Airsoft Surgeon European Championships Preview Issue

FEATURE PRACTICAL PIPSTOL PRACTICAL PISTOL IN DETAIL Matches PP is normally run in the UK as a match consisting of anything from ten to 16 stages, shot over one or two days at clubs and grounds used by licenced shooting clubs and, more recently, airsoft “skirmish” clubs and sites. Every stage is generally different from each other by way of the length of it, as in number of targets, amount of space the shooter has to move along, any technical or testing actions needed such as different positions (standing, kneeling, seated or prone), around barricades or with strong-hand/weak-hand only sections . Scoring The WINMSS scoring program, which is free to download off the internet, is used by many people running matches and APPs are also available to use when not using a PC/Laptop to score the match. Using WINMSS, all scoring can be inputted and viewed, score sheets printed and ﬁnal match “Overall” and “Stage” scores printed off or saved. When a shooter has completed a stage the RO will check all targets and call out the hits and they are written down on ofﬁcial score sheets. The “Stats” ofﬁcial, or person whose job it is to enter the scores, does so by completing the boxes with the numbers of different hits, misses, Procedural penalties if any (i.e. not shooting a target, moving too far when limits are set Stages Each stage is run by a Range Ofﬁcer (RO) under one-to-one supervision. The RO times the “run” using any of the commercially available shot-timers, such as the CED 7000 or ‘Are you Ready’ yellow timers. The RO is also there to ensure the shooter complies with all necessary safety rules (of which there are many), such as; remaining within stage safety angles, no unsafe handling (i.e. shots let off whilst moving or when not aiming at targets) and that the area around the stage is safe for all including any etc.) and the time . The program adds the hits and divides them by the time and displays all, including the “Hit Factor” (H/F) that those details make up, for example: Shooter A -total of 25 points in 6.54 seconds = H/F 3.822 Shooter B -total of 23 points in 5.29 seconds = H/F 4.347 Shooter C -total of 25 points in 5.83 seconds = H/F 4.288 other shooters and people watching . The wearing of eye protection on a range is mandatory for all! A brieﬁng as to what the stage entails will be given by the RO before anybody commences shooting and all shooters have time to walk through the stage, checking where the targets are, safe angles to hit them at and where to undertake any reloads. Many experienced shooters will run through the stage over and over in their heads, miming the moves they will make, before they step onto the stage for real. Targets A stage may be made up of paper IPSC-style “classic” (kite/cofﬁn shaped) cardboard buff coloured targets, or steel targets called “Poppers” or “Plates”. The paper targets must receive two hits minimum to count and have a number of scoring “zones”. The inner “A” zone scores 5 points, the middle “C” zone scores in airsoft/CO2 PP as 3 points (4 or 3 points in real pistol matches around the world) and the outer “D” zone is 1 point, therefore a maximum of 10 points per target. White “No-Shoot” targets are also mixed in as wanted, to make the stage harder for the shooter as a “No-Shoot” hit costs MINUS 10 points per hit (with a maximum 2 hits per No-shoot). The astute amongst you might have noticed the lack of a “B” zone; this is because on earlier targets this was seen as the “head” and is no longer acceptable to shoot in a competition environment, so has been removed. www.airsoft-action.co.uk 037

Airsoft Surgeon European Championships Preview Issue | Page 13