Category Archives: Service Rifle

Last High Power Match of 2014

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It was a beautiful fall day for a match. Sunny, mid 60’s slight breeze and the peak of leaf color.

And by sunny, I mean really sunny. The Kimberton Glare is particularly bad in the fall.DCIM111GOPRO

Off hand started out poorly when I discovered during my sighters that I left my “Dry Fire Plug” plug in the BCG. Whoops. I successfully opened up my rifle, removing the BCG and the plug, and reassembled my rifle without breaking position. But it cost me some time and stressed me out a bit.

In the off season I need to practice my sitting position because I slid around more than I wanted to. But otherwise I am happy with my performance. It has been a good season. My scores have improved and I feel pretty good about my positions. In the off season I’ll keep dry firing and get some range time. Next season I’d like to focus more on service rifle matches and start shooting some proper “across the course matches”.

 

September ’14 High Power and Garand Matches

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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.

 

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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.

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June ’14 JCG and Service Rifle: a Series of Missadventures

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It’s the last month before Camp Perry I shot in both NRA Service Rifle and CMP JCG matches earlier in the month.

For service rifle on a whole I did well but I cross fired on myself in slow prone (9 in one target 11 in the other.) I didn’t pay good enough attention to the right time to switch targets, this was a little frustrating as I would have easily broke into the next classification.

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I did especially well in off hand in this match. I used my timer to maximize my time per shot which helped.

Sunday I shot in a JCG match, I brought a new shooter with me, he did exceptionally well. Unfortunately, my off hand success in service rifle didn’t translated to JCG and, I had a bad off hand string which pulled my over all down. There isn’t much time before Camp Perry so I intend to spend as much time as I can between now and then trying to tighten up off hand with my Garand.

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Memorial Day Service Rifle, Vintage and JCG Matches

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I took the whole rifle family out to the range for Memorial Day weekend. NRA high power then CMP Vintage with my US 1917 wrapped up with a Garand match.

Both days were perfect for shooting, mid 70s and partly cloudy. Just a little wind gust from time to time but not enough to matter.

All 3 matches I struggled in off hand, more practice, more practice, more practice.

Additionally I’m having some issues with my support hand cramping, especially in slow prone, I’m going to try some different grips maybe loosen the sling a little.

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Since I’m been tracking my groups in my data books it appears I have been ignoring a bit of a bad zero with my A2. This weekend I’m going to take it to the bench and adjust the front sight post. I may move back from 6:00 hold to center mass.

I still have some work to do but I still have some time until Perry.

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My leisurely rapid prone with my 1917. Note I jerk the trigger a bit on the last two shots.

First Matches of the 2014 season

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It was a beautiful weekend to kick off the 2014 season. Low 60s, sunny and calm.

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Saturday I took the A2 out for high power. I got a little sloppy in off hand but I was otherwise happy with my performance. I’ve been working on trigger control and breathing that seems to be helping especially in rapid.

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Early Sunday morning I drove across the river to shoot in York Riflemen’s spring Garand match. I spent the first couple relays in the pits.

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After the pit change I shot well in both prone stages. This was my first match with the John Weller sling I picked up at Camp Perry this year. I should have spent more time slinging up with it in my jacket before taking it out, as I had to “de sling” and adjust it a bit longer but since we had a block time (prep and shooting lumped together) I finished with plenty of time.

I made good use of both my timer and my score book in this match. It’s much easier to use a score book with pit service. Trying to find the holes through the scope for our walk and paste matches at KFGA can be frustrating.

Oh off hand, I really need to step up my focus on this stage. After shooting some of the best prone stages I’ve ever shot I the. Proceeded to blow it in off hand. My candid reaction to my off hand scores as recorded by my GoPro.

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