Courses of Fire

[lapua338]

Would there be any merit in having a Course of Fire section for shooting disciplines?

I would be interested in seeing what clubs are doing in terms of stage design particularly for lever action (no optics), LBP and LBR shooting matches/informal club competitions. Where do clubs get their inspiration and are they especially creative?

Do clubs test some element of shooting skill, for instance, shooting and moving between positions, loading on the move, etc, or strictly follow the NRA Gallery Rifle Handbook?

What is a typical COF designed for the NRA Handgun League and Mini-Rifle League? There seems to be a growing interest in this type of shooting.

What scoring systems do clubs use for the more dynamic COFs? Is it uncommon for clubs to adopt IDPA scoring which is based upon three scoring zones? No absurd X zones because it's supposed to be practical and not ISSF target shooting.

Are there any existing UK resources online that have a library of COFs?

I'm simply curious.

[Blackstuff]

For IPSC type CoF AFAIK (could I use anymore acronyms?!) it all comes from the imaginations of match organisers. While there are competition requirements for Level 2 and above competitions i.e. how many short, medium and long courses of fire should make up the whole match, I think the rest mainly comes down to the restrictions of the venue (i.e. what type of ammo can be used and the directions is can safely be used in) and then the 'taste' of the person(s) setting it up.

With my local club we make them up on the spot using whatever buildings/tyre walls/old cars the airsoft lads have left lying around the quarry! I normally end up setting up the CoF for PSG shoots and invariably favour fast shooting rapid advancing type CoF (or 'blag' stages as they're commonly known!), whereas when others in the club set it up they may prefer technically challenging CoF (or memory-tests-while-you-wander-about-in-the-woods stages as I call them )

Personal/club preferences can be quite strong, for example at Dartford (CoF) attached, they are usually more straightforward fast shooting, fast reloading stages, whereas say at Rossendale they are usually more technically challenging and at Northcotes there is frequently a lot of awkward aperture shooting.

Stage/CoF design is a thankless task and I don't think many people realize the time and effort match organisers go to, to design safe, fun, challenging and NEW stages.

The PSG/mini-rifle/pistol matches I shoot competitively are all done to the IPSC scoring system i.e. stage points / time = hit factor. At my local shoot we keep it much more simple and its just based on time alone which works fine for the PSG, but with mini-rifle/pistol we have the same design IPSC targets but they are 1/3 smaller and only A and C zones count as a hit.

[Maggot]

You can download a lot of COFs from the NRA website in one form or another. The entire CSR handbook is there to download, I believe the COFs are all on there.

[Ovenpaa]

I agree, adding something somewhere regarding CoF would be useful. I must admit there are some disciplines where I truly have no idea of a typical CoF.

[tackb]

I've just been to the roundhouse challenge , you receive the course of fire the morning of the event , I like this and specifically seek out events like it as I find it challenging , each to their own