Service Rifle NOOB Wannabe Perspective - My 1st Match

Keebler750

Keebler750

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This last weekend I got to try out my new Bushmaster AR 16" flat top with a low-buck Bushnell scope at the Connaught Primary Training facility in Ottawa. I had 300 rounds of AR-15 experience prior to this match. I REALLY am a noob! (newb? :) )

I shoot with the Operational Shooting Association and thought I'd try out a Service Rifle Match. Oh, boy....

There I was, an autoworker who has been involved in the shooting sports for one year, shooting side by side with army, navy, airforce, HQ personnel, RCMP, police, customs enforcement, veterans, ex-military, active military, grunts in training, etc, etc, on this HUGE 60-bay 900M range (one of several there...) at a military complex. People with scary assault rifles were everywhere! (Of course, I got to carry MINE and no one even blinked....:cool: )

I'm not new to a competitive environment, or mindset (ex-motorcycle racer) but I found myself overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the setting. I had never shot from a kneeling position, had no idea of the finer points of military marksmanship and no idea what would be expected of me, or if I had the right gear (I'll bring a spotting scope to the mound next time...:redface: )

I had not seen the course of fire, nor did I have any idea what it was like to work the butts (pulling targets...for those of you newbish like me) in a military setting. Both the firing line and the butts were worked like clock work by experienced people who really knew how to run efficient radio and voice comms.

And I got to hear Barney (Hungry here on CGN) shout himself silly!!!:D

Targets UUUUUUUUUPP!!!!!!!!!!

Targets........DOWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!

Heh heh!

By the way, for those of you who haven't done it, working the butts means the bullets are flying 2 to 6 feet over your head when you put the targets up, while you're behind the concrete bunker. CRRACCKKKK!!! What a sensation!

Anyway, my biggest worry was making sure I followed instructions and didn't screw up a safety issue because of getting some proceedure in the wrong order, etc. The match is run at a fast pace, and for those who have done it, it's no big deal. For me, almost everything I did those two days I was doing for the first time.

There was even one match where we ran from one mound to another with chambered rounds, on SAFE, and fired once we settled into shooting position at the next mound, still huffing and puffing from the run. (This might seem crazy, but it's a military environment, military rules.) Done properly, it's more than safe (Don't tell the Hunter Safety Course people though....:) ) None-the-less, this stressed the need to know exactly what you are doing under pressure for the sake of all those around you.

Ummm....my shooting from kneeling position after running 100M, or 200M left ALOT to be desired. I'll just leave it at that.........

My prone deliberate fire was OK, but needs some work. I'm used to shooting Precision from a bipod! What's this "just rest it on the magazine" thing??? That's not a benchrest!!!! :D

One thing I didn't worry about, thank goodness, was beating anyone elses score. Other than the above mentioned pressures of the new environment, I got to settle in and learn from some of the best shooters and really great people in a very different environment.

I finished poorly if you look at my score. If you look at it like I do though, I was one lucky civilian that day, I learned alot and.....

Kneeling position is definitely on my practice agenda!

:)
 
Sounds like a great time. I am going to have to find a group that does this. Keebler, if you have a pistol have you ever tried ipsc? Sounds like the same thing but with a handgun.
 
IPSC is something I'm will think about one day. Or IDPA. I am so far over my head with all the stuff I'm learning that I'd better not try anything else more complex than the military style 3 Gun match. I'm learning the carbine, can group 6" @ 25yds with the pistol, and am pretty confident behind my 270WSM "sniper rifle." :)

Plus reloading enough rounds to feed these beasts is sucking up alot of time and money. In some cases, I'm still in load developement, when I should be practicing with known good cartridges.

The 68gr Hornady's I was throwing downrange at Connaught were going too slow (~2500) and very susceptible to wind. I had 23.5gr of Varget behind them. I put 22 minutes on the scope for the 500M stage.

The Service Rifle game is very demanding. I was very impressed.
 
Keebler750 said:
The Service Rifle game is very demanding. I was very impressed.
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Keebler,

The conditions during the 500m matches on Sunday morning were very demanding. What you and the others faced was a fishtailing, variable wind coming at you from between 10 O'clock and 2 O'Clock. This fishtailing would and did happen at times, between the sighting shots and the application. This being enough to move your group out to the magpie area if you didn't catch the change and react to it.

It takes some amount of experience to keep on top off all of this (and I got caught at times),, but is great fun nonetheless.

Shelldrake
Relay 3, Target 5
 
Keebler750:

I'm glad that you did not find my voice in the butts too 'girlie' after an afternoon of yelling, "Targets.... Uuppppp !" at the soldiers, sailors (well, land sailors, and air force types, not to mention the JAG Team).

You survived the day without getting tossed by the RSO's TimK and KeithC from Milcun. That's a good start. Hey, looks to me like you enjoyed your fair share of the Connaught Mess Hall food. ;)

I ain't complaining. I like that food ! Especially when I don't have to cook or wash dishes.

Hope to see you more at the next Svc Rifle matches.... :evil:

Barney
 
I hope to get into service rifle in the near future. As soon as I get my MSc. thesis done, I'm hoping I'll have enough time to get some good practice in with a decent rifle.

Rookie to rookie, do you have any pointers?
 
I want to get into this. I currently shoot IPSC but this service rifle match is definitely on my sights. I got my Norc M14 set up and I should be good to go. When and where is the next match? Do they have this in Quebec?
 
glad to hear you like it keebler its all good people in service shooting
but now i am sad i missed it :(
I miss all you old mound rats
but with any luck i will be in form for next comp I shoulda asked you guys before hand to give Tim a wet one from me:p
 
ton45 said:
Do they have this in Quebec?
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Way too much fun for the peasants in Quebec! The PQRA was once a powerhouse for service rifle shooters and shooting. Each militia regiment had their teams and there were many active civilian shooters. Then the FN C1 rifle came along. Good for shooting because the rifles and 200 rounds of ammo were available on loan to trusted civilians. Then the C7 rifle arrived and the sport effectively disappeared. There may be civilians at the PQRA service rifle matches, but most of them are soldiers shooting for civilian trophies. It isn't fair, but that is the way the game has evolved.

The other complication for Quebec service rifle shooters has been transport permits for ARs and competitive rifles. The SQ really dislikes letting people travel to other ranges than their home club. If you plan to shoot a nonrestricted long gun like a Norinco M14S or M1 Garand, you are at a competitive disadvantage compared to the 5.56 mouse guns. But, at least you don't need to ask some donut-eater 6-weeks in advance for permission to transport your personal property.
 
cancer said:
I hope to get into service rifle in the near future. As soon as I get my MSc. thesis done, I'm hoping I'll have enough time to get some good practice in with a decent rifle.

Rookie to rookie, do you have any pointers?
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My advice to you is get a rifle and don't worry too much about trick parts or whatever. The key to Service Rifle appears to be (for me anyway) good, stable position shooting, even after breathing hard from running, while using marksmanship basics like breath control, sight picture, natural point of aim and clean trigger break. The gun is secondary.

A basic AR-15 with a 16 or 20" barrel, or a Norc M-14, and a 10X-or-less scope is fine. Make sure the scope will fit you from prone position. The firing line was full of Elcans, a few ACOGs, some Leup's and my Bushnell ! :D

I'm not convinced my reloaded ammo was up to the task. Find ammo that works for you back to 500M even in wind, and practice lots of prone, sitting, kneeling and standing shots. I hold ....oh.....10MOA or more....from standing without any wind (and worse from kneeling it seems), so a sub-MOA rifle probably wouldn't matter to me at this point. Dry fire and practice mag changes. Be in as good physical condition as you are able.

Go out an see how a match is run before you try it, unless you are the confident, go for it type, because it's fairly intimidating (although I somehow managed to pull it off, I would have benefitted from a degree of foreknowledge :) ). You need to have good firearm handling skills, so that DOWNRANGE MUZZLE, FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER and P.R.O.V.E. IT CLEAR are very second nature. These aren't things you want to be practicing under pressure.

As far a kit goes, I found you didn't even really need mag pouches, but :redface: make sure you bring a spotting scope for your scorer :redface: . And a PEN!!!! or three. You need ear and eye protection, good footwear, ~4, long (5/30 or whatever) magazines to rest on the ground for prone shots, and probably a cleaning/repair kit for emergencies of the "my gun just broke and I have a match in 4 minutes" type. Water and SUNSCREEN (I got fried on the first day of the match) and appropriate clothing for any forseeable weather (it was FREEZING last weekend and I didn't have a sweater.)

Have fun!! I did! :rockOn:
 
Hungry said:
..... Hey, looks to me like you enjoyed your fair share of the Connaught Mess Hall food. ;).....
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Barney, :slap: , are you saying you think I'm fat? :popCorn: :popCorn: :popCorn::popCorn: :popCorn:

Hungry here: You and I were choking down that food because it was so good. I believe that all of this grub is great especially after a day of working in the butts and being on the firing line. LOL
 
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Hey Keebler

As another newbie to service matches, thanks for asking all those questions. I was usually getting ready to ask Tim the same ones. If you were intimidated, it didn't show.

Was anyone shooting an M14 / M305? I only ever saw half they relays and didn't notice any.
 
Was anyone shooting an M14 / M305? I only ever saw half they relays and didn't notice any.
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No, all were shooting AR-15 / C7 / C8 type rifles, but M14's are ok for these matches too and so are Sig's and Tavor's.....

I shot the match with an 11.5" gun and a TA-11 Acog (donut of death), it shot darn good, at 500m the rounds were going sub-sonic by the time the bullet reached the target, the guys in the butts could not hear my rounds coming in. I had never shot as far as 500m and even less using a CQB type gun, my 200m scope zero had a hold over of about 20 feet above the target at that range and the wind was really screwing it up but none the less all rounds were hitting the 4'x4' target, not an moa performance but for a military application that target was #### out of luck.

So guys, get those SIG's and what ever out there, man you would be amazed at how little the military knows about our toys and are always interested in seing them, some may be signing up here.

It's a relaxed environment, people are friendly, you get to run around with your gun all day, it's a parallel universe as compared to civy ranges. Safety is strongly enforced, it's just a different breed than the civy one, one were you are EXPECTED to follow the safety SOP's and are therefore treated as a professional and the freedom that comes with it.

The food was darn good, leave the MRE's at home.

Oh, one little note of suggestions, secure your gear or leave it at home, I lost my brand new Spyderco Endura4 while running around, live and learn.
 
Thanks for that little blurb on the SR competition. It sounds really interesting, and I think I'll be making an appearance at Milcun in the very near future. If Hungry and crew will allow and old fart like me to play.. LOL
 
Hey Navy....what does MCST and TOET mean? Sorry....this is the newb thread....LOL!


I'm heading to MilCun this weekend for a two-day work detail and KC said he'd give me some position pointers for the AR. I couldn't be a luckier civvy....I really, humbly believe that.

Now....I gotta make up a bunch of ammo again.....ugh! ( I am starting to hate reloading .223)

Good thing I like Service Rifle so much!!!
 
Shelldrake said:
No M14/M305s,, but there was one lone shooter with an AR10 flat top. He did quite well on the deliberates. It is a beast compared to a C7.
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I was his scorekeeper, and target pulling partner in the butts.
Nice rifle but he was having feeding problems with one of his mags.
Otherwise, I'm sure his score would have been a lot higher.
 
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