newbie to service rifle.... what do i need

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45ACPKING

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I've been invited to start getting into service rifle and plan on pursuing this full steam.
Besides the choice of firearm, I will be shooting with my tuned m14s
what kind of gear, optics, clothing, ect, ect is in your bag of essential kit for weekend of service rifle competition. How much ammo should a guy expect to have on hand for a season/ year of practice and competition. I know this may vary and may not be a straight forward answer kind of thing..... but, bear in mind, I'm a newb :D
 
yup , that's great stuff.... just what i needed.... but.... how much ammo do you guys think a guy needs to be serious about this..... i guess reloading is probably the way to go eh? Untill then i'll be buying ammo wherever i see it for reasonable hehehe

also... anyone know if ammo has to be fmj or can i be using sp ammo.... i have about 5000 bullets of 165ish grain 308 availlable...... just need primers , powder.... reloadable casings.... reloading eqipment...... lessons LOL...... too funny

thanx for the info NAVY ;)
 
Nah, just use whatever ammo you have on hand. Does not have to be FMJ, but FMJ is always cheaper to buy.

Out of my M14's, I will often find some Winchester 125 gr bulk bullets from Wholesale Sports for around $ 16.99 per hundred. These babies are loaded with the same powder charge 43.0 gr W748 as my 155 AMAX. Little or NO recoil. Lots of shzts and giggles at 200, 300, and 500yards.

Now you can see that having the tweaked M14 boomstick is nice, but it's even more FUN to get out and compete in service rifle matches with said tweaked M14. :evil:

I'm always trying to convince the "mirror kommandos" over in the Black Rifle Forum to get out and compete (well, at least shoot their tweaked M4 or Mk416 carbines PAST 100m ranges). :rolleyes:

Peace be to journey
 
With service-rifle, the bullseye is always at least 3 MOA, the only exception being at 300m for the rapid, where it's 8" wide (16" tall) so it's just about 2.6 MOA wide.

If your rifle is capable of shooting 3 MOA (and most are) then it comes down to the shooter's mistakes.

In truth, last year, I missed the Queen's Medal by 4 points, and it wasn't because of Bulls or Inners, it was because of misses. Tossing 1 point here or there won't make a huge amount of difference. Having a crappy kneeling position and tossing 15 points due to 3 misses....that's the difference.

NS
 
Shoot the best ammo you can afford. If you hand load, it should be easy to make semi-match to match grade ammo (depending on how much tim you want to spend on it) for the cost of, or slightly less than Winchester USA brand ammo.
Having ammo that shoots more consistantly could mean the difference between a Vbull and a bull, but it could also be the difference between a miss and a 4.
 
O.K. i am a newbie to service rifle and have a couple of questions...

1- can i use my m-1 garand with open sites or am i better off with my m-14s that i have been building up and scoped...

2-where can i get the targets to practice...i have sole access to an abandoned pit that will allow me to shoot out to 650 yrds and i think that service rifle shoots only out to 600 yrds...

3-how often are there formal shoots in Ontario and is there anyone doing formal training.

thanks for the help and that is a great referance material NavyShooter.

yt
 
You can use your Garand but will be seriously disadvantaged without optics.It would be fun none the less and you should get out there with whatever rifle and try.Worst thing that happens is you decide to try again with a scoped rifle.
Finding the actual targets(figure 11's and figure 12's) is probably going to be pretty tough.Perhaps someone out your way might have a source.Service rifle shoots out to 500m.There are both the ORA(Ontario Rifle Association) and the OSA(Operational Shooting Association) that put on shoots in Ontario.
My suggestion would be to go to an OSA shoot and get as much help as possible.People are always willing to help out a new guy with insight and even a loaner rifle sometimes.
At any rate,welcome to the addiction!
 
I've found the M1 Garand inconvenient for service matches mostly because of fumbling with the 8-shot clip, when the matches are based on 2, 5 and 5.

If you are interested though, just attend a match with either the Garand or m14 so you can see what its all about, take it for what it is and don't get too worried about your score under the circumstances. If you like it, then invest in a basic, stock, semi-auto rifle in 223 (5.56), with a 4x scope, and a pinned magazine that is long enough to rest on the ground.

Too many people spend months or years, not to mention a lot of money, and bandwidth building up a super-rifle for service rifle, and then only showing up at a match once and getting dissapointed, or never showing up at all.

It takes time and quality practice, not a fancy gun.
 
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I'm showing up with my MICH helmet, Plate carrier and M1 Garand (or No4Mk1 Lee Enfield) this season ! :evil: :50cal:

Luckily we can easily get M1 Garand clips in 2 rd , 5 rd, or course 8 rd, and SLED (single loading ejecting device) configurations. Many shops in the US ship these clips to Canada since the M1 Garand is NOT a restricted item under ITAR Specs & US State Department policy.

So to speak to Quiet's valid concern about the 2 (round for sighters), 5 & 5 (forces us to do a magazine change for deliberates, snap shoots, and rapid fire strings)), we are good to go.

When I competed NRA High Power matches with my tweaked M1, the rules allowed both 2 & 8 as well as 5 & 5 clip setups. Canadian rules say: 5 & 5 ! :shotgun:

Hope this helps !
 
Pretty much been said.....lots of practice ammo, as good as you can afford, practice position shooting, get in shape, understand the course of fire, timing and show up to have fun and learn.

I did. Good times.....good times!!! ;)
 
Barney i will be rooting for ya . I'll let the team know at practice tomorrow.

I'm always trying to convince the "mirror kommandos" over in the Black Rifle Forum to get out and compete (well, at least shoot their tweaked M4 or Mk416 carbines PAST 100m ranges).
Click to expand...

me too dude, me too.

for any newbe service rifle shooters.......even if your curious..........and have a M14-or ar15 give it a shot even if you have a bolt gun go for it
if you come out concentrate on having fun and getting the matches down for the first couple of goes , don't worry about scores, till then . Then you can fig out if you wanna take it seriously.
Nobody hacks on a newb as long as their safe.

my two cents anyway.
 
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