That was the best shoot ever!! Thanks DSS and all that you guys put into this. Very well thought out, challenging stages.
Some things I learned or observed: (Keeping in mind this was my first time at the night shoot,)
Dress for warmth and staying dry. You're are there for 10 hours with lots of sitting around in the middle of the night.
Gloves are really helpful, make sure they fit well
Bring food and warm drinks
Bring glow in the dark pieces that you can wear front and back so the RO can follow you. We got ours at the dollar store
Make sure your shooting glasses are clear ones (Sounds obvious, doesn't it?)
Make sure your headlamp has a red only component
Have a good quality weapons light that is securely attached to your rifle
Chamber flags are mandatory
Bring extra batteries for your lamps, weapons lights, etc.
Lasers are useful at short range, they get really wobbly at longer ranges
A multi-tool is a life saver. It was used frequently that night for myself and others. Allen wrenches are helpful as well
Reflective tape on your mags makes them much easier to retrieve
A dump pouch is essential
Some things that you don't consider once the sun goes down:
The orange and yellow fault lines can be indistinguishable from each other from the glare of your light
You can do all the planning you want in the daylight when looking at the stages- it means very little once the sun goes down
Mag changes in the dark can be interesting (I was using my new X-95 and while I practiced lot of mag changes, total darkness changes everything.)
Clearing malfunctions is even more fun in the dark; having a clean, well oiled rifle makes a difference
No shoots (white) look the same as the regular targets (brown) under your bright weapons light
This is the weapons activated tiger torch. Looks innocuous enough in the daylight. When it senses a shot it sends out a ball of flame which can temporarily degrade your night eyes and you lose your target
Many of the no shoots have red hands on them in lieu of being white. This is helpful. One of the guys had a great idea. He posted this on the back of his vest to make sure no one mistook him for a target. Brilliant!
I loved this one. It is the Disco house. Floors and walls all white. You can't see it but there is also a disco light that revolves and casts a very bright, erratic light on the targets. Glare is intense. After that you go to a very small target stapled on top of a no shoot a fair distance away. Challenging.
Once you located this switch and hit it, two targets appeared at a car silhouette and you engaged them before they disappeared. They will come back up again but of course the clock is ticking . . .
A typical stage layout. Notice the orange and yellow fault lines. This is at the starting point, you had to engage the steel targets at 75 yds (I believe) and hit each one twice. Below them are more steel that you had to engage once each but I found them hard to locate with the barrels hiding them. You think you know where they are but when the buzzer goes . . .
The hardest targets for me were the paper ones to the right of the lower steel. They all seemed to blend together with the red handed guys as well.
Topping up my mags:
Shooter at the line, ready to go!
All in all, it was a fantastic experience. Totally plan on being there next year. But remember, it's by invitation and you have to have helped set up stages throughout the year. The more you help with, the better your chances to be invited. And, of course, you need your CASE course card.
