Tag Archives: 1917

208 Rounds and 5 matches for May.

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The Talladega Marksmaship Park Inaugural D-Day match is just next weekend. I set out to get as much trigger time as I could this weekend.

My local club allows as many re-entries as they have room for… And boy did I take advantage of that this weekend.

Fresh off the high of getting my sharpshooter card in the mail, I started out with My A2 and a NRA High Power Match this past Saturday. It was unseasonably hot and humid and the sun came in and out causing some glare issues for me to fight. Overall I did well. I was hoping to break 89% but I came just shy. My goal is to break into Expert class before the end of the season. I’ll need some practice and some luck.

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After high power I shot in a vintage relay with my 1917. I’ve been neglecting to practice with this old rifle and it showed for sure. I had a saved round in rapid prone and a miss in off hand. I blame the saved round on my efforts to slow down with the Garand and take my time.

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On Sunday morning I kept the party going and brought a pile of rifles with me. My Garand, M1 Carbine and brought the 1917 back for some redemption. The weather was about the same, hot and muggy.

I shot well with the Garand I lost a few points in off hand that I shouldn’t have rushed but I squeaked by the bronze cut off.

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There was a no show for the second relay so I was able to jump in and shoot my M1 carbine. I am still working out some kinks in both the carbine itself and how I shoot it. This gave me some good experience with the platform.

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To make for a long day I hung around for the third and final relay and tried for some redemption with my 1917. Dehydration and exhaustion aside I did much better. No saved rounds and no misses in off hand. This and a couple beers afterwards put a nice end to a long weekend of shooting.

I am going to continue to put as many rounds down range as I can afford in both time and money between now and Perry. The way I see it, the more trigger time I get the better prepared I will be.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

2013 Camp Perry National Matches

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Early Thursday morning I took the 461 mile pilgrimage to Camp Perry for the 2013 National Matches.

This was my second time attending the matches so things made a lot more sense this time!

I shot in the morning relays this year instead of the PM relays. While it hurt to wake up so early it was a good decision. It was cooler, its done by noon so I had more time to goof off and both days we beat the afternoon showers. It was also nice to be there for colors, while I was in the pits I didn’t “see” anything but it was pretty cool to hear the countdown echo across Viale, the cannon and a live bugler. It might be corny but it got me excited for the day.

Great weather both days, only stoppage was for some low flying airplanes just before prep for slow prone. For the Garand Match we were delayed for a while waiting for the fog to burn off. I was in the pits at the time which wasn’t so bad, just lounging around drinking “pit coffee” and BSing.

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As far as my performance I made the same mistake twice in a row in rapid prone. After posting my personal best in slow prone for both rifles I rushed rapid, which is typically my best, and lost points I shouldn’t have. I learned a lesson the hard way, slow down and take your time in rapid!

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The upside is I have a good base to work with, a good rifle, a good load, and a decent position I just have to clean it up a bit. I can work with this.

Otherwise I had a great time, I can’t wait until the next match! If you are thinking about going you absolutely should check out the post below for a “step by step” on how it all works.

Camp Perry CMP Games & National Matches: How It Works

The north store was looking pretty sad when I was there. There was only 1 lonely service grade special which was gone by Friday.

I snuck a video during rapid prone. Is the line ready? The line is not ready. Skip to 3:00 for the actual shooting.


Some other pictures and highlights.

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Practice and Changes to my Slow Fire Routine

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Took my Winchester Garand and 1917 Eddystone to the range after work today for some practice. I especially wanted to fire some more of my hand loads down range just to make sure they wouldn’t give me any trouble, they worked very well. I’m still amazed how well I can shoot this rifle compared to the my Springfield. I spend so much time worrying about stance, trigger control and other “soft skills” I guess the “hardware” can improve score sometimes too.

For the 1917 I am going to use HXP because I am still having trouble cycling hand loads in it and I don’t have the time or patience to figure it out before Perry so ill just use what I know works. I found with this rifle compared to a Garand even the slightest thing wrong and my shot goes wild. So it will be important to take my time and focus on the fundamentals with every shot.

For slow fire I have been keeping the rifle on my shoulder while reloading. To look at the scope I simply rock to the left to reload I use my right hand and tuck an round into the SLED then pull back on the handle and fall back into position. This seems to help me stay in position and be a little more constant. I’m not sure how this will play out in a pit match as I “short stock” my hand gets a little fatigued after awhile.

I’m getting awful excited about Perry in a few days, hopefully the weather holds.

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