[solaritx]

Maybe some have already thought of this, but here in Houston we are always looking for interesting ways of making the CoF more interesting. One of the ways we have done so recently is by using old X-mas trees for vision barriers and soft cover. We got several of our shooters to bring their trees out to one of the local ranges, and it has made for some interesting times, especially around the car stages.

Unfortunately, the trees do finally loose their needles, and illusion is lost.....but my wife is an avid garage sale junkie, and she has found many old artifical X-mas trees, and all for under $5 each.

Now, we have a forest of 6-8 trees that we "hide" our threats in. Put a threat or two around the car and hide the rest. Only problem is with the artifical ones is that they either have to be staked down or weighted down when the wind is up....but not a real problem.....And they do lend a bit of realism to the scenarios.

Another one that we have used of late is firecrackers. We have used these to simulate gunfire during scenarios. Sounded like fun, but in reality, shooter rarely hears or notices them. When the buzzer goes off, the tunnel vision takes over. Interesting reality.....as expressed from our shooters.

Any one else with suggestions for cheap and fun props?

Garry Newton

[solaritx]

One other cheap prop we have been using of late is one of those $20 white strobe lights that people use at parties. Instead of shooting a scenario with flashlights, we use the strobe as available light. Put up a few threats including a swinger, require they be engaged in tactical sequence, and it is a simple and fun scenario. Not as hard to shoot as one might expect......as my 14 yr old daughter explained to me after she shot it better than I did. <g>


Garry Newton

[trebuchet]

** a note of caution**
Strobe lights can cause seizures for some people. Even if they have never had a history of seizures.

[solaritx]

Wife is a garage sale junkie. Other props she has found for us is a red "police" light that plugs into regular outlet. The other thing she has been finding is cheap used tents. Pour condition and costing $1-5 but we set them up, put threats and non-threats in there and it makes for an interesting "camping" scenario. Who cares if they aren't in the best of condition- we are shooting them up anyway.

One can also "build" a tent pretty easy, frame one out with 1x2 wood, and staple a old cheap tarp over it.

Garry N

[Bones]

pants

[jm951]

We had a couple of vehicles on a stage at one match I shot at. The first 2 BG's were on the other side of the first vehicle and they wanted the shooter to rise and shoot over the car. That wasn't made clear and several of us never got up from behind cover and just shot through the car windows. It raised some eyebrows, but hey, in the real world, I'm not getting up from behind perfectly good cover. Fun stage, I'd like to do another like it sometime.

[Rob Boudrie]

Pickup truck, under the shooter, engine running and transmission engaged during the course of fire.

Due to the complexities of keeping things identical for mulitple shooters, we do not do this at our Area Championship, but is has been done successfully at sectional matches with great success.

-----------------

A more unique prop is the swingset Square Deal Sportsmen built a few years ago which used a swing with a 4x8 foot steel platform, and room for props, shooter, range officer, seat and table on the swing. Add a couple of swinging targets, and you have three axis movement - fore/aft and up/down from the platform and left/right from the swingers. This reminded me of college mechanics courses, except that nobody was asking me to calculate moments of intertia.


(ooops... just noticed IDPA in the title - this was USPSA - oh well, the props may be worth leaving in the thread)

[Ted Murphy]

One of the local clubs took 2 logs about 20 feet apart and placed a ford tempo in between. Shooter was in passenger's seat. SO was in back seat. Helper was in drivers seat. At the beep the driver kept going fore and aft till the guy finished shooting some targets, including one or two reed reactors.

Quite a lot of fun but the tranny was trashed by the end of the match. Hard to shoot steel when you don't know when the car is going to lurch.

We've used a lot of cars, motorcycles, boats, toilets, bathtubs, etc.


Ted

[Round_Gun_Shooter]

Ted Murphy, on May 10 2005, 05:08 PM, said:

We've used a lot of cars, motorcycles, boats, toilets, bathtubs, etc.


Ted

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The folks at NHTAG used a coffin one year, car sliding on the ice toward a no shoot another year, moving vehicle driving down range shooter hanging out the window another year.

Boy, those hot range matches are really missed.

Regards,

[Round_Gun_Shooter]

Rob Boudrie, on May 10 2005, 04:51 PM, said:

Pickup truck, under the shooter, engine running and transmission engaged during the course of fire.

Due to the complexities of keeping things identical for mulitple shooters, we do not do this at our Area Championship, but is has been done successfully at sectional matches with great success.

(ooops... just noticed IDPA in the title - this was USPSA - oh well, the props may be worth leaving in the thread)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I still liked the swinging bridge suspended by chain. I liked the truck until the barricade fell out

Regards,

[Mark Perez]

This past Sunday , my match included

• Disarms using a blue gun.,
  
• Competitor stabbing a target with his folding knife,

[Ted Murphy]

I bought a fire hydrant for use as a prop a while back. Picked it up at a junk yard for $15.00. I was stopped somewhere and this fella saw the hydrant in my truck bed. He was a volunteeer fireman and wanted it for his garden. So I ended up selling it for $50.00.

We didn't get a fire plug as a prop, but I got some more reloading components.



Ted

[MichiganShootist]

One of our area MDs uses an interesting aid quite often.

He has made cut outs of a large knife and a slightly oversized pistol. When setting up the CoF he sets three targets at the same distance from the shooter... but behind a barricade.... then attaches the knife to one target and the pistol to another.

The walk through tells the shooter to engage the targets in the order of threat..... So it's pistol, then knife, then the third target. Between shooters the SO moves the two "weapons" so that the shooter won't know the order of engagement until he looks around the barricade. You can do the same thing and make one of the targets a movable no shoot.

At another club we do a lot of no light and low light shooting in a dark house or at the indoor range.... that allows a lot of opportunities to use lights as props. and diversions.

I know of one club that was making shooters wear welding goggles to reduce their visability at an outdoor range. I've never been real comfortable with the safety issues on that one.

[nmipsc]

Welding Goggles at out door ranges is not so bad. Eyes adjust pretty quickly. Your side to side and edge vision is cut dramatically like wearing blinders. I went to a major match last year that had ports that moved like a swinger and all the targets very fixed. at the Double Tap Championship in Wichita Falls Texas

This post has been edited by nmipsc: 21 November 2006 - 09:29 AM

[tightloop]

Unusual props or gimmicks? Shooting from a swinging bridge is like throwing a granade through a window....strictly BS

[solaritx]

One prop that I have been using of late.....a large teddy bear with a t-shirt on
that has been weighted to 12 lbs with bags of rice. Holding, retreating , moving and shooting with this more realistic weight of a "child" makes for some interesting shooting.....and when picking it up, you can't just grab a arm or head and run. <g>

We have also "borrowed" a idea from one of the big east coast matches.......we are using a garbage can as an activator for movers. Tie the rope to the can lid, run it down to a c-clamp in the base of the can and the rope goes out a hole in the bottom side of the can. Run the rope to a mover. Start the shooter with "trash" in the strong hand and lift the lid with the weak hand and let the games begin.

Garry N

[Punkin Chunker]

tightloop, on Nov 21 2006, 12:56 PM, said:

Unusual props or gimmicks? Shooting from a swinging bridge is like throwing a granade through a window....strictly BS

Although I'd have reservations about the potential for an especially dangerous AD from a shooter going off-balance, the idea of challenging balance and shooting isn't such a bad idea.

Couple of years ago I was over in the FL panhandle hunting and wanted to cross a large stream. Found a log across the stream, started walking across it and was focused more on keeping my balance than watching the treeline. Halfway across -- yep, you guessed it. Nice-sized buck, good rack, standing and watching.

When I saw the deer I levered a cartridge into the chamber and it took off. Sorry, no fairy-tale ending here -- I didn't take the shot because it was too uncertain. But the point is, I was in the postion of making a shot from a "balance-challenging" position.

To anticipate the retort that few people plan to walk across many log bridges, I'd have to say that:
1. Many people who shoot IDPA probably never plan to be camping, either. But that doesn't stop them from enjoying a shooting scenario based on camping.
2. Head injuries can affect balance, and it's probably better to use props to introduce diminished balance instead of smacking the shooter on the head with a Louisville slugger just before LAMR (it would probably be best to make that one the last stage of the day). And to echo #1, most people probably don't plan to have head injuries (although I know a few people whose attitude invites them).
3. There are only so many ways to dress up, "Standing at the post box, with one hand on the postbox lid and one hand on the package to be mailed . . . ." I like scenarios that are a little off beat but pose challenges to shooting skills that don't often get tested.

[kdmoore]

Punkin Chunker, on Nov 22 2006, 03:45 AM, said:

Although I'd have reservations about the potential for an especially dangerous AD from a shooter going off-balance, the idea of challenging balance and shooting isn't such a bad idea.

I've had similar thoughts, but the strict safety required by our sport make it undoable.

Some of my thoughts: Mandatory heartrate increase (take resting heart reading, get on an stairmaster and raise heartrate 25 %).

Go up and down stairs. Go up and down ramps.

But, I think about the run ins I've seen on flat ground with bbls and such, I think it's too much to introduce.

-Kenneth

[GmanCdp]

we had good sucess with the stage this year..3ft wide x 12 long 2x4's between 2 barricades gave the feeling of a moving bridge..even though it was 3.5 " off the ground,when you got to the middle of the boards the bridge did drop enough to cause the shooter to slow down and not just run 100mph across the boards while engaging the targets,plus with a support 2x4 in the middle...

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[Headshot45]

I know this is an old post, but...

kenneth, we have increased heart rate COFs all the time....unfortunately it is when we set up everything while 90% of the shooters stand around and watch....as a MD we are usually doing something so the shooters can enjoy their day, all of a sudden you hear your name being called as the shooter, you run over to the stage, LAMR, shoot, UASC, realize you shot stage 4 the way stage 5 was supposed to be shot, everyone asks if you are aware you had 209 procedurals, now not only is your heart rate up but so is your blood pressure....LOL

Frank

[Steve Koski]

At a recent IDPA match we put a door (old) partially in front of a target. Behind the door was a steel target stand. Some shots made it through the door to the target, some got stopped by the steel stand.

Even more fun was putting several targets behind a car, so that they appeared to be inside the car from the shooting position. It was AMAZING how the car soaked up bad shots. It seems that 90% of shots that hit the car at all did not hit the target.

Of course you have to have a car you can shoot to do that one.