Memorial Day Service Rifle, Vintage and JCG Matches

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.

Shot sharpshooter, October garand match and data books.

It was a beautiful fall weekend here in PA for shooting. Bright and sunny, in the mid 50s and the leaves are at their peak of color!

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Saturday was NRA high power with my A2. I surprised myself by shooting an 88% which was the first time I shot over the Sharpshooter threshold (84%) while I still have to maintain an 84% average over 240 rounds if I can get an 85 in the April match I should make the cut. At least according to my math. I have several months to practice before April roles around, I better get to work.

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As far as the Garand match I did better (232/300) than my showing at York earlier in the month but I have yet to beat the fi score I had when I first took this rifle out (252/300). Had some cramping in my support hand which resulted in me canting the rifle a bit which hurt my prone scores but I think I did ok. I’ll see if I can find a little better hand position for the next match. I’m also going to replace the turner sling that has been on my rifle for several years now with a John Weller sling I picked up at Camp Perry and see if it helps.

In off hand I broke one before I should, into the left corner of the target which was a bad start to the string. But, I kept them on target for the rest of the the match.

This weekend’s matches were also the first where I attempted to use data books. The results were varied but I think I will keep it up. For Highpower it’s very difficult to see the .223 holes so for walk and paste I will probably snap a picture of the pattern and document it after the match. For the Garand match it is easier to see the holes so I was able to document the shots in slow fire. At least until I dropped my pen in off hand! I think its valuable info to gather especially to track windage and elevation changes across matches. I use a creedmoor book for service rifle and a custom impact book for JCG. Once I have a little more experience with the books I’ll write a full review.

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Next month is our armistice day match so ill be taking the 1917 out.

First NRA Highpower Service Rifle match

I’ve been shooting CMP games matches for some time now and I finally worked up the courage to shoot a NRA Highpower match with my White Oak AR15A2

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It was a great day for shooting mid-60s and sunny, a little windy but the berms kept that from being an issue at 100 yards.

It was a 4 stage 60 round 100 yard reduced walk and paste match with 2 sighters in each position.

1. Slow fire off hand 2 minutes for 2 sighters in the “lower” target 20 minutes for 10 in the right and 10 in the left targets

Walk… Score… Paste

2. Rapid sitting 2 minutes for 2 sighters single feed then 60 seconds for 10 rounds loaded 2 and 83

3. Rapid Prone 2 minutes for 2 sighters single feed then 60 seconds for 10 rounds loaded 2 and 83

Walk… Score… Paste

4. Slow fire prone 2 minutes for 2 sighters in the “lower” target 20 minutes for 10 in the right and 10 in the left targets.

I did “ok” for a first match, 71% but most importantly, I learned a few important things. Having preloaded magazines was very helpful next time I will be more constant with where I place them so when I grab one the bullets are froward when I try to change mags.

I really struggle with single loading prone, I am going to try on of those “bob sled” mags next time. I got in a nice rhythm after the first 10 rounds by keeping the rifle in my shoulder and just rocking to the left to drop the round in the chamber. I also reached through the carry handle instead of trying to reach over it per the advice of another shooter.

For off hand I had dry fire practiced, with the mag resting in the palm of my support hand. This turned out to be horrible, because it messed with the bolt locking to the rear and I had to charge it every time. After awhile I switched to my hand to on the D-ring which tool some shift in position but worked better in the long run. Also my 30 cal shell holder for my shooting jacket is a pain for .223 it’s hard for my fat fingers to fish the little rounds out.

I will definitely be back again, at least as long I can scrounge up ammo!

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Two days of practice

It was a beautiful weekend for shooting and with my wife away I did a cut corner job of mowing the lawn and spent most of it at the range. I brought out the 1917, M1 and my new(ish) A2.

I spent some time working on the elevation for both my 1917 and Garand for both the conversion to 6 o’clock hold and to figure out why I was so low at the York match. I got that all worked out then spent some time working on my prone position, which I am now feeling much more confident in.

I practiced prone with my A2 and raised the elevation a bit so I could use 6:00 hold with this rifle too. I am very happy with it’s performance so far. I tried my hand at shooting sitting which I have literally never tried before. After trying to imitate the “crossed ankles position” I settled into some sloppy variation of it that seems to work OK for me. This has given me the courage up to sign up for the next NRA highpower match and bring my A2 in a few weeks!

Kimberton has a nice new slab for shooting prone.

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Think I have enough stuff?

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Don’t tell Bloomberg about my assault clips.

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