4/26/08 - Parma IDPA Match

This is Stage 6 of the IDPA match, and it is me shooting. I was either stupid or brave, but I put the camera between to target arrays, started the camera and shot the stage. It's a pretty cool perspective!

View Stage 6

I had a video editor friend take my stage 6 video from above and one that I took of Aaron earlier in the day, sync up the start signal and ran them side by side. It's cool to watch it as a heads up.

View Stage 6 Aaron & Brian side by side


4/12/08 - Parma LRTR Match

This was a great day of shooting, below are the stage descriptions, photos of the paper targets and my personal comments on each stage and how I did, and what I learned. I will provide a link to the final results when they are posted. Preliminary results, I was 3rd.

I was shooting 168gr SMK in my Savage .308

Morning MET Conditions:

  • 10:00am
  • 27.57 Pressure
  • 51 degrees
  • 30% Humidity
  • Wind: Negligible for Morning stages
Al the morning stages were shot from the Long Range Rifle Shed Position.

Stage 1:  Cold Bore Shot

  • Points: 50
  • Distance: 100m
  • Target: Hostage Target. Score 50pts/25pts or -25pts for Hostage hit.
  • Time: Unlimited

Comments: This is where my LRTR Book and data cards came in handy. I zero my rifle at 200m, so shooting the cold bore and first 2 stages at 100m, I was not sure where my rifle was going to print. I had shot on the Wed before at 100m and had written down where everything was. So for the cold bore 100m shot, I just used my notes and it hit just about where I wanted it too. Just a little farther to the left than I intended, but ok.


 On this close up you can see the 50pt target area, I just missed it.


Stage 2: Know your Limits

  • Points:  105
  • Distance: 100m
  • Target: 5 increasingly smaller shapes, each worth more points
  • Shoot as many as you want, stop whenever you want. If you miss, you lose all points for stage.
  • Time: 2:00 minutes 5 shots

Comments: I was really unsure how this was going to go, this was my first match with paper targets, I have not done a lot of paper punching at 100yd/meters, I knew I could get the 1st one, and probably the 2nd one, and I was reasonably sure I could shoot the triangle, but I it went left. Since I zeroed the stage, I kept shooting just to see where things were printing and made some adjustments to my windage zero for the next stage.


Stage 3: Israeli Sniper Qualification Targets

  • Points: 100
  • Distance: 100m
  • Target: 10 Bad guys mixed with 6 Hostages
  • Shoot 10 round, 10 pts for each Bad Guy, -10 for each good guy, 0 for miss
  • Time: 2:00 Minutes

Comments: This was fun, having made the adjustments from the Know your Limit's stage, I felt pretty good about this one. Shooting with a time limit really makes you step things up, something you can't really do in practice. I shot the center upper target first, thinking that was the easiest, then moved over to the right 1 target. Then dropped down to the center lower target, and then the 3 lower right targets. At 100meters the red and black are not all that much different! Then I shot the lower left targets and finished with the upper left targets. I played it safe with the head that had 2 red hostages on either side, and missed, but it was a safer shot than getting a -10 for hitting the hostage. Scoring for the stage had to at least break the white of the face on the bad guys. Hence no score for the lower center target.

I felt really good on this stage.


Stage 4: Strong/Weak Hand Shooting

  • Points: 60
  • Distance: 200m
  • Target: 8” Faces, Good guy in Middle, Half face on either side of goodguy is the bad guy.
  • Shoot 3 rounds Strong hand on one side of face. 10 pts ea.
  • Shoot 3 rounds WEAK hand on other side of face.10 pts ea
  • Time:
    • Strong: 1:00minute
    • Weak: 2:00 minutes

Comments: This was a real eye opener for me, I have NEVER shot my rifle weak handed. Wow what an thrill, again the time factor really gets your blood pumping when your not used to it.

I shot the right face strong hand, knowing that if I pull a shot it tends to pull left, I was favoring the outside edge, almost a miss, but got all three.

The left face is weak handed, I hit the hostage with one shot, BUT the group was smaller than my strong hand shots, 1.9" which is a sub MOA 200m 3 shot group with my left hand and left eye! That was cool! That made me feel really good.



Stage 5: Sitting/Offhand

  • Points: 100
  • Distance: 200m
  • Target: 8.5” x 11” piece of paper
  • Shoot 5 shots sitting, sling ok, but otherwise unsupported
  • Shoot 5 shots offhand, sling ok, but otherwise unsupported
  • Time:
    • Sitting: 1:00 minute
    • Offhand: 2:00 minutes
Comments: This was another first, I've shot sitting before when I hunt, but not with a 14lb sniper rifle. And I have never shot this rifle standing up offhand. What a challenge, and again, the time pressure really gets your heart pumping.

Speaking of the heart, in the prone position I don't notice the heart beat, but standing and sitting, wow, it really is visible, especially at 200meters.

For the sitting portion I printing 3 of 5 shots, for the standing I managed 2 of 5 on the paper. Great challenge, and something I need to work on more, because we had 1 other stage with offhand, and I sucked at that one too.

 

Bonus Round: Bowling Pin

  • Points: No Points, Hogue 10/22 Stock
  • Distance: 500m
  • Target: Bowling Pin
  • Going down shooting line, each shooter gets 1 shot at the pin to hit it, first person to hit is wins the prize
  • Time: :15 seconds to get off shot

Comments: Well I'm out of photos, but this was fun. The guys from Tactical Solutions had a bowling pin setup on the 500meter rail. Gave us a minute to get ready and gave each shooter going down the line :15 seconds to shoot at the pin. I was the 4th shooter in line, and I nailed it! I was smiling so big it almost hurt. This was probably my best shot of the day! At least the most memorable.

Stage 6: Steel at Known Distances:

  • Points – Can’t remember
  • Distances:
    • 416yds½ silhouettes
    • 493yds ½ silhouettes
    • 630yds full silhouettes
    • 713yds full silhouettes
  • Target: First set  were with orange heads, 2nd set were full white silhouettes
  • Shoot 2 shots on each target, all shots count
  • Time: 2:00 minutes

Comments: We moved over to the shotgun area for the FP and they had 4 KD targets setup at the yardage above. This was the first real chance I had to use my Exbal software on my Palm Pilot to test this kind of range and accuracy of the software. I typed in the target distance and it gave me an MOA reading, I did that for each distance. 6.25, 9, 14.5, and 18.5 respectfully.

It worked beautifully, I was just a hair high on the 2nd shot of the first target, but hit all th others 7 out of 8 on that stage. The Exbal works very well, and I'm glad I took the time to chrono my loads, they performed marvelously.

Lunch was great, discovered that Aaron really doesn't like tomatoes, in fact I thought he was going to dry heave cutting them up. After relaxing in the clubhouse for lunch and nutrients we headed out to the Run and Gun stage.

Afternoon MET Conditions:

  • 10:00am
  • 27.57 Pressure
  • 67 degrees
  • 30% Humidity
  • Wind: Negligible for beginning of afternoon stages

As you can see the temps were warming up, the Barometer was staying steady so I didn't change any settings in my Exbal program, wind was still calm.

Stage 7: Run and Gun

  • Points: Can’t remember
  • Distances:
    • Prone: 460yds ½ silhouette
    • Barrel: 284yds ½ silhouette
    • Prone: 205yd Mini Sammy
    • Offhand with tree: 417yds Full Silhouette
  • Start
    • Gun setup at 1st FP, unloaded and empty
    • Shooter starts 25yds from gun
    • At start signal sprint to gun, load as many rounds as desired and engage first target with 2 rounds
    • Move to 2nd FP at Barrel and engage with 2 rounds
    • Move to 3rd FP prone and engage Mini Sammy with 2 rounds
    • Move to 4th FP at tree and engage while standing with 2 rounds
  • Time: 2:30

Comments: This was the most fun stage. Very challenging. Running to the the gun got the heart pumping, and once again, the time pressure made it so you couldn't dawdle. Tom from Tactical Solutions made a great comment, I had 8 rounds in my pocket, with 4 in my hand to shove in the gun, Tom suggested that you take extra rounds in case you dropped one, had a misfire, or something else happened. Good suggestion.

I put the target distances in Exbal and wrote down the MOA adjustments needed to make the hits. This is where my 200meter zero paid off. I converted my MOA to mils, using 3.5 MOA per mil, and wrote down the mil holdovers. With the time clock running there wasn't time to dial the dope for each station, so I had to memorize the holdover for each station, it work really well, and it turned out to be an easy mil adjustment.

  1. 7.75 MOA = 2 Mil +
  2. 2.25 MOA = 1 Mil -
  3. 0 MOA = 0 Mil
  4. 6.25 MOA = 2 Mil -


The +/- markings told me which side of the MIl to hold on, it works great. Ran to the gun a loaded 4 rounds for the 1st 2 stages. Held 2 mils high on the up side of the mil marking and hit the target both times.

Ran to the barrel, you had to shoot using the barrel for a rest, held just on the underside of the the 1 Mil mark and hit the target both times. I then grabbed 4 more bullets and loaded 4 more in the gun, then ran to the next stage.

Flopping down prone, I engaged the Mini Sammy twice with a dead on hold and hit it both times.

Ran to the tree and leaning the rifle against the tree I attempted to hit the target. I was close with both shots, with the elevation being correct but my heart and the movement pulled the shots to the side, and I missed both of those shots.

This was a great stage and I learned how to convert my MOA's to Mils and use holdovers, and once again, showed that I need to work on off hand shooting. The time limit was perfect, and I used all of the clock, with only about 5 seconds to spare.

Next up was the UKD stage and off we went to the Pistol Pit's overlook.

Afternoon MET Conditions Changing:

Wind was picking up and swirling around.

Mirage was horrendous on the closer UKD target, made ranging a challenge

Stage 8: Unknown Distance Targets

  • Points: 100
  • Distance:
    • Range 2 targets using non electronic devices. Everyone used Mils
  • Targets were:
    • ½ silhouette, 18” wide by 15” Tall
    • Full silhouette, 18” wide by 30” Tall
  • Shoot twice if needed, 1st round hit 50 pts, 2nd round hit 25 pts.
  • No Spotter calls
  • Time: 4:00 minutes to range and shoot.
  • Actual Range to Targets: 509yds and 634yds.

Comments: This was the hardest stage for me, I know how to use my Mil scope to estimate range, I know how to use the MilDot master, and I have the Exbal software that will do Mil math for me. But I don't do it very often and in the field conditions with the Mirage it was a great learning experience.

Each shooter was on their own, Tom from Tactical Solutions had his Leopold spotting scope with a Mil reticle setup for those of us that wanted to use it. If a shooter was not comfortable calculating Mil's, the could tell the SO what the mil reading was, they would enter it in the Mil Dot Master, (They ended up using mine) and then they would show it to the shooter and they would make their own judgement on the range call. No corrections were called and this was very hard for the first shooter to the last shooter.

On my turn I used the Leopold scope, I probably shouldn't have and just used my scope since that is what I am familiar with. Lesson 1 on this stage, use your own equipment, even if others have better equipment, if your not used to it, it leads to problems.

I wrote down my measurements in my note book, then pulled out my Exbal computer and proceeded to enter the numbers and let the computer spit out the corrections. In hindsight, I should have used the Mil Dot master, while the Exbal is accurate, I just don't know my way around it when the time clock is ticking, and it slowed me down. I only had 30 seconds to make the 4 shots when I was all done.

My calculations were correct and my MOA adjustments were dead one, for the WRONG distance. It turns out I was 2/10th of a mil off on the 1st target and 1/10th of a Mil off on the 2nd target. The good news is, I did both H & W calculations, and they were both off by the same amount, So I am consistent, which is good, but I need to practice milling more, as I was off, and Missed both targets. Big fat Zero on this stage.

Aaron cleaned this stage with 2 first round hits on target.

It was a great day, I learned a lot, and know some areas that need work. Paper punching at 100 yards at the range just can't prepare you for a real match, the pressure of the clock, having rifles go off around you while your trying to concentrate all make for distractions that you just can't practice with. What a great time and I can't wait till the next one.

Scores

SHTR NAME STG 1 STG 2 STG 3 STG 4 STG 5 STG 6 STG 7 STG 8 POINT
#  FIRST C B K Y L ISRAELI 200 HOSTG SIT/STAND LR STEEL RUN&GUN UKD 1 TOTAL
1 Tom 50 65 100 50 25 70 50 50 460
2 Aaron 25 35 50 0 30 50 50 100 340
3 Brian 25 0 80 50 25 70 60 0 310
4 Frank 0 65 0 20 10 70 50 75 290
5 Devin 25 0 30 0 5 60 80 75 275
6 Terry 25 0 40 20 15 60 30 50 240
7 Dick 50 0 0 0 30 50 20 75 225
8 Dorrie 0 0 10 50 5 60 50 25 200
9 Ted 0 5 60 10 25 30 20 0 150
10 Tim -25 0 0 30 10 20 0 100 135
11 Dan 0 0 50 -20 20 0 50 0 100
*Scores in Red denote Stage Winners

Other Oddities

While cleaning up after the LRTR match I stumbled across a .50 bullet, just laying on top of the ground, pretty well preserved. I grabbed it and brought it home to my son. Who ran to his room and grabbed a .50 case that grandpa had given him. The two went together right nicely and his has one very big looking bullet in his room.

The bullets weighed in at 655 grains on my PACT scale. Here are some pics:

The Measurement is from the .50 cal casing, Next to a 30-06, .308 and .223

Here is the .50 cal 655gr bullets, next to a .308 168gr SMK and a .224 55gr FMJBT


And finally, the .50 cal put together as much as we could, next to a 30-06, .308, and .223