Hey, I know that guy

Stage from the 2010 Indiana USPSA Section Match.

You had two targets to the left and two the right, then 4 more behind the port that could only be activated by putting the ammo can in the slot.  Some people chose to shoot the four visible targets strong hand only and then put the can in the slot, I figured that I could drop the can in the slot with both hands and engage the four targets, reload while stepping back and get the last four.  It worked pretty well, my time was 9.something and I shot 14 alfas…and two deltas which hurt my score pretty significantly. It was definitely a fun stage, and one of my favorites from the match. This is just me, but I don’t believe that a “good” stage has to be 32 rounds, but rather that it presents a shooting problem that can be solved in different ways. That was why I liked this stage, as there were multiple ways to shoot it. The match winner, Bob Vogel shot the stage in 6.57 seconds with 15 alfas and 1 charlie, on his way to winning every stage at the match.

That’s the big advantage of going to major matches. You get to shoot against the best, and see how your skills stack up against them. If you never shoot against the best and only compare yourself to other shooters in your classification, then you’ll end up the sad little king of a sad little hill, and never really improve. For that reason alone I encourage people to go to matches. Challenge yourself to shoot better, faster, and more accurately by comparing yourself to people that you don’t have a chance of beating, and who knows – someday you might just pull it off.