.  The boulder wall gave radiant heat and protection for the wind.  Tourists observed from the lookout on top of the boulder wall.  Best venue for observing that I have ever seen, better than Nationals and World.  Speaker system could have been better.  Great little cafe on site, locals say best food in Tombstone.

Here is  photo of the site before it was cleaned up by Old Pueblo Gunfighters taken from the lookout above the site:

Tombstone gave credence to the Appaloosa saying, "Quick only does you good,  if you can hit that which  you are trying to be quick about!"