Mammoth 2015 – Big Ed’s Pizza Canadian team AAR
BEP Canadian Team participated in the mammoth Sniper Challenge in Blakely, Georgia on 8-11 January 2015.
All BEP members competed in Open Class, instead of Tough-Man. The Team breakdown for this trip was That guy and me paired up, and Regular Guy paired up with (deleted) . Two weeks out, (deleted) had to back out, so Regular Guy ended up paired up with “Pete” from Atlanta, who also showed up in Blakely without a partner. We’re hunting up a “Dickhead” shirt for (deleted) for the next time we see him.
We drove about 19 hours on Tuesday 6 January, stopping to grab a hotel an hour South of Atlanta just after midnight. We might have gone straight through – but we stopped for dinner in Knoxville for a few hours with friends. We drove through light snow until somewhere in Ohio, and wet highway and cold weather until past Knoxville. We used 2 jugs of washer fluid to do this trip. On the plus side, they were practically GIVING gas away down there. We generally found it for US$2 per gallon, and never more than $2.20.
On Wednesday, we finished the trip to Blakely, dropping in and out of Alabama to get there. So it was a 2-day, 6-state tour… (I won’t even talk about the trip home, since it was a solid 23 hour long drive slowed down by a) a roadside chat with the Georgia State Police, and b) blizzard weather in Ohio, with the accompanying bad drivers and $3000 damage to the truck because of some jag-off driving his Chevy Cavalier as if it were a pinball)
We arrived at “Legion Operator Training Group” before lunch on Wednesday. We had ample time to move into our cabin and register for the fieldcraft events running on Thursday. We had dinner at the local sports bar in Blakely, about 20 minutes down the road from OTG.
I gotta say something about Legion OTG here. It’s over 3,000 acres, and has a lot of ranges and training facilities. There is a full pit-service 1000y range. LOTS of places for field firing, including a few dedicated unknown distance ranges. A high angle shooting tower. All kinds of pistol ranges. They even have a DROP ZONE. It’s named after SgtMaj Plumly of “We Were Soldiers” fame, and we assumed that means that he will drop in occasionally and yell at you to “Don’t tell me what kind of ####ing day to have!” There’s a pro-shop with coffee and wi-fi. The lodging on-site is a bunch of cabins. Each cabin has a couple beds and a dresser and table, sink, toilet and shower, fridge and microwave.
Our first two days were (shades of Kentucky last year..) unseasonably cold for South Georgia. It was well below freezing all day, and a bit colder at night. All the pipes in the place froze. This part of Georgia doesn’t usually see temperatures below freezing at all , so they’re not really equipped for it. That said, it was -26 C at home, so let’s be clear that we weren’t complaining about the temperature. It was slightly annoying that the toilet didn’t flush is all.
There were fieldcraft stages on Thursday for those that wanted. These stages were observation, stalking and range estimation. We all participated in the range estimation and observation, but That Guy did the stalk alone.
The actual matches on Friday through Sunday were similar to what we encountered in Kentucky last January. Since we were shooting in the open class, we drove everywhere instead of marching, and we stayed in the cabin each night. Also, in Open Class we were essentially competing as individuals, although we were permitted to spot for each other. It seemed odd that there were no team awards since so much of these matches hinged on good spotting---it would have made more sense to run it as a team event to make sure that the sniper/spotter teams were committed to each other.
Each match was basically four minutes long. Unless stated otherwise, targets only needed to be hit once, and up to four shots were permitted at each target. All stages in the open class this year were known-distance stages, so no time was allocated for range-card preparation. All targets were steel, and shooters were required to clarify with the RO which target they were engaging to ensure the RO had glass on the correct one to observe hits.
Fieldcraft Events
1. Fieldcraft #1 - Observation.
In an empty field approximately 50y x 120y, 10 objects were laying about. Without knowing what was out there, the goal was to use a maximum of 20x glass to search, locate and describe as many as possible in 30 minutes. Considering it was basically a flat, sparsely grassed field, it was HARD to find anything out there. The grass was short, dry and brown. One object was in plain view, but difficult to identify (A hose nozzle that I thought was a CFL bulb in a socket of some kind) and with some effort, I found and identified a brass .223 casing. That Guy found 10 things, but could not describe them very well. Very humbling. Our good glass was off-limits, since we use 40x and 60x spotters. Luckily Regular guy and I each brought a pair of 8x binos along for the trip, and That Guy had an 8x ranging monacle. 20x would have been nicer…
2. Fieldcraft #2 – Range Estimation.
From a tower, given a photograph with targets identified on it, locate and “mill” 10 targets of known dimensions in 30 minutes. No surprises here. Prize for the most accuracy. None of us won this – but I’m hoping to see a list of how we placed. We did a lot of work in this skill in the past year.
3. Fieldcraft #3 – Stalk.
Only That Guy did this. The concept was similar to military stalk exercises, but since all the rifles were personal rifles of various calibres, no blank ammo was provided or used. Instead, the sniper was awarded 6 points for stalking past a designated “shoot line” without being observed by the spotters. If seen, he could go back to the start and try again as many times as he wanted during the three-hour limit. Once a sniper got those 6 points, he called a walker to come nearby him. If the spotters could still not find him when the walker was within 10 yards, an extra point was awarded. One more point at this stage would be awarded if the sniper could read a card that one of the spotters was holding up. This is where it ended (7 points) for That Guy , since he didn’t get picked up, but his position didn’t give him the visibility to see the card. The 9th and 10th points would be awarded if the sniper could repeat the process without being seen when the walker was within 5 yards of him.
That Guy used a ghillie suit I won in a match over 15 years ago. It is made of strips of “real tree” camo fabric over a mesh body. We figure it’s intended use is tree-stand hunting for turkeys since the fabric strips are all around the entire suit, providing great camo for standing and sitting. While it looks cool, the camo on the belly really just acts as a drag-chute. Plus a leg strap ripped off due to this dragging phenomenon.
We took pains to camoflauge the rifle for That Guy – specifically the scope cover and muzzle. He stalked with my .308, which is heavy, but not unbearable –and it’s already painted for the job – but we muted the black plastic on the lens caps, inside and out, as well as the turret knobs. “Black circles” seem to be the biggest giveaway in these things.
Shooting Events
1. House and Sled.
At the start whistle, sniper had to pull a steel sled approximately 25 feet to the shooting position, which was a concrete porch. From the shooting position, there were 4 targets along an oblique treeline. All distances were provided in the briefing. If the sniper hits the first three (450-850 yards) in the allocated time, a fourth could be engaged for bonus points (1080y). The further targets were worth more than the closer ones, and there were extra points awarded for first shot hits.
I did well on this, with all targets hit, and one or two first shot hits.
2. Barbwire Crawl.
Crawl up a muddy hill under a low wire entanglement. Upon reaching the top, the RO handed the sniper a range card detailing the exact ranges to the targets (targets were identified in briefing, but ranges not provided). There were four targets that could be engaged, two were closer (450y) and 2 were further away (800+). Once all four were engaged, follow up shots on two of the targets could be made for additional points. Again – the closer targets were worth less than the further targets.
The range card was good, but since we didn’t know the distances until we got the card in our hands, we carried our dope sheets with us. Not a big deal – but the folks with plasticized armband note-sheets had one less thing to drop… (Any army shooters might recall several pages of notes on our forearms at AFSAM. It was like that) Some of the targets were “no-shoots” and were clearly identified on the range card as such.
I timed out without all my hits. But the hits I got were good. Fitness is a bit of an issue since the crawl was a decent grade, and about 25 yards. It was harder for larger folks. We were lucky, in a way, to do this the first morning. It was still below freezing, so the mud was frozen. Frozen mud hurts the knees a bit, but there’s less muck and mire to get onto and in your rifle and scope.
3. The Car.
Starting in the front seat, sniper had to crawl between the seats into the back of the car (gear on rear seat) from a platform in the back of the (Bronco/Jimmy sort of SUV) sniper used time to engage a number of targets. The catch was that the targets had to be engaged in sequence either close to far, or far to close. And once a target was skipped over, it couldn’t be re-engaged. So the “gaming” aspect was to pick a start point you were comfortable with, with regards to the available target sizes, distances and wind, etc. Keeping in mind that a low-value hit was better than a high-value miss, etc.
I timed out. I had chosen to start at the largest and closest target (worth the least) and get points on it, and the next one in line to be sure of my wind before skipping a few and working on higher value ones at the longer distance. Looking back at the time allocated, if I could repeat the stage, I would take a bolder approach for more points. (3 misses and a single hit back there was worth more than 4 hits up close…)
4. 800y “know your limit” match.
Four targets, large to small, at 800y. 10 shots could be fired from prone, and 10 from a plastic section of pipe which was VERY unstable. Hit in any order, and our RO enforced a maximum of four shots per target, meaning that 10 would be fired prone and only 6 from the tube…. We suspect that he misinterpreted the rules a bit and we were supposed to be permitted to fire as many shots as we wanted at any of the four targets, subject to the 10 prone and 10 from the pipe limitation. The point being to choose between easy, low value hits and chancier shots in the wind at smaller targets for more points… hence “know your limits.” No matter. Everybody got good hits from prone and nobody hit anything from the tube anyway.
Again – this stage would have been better if I selected bolder targets to start and got more points before timing out. As well – we all need to work on barricade shooting.
5. Barricade match.
At start of match, pick up rifle and run to barricade. Engage three targets (280-450y)through a window. Step around barricade, engage same three targets from over a wall. Drop down and engage same three targets through one of the windows cut through the wall. (Suggest the higher one you kneel to shoot through – the low one lets you shoot prone, but visibility was bad to further targets)
I hit everything in the allocated time. I remember that some of my experience with the Canadian Army Team in Bisley came in handy here. In the UK, we fired at least two matches through sloppy wooden walls with windows. We practiced it a LOT. Supporting a big bolt gun is sure different than cramming a C7 up to a windowsill – but I visualized what I would do, and it happened just as I expected.
If this was completed in the designated time, an extra 2 shots were permitted after your time, using the sponsor’s rifle at a small bonus target. The sponsor’s rifle was decent and had a good scope with a “Horus” reticle. No adjustments were permitted, and he told you “hold 2.8 MOA.” Easier said than done. The Horus reticle is a bit of a dog’s breakfast. Most folks that got the opportunity did it – but the Horus give me a vision-vertigo thing.
6. 2 pairs in field.
Two pairs of targets out in a big field. 2 smaller ones at 750, 2 larger ones at 850. The idea here is to rack up points, up to a maximum of 4 hits on each plate. The catch(es) are that you can only fire a maximum of four times at each plate – and if you miss a plate, you cannot re-engage the same plate with your next shot. If you hit, however, you can continue until you get your four shots… etc. And only 8 shots could be fired from the prone, the other eight from a bench.
I decided I would go onto the biggest target at the furthest distance and get as many cheap points as I could before moving onto the smaller targets. Some kind of luck was in my favour, because I missed it. I decided to keep the setting on the scope and go for it’s partner, the smallest one out there. Turns out --hitting that three times in a row made a big difference for me in the standings. I spent the rest of my time going back and forth between the smaller ones.
Watching trace/sworl was critical here. Here’s what we learned--- Some teams arranged the spotter to be directly behind the shooter, but standing up high so when the shooter moved onto the bench, the spotter didn’t need to move. This was a good idea for 800+ yards shooting. Holley and I spotted for each other from a lot closer to each others’ bore level, ie.. tucked into the shooter, almost – and prone beside him. That’s fine for out to 600yards or so. At 800 and beyond, we were watching the sworl climb out and getting a good wind read from the bullet’s path – but the fall of shot was pretty much obscured by the sworl of the shot climbing out.
The other tricky thing about this match, is that the targets were on stakes, suspended about 6 feet above the ground. So no impacts were visible – it was solely a trace/sworl game. And because of the fast running mirage, the white painted steel was pretty much invisible. I was content to shoot at where I believed the targets were – follow the stick, which I could see fairly well, upwards until the blur. Centre the reticle on the blur. Another old Service Conditions habit from iron-sight days, I suppose. It paid off.
7. The “Run n’ Gun” at close range.
This was in a 200y gallery, with a cut at the back going almost to 300y. There was a BIG steel silhouette at 300y, and two smaller targets, as well as two small targets at 200. When the match started, the big target had to be engaged (either hit, or fire four misses) from standing offhand. After hitting (or missing 4 times) the shooter advances to a wooden beam and engages the 200y targets, hitting each one once. After engaging the 2 targets at 200y, the shooter runs across the range to a bench. At the bench, the big target at 300y had to be engaged from standing offhand, and then the shooter could use the bench to engage the other two targets at 300y. The catch was – only the bipod could touch the bench.
I fired this and hit all the targets with plenty of time and ammunition left. The key for me was experience in offhand and supported position shooting. It was also a good thing to know your rifle’s zero, and select a good “point blank” setting so setting changes wouldn’t be required during the match.
8. 1000y “know your limits” match.
Basically a re-hash of the 800y match (#4) but with a bench instead of a wobbly tube. It was even the same four targets, just 200y further back. We fired it on Saturday with a bunch of strange stipulations, which turned out to be misinterpretations of the rules by our RO, so we re-fired on Sunday. I’ll describe the second/correct version. 20 rounds, 10 could be fired prone, 10 from bench. Four targets, bigger ones worth less. Four minutes to get as many points as you dare.
I elected to go big from prone and get “sure” points from the stable position. A more daring approach would have paid off better – hit the big one first to check wind, maybe – then risk misses on higher value targets from prone. Save the cheap hits for the less stable bench. My 6.5 was NOT the clear winner here. An old fellow with a .308 rang steel with 17/20 hits – and a few of them were on smaller, more valuable targets – not all on the biggie. It was good proof that drivers win races, not cars.
9. Fire and Movement, close range.
All in the ballpark of 200y. An array of targets and obstacles downrange.
Shooter starts by engaging two targets from a bench. Shooter then moves forward, through a big pipe, to a barricade and engages two more targets, one from a windowsill, and the other from a sandbag berm through a slot below the window. The shooter then moves across the range to a barricade of railway ties and engages the final target from atop the pile.
Again – position and barricade shooting was key, as well as knowing and using aim-offs, or a good “point-blank” zero.
10. Shoulder firing. Short time match.
One minute to engage two targets with up to two hits each. Both targets were between 200-300y, and small-ish, but not tiny. The catch was that between the shooter and spotter, the only things allowed to touch the ground were hands and feet, no bipods, knees, sitting, etc.
We did what most teams did some variation of – shooter using shoulder of the spotter to rest the rifle. It was easier for Ian to shoot off of my shoulder than me to shoot off of his. He is marginally taller than I am, but proportioned differently, and I needed him to splay his legs a bit to get his shoulder a bit lower.
We’re not entirely sure what the point of this match was.
11. The deuce-and-a-half match with logs.
Starting behind a truck with it’s gate up and latched, shooters had 4 minutes to open the hatch, toss two logs into the bed of the truck, climb up, close and latch the gate and engage up to 6 targets with a maximum of 4 shots each before timing out. The catch was – the shooter had to stop firing, and the logs needed to be out of the truck before the time ran out. So it fell on the spotter to keep track of time and call cease-fire 20 seconds before the end and start the “Caber-Toss” out of the truck.
This was the match where it was helpful to make a good range card before starting. The targets were worth different amounts, the most being a distant one that was obscured by a dirt mound half-way to the target. We knew it was level with another one off to the right, and figured we’d be bold and try to get that one. My fourth shot at it missed it by an inch or two. A neat exercise in spotting.
Although we’re not sure what point the loading and unloading of the logs served….
At the assembly area for this match, we found the missing leg strap from my ghillie suit. Blown by the wind almost 600 m from where it had come off while That Guy was doing the stalk three days earlier. Hurrah. We also found the remains of an armadillo, a scaly sort of shell and skeletal remains. Neat, but would have been cooler to see a live one shuffling around.
The Good:
Compared to last year’s match in Kentucky, we all got a LOT more hits. We didn’t concern ourselves with “gaming” the match; so much as focusing on perfect shots, and getting hits. (A low value hit is better than a high value miss…) This strategy was costly in terms of overall placement. But for us it offered some redemption. We made “bonk” noises, and listened to the RO say “HIT!” a lot.
The Better:
My own experience with position shooting from Service Conditions got me some points in matches in which others didn’t fare very well. I wasn’t keeping track of points, so it came as a bit of a shock when I found out I was fourth overall. (Instantly, some regret and wondering how it would have been if I had made some more daring decisions when the opportunity was there…)
We fired more than we did last year. When appropriate, we made cards – but we always made plans and generally followed them. We didn’t hit with every shot – but we started each match with a clear idea of what was out there, the order we were going to engage, and the dial settings we were going to use.
Solutions:
We need to get out and really watch sworl. A few days at long range with a critical eye looking down spotting glass. Our habit of getting right in with the shooter wasn’t the best, or even right for the extreme long ranges we were shooting.
We will put some emphasis on position shooting, especially from barricades. We don’t necessarily need to do this with the big rifles and full loads – the same principles can be practiced with our ARs and reinforced with the bolt guns through dry-firing.
My “old reliable” .308 had a failure for That Guy at the 1000y re-shoot we did. It has a new Timney trigger in it, and it inexplicably began failing at the start of that match. They’re a “drop-in” trigger, and it worked fine for 3 days. At the point of failure, it was allowing the pin to roll into the fired state as the bolt closed. It wasn’t ideal to install this 5 days before the match – but it was a matter of shipping delays that set that up. And the initial function test upon install was good. This rifle is on the bench now, awaiting troubleshooting, and that will be the subject of another AAR.
Regular was using a Milcun “TS2” rifle – a Rem700 inside one of the MDT chassis systems with a nice barrel and brake and some fine Leupold mkIV glass. He fired clones of my .308 155gr Palma load in full length sized brass with only one day to fire at long range to confirm his dope... It was perfect. He is considering giving up his Savage and drinking the Rem700 Cool-Aid. The rifle was everything it’s advertised to be. BUT – he had some magazine feeding issues. After a few, he did notice it was largely confined to one specific magazine. And unlike traditional bottom metal-type magazine assemblies – the magazine feeding angle can’t be tweaked with action screw washers – the chassis is one piece and the magazine lock angle is fixed. So the only solution is to modify the feed lips on the magazine. These mags are pricey items, so no tampering of this sort was done in the field. It’s a bench job for clean pliers…
That's it. Now working to rehab a bad knee and shoulder so we can get back into the Extreme Tough Man for 2016!
BEP Canadian Team participated in the mammoth Sniper Challenge in Blakely, Georgia on 8-11 January 2015.
All BEP members competed in Open Class, instead of Tough-Man. The Team breakdown for this trip was That guy and me paired up, and Regular Guy paired up with (deleted) . Two weeks out, (deleted) had to back out, so Regular Guy ended up paired up with “Pete” from Atlanta, who also showed up in Blakely without a partner. We’re hunting up a “Dickhead” shirt for (deleted) for the next time we see him.
We drove about 19 hours on Tuesday 6 January, stopping to grab a hotel an hour South of Atlanta just after midnight. We might have gone straight through – but we stopped for dinner in Knoxville for a few hours with friends. We drove through light snow until somewhere in Ohio, and wet highway and cold weather until past Knoxville. We used 2 jugs of washer fluid to do this trip. On the plus side, they were practically GIVING gas away down there. We generally found it for US$2 per gallon, and never more than $2.20.
On Wednesday, we finished the trip to Blakely, dropping in and out of Alabama to get there. So it was a 2-day, 6-state tour… (I won’t even talk about the trip home, since it was a solid 23 hour long drive slowed down by a) a roadside chat with the Georgia State Police, and b) blizzard weather in Ohio, with the accompanying bad drivers and $3000 damage to the truck because of some jag-off driving his Chevy Cavalier as if it were a pinball)
We arrived at “Legion Operator Training Group” before lunch on Wednesday. We had ample time to move into our cabin and register for the fieldcraft events running on Thursday. We had dinner at the local sports bar in Blakely, about 20 minutes down the road from OTG.
I gotta say something about Legion OTG here. It’s over 3,000 acres, and has a lot of ranges and training facilities. There is a full pit-service 1000y range. LOTS of places for field firing, including a few dedicated unknown distance ranges. A high angle shooting tower. All kinds of pistol ranges. They even have a DROP ZONE. It’s named after SgtMaj Plumly of “We Were Soldiers” fame, and we assumed that means that he will drop in occasionally and yell at you to “Don’t tell me what kind of ####ing day to have!” There’s a pro-shop with coffee and wi-fi. The lodging on-site is a bunch of cabins. Each cabin has a couple beds and a dresser and table, sink, toilet and shower, fridge and microwave.
Our first two days were (shades of Kentucky last year..) unseasonably cold for South Georgia. It was well below freezing all day, and a bit colder at night. All the pipes in the place froze. This part of Georgia doesn’t usually see temperatures below freezing at all , so they’re not really equipped for it. That said, it was -26 C at home, so let’s be clear that we weren’t complaining about the temperature. It was slightly annoying that the toilet didn’t flush is all.
There were fieldcraft stages on Thursday for those that wanted. These stages were observation, stalking and range estimation. We all participated in the range estimation and observation, but That Guy did the stalk alone.
The actual matches on Friday through Sunday were similar to what we encountered in Kentucky last January. Since we were shooting in the open class, we drove everywhere instead of marching, and we stayed in the cabin each night. Also, in Open Class we were essentially competing as individuals, although we were permitted to spot for each other. It seemed odd that there were no team awards since so much of these matches hinged on good spotting---it would have made more sense to run it as a team event to make sure that the sniper/spotter teams were committed to each other.
Each match was basically four minutes long. Unless stated otherwise, targets only needed to be hit once, and up to four shots were permitted at each target. All stages in the open class this year were known-distance stages, so no time was allocated for range-card preparation. All targets were steel, and shooters were required to clarify with the RO which target they were engaging to ensure the RO had glass on the correct one to observe hits.
Fieldcraft Events
1. Fieldcraft #1 - Observation.
In an empty field approximately 50y x 120y, 10 objects were laying about. Without knowing what was out there, the goal was to use a maximum of 20x glass to search, locate and describe as many as possible in 30 minutes. Considering it was basically a flat, sparsely grassed field, it was HARD to find anything out there. The grass was short, dry and brown. One object was in plain view, but difficult to identify (A hose nozzle that I thought was a CFL bulb in a socket of some kind) and with some effort, I found and identified a brass .223 casing. That Guy found 10 things, but could not describe them very well. Very humbling. Our good glass was off-limits, since we use 40x and 60x spotters. Luckily Regular guy and I each brought a pair of 8x binos along for the trip, and That Guy had an 8x ranging monacle. 20x would have been nicer…
2. Fieldcraft #2 – Range Estimation.
From a tower, given a photograph with targets identified on it, locate and “mill” 10 targets of known dimensions in 30 minutes. No surprises here. Prize for the most accuracy. None of us won this – but I’m hoping to see a list of how we placed. We did a lot of work in this skill in the past year.
3. Fieldcraft #3 – Stalk.
Only That Guy did this. The concept was similar to military stalk exercises, but since all the rifles were personal rifles of various calibres, no blank ammo was provided or used. Instead, the sniper was awarded 6 points for stalking past a designated “shoot line” without being observed by the spotters. If seen, he could go back to the start and try again as many times as he wanted during the three-hour limit. Once a sniper got those 6 points, he called a walker to come nearby him. If the spotters could still not find him when the walker was within 10 yards, an extra point was awarded. One more point at this stage would be awarded if the sniper could read a card that one of the spotters was holding up. This is where it ended (7 points) for That Guy , since he didn’t get picked up, but his position didn’t give him the visibility to see the card. The 9th and 10th points would be awarded if the sniper could repeat the process without being seen when the walker was within 5 yards of him.
That Guy used a ghillie suit I won in a match over 15 years ago. It is made of strips of “real tree” camo fabric over a mesh body. We figure it’s intended use is tree-stand hunting for turkeys since the fabric strips are all around the entire suit, providing great camo for standing and sitting. While it looks cool, the camo on the belly really just acts as a drag-chute. Plus a leg strap ripped off due to this dragging phenomenon.
We took pains to camoflauge the rifle for That Guy – specifically the scope cover and muzzle. He stalked with my .308, which is heavy, but not unbearable –and it’s already painted for the job – but we muted the black plastic on the lens caps, inside and out, as well as the turret knobs. “Black circles” seem to be the biggest giveaway in these things.
Shooting Events
1. House and Sled.
At the start whistle, sniper had to pull a steel sled approximately 25 feet to the shooting position, which was a concrete porch. From the shooting position, there were 4 targets along an oblique treeline. All distances were provided in the briefing. If the sniper hits the first three (450-850 yards) in the allocated time, a fourth could be engaged for bonus points (1080y). The further targets were worth more than the closer ones, and there were extra points awarded for first shot hits.
I did well on this, with all targets hit, and one or two first shot hits.
2. Barbwire Crawl.
Crawl up a muddy hill under a low wire entanglement. Upon reaching the top, the RO handed the sniper a range card detailing the exact ranges to the targets (targets were identified in briefing, but ranges not provided). There were four targets that could be engaged, two were closer (450y) and 2 were further away (800+). Once all four were engaged, follow up shots on two of the targets could be made for additional points. Again – the closer targets were worth less than the further targets.
The range card was good, but since we didn’t know the distances until we got the card in our hands, we carried our dope sheets with us. Not a big deal – but the folks with plasticized armband note-sheets had one less thing to drop… (Any army shooters might recall several pages of notes on our forearms at AFSAM. It was like that) Some of the targets were “no-shoots” and were clearly identified on the range card as such.
I timed out without all my hits. But the hits I got were good. Fitness is a bit of an issue since the crawl was a decent grade, and about 25 yards. It was harder for larger folks. We were lucky, in a way, to do this the first morning. It was still below freezing, so the mud was frozen. Frozen mud hurts the knees a bit, but there’s less muck and mire to get onto and in your rifle and scope.
3. The Car.
Starting in the front seat, sniper had to crawl between the seats into the back of the car (gear on rear seat) from a platform in the back of the (Bronco/Jimmy sort of SUV) sniper used time to engage a number of targets. The catch was that the targets had to be engaged in sequence either close to far, or far to close. And once a target was skipped over, it couldn’t be re-engaged. So the “gaming” aspect was to pick a start point you were comfortable with, with regards to the available target sizes, distances and wind, etc. Keeping in mind that a low-value hit was better than a high-value miss, etc.
I timed out. I had chosen to start at the largest and closest target (worth the least) and get points on it, and the next one in line to be sure of my wind before skipping a few and working on higher value ones at the longer distance. Looking back at the time allocated, if I could repeat the stage, I would take a bolder approach for more points. (3 misses and a single hit back there was worth more than 4 hits up close…)
4. 800y “know your limit” match.
Four targets, large to small, at 800y. 10 shots could be fired from prone, and 10 from a plastic section of pipe which was VERY unstable. Hit in any order, and our RO enforced a maximum of four shots per target, meaning that 10 would be fired prone and only 6 from the tube…. We suspect that he misinterpreted the rules a bit and we were supposed to be permitted to fire as many shots as we wanted at any of the four targets, subject to the 10 prone and 10 from the pipe limitation. The point being to choose between easy, low value hits and chancier shots in the wind at smaller targets for more points… hence “know your limits.” No matter. Everybody got good hits from prone and nobody hit anything from the tube anyway.
Again – this stage would have been better if I selected bolder targets to start and got more points before timing out. As well – we all need to work on barricade shooting.
5. Barricade match.
At start of match, pick up rifle and run to barricade. Engage three targets (280-450y)through a window. Step around barricade, engage same three targets from over a wall. Drop down and engage same three targets through one of the windows cut through the wall. (Suggest the higher one you kneel to shoot through – the low one lets you shoot prone, but visibility was bad to further targets)
I hit everything in the allocated time. I remember that some of my experience with the Canadian Army Team in Bisley came in handy here. In the UK, we fired at least two matches through sloppy wooden walls with windows. We practiced it a LOT. Supporting a big bolt gun is sure different than cramming a C7 up to a windowsill – but I visualized what I would do, and it happened just as I expected.
If this was completed in the designated time, an extra 2 shots were permitted after your time, using the sponsor’s rifle at a small bonus target. The sponsor’s rifle was decent and had a good scope with a “Horus” reticle. No adjustments were permitted, and he told you “hold 2.8 MOA.” Easier said than done. The Horus reticle is a bit of a dog’s breakfast. Most folks that got the opportunity did it – but the Horus give me a vision-vertigo thing.
6. 2 pairs in field.
Two pairs of targets out in a big field. 2 smaller ones at 750, 2 larger ones at 850. The idea here is to rack up points, up to a maximum of 4 hits on each plate. The catch(es) are that you can only fire a maximum of four times at each plate – and if you miss a plate, you cannot re-engage the same plate with your next shot. If you hit, however, you can continue until you get your four shots… etc. And only 8 shots could be fired from the prone, the other eight from a bench.
I decided I would go onto the biggest target at the furthest distance and get as many cheap points as I could before moving onto the smaller targets. Some kind of luck was in my favour, because I missed it. I decided to keep the setting on the scope and go for it’s partner, the smallest one out there. Turns out --hitting that three times in a row made a big difference for me in the standings. I spent the rest of my time going back and forth between the smaller ones.
Watching trace/sworl was critical here. Here’s what we learned--- Some teams arranged the spotter to be directly behind the shooter, but standing up high so when the shooter moved onto the bench, the spotter didn’t need to move. This was a good idea for 800+ yards shooting. Holley and I spotted for each other from a lot closer to each others’ bore level, ie.. tucked into the shooter, almost – and prone beside him. That’s fine for out to 600yards or so. At 800 and beyond, we were watching the sworl climb out and getting a good wind read from the bullet’s path – but the fall of shot was pretty much obscured by the sworl of the shot climbing out.
The other tricky thing about this match, is that the targets were on stakes, suspended about 6 feet above the ground. So no impacts were visible – it was solely a trace/sworl game. And because of the fast running mirage, the white painted steel was pretty much invisible. I was content to shoot at where I believed the targets were – follow the stick, which I could see fairly well, upwards until the blur. Centre the reticle on the blur. Another old Service Conditions habit from iron-sight days, I suppose. It paid off.
7. The “Run n’ Gun” at close range.
This was in a 200y gallery, with a cut at the back going almost to 300y. There was a BIG steel silhouette at 300y, and two smaller targets, as well as two small targets at 200. When the match started, the big target had to be engaged (either hit, or fire four misses) from standing offhand. After hitting (or missing 4 times) the shooter advances to a wooden beam and engages the 200y targets, hitting each one once. After engaging the 2 targets at 200y, the shooter runs across the range to a bench. At the bench, the big target at 300y had to be engaged from standing offhand, and then the shooter could use the bench to engage the other two targets at 300y. The catch was – only the bipod could touch the bench.
I fired this and hit all the targets with plenty of time and ammunition left. The key for me was experience in offhand and supported position shooting. It was also a good thing to know your rifle’s zero, and select a good “point blank” setting so setting changes wouldn’t be required during the match.
8. 1000y “know your limits” match.
Basically a re-hash of the 800y match (#4) but with a bench instead of a wobbly tube. It was even the same four targets, just 200y further back. We fired it on Saturday with a bunch of strange stipulations, which turned out to be misinterpretations of the rules by our RO, so we re-fired on Sunday. I’ll describe the second/correct version. 20 rounds, 10 could be fired prone, 10 from bench. Four targets, bigger ones worth less. Four minutes to get as many points as you dare.
I elected to go big from prone and get “sure” points from the stable position. A more daring approach would have paid off better – hit the big one first to check wind, maybe – then risk misses on higher value targets from prone. Save the cheap hits for the less stable bench. My 6.5 was NOT the clear winner here. An old fellow with a .308 rang steel with 17/20 hits – and a few of them were on smaller, more valuable targets – not all on the biggie. It was good proof that drivers win races, not cars.
9. Fire and Movement, close range.
All in the ballpark of 200y. An array of targets and obstacles downrange.
Shooter starts by engaging two targets from a bench. Shooter then moves forward, through a big pipe, to a barricade and engages two more targets, one from a windowsill, and the other from a sandbag berm through a slot below the window. The shooter then moves across the range to a barricade of railway ties and engages the final target from atop the pile.
Again – position and barricade shooting was key, as well as knowing and using aim-offs, or a good “point-blank” zero.
10. Shoulder firing. Short time match.
One minute to engage two targets with up to two hits each. Both targets were between 200-300y, and small-ish, but not tiny. The catch was that between the shooter and spotter, the only things allowed to touch the ground were hands and feet, no bipods, knees, sitting, etc.
We did what most teams did some variation of – shooter using shoulder of the spotter to rest the rifle. It was easier for Ian to shoot off of my shoulder than me to shoot off of his. He is marginally taller than I am, but proportioned differently, and I needed him to splay his legs a bit to get his shoulder a bit lower.
We’re not entirely sure what the point of this match was.
11. The deuce-and-a-half match with logs.
Starting behind a truck with it’s gate up and latched, shooters had 4 minutes to open the hatch, toss two logs into the bed of the truck, climb up, close and latch the gate and engage up to 6 targets with a maximum of 4 shots each before timing out. The catch was – the shooter had to stop firing, and the logs needed to be out of the truck before the time ran out. So it fell on the spotter to keep track of time and call cease-fire 20 seconds before the end and start the “Caber-Toss” out of the truck.
This was the match where it was helpful to make a good range card before starting. The targets were worth different amounts, the most being a distant one that was obscured by a dirt mound half-way to the target. We knew it was level with another one off to the right, and figured we’d be bold and try to get that one. My fourth shot at it missed it by an inch or two. A neat exercise in spotting.
Although we’re not sure what point the loading and unloading of the logs served….
At the assembly area for this match, we found the missing leg strap from my ghillie suit. Blown by the wind almost 600 m from where it had come off while That Guy was doing the stalk three days earlier. Hurrah. We also found the remains of an armadillo, a scaly sort of shell and skeletal remains. Neat, but would have been cooler to see a live one shuffling around.
The Good:
Compared to last year’s match in Kentucky, we all got a LOT more hits. We didn’t concern ourselves with “gaming” the match; so much as focusing on perfect shots, and getting hits. (A low value hit is better than a high value miss…) This strategy was costly in terms of overall placement. But for us it offered some redemption. We made “bonk” noises, and listened to the RO say “HIT!” a lot.
The Better:
My own experience with position shooting from Service Conditions got me some points in matches in which others didn’t fare very well. I wasn’t keeping track of points, so it came as a bit of a shock when I found out I was fourth overall. (Instantly, some regret and wondering how it would have been if I had made some more daring decisions when the opportunity was there…)
We fired more than we did last year. When appropriate, we made cards – but we always made plans and generally followed them. We didn’t hit with every shot – but we started each match with a clear idea of what was out there, the order we were going to engage, and the dial settings we were going to use.
Solutions:
We need to get out and really watch sworl. A few days at long range with a critical eye looking down spotting glass. Our habit of getting right in with the shooter wasn’t the best, or even right for the extreme long ranges we were shooting.
We will put some emphasis on position shooting, especially from barricades. We don’t necessarily need to do this with the big rifles and full loads – the same principles can be practiced with our ARs and reinforced with the bolt guns through dry-firing.
My “old reliable” .308 had a failure for That Guy at the 1000y re-shoot we did. It has a new Timney trigger in it, and it inexplicably began failing at the start of that match. They’re a “drop-in” trigger, and it worked fine for 3 days. At the point of failure, it was allowing the pin to roll into the fired state as the bolt closed. It wasn’t ideal to install this 5 days before the match – but it was a matter of shipping delays that set that up. And the initial function test upon install was good. This rifle is on the bench now, awaiting troubleshooting, and that will be the subject of another AAR.
Regular was using a Milcun “TS2” rifle – a Rem700 inside one of the MDT chassis systems with a nice barrel and brake and some fine Leupold mkIV glass. He fired clones of my .308 155gr Palma load in full length sized brass with only one day to fire at long range to confirm his dope... It was perfect. He is considering giving up his Savage and drinking the Rem700 Cool-Aid. The rifle was everything it’s advertised to be. BUT – he had some magazine feeding issues. After a few, he did notice it was largely confined to one specific magazine. And unlike traditional bottom metal-type magazine assemblies – the magazine feeding angle can’t be tweaked with action screw washers – the chassis is one piece and the magazine lock angle is fixed. So the only solution is to modify the feed lips on the magazine. These mags are pricey items, so no tampering of this sort was done in the field. It’s a bench job for clean pliers…
That's it. Now working to rehab a bad knee and shoulder so we can get back into the Extreme Tough Man for 2016!
