Ken,

I like shooting stages like you described. As some may already know, Ive started Run and Gun matches at my local club to take advantage of fun stages like this. Ill share with you something that happened at the very first match. On one of the stages, I painted an orange fault line in the grass. One shooter ran through the stage and stepped over the line several times. At the end of his run, I told him he would get a penalty for stepping over the fault line. His reply was What line. Turns out that the shooter is colorblind. If I would have painted the line white, it would not have been a problem. Learn something new ever match (note to selfpaint lines white from now on). Same thing would happen if the shirts were black, brown, blue or any other dark shade. They would all look the same to someone who is colorblind. I like the idea of cell phones, badges or other non threat indicators. It makes you look at each target, not just a scoring ring. Unfortunately, the rule book does not include such items, only hands.

We have also used the cutout guns and painted them black. I even traced my AR-15 and it was used on a stage at the state match. Everyone was told that the gun is hard cover and a full bullet in the gun is a miss. A disabled gun does not equal a neutralized bad guy.

I personally like the hands. If I ever had to deal with an aggressor, most of my focus would be on what was in his hands. Wouldn't want to draw down on an angry drunk guy for waving a cell phone at me.

Perry