The rapid fire string of the 2014 SAFS M16 EIC match at Camp Perry’s Viale Range
York Riflemen 2014 Fall Garand Match
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.
![IMG_0456[1]](http://garandthumb.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_04561.jpg)
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.
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Leveraging the Laws of Thermodynamics to Remove a Stuck Barrel Nut
I picked up a nice free float rail from ALG defense, so I needed to take the barrel off of my Palmetto State Armory (PSA) mock dissipator. Sounds easy right? Well not so much. Using my improvised upper clamshell and multi-tool I couldn’t even budge it. I managed to lift my workbench slightly off of floor in the process. This was pretty impressive as my workbench is a couple hundred pounds and screwed to studs in two walls.
The front sight was canted so I knew it was probably over torqued but it was worse than I expected.
After a few more tries and a can of liquid wrench, I gave up and ordered a torque bar and a heavy long handled PRI barrel wrench.
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/rifle-tools/barrel-tools/ar-15-m16-308-ar-barrel-extension-torque-tools-prod27452.aspx
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/rifle-tools/wrenches/ar-15-m16-ar-10-barrel-nut-wrench-prod27412.aspx
Even with the new tools ,the barrel nut wouldn’t budge. Before I broke out the saw I thought I’d give a trick I read about a try. Science suggests steel (the barrel nut) contracts less than aluminum (the receiver) when frozen. So I tossed the whole upper in the freezer overnight with the jäger and my wife’s homemade Popsicles.
Luckily that was just enough to break the nut free and was able to move on to installing my ALG rail, which was much easier.
If I were to do it again I would have ordered the more expensive geissele reaction rod as it has nice flats built into it. The flats would make it a little easier to work with.
September ’14 High Power and Garand Matches
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.
