York Riflemen 2014 Fall Garand Match

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Finch

I took a trip across the river to York Riflemen, one of my favorite places to shoot, for their fall Garand Match.

It was raining when I pulled in but by the time we headed to the pits the ran stopped and by the off hand string of the first relay it was in the mid 60’s with the sun was shining. There were only enough shooters for two relays so we “scored in the pits”. I had never done this before. This initially gave me some anxiety but, after some advice from my fellow shooters, it turned out to be not so hard. Run the target down, score paste, and run it up like normal. Then Grab your clipboard and write down the shooters score, with any luck before your shooter takes their next shot.

After a round in the pits it was my turn to shoot. The weather had significantly improved by the time I was all strapped in for slow prone. I am happy to report that I beat my personal best entirely due to off hand. I had been in a bit of a slump with the Garand the past few matches, especially on off hand. I had an “ah ha” moment while dry firing this week. I was not leaning back nor to the right (away from the line) as much as I had been Note in first picture there is way too much space between my side and my support arm.

In this match, with the position I had practiced, I was able to get my support arm tighter against my side. This gave me a more stable position. While I still have some other things to work on I think this was good breakthrough.

This old picture that has been floating around the internet for some time gives a good visual of what I’m talking about. Why he is barefoot I don’t know, GTB recommends you wear a sturdy pair of boots when shooting.

It was a great match and I am glad I made it out. I’ll be back for thier spring Garand Match in April and plan to stay for their spring NRA match.

Slow Prone:

Thanks to Adam for the picture.

September ’14 High Power and Garand Matches

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Finch

Except for an afternoon with my 22 upper, I have not shot a match with my AR since Small Arms Firing School at Camp Perry back in July. So I made sure to dry fire a bit before this weekend’s match.

Saturday was NRA high power. It was beautiful outside. Sunny, low 70’s just a little breeze from time to time. I took my time in off hand and kept them all on target. I loosened up a bit in sitting. I should have taken more time to establish a good natural point of aim, which hurt me a bit. I made it up some in rapid prone. I really tried to leverage the clock and took my time in slow prone, which helped. I’m happy to say I did pretty well for once. Applying what I learned in Small Arms Firing school and a little luck paid off.

Sunday was the Garand match another beautiful day, unseasonably warm for September. I didn’t have the same luck as I did on Saturday. I struggled in prone with a bad position and according to the video playback I could have kept a better cheek weld.

I am off to York Riflemen next week for their fall Garand match. I’m looking forward to and have kept my rifle next to my desk to get in as much dry firing as I can this week. If all goes well I’ll take my time in off hand and keep focused on a natural point of aim, trigger control and breathing.

Camp Perry, From The Pits

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Finch

Just a quick post with a couple videos from the Camp Perry Pits

The Rapid Fire Prone stage from the Garand Match

Slow fire prone…. sped up

Vidoe shot from the Rodriguez Pits on July 19, 2014

July ’14 Garand Match

Posted on August 1, 2014 by Finch

Freshly back from Camp Perry, I went to my club’s monthly Garand Match. I skipped the Service Rifle Match the day before thanks to US Airways delaying my flight the night before. I felt a little weird call off from a match, I felt more guilty than calling off for work. It was warm and a little overcast on Sunday but a good day for shooting. While it’s probably an excuse, my Garand was just stripped down and reassembled after a good soaking at Camp Perry so it may not have been “settled into the wood” just yet.

That said, I had a decent match, I dropped some 7s in slow prone, which I am blaming on the freshly reassembled rifle. I did have a miss in off hand, that I beat my self up about a bit. However, I took a look at some of my stats, and I do seem to be making some progress in off hand. I need to keep working on off hand, more dry firing, and more time with my 22.

Garand and Vintage Military Matches at Camp Perry 2014: Rain Rain Go Away

Posted on July 24, 2014 by Finch

During my Pre-dawn drive to Camp Perry for the Garand and Vintage Military Matches I checked the weather 4 times. Each time it was different.

Earlier in the week TWC was calling for a high of 79 and a 10% chance of rain. Somewhere things took a down hill turn as it was raining as I arrived at Perry.

I shot on Rodriguez for the first time, and it was nice not having to walk so far in the AM. I was lucky enough to get assigned to Rodriguez for JCG in the AM and Vintage in the PM so I didn’t have to take the shooter shuttle between ranges.

I shot first in the Garand Match, it was raining steadily in all 3 strings of fire. It was challenging to keep a good sight picture with everything so wet, I stopped several times in slow prone to blow water out if my rear aperture. I was happy with my shooting under the conditions but I had a miss in off hand which will give me nightmares for the next 12 months.

I had a clip get hung up on the reload in rapid, luckily I had a back up clip ready to go and tossed the bad clip and was able to reload and finish the string with plenty of time. I don’t typically keep an extra clip loaded for rapid but I will from now on.

The rain stopped in time for pit duty, Afterwards, there was a bit of a break while we waited for the Viale crew to wrap up and work their way over to Rodriguez. Leaving plenty of time to squad and get through the t-shirt line. I took the break to try and dry off some of myself and gear.

After the break I shot first again with my 1917. We haven’t always gotten along very well but we put our problems behind us. I was happy with my performance, could have done better in off hand, as always.

I again had trouble on the reload in rapid. I bumbled the loading from the stripper clip, I thought for sure I was going to run out of time, but I recovered and got them all on target even if the last couple did rush their way into the 7 ring.

After that it was off to the pits and home. Unfortunately I had to travel for work Sunday night so I hauled out of the gates of Perry and drove as far as I could keep my eyes open which was Pittsburgh.

Stripping wet rifles down in an airport hotel room is perfectly normal right?

Despite the rain I had a great time and met some great people. I got to spend some time with the guys from my club, which is always nice, and learned some new things. Next year I want to try and shoot more events, Springfield with my hopefully soon to be complete 03A3, and more of the “black rifle” events.