Well, I haven't heard back from Randy. I'll just show up on the orientation day and say "Here I am!"

Tony.

I got a esstac 2 mag carrier ordered and on the way. My daughter might join me and we can do it together. She can shoot my AR and I’ll shoot my Franken-SOCOM. I’m getting fired up about it. MY AR is a Spikes lower with a Spikes LPK, a H2 buffer and a BCM 16” mid length upper with a RRA 2-stage trigger.

For the AR, we’ve got factory XM193 and it was holding about an inch at 100 with the ACOG. For the SOCOM, I’m loading stiff 125 grain TNT’s. Or I could just run with factory Federal XM80 ball. I’ve got plenty.

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
I got a esstac 2 mag carrier ordered and on the way. My daughter might join me and we can do it together. She can shoot my AR and I’ll shoot my Franken-SOCOM. I’m getting fired up about it. MY AR is a Spikes lower with a Spikes LPK, a H2 buffer and a BCM 16” mid length upper with a RRA 2-stage trigger.

For the AR, we’ve got factory XM193 and it was holding about an inch at 100 with the ACOG. For the SOCOM, I’m loading stiff 125 grain TNT’s. Or I could just run with factory Federal XM80 ball. I’ve got plenty.

Tony.

Sounds like you are ready to go!


I had a notice pop up that some slots opened up for the Rock Hard 3-Gun at Rockcastle this weekend, so I jumped on one of them.

Kicking my season off a little early!

Forgot to mention:

Fill as many mags as you think you will need the night before the match. That way you will be enjoying the shooting and other stuff.... and not trying to stuff rounds into your mags between stages.

If I think it will take me 300 rounds to get through a match, I will take at least 10 30rd mags already full. Usually a D60, and a 40rd mag as well.

One less thing to mess with during a match.

Just had breakfast with my little girl. She's confirmed for next Friday and Saturday. I'm excited beyond description!

So how important are rapid mag changes? I got the Esstac mag carriers and spent the last couple of days with dummy rounds practicing magazine changes. No such thing as a flared magazine well with an M14.

I end up doing all the work with my left hand and rotating the rifle sideways with the butt tucked into my ribs. I really need to get a tactical magazine latch!

If I do everything correctly without any hiccups and hit the mag well just right, I can do a mag change, charge the next round and be back at the ready an about 2.5 to 3 seconds.

Tony.

Some stages have mandatory mag changes. Shoot what you brought, learn what you can.

I brought my Remington 700 out to a match once. Cleaned up on the long range stages, suffered on the short range ones. Never had a chance to win, but learned a lot about operating that rifle in non-traditional stages (when the balloon goes up, it doesn't always tell you what rifle to bring).

Sometimes, having a .308 helps--spinners in particular. Sometimes, it doesn't (close range, off hand, non dominant side, rapid fire). Individual PR stages can favor a particular type of rifle, but stages tend to be fair across the entire match (i.e. if there is a short range stage, there will also be a "long-ish" range stage).

Like I said earlier, just learn to use what you got. If you leave the match knowing what improvements to make, either mechanical or technique-wise, then you're doing it right.

Tyros (first time match shooters) should concentrate on not DQing. Everything else is just gravy.

You will get muddy or dusty, or both, but as long as you do not DQ, or hurt yourself, you will have a good time.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
I can do a mag change, charge the next round and be back at the ready an about 2.5 to 3 seconds.

Are you using a timer? Because that is really pretty fast.

Here is a guy doing a 2 second AR15 reload.

Just tried it again while someone got me on video. Looks like 3.5 to 3.75 seconds with camera nerves.

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
Just tried it again while someone got me on video. Looks like 3.5 to 3.75 seconds with camera nerves.

No worries, it takes time and lots of practice with an AR15, there are plenty of more hindrances to speed with an M14 type rifle.

I went to a class and my SF instructor actually didn't press us for uber fast speeds, but to make absolutely fucking sure the weapon was reloaded and ready to fire (mag seated, round confirmed chambered, etc). His thought was the last thing you want to do is spend 2 seconds going fast and then it doesn't fire more than 1 round since you didn't seat the magazine and it falls our, or you didn't ensure the round chambered, etc, etc.

We started with 4 second par times then moved it down to 3 seconds, which feels fast as hell and about what I shoot for with my reloads, but I'm still more methodically ensuring the weapon is back in action.

Most times I would plan on drawing a pistol first, since I know I can do that in <2 seconds if I had to shoot something right now and the rifle was dry.

And like any skill, practice practice practice - great thing about reloads are you can do it at home very often with snap caps.

Got my Razor HD GenII 1-6 today too. Had to rush home over lunch and install it.



This is my first Vortex scope and its definitely NEXT LEVEL! The glass is amazingly clear. I'm impressed!

Tony.

Don't take any shit offa those tactical Timmys after you wax em with your antiquated m14.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
Got my Razor HD GenII 1-6 today too. Had to rush home over lunch and install it.



This is my first Vortex scope and its definitely NEXT LEVEL! The glass is amazingly clear. I'm impressed!

Tony.

You chose well.

Which reticle did you get?

The MOA reticle. Since this is a project rifle which will be documented, Vortex donated the scope to help the cause.

Tony.

I had all my gear ready for the Rock Hard match last weekend, but I forgot to bring my cardio.....






Par time on every stage was 5 minutes.


I made every stage under par, average time on the clock per stage for me was about 4 min 11 seconds.

Typical 3 gun matches run par times of 90 to 180 seconds.

It was an ass buster.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
Got my Razor HD GenII 1-6 today too. Had to rush home over lunch and install it.


This is my first Vortex scope and its definitely NEXT LEVEL! The glass is amazingly clear. I'm impressed!

Tony.

I am not surprised that you are pleased with the glass in that Razor. They really are excellent.

I have a JM1 reticle but if I recall correctly the MOA reticle is also a good candidate for a 200 yard zero.

Make sure you have a good zero before the match.

For me that means confirming out to at least 400 yards IF there is going to be some longer range rifle. If it is a shorter range match I am generally content to make sure it is hitting appropriately at 100 or 200.


A time killer mistake that I see with some new (to matches) shooters is that they will start to blast volume of fire in the direction of a target rather than taking careful aim. One well aimed shot is much faster than 3 or 4 misses. Adrenaline does funny things to people.

quote:

Originally posted by IndianaBoy:
A time killer mistake that I see with some new (to matches) shooters is that they will start to blast volume of fire in the direction of a target rather than taking careful aim. One well aimed shot is much faster than 3 or 4 misses. Adrenaline does funny things to people.

I commonly see this in team matches, where one shooter is the "precision guy" with a bolt action and the other shooter is the "carbine guy" with a semi auto. The carbine team members often come from non-precision shooting disciplines -- i.e. closer targets, where sometimes rapid follow-up shots are important to attaining good scores.

Coming up on another squad at a stage, listening to the timing and number of shots is telling. Shooters from precision backgrounds will often score on steel with no more than 2 shots per target, shot in a relatively slow and measured cadence. Shooters who place a volume of fire on targets on a quick cadence may consume a magazine or more of ammo before all targets have been hit. IMO, even with the clock ticking, slower cadence and more accurate fire turns out better.

I finished orientation with my daughter today. It went well. Unfortunately I was only able to zero my rifle with the new scope at 100 yards with XM80 Federal white box.

We shot a quick sample stage and I did good as did my girl. I stayed to help set up the course so I have a preview of the four stages we’ll shoot.

We set up targets out to 300 yards. I don’t expect to hit much past 200 yards since I didn’t have time to shoot this rifle past 100 and I have no experience with holdovers for SOCOM length rifles.

I’m probably screwed but I’ll be prepared for the match next month as I’ll have had a chance to develop a good load and get some good dope.

Tony.

quote:

Originally posted by benny6:
I finished orientation with my daughter today. It went well. Unfortunately I was only able to zero my rifle with the new scope at 100 yards with XM80 Federal white box.

We shot a quick sample stage and I did good as did my girl. I stayed to help set up the course so I have a preview of the four stages we’ll shoot.

We set up targets out to 300 yards. I don’t expect to hit much past 200 yards since I didn’t have time to shoot this rifle past 100 and I have no experience with holdovers for SOCOM length rifles.

I’m probably screwed but I’ll be prepared for the match next month as I’ll have had a chance to develop a good load and get some good dope.

Tony.

Looking forward to an AAR!

I wish I had seen your post last night I could have run your dope for you and given you a rough idea on holds for 300 yards.

I suspect you will do better than you think, even just using kentucky elevation and holding a bit high should get you on steel at 300. Bulk FMJ is plenty good for dinging steel out to at least 500.


Hope you are having a blast! I suspect you are.

I did pretty good for a first timer. One stage was a moving target at 200 yards which was our first stage. A half size human silhouette. Ad many hits as you can in 45 seconds. I scored 4 hits.

Second stage was picking up your rifle and shooting one round at a target to your left, then turning 90 degrees and shooting one round at a target to your right. Place rifle back on tire, slap hands on table repeat until time runs out. I think I got 6 hits. I did miss once as I did pull the trigger when I did not intend to and I was way left of the target. The rest of the shots hit.

Next stage was 10 rounds kneeling through a tire, mag change, sep sideways and shoot the Texas star. This was my best run, I think.

Last stage was my killer. 16 targets from 50 to 300 yards. I could not hit the first target. Missed it maybe 10 times. There was too much vegetation so I could not see where I was missing. Shouted SKIP! Moved to the next target and kept missing. The scorekeeper shouted he thought I was hitting right. I held left and started hittng targets. Held high left and started running through the targets until I ran out of time and did not complete the stage. I hit the 300 yard targets and started to make my way through the other close range targets but ran out of time. 11 out of 16 targets hit and almost went through 2 mags.

My daughter did well. She only got one hit on the mover at 200. Had a magazine that wouldn’t feed on the Texas star round. She kept charging the rifle and CLICK. After 3 clicks, I shouted CHANGE MAGAZINE! She changed to a different magazine and was back in business. She did very well on the 16 target stage and I was very proud.

I’ll put some videos together and post them in the next couple of days.

Tony.