Springfield - Worlds Collide: Shooting a Competition Stage

This expanded installment of Worlds Collide is for anyone who wants to learn more about competition shooting. Champion competitive shooter Rob Leatham of Team Springfield takes us through shooting a competition stage.

Rules

No surprise — there are a lot of rules. Exactly where you can stand when the buzzer goes off, where you can and can’t move to while shooting, which targets to shoot and how many times each are just some of the items constrained by rules.

Rob Pincus of PDN, the other half of Worlds Collide, represents the tactical or defensive shooter who is unfamiliar with the carefully choreographed routines of competition shooting and the actions that can cause a shooter to be disqualified. Many PDN viewers will probably identify with him in this situation, as this doesn’t look like the handgun training videos found here on PDN.

Shooting the Stage

Both Robs shoot the same competition stage, to illustrate how it’s done, what the shooter should know beforehand, and how the stage is scored — based on hits, misses, and time.

It’s no surprise when Leatham’s score is higher (better). Both Robs go back and analyze where Pincus’ extra time came in, by the extra movements he made. Leatham knows that economy of movement is critical to competitive shooting success. And the key to that is advance planning. Competitors can walk through each stage in advance and plan their movements and shots on target.

Second Time Around

Armed with the experience of his first try and Leatham’s advice, Pincus shoots the stage again and improves his score dramatically. Leatham counsels keying in on critical targets as a way of further improving his score.

If this look at competition shooting intrigues you, check out the other Worlds Collide videos here at PDN, and this article about competition shooting from PDN Contributor Aaron Israel.