So all day the match was a roller coaster but I had just cleared the 200 yard stage with a great time for Limited (red dot) and needed to carry that momentum for the final two Bay stages. That's when I decided to foot fault for 12 rounds and double my stage time!! Doh!!

To top things off they dropped the 200 yard stage from the match because it wasnt as windy as when the ROs shot the day before. I needed that stage bad.

In the end the foot fault dropped me from 2nd to 6th in my division.

The match was fun and good times were had by all who participated.

Mistakes are frustrating, but I myself would be more than a little annoyed if I participated in a match and they just arbitrarily decided after it was over that a stage wouldn’t count.

To this day I clearly remember my very poor smallbore rifle performance at Camp Perry back when I was in high school. I had never shot outdoors before that match and the wind was blowing like crazy. It was only 50 feet to the targets so the wind probably didn’t affect bullet flight too much, but whatever the effect it was swamped by its effect on trying to shoot from kneeling and standing while being buffeted. No one then said, “Oh, the wind isn’t the same as yesterday, so we’ll disregard those scores.”

If someone is trying for sub-quarter-MOA groups, I can understand how wind and 200 yard targets would be a big deal, but for a practical style carbine course and shooting from sheltered positions? What was the point? Can you explain the reasoning?

The weather is part of shooting, weather changes, but that’s something shooters have to put up with whether it helps or hinders them.

quote:

Originally posted by redrider1596:
To top things off they dropped the 200 yard stage from the match because it wasnt as windy as when the ROs shot the day before.

That is a lame reason to drop a stage. I shot a stage in a match where we finished so late, you could barely discern the brown cardboard targets from the berm. We didn't get to throw it out because the rest of the shooters could see the targets better. And what about someone who gets the stage on an east-facing bay first thing in the morning, or the west-facing one in the early evening? Sounds like someone wasn't happy with their performance and made enough noise to get it thrown out.

Well to clarify, the stage was shot from the inside of a large corrugated drain pipe that was hanging by 4 chains. So I guess the decision was to throw out the stage because the tube was swaying more on the first day. It might have sucked on day 1 but on day 2 there were not a lot of people finishing under the 120 sec. Par time.

It was a tough stage. Somehow I pulled off a good time and I really could have used it!

quote:

Originally posted by JAFO:

quote:

Originally posted by redrider1596:
To top things off they dropped the 200 yard stage from the match because it wasnt as windy as when the ROs shot the day before.

That is a lame reason to drop a stage. I shot a stage in a match where we finished so late, you could barely discern the brown cardboard targets from the berm. We didn't get to throw it out because the rest of the shooters could see the targets better. And what about someone who gets the stage on an east-facing bay first thing in the morning, or the west-facing one in the early evening? Sounds like someone wasn't happy with their performance and made enough noise to get it thrown out.

You are probably right.

We have had matches where it poured rain one day sunny the next

None of the stages were dropped because of the weather

Honestly I agree with dropping the stage. IME too many stage designers don't consider the weather when they design stages. If you are in an area with variable gusty winds drops and targets that can be affected by the wind probably should be avoided.

This isn't an issue of toughing it out, it is an issue of competitive equity. The shooters should be presented with roughly similar target presentations whenever possible.

But good MDs and stage designers prevent these issues by altering things before the match due to the forecast. For example for the Hurricane Nationals last year during the switch over from limited to open they pulled all the disappearing max traps. The only max traps that remained were the type that stayed open.

If the issue was with the pipe they were shooting from, then I can agree with you. But if not, how can you ever design around variable wind at a carbine match with 200 yd targets?

quote:

Originally posted by JAFO:
If the issue was with the pipe they were shooting from, then I can agree with you. But if not, how can you ever design around variable wind at a carbine match with 200 yd targets?

Sometimes the weather works for you, sometimes it doesn't. It is no different than open shooters and rain.

What matters is how the target is presented, did they have the opportunity to shoot it as much as much as any other shooter.

I agree that the weather call was a bad one. Weather is weather. Unless it is truly freak weather (like a tornado) some people will be hurt by weather and some might be helped, but it doesn't make the match unfair. It is an outdoor game, and weather can be a factor.

The wind can shift in a golf tournament, and they sure as hell don't throw out some holes because of it.