I've been wanting to start a match at Ben Avery that would include pair firing.
Basically the match would be shot at 1000 yards and with a Round Robin format. All participants would be put into a bracket (like March Madness) and you would only be shooting against your partner. The winner would move on in the bracket. This would work great with electronic targets because those not shooting can watch the targets on their tablet. You could do double or single elimination and dwindle it down to a final champion. One thing nice is you could have some payouts since no stat office is needed.
Just a thought that has been floating around in my head.
There are many reasons why this format would not be popular.
We try to make F-Class as inviting as possible in hopes of recruiting new shooters. The NRA's system of classifications makes it such that a lot of people can come to a match and get some form of recognition. The other thing is that everyone is expected to shoot the same number of rounds. I don't know about you, but when I get to a match, especially the bigger ones, it's costing me time, money and so on and I don't relish being eliminated right off the bat because I've had a bad relay. When that occurs, I tell myself, there's still a lot of shooting to do and that's why I'm there.
I have seen more times than I can remember someone fumbling at the start, yet winning the match. I have also seen people shooting badly one day and the next day shooting brilliantly and winning these individual matches. I've also seen people starting off great and crashing the next day. These big matches are an endurance run and consistency wins, but everybody shoots the same amount and shooting is the name of the game for most people, I would think.
We already have enough issues with lane assignment and relay assignment and people grumbling how they "wuz robbed" because they were on a "bad relay" whereas the winner was on a "good relay," and that's unfair.
But with your method, you cut 50% of the population off after the first match. They can go home now, no reason to stay. Yuck. After the next match, you cut off 50% of the remaining and they can also go home now. One more match and 50% of the quarter of the starting number are gone also.
Also, the chances of eliminating one or more top contenders early on is very high. A single mistake (crossfire) or going up against the eventual winner or final four or whatever and they are gone. Then you have the issue of deciding the pairing and the inevitable ensuing grumbling.
So you say, "Denys, we'll come up with different mechanisms and round robin or square crow to let people have a chance at going for the 9th place after they have a bad start." Excellent, let's go ahead and complicate things even further.
What we need to keep in mind here is that we competitors are not professionals. We do not make money doing this, indeed we spend lots of money doing this. I think most of us would like to get our money and effort's worth going to a big match and your proposal is contrary to that.
I look at the members of Team Bayou at the Worlds and I know how much it cost in terms of time, effort, travel, fees, accommodations and it was all worth it, because we all go to shoot the whole FCWC, just like everybody else. We had a few members medal in individual matches. I struggled mightily and shot rather poorly the whole week (my whole focus was on the team matches,) but I go to shoot at the same level as everybody else. With your system I would have been gone right away and pounding grass the rest of the week until the team matches.
If you want to do that at local club levels, have at it; I prefer the way we have it now. It's predictable, is pretty level and it's the same everywhere we go. We have been talking at Bayou to maybe introduce a some matches with pair firing, but with the next Worlds 4 years and 10,000 miles away, the immediacy is somewhat less. And going back to Canada is not something that many of us at BRI are contemplating right this minute.