GSSF Talon today

Went out for the first time under the GSSF banner and it was not at all what I was looking to find.

Short story: Checked in and was signed in at all three stages by 11:11. Waited about 10 minutes and shot the steel plate stage. Two hours later, was still waiting to shoot the next stage and was told it would probably be another 30 minutes. Then watched people walk up and push me further down the wait list so I picked up my ball and went home. I was there just for fun, and the bullet too minute ratio was way to slow for me.

Here is what I didn't know:

When you arrive and "check in" this establishes your priority time. You then sign in for each stage using that time. That holds your place in line when you reach a stage but does not require you to report to the stage. When you are ready to shoot the stage, you then put an "X" next to your name to indicate you are loaded and ready. Meaning, if you are a 08:01 check in time and you show up at a stage at 10:00, they treat you like you have been there since 08:01. The gamers sign in and go to breakfast and that gives them the power to put down the "X" and cut in line in front of people who have actually been standing in line.

You can shoot as many guns in a row as you want. I watched two guys each shoot six guns in a row on one of the stages that requires cardboard to be scored and taped. The net effect being, each of those guys took about 25 minutes to finish. Comparatively, they would have taken about 5 minutes to finish the steel stage where you just pull the re-set string. So ultimately, due to poor time to complete stage design, everyone is going to stall on the cardboard stages.

Everyone out there was pleasant and cordial. No issues at all with the RO's or the crowd. I reached out the KenC, another forum member who regularly shot this and was an RO. He said they used to limit it to 3 guns and / or have a fast lane option for folks there just shooting one category. The gun limit restriction was off and there was no fast lane today.

So, if you are going to do the GSSF thing come early and sign up at least even if you don't want to shoot that early. Alternatively, show up in the last 30 minutes. Avoid the middle.

If you want to get more time on the trigger, bring a second or third gun. Running it .22 is okay so that would be a decent warm up just to get the target order worked out before picking up a larger caliber. If I ever go back, that's what I will do.