IDPA is fun if you have a twisted & deranged person designing Courses of Fire. Yesterday we had a match for Safety Officers Only to say thanks for all the hard labor they put in herding our club members safely all year long.

The last stage was interesting to say the least.

Yes that is a shooter and a safety officer on top of our props’ trailer being towed at 5 m.p.h over uneven terrain. There were four paper targets and seven steel targets for the engaging. Ammo count was basically everything as long as you stayed withing IDPA rules… and most of us shot it all.

We are used to shoot on the move at our command. We walk and somehow we integrate our movements we our shooting in a somewhat coherent process which (with a lot of practice) allow us to be accurate enough. Some how we ‘know” when a foot is up, when it makes contact with the ground again, coordinate with our hands, arms & upper body to create a stable platform, acquire sights, press trigger… and if we are good & lucky we make a great shot.

All of the above goes out the window when you are just there for the ride & shoot. You are not in control of anything other than the gun. The terrain here is a bit bumpy and gave the trailer a slight rocking motion back and forth plus side to side. Not a whole lot mind you, but enough to make you work a lot and miss a lot. The first time I ever did a convoy/style stage was years ago at a SFDCC match, with a rifle from a regular trailer, sitting on a secured chair and I missed every single target.

View you get from ground level.. Yours truly trying to shoot the stage. I do apologize for the less than polite word at the end, but there was a steel who refused to die and had to be shot several times and cussed accordingly.

This is the view you get from top of the trailer. Rob from tacticalyellowvisor.net gets in a good run.

I think people should try this or a similar stage. Not only it is fun but it opens your eyes and gives you a new respect for the technicalities of shooting. Basically a portion of humble pie is good for the soul now and then.