This is a typical USPSA stage. In USPSA they don’t generally define when and where you have to shoot targets, so it can be challenging for a new shooter. I’m going to show you the steps I take in order to start the stage, and finish the stage, to get a good field course in.

As your squad walks up to the stage the first thing you are going to receive is the walk-through. That’s a stage briefing where you’re going to be told how many targets there are, how many rounds there are, and any boundaries you have to stay within on the range to shoot the stage.

One of the things I like to do when I’m on a stage like this, because I have a sea of targets in front of me it can be really difficult to keep track of how many and where they are. So I like to head down range to the targets.  Now I’m in a position where I can see all these targets and I know where I’m going to need to be to shoot them.

This is the starting fault line for the stage. This black line here. And I need to be behind it before the start buzzer sounds. But after that I can go anywhere within the stage fault lines that I want to.

Now the barricade on the right is actually further back than the one on the left. So it makes more sense for me to go to the left first. So I’m never having to add extra steps to shoot the stage or backtrack. I’m going to move, draw, come over to this position and be very aware of the fault line here. If my foot is over even by just a little bit I’m going to accrue a penalty for every shot fired and I don’t want that.

From this position I can see three targets. I’m going to shoot them from left to right. I want to shoot the target I see first, the one on the left - one, two and three.

I’m going to advance to the opening where I can actually see five target. One peeking around the barricade I saw from the back. Three in the open and one I’ve already shot. I’m going to ignore that one and shoot these four targets. One, two, three, four. That makes seven.

I know I have three left. I’m going to advance to the final position, being very aware of this fault line here. We shoot the first one I see here on the right. One, two, three. That’s ten targets twenty rounds, we’re ready to go.

The final piece in all of this is figuring where you’re going to reload. I shoot a Smith & Wesson M&P and the production division limits me to ten rounds in each magazine. So technically it’s a twenty round stage and that means I can shoot the whole thing with just one reload. But that also means I’m doing a standing flat footed reload and that’s going to take up more time than reloading when I could be moving. So when I’m looking at the stage, in my first position, I have six rounds, three targets. I’m going to go ahead and reload while I’m moving. As I advance, here I have eight rounds, four targets. I have to move again, so I’m going to reload again. And then finally, I’m going to move into this last position where I have my last three targets and I’m ready to finish the stage.

So I know where the targets are. I figured out my plan, and I figured out my reloads I’m ready to go.