First Tactical Shoot

Training Competitive Shooting
1

I competed for the first time at my local club’s tactical rifle match. 3 stages: 1) 6 different targets: 5 targets were 18"x18" diamonds (250-300 yds), 1 was a silhouette (440yds). Each target engaged from 5 different shooting positions, total minimum round count 30. 2) The V-TAC wall, Silhouette target at 175 yds. Virginia count, one round from each of the 10 different holes, 3 runs through that. Total round count of 30. 3) 5x targets, 2x 12" circle @ 240 yds, 2x larue silhouettes @ 199 yds, 1x 6" circle @ 170 yds. There were five different shooting positions for that stage, minimum round count of 30.

Of course, I got 17th (of 19) shooters. Going into it, I actually thought I was pretty competent with my rifle. Emphasis on the previous notion of ‘THOUGHT’. I’m generally pretty full of myself, but this was an entirely different sort of humble-pie to be served.

I will say that I learned so much about running that gun in just one day, it was amazing! Everyone was really helpful, and I think that’s what made it such a great learning curve.

If anyone is thinking about getting to their local match, do it.

2

This! After 9 years in the Nationsl Guard I thought I was an expert on the M16/AR15 platform. WRONG!!! Never having run my gun under and sort of stressful situation I didn’t know what I didn’t know. The timer ticking was all it took to flip the stupid switch in my head. I remember not knowing instantly where the mag realease button was once. A few years later I could run the platform blindfolded in my sleep. The fun match type competitions such as a carbine or 3 gun match make all the difference. It helps even more if you get some formal training soon after you start out so that all the match shooting reps are good reps.

3

We’ve been running a carbine match for… I think 6+ years now. I have seen what you describe so many times I cannot count.

There are typically two reactions. One is what you describe and IMO is the better reaction wherein you’ve resolved to get better and admitted you didn’t know what you didn’t know. The other is to make excuses and stop coming out, which is unfortunate when it happens and sad to see.

Glad to hear you’ll be going back, and it sounds like you had a great time.

4

Those are some pretty substantial distances, anything pass about 275 yds under the clock can be very difficult. Some of it sounded unsupported, another difficult part of any match.

Keep going, you’ll be a better shooter for it.

5

I’m a Company Commander in the US Army. I don’t have the luxury of any other reaction. The day that my pride gets in the way of the welfare of my Soldiers is the day that I resign my commission.

Now that the serious stuff is over…

humble pie has quite the pungent flavor.

6

Only the V-TAC wall was really unsupported, but only because it was a flimsy wall. Try and put weight on it, and it would almost break. I think that was on purpose, but who knows.

Everything else … well, the option was there: clear line of sight or easily supported position or fuzzy line of sight, but a kneeling position.

Winds at around 20 mph made the 440 yd target quite the challenge. The last shooting position for that target was laying prone downhill. Instead I laid on my back and used my knees as a support position. One trigger squeeze, one hit. I got lucky. I DID learn about lowering my profile and still attempting to get myself into a good position to shoot a bad guy from the ‘military crest’ of the hill.

Like I said, I could go on and on about how much I learned and the lessons I don’t want to forget. Writing (typing) them helps me to remember.

7

My next tactical rifle match is in one week. Over the last three weeks, I’ve practiced the following:

Being comfortable in different positions. I bought the Magpul Dynamics Carbine 1 dvd. I know a dvd can’t replace practice and instruction with real live instructors, but my time is fairly limited. I video taped myself in the different positions, and used that as a way to see myself from a different point of view. It was very helpful to see myself screw it up. Understanding how POA and POI are affected by the different angle of the gun (horizontal vs vertical).

Understanding how the zero process SHOULD go (vs. what uncle sam taught me). I got my ammo out there and actually shot at different distances. Now I understand how my ammo acts at different distances, so I know where I should be aiming. POA vs POI are just a ‘little’ different when you’re talking about 50-100-200 yds and beyond. I was only able to get to a 200 yd max range.

General weapons manipulation. Practicing reloading without looking down at where my mags are. Dropping them in place when they’re empty. Being able to move the safety selector switch without disrupting my grip (this made me learn to hate the little hump on a traditional A2 style grip and switched it out for a MOE grip because I’m cheap).

Equipment: My Vortex strikefire crapped out on me. I know they have excellent customer service, so I have no worries that it will get fixed. While I’ve got the time and occasion to try different types of optics, I’m trying them out. I’ve now got a Primary Arms 1-4x scope on there. While it’s still a relatively inexpensive sight, I’d rather find out what I like before I dump a sizable amount of $$$ into a ‘grown-up’ optic. I think my rifle is fine; Daniel Defense M4V1. Using that and my inexpensive 4x I can keep a (roughly) 3" 5-shot group at 200 yds.

I’ve got a LOT to learn, and (seeing that the taste of humble-pie is still in my mouth) I will probably be drinking form the firehouse some more. Bring it on!

8

congrats!

9

UPDATE

OK, so the work that I did was actually worth it:

POA vs POI at different angles worked very well.

Understanding how my ammo works out to 200 yds was well worth the time to learn that.

I didn’t have any problems manipulating my weapon, but I took different gear, due to someone breaking into my car last night and stealing my range backpack (grrr)… Particularly missing was my mag holder. The one I normally used was worn a bit, so the velcro was kinda easy, plus it had an elastic strap to keep it secure when it wasn’t completely full. The one I had to use today was very new, so the velcro was still very ‘grabby’ and there was no elastic. Mags didn’t go flying everywhere, even though that would have been hilarious.

The Primary Arms 1-4x24 worked well except for one small thing: the eye relief wasn’t very nice to me. It was really hard to get to the proper position when I needed to on a couple of the stages. I’m not sure if I need to make adjustments to the scope placement or whether I need to get something that has a nicer eye relief. The durability of the optic wasn’t a problem, and it held zero just fine. I didn’t practice with any pressure or stress. That would have highlighted the eye relief issue, and I could have fixed it earlier than show time.

The ammo I used was steel cased crap ammo. I think it could hold a 2.5" @ 100yds, maybe… MAYBE… It was a good test of my skills. I saw Rob_S has/had a sig line saying something about learning your gun by shooting a lot and using crap ammo to hone the skills, or at least that’s what I got out of it. He wasn’t lying. I can’t imagine if I got some ammo that was worth a damn; I might actually be able to hit something!

The farthest target today was 485 yards. It was a full-sized (IPSC sized) target, but it was not that bad. The average target size was 9" wide x 13" tall. The closest target was 150 yds, and that was standing.

Apparently, when they say ‘other than prone’ you’re still not allowed to lay on your back. I laid down and the RO said I couldn’t do that, and that I had to either sit or stand. I asked for clarification about the wording of the instruction, and got a re-shoot based on the RO telling me ‘other than prone’ really means ‘kneeling or sitting.’ Seeing as downrange was on the downward slope of a hill, I re-used my supine-lay-with-knee-support position. That worked very well.

My DDM4V1 worked without a flaw. It was dirty, dusty, and I haven’t cleaned it in about a month. Before I shot today I pulled a bore snake through, and cleaned the chamber. The last ammo I shot through was lacquer coated steel case, so I was paranoid about getting a case glued/stuck in the chamber.

Seeing as my training focus for the last month was on the technical aspects, I suffered when it came to performing these tasks in a more realistic environment. I trained in a bubble. I’m glad for that training because now I have a bit of a base to up the intensity in my future training sessions.

Thanks for reading!

10

I did more work today on figuring out where my rounds are going.

Put the rifle on a rest, shoot at different distances, and see what happens. here’s the pictures/proof:

This is what cheap, surplus, steel cased ammo does at 100 yds.

This is what Black Hills match HP does at 100 yds.

Next week is the next match. I’m going to go with my regular duty setup, to include uniform, armor, and the like. The only way to make it more realistic for me is to have people shooting back (good training, but no thanks).

I still haven’t been able to make the eye relief comfortable for me. I might just need someone to help in this area.