Safety Gear

Wether you are a shooter or a spectator at a match you need AT MINIMUM hearing protection, ear muffs or ear plugs (or both) and eye protection. it is also a good idea to wear some sturdy shoes that fit snugly around your legs or ankles or at least are covered by your pants leg. Hot brass down inside a boot makes for a bad time on the range. The same goes for shirts, ideally you don't want a loose flowing open neck shirt for the same reason, to keep hot brass out. Also it can get HOT on the range so bring plenty of snacks and drinks.

Shooting Gear

Most of our matches will require between a 9mm or .45 caliber hand gun or PCC. No magnum rounds allowed as it will hurt the steel. A steel only match allows for .22 caliber guns, but only steel matches. 

You will need a good sturdy holster and belt. No loose floppy belt, or holsters, they present safety issues. Please don't bring a soft Nylon style holster. Have enough magazines to hold about 50 rounds on your belt at one time, you'd also want enough magazine holders to hold that many magazines. Your holster and magazine holders should hold those items securely during movement. 

Ammunition

MOST of our matches can be shot with LESS THAN 150 rounds of ammo. There will always be a minimum round count posted with the match registration. We suggest bringing at least 25% more ammo than the minimum required. 

When at a match, your magazines can be loaded anywhere on the range EXCEPT the designated safe area. 

Showing Up

Seems to be that one of the hardest parts of a match for a new shooter is SHOWING UP. Come to a match, be ready to shoot, try not to be nervous and if you have ANY questions or concerns PLEASE find one of us that are running the match and ask questions and express your concerns so that we can make you feel as comfortable as possible. We want every shooter to have as positive an experience as possible, if you have any special considerations to be made or are unsure about anything at all PLEASE let us know so we can help out. 

On the Range

When you get to the range, have your pistol either in your range bag, a box, or any other type of containment. The range is ran as a COLD range. that means no one, at any time will have a loaded gun on the range EXCEPT when instructed to do so by a range officer preceding the start of a stage when it's your turn to shoot. Park, ask where the SAFE AREA is, someone will direct you there. The safe area is the only place on the range where you can handle your pistol outside of the instruction of a range officer. DO NOT handle any ammunition or loaded magazines in the safe area, if possible leave those elsewhere while you gear up in the safe area. You can use the safe area to take your pistol out of its case, check its function, dry fire a little bit, put on your belt and holster, holster your pistol, then leave the safe area ready for the match.

Common range commands you need to know:

Make Ready: this command gives you permission to unholster and make yourself ready for the stage as per the stage briefing. Most stages are loaded starts, some are not. Load your pistol, re holster, and wait for more range commands.

Are You Ready: once the range officer assumes you are ready you will hear this command. If you stay silent the range officer will assume you ARE ready, you can also respond as you see fit at this time. If you are in fact NOT ready, now is the time to say so.

Stand By: this is the last command you hear before the timer buzzer sounds to start the stage. After you hear Stand By, 2-4 seconds later the buzzer/beep will sound.

If Finished, Unload, Slide Down, Hammer Down, Holster: this is a string of commands you will hear once you are finished shooting. Once you are finished, just stop, and wait for the range officer to give you these commands.

STOP! : if you ever hear STOP for any reason, immediately stop what you are doing, don't move, and wait for more commands.

Helping is Learning

This sport is a volunteer sport, no one on the range at a local level match is getting paid. We usually start setting up the match around 7:30 am. Showing up early to help with setup will give you lots of opportunity to help build and see the stages way before you get to shoot them. You will learn a lot about stage design, why certain things are setup the way they are, get tips on how to shoot certain scenarios within the stages etc. The more people that are helpful the more the work is spread out for the match and the smoother and easier it is for everyone. During a match try to be as helpful as possible during stage reset, pasting targets, resetting steel and props etc. If you are the next shooter in line don't worry about helping reset, worry about being as ready as possible for your turn.