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Running to Camp Perry!

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  I hate when bloggers start post with “sorry it’s been awhile”mostly because I’m snobby. I am, however, behind on  posting but It’s because I’ve been busy shooting!

After I got back from Talladega I was determined to dial it up a bit and shot as many full course matches as I could!

First weekend back I went to Wilkes Barre to shoot a reduced 200 yard National Match walk and paste. After posting some not so hot scores at Talladega I turned around and posted my personal best at this match!

The next weekend I drove down to Cumberland Maryland to shoot a full course NRA 800 agg. I kept the streak going and shot my first master level score across the course! Just one point less than my high at York the month before! 

The next weekend I had two days of reduced course matches at Kimberton and York. Well that kill my steak, bleading points allmost every stage. 


Went back to the lab a bit shot on my scatt a little and practice with my m44 training rifle. Then hauled back to Ft Hill looking for some redemption. Well, it wasn’t a great day in the hollar. I let a mistake in rapid prone get in my head which cost me in the end. 


I hit the range after work this week and applied some new things I’ve picked up along the way this month and I feel optimistic I can kick the slump. 

Just 2 more weekends before the National Matches! I’m focusing on service rifle this year, my poor Garand has only fired once this month! I’m not going to let up yet. I’m packing the next couple weekends with an 800 agg, a 3×600 and a EIC at New Holland!

2016 D-Day Match at CMP Talladgea Marksmanship Park 

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We had so much fun at the inaugural D-Day match at  Talladega last year we flew back down. This time for both the Garand match and the EIC.

It really is a great range to shoot at. This time around there was less fanfare as the range had been open for a year. The Friday before we were about to check our zeroes and get a little practice on Range 1.

Saturday was the Garand match, I did really well in prone. However that’s where it stopped, as I seem to have forgotten how  to offhand with the Garand.

My  buddy remembered how to do all three stages right and brought himself home a gold medal! Most impressively he shot a 98 in rapid prone after his clip latch gave out and ejected his eight round clip about five rounds too soon.

On the upside I didn’t leave empty-handed as my name was picked to win a nice DuPage stock. I’m going use this for a match grade garand with a heavy barrel.


Sunday was EIC. Which was what we came down to Alabama to shoot.

I was a little soggy office and dropped more points than normal in rapid. However I was able to post one of my better 600 yards scores and beat my personal EIC best by one point. While that was not good enough for points I’m happy with my score, I’m making progress in learning some things.

CMP put on a great event. A games match and an EIC the same weekend really make the trip worthwhile and without pit duty an entire EIC match takes less than an hour. Which leaves lots of time for relaxing afterwards!

Electronic Targets: reliable but not infallible.


There was some drama last year around the KTS targets. It was much less of an issue this year. While there were several challenges, only in one case that I am aware of did the shooter win.

The new rules for electronic targets seem a bit harsh to me. If a shooter challenges and loses they will lose 3 points as opposed to the typical cash fee. I am in the “pro electronic target” camp but let’s be honest they are not infallible and risking 3 points is an awful hard choice to make with no information other then your shot calls.

Personally I’d like to see CMP back off on this one and apply the same challenge rules that have applied to paper targets for years to electronic targets.
PS If anyone from CMP reads this my wife would like me to ask if maybe next year you could sell hotdogs and snacks durring the day 🙂

Movin’ on up: Matches at New Holland, Kimberton and York

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In the run up to the CMP eastern games I shot a series of matches over two weekends.

First the season opener NRA 800 Agg at New Holland.


With the exception of a saved round in sitting due to a round that turned out to have some moisture in it, this turned out to be a great match for me. I shot slightly better than my average which should have been enough to earn an expert card!

Kimberton NRA and Garand Matches.

Back at my home club for the first NRA service rifle match of the year. This was my first match at this club with my new 2016 service rifle. It is a reduced course 100 yard 600 agg on a dark range which really gives the scope an advantage as it’s easier to see. I posted my first master scores and I was most proud of a pair of 99s I posted in slow prone on that tricky MR-31 target.


York Rifleman Spring Garand Match and 500 agg. 

Despite all the travel games I’ve been to York Rifleman’s Garand matches are some of my favorite.

I have been to every garand match at York since 2012 and I’m happy to report I finally made the medal cut. It was a close one due to a bad LC round (At least that’s my excuse) but it felt good to break the York curse!

 



Leaving a miss hanging: Camp Perry 2016

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I like to joke that I have good shooting weekends and bad shooting weekends rarly “mediocre” well, boy did that theroy prove true at Camp Perry this year!

The calendar was “back to normal” this year and the week started out with the Presidents 100 and the NTI.

I had never really planned on making the P100 and was hoping to warm up for the NTI. Short of a depressing off hand score The match went ok. My 300 yard zero came in about 1/4 high which I noted in my book for the NTI the next day. 

I was relay 1 for the NTI. I was up first at 200. Off hand then right into sitting. Well the match was more or less over for me after that. I had some time to regroup before moving back to 300 and 600 where I did better but not good enough to make the cut.

Vintage sniper we tried something new at 300, my buddies No. 4 t sniper. This turned out to not be the best idea we ever had as we shotgunss that 300 yard target with 303. That said this was probaly the most fun I had a match in a while as the pressure was off moving back to 600. A break I needed after the NTI!

Bolt guns were up next. My 03A3 is my favorite rifle to shoot. I built it from parts around a real nice CBI barrel. She did not let me down as I took home my one and only medal from Perry 2016 in this match! 

The old 1917 and I have only recently started to get along and we more or less did in the prone stages. There was an Incedent involving the pits “missing” then “finding” one of my shots in rapid but they worked it out. I had been trying a reduced rear sight on this rifle which turned out to be a disaster in off hand. With the glare I could hardly see the front sight, which was reflected in my score.

After a long rough week  was the Garand match. We waited around for several hours waiting for the USCG to fish a dead body out of the impact area. I took this chance to BS with the York Riflemen cre and take a nap in the shade of my shooting cart. It was nice. 

There was a monster system developing and headed our way when I laid down on the line. I shot below my average in slow prone but made up for it in rapid. 

Off hand, well I haven’t shot the Garand a lot this year, boy did it show. In my fragile mental state I managed to follow up a 7 with a 0 by bottoming out the sight. Posted another egg before I realized the issue. Got her back on target… On the target next to me and left a cross fire miss hanging in the pits as the clock ran out on my fifth trip to the National Matches!

Fleet Week 2016

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I hauled down to Quantico Virgina for “Fleet Week” which is a week long shooting event hosted by the Navy at the USMC base there. 

I shot in a 500 agg on Monday. It was the EIC course except with sighters in each stage. It was a perfect day mid 60s and sunny. The Navy shoot straight though with just one pit change which I liked. I was in the pits first. Even with a perfect Hail Mary 12:00 scratch 5 in sitting  I managed to beat my personal best for the EIC course! 

  
Tuesday was the EIC match. It was just an awful wet morning so the Navy postponed the match untill 11 which turned out to be perfect. By the time we were ready to shoot it was sunny and in the mid sixties.

Things went well at 200 but thats where it stopped. Moving back to 300 we had a lenththy “the line is not ready” and some how I managed to knock my safety on. I figured it out but the Hail Mary from the day before was still fresh in my mind so I rushed my way into a terrible score.

I remained optimistic as I moved back to 600. EIC is like baking a cake, it’s settled untill the last shot is fired. The wind was howling and my wind call was a little off, I made what I thought was a perfect correction right into the 5 ring. I assumed the wind changed and corrected again, right off the target. It turns out the windage knobs on the VXR scope turn the opposite direction of the A2 knobs. Learned that one the hard way.

In the end no points for me but I took some lumps early in the season and hopefully I can learn from them going forward. I’ll be back next year for sure the Navy runs a good match!