Well it's over....
http://victoryshoot.org/
Quite a few asked me to keep them posted as to the results, so here they are.
Our 3-day Precision Rifle course has come and gone with much learned from the experience. I will give my usual long-winded rundown of my experience and some observations both good and bad; in my opinion. (Having to do with human nature with regard to some of the conversations I had over the 3 days, and not the course itself)
Day 1: I show up stoked and ready to roll! 1/2 a day later; and I've got my ever present black cloud relentlessly slamming me in the ass with thunder and lightning bolts alike.... Basically what happened was that we had a great introduction to some kick-ass Sniper log books by the creator; one Mark Hartwell who is an accomplished Marine Corps Officer. His data books rock and are the finest I have ever used, Highly Recommended and you can Buy them here: www.stormtactical.com We then got briefed on the course by Bill and set up our gear. After an extended period, all those not on paper @ 100 were on and the course officially started. I had IMMEDIATE problems getting comfortable behind my gun that lasted all day from 0800 to 1800 hrs. Remember, that when you lay behind your rifle for a long distance shot, all the fundamentals MUST fall into place or you're screwed. Mark came over and laid down a sub-1/2 moa group his first time behind my rifle but then stood up and said to me "That rifle was just painful to shoot" so the way I am wired, my brain said "The rifle can shoot, so I have ergonomic and fundamental issues that need to be addressed" I was shooting off my pack and a rear sand sock made that day. I just could not get my pack and sock to agree with each other or me. My neck was sore as hell after an hour or two, my lungs were half full of silica and sand, and the pace was steady enough to not have a lot of time to figure out the eternal question of.... "What the fuck??" Top that off with having Dave Champion laying to my left, and Don W. (Who built my 3 suppressors) to my right. Dave was kind enough to throw all the sand and stones from his shooting mat onto my mat right after I had cleaned it.... Several times!!! As I told him, it was not the sand and stones that disturbed and concerned me; but the hardy laughing when he noticed what he had done
Day one ended with a lot of new data, a turkey neck that felt like it had whiplash, sunburn, nostrils, ears, eyes, and clothes caked in sand, and one frustrated Marine. Of course Bill did his part as range master by continuously reminding me that I was in the Corps and that my targets looked like they had been "Shot with a shotgun"...... Nice guy huh?
Tom also loaned me a Harris bipod to use for the rest of the course, which proved to be another huge factor in getting turned around. Thanks Tom!
I met mark in Vegas, and we spoke for about 20 minutes, and I asked him why my rifle was painful to shoot. He confirmed that the Ergo's and my set-up were all jacked off and he made some recommendations which turned out to be key. Thanks Mark! So I went home, showered, ate, cleaned my rifle, and at 2300 I was out in my Goddamned underwear laying on my patio dialing in my rifle. It turns out that I needed the bipod lower than expected, my cheek-piece needed to be raised 100% higher than it was (8 revolutions of my thumb-wheel instead of 4), and I needed to build a second sock to use with the first one. I crashed with about 5 hours before I needed to be back up and on the road.
Day 2: First lesson learned on day 2.... Bring your friggin' Shemagh on day one!!!!!! My Shemagh got the NV sun off of me, created a nice sunblock for my scope eye and never left my head for days 2 and 3! We collected a lot of good data, and my whole system just turned around compared to day 1. My consistency increased as well as solid groups at distance. The cheek-piece adjustment and bipod turned everything around and I started to feel my rifle becoming an extension of myself.
Day 3: The third day just felt good.... I lowered my bipod another notch and got "snake low" to the ground and my system felt even better. A LOT more data collected, and we finished our 100 yard incremental shooting at 900 and 1,000 yards out. We then hit all of our 50 yard increments, meaning 150, 250, 350, etc, etc out to 950. The highlight of my day was my group at 900 yards. I shot a 4" center to center group @ 900 yards! That is sub-1/2 moa my friends. I was definitely not the most consistent shooter over the 3 days, but I do not think anyone topped that group size at that distance. Jared said "That is competition level shooting", and Bill shook my hand and congratulated me..... He then went on to use it against me whenever my group size opened up at closer ranges. I believe "Christ, you shot better at 900 yards" was the saying for the remainder of the day....
One other note on this course was the amount of interest expressed and head scratching done by quite a few guys because of the accuracy my rifle was capable of (as long as I did my job) using a 20" barrel. As I told them, I did EXTENSIVE research before having Don cut and thread my barrel. I had multiple conversations with my Bro Mike Rescigno over at Tactical Operations. http://www.tacticaloperations.com/ Mike's rifles typically leave his shop with 18" or 20" barrels and he guarantees 1/4 moa or better at long distances with factory match ammo! In my opinion, probably the best built; most accurate rifles you never heard of. (Read the reviews on his site) Mike's anal retentiveness on his rifles is WAY over the top and I value his work and opinion. I also got the thumbs up from Remington's Military Division, and also from G.A Precision.
Day 3 finished by humping our gear over to yonder bluff and shooting 55 gallon drums at 1,760 yards or 1 Mile. I hit within 10ft with the .50 cal, and had three hits out of 5 with Barry's Sako in .300 Win Mag. Several other people had multiple hits with the .50's and other rifles.
Overall the course was a great success, and I welcome the problems of day one... Why? Because it tests us both mentally and physically plus our gear and makes us think critically about ourselves and our gear selections. Part of the reason I attend these courses it to test myself and my gear! Do I like my rifle?, and if not what needs to change?, How are my fundamentals?, how are my scope and bino's working out?, how about my shooting mat?, Is my clothing working out?, does my cleaning kit or cleaning technique suck??? These are the types of things you learn at these courses. We laid in desert combat conditions for 3 days straight, and believe me, you WILL figure out what you do or do not like about your system.....
This course comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, and if you have a chance to attend next time, I would urge you to do so. The next course is supposed to get into field craft and other techniques. When it happens, I WILL be there! I met some great guys, and others I just had no time to get to know. We had a solid group of guys and one gal. I am also looking forward to Mark's next fieldcraft class up near Reno. All the gory details can be found on Stormtactical.com
Thanks Bill, Jared, and Mark!
P.S As to human nature and a couple of conversations I had over the weekend,,,,,,, let me just say that I am NOT a quitter under these conditions, nor am I willing to sell out my Freedoms, morals, scruples, ethics, principles or my fucking soul for money!!! I am not for sale,,,, apparently some are! That is how I live with myself, I don't know how others do. Enough said.
http://victoryshoot.org/
Quite a few asked me to keep them posted as to the results, so here they are.
Our 3-day Precision Rifle course has come and gone with much learned from the experience. I will give my usual long-winded rundown of my experience and some observations both good and bad; in my opinion. (Having to do with human nature with regard to some of the conversations I had over the 3 days, and not the course itself)
Day 1: I show up stoked and ready to roll! 1/2 a day later; and I've got my ever present black cloud relentlessly slamming me in the ass with thunder and lightning bolts alike.... Basically what happened was that we had a great introduction to some kick-ass Sniper log books by the creator; one Mark Hartwell who is an accomplished Marine Corps Officer. His data books rock and are the finest I have ever used, Highly Recommended and you can Buy them here: www.stormtactical.com We then got briefed on the course by Bill and set up our gear. After an extended period, all those not on paper @ 100 were on and the course officially started. I had IMMEDIATE problems getting comfortable behind my gun that lasted all day from 0800 to 1800 hrs. Remember, that when you lay behind your rifle for a long distance shot, all the fundamentals MUST fall into place or you're screwed. Mark came over and laid down a sub-1/2 moa group his first time behind my rifle but then stood up and said to me "That rifle was just painful to shoot" so the way I am wired, my brain said "The rifle can shoot, so I have ergonomic and fundamental issues that need to be addressed" I was shooting off my pack and a rear sand sock made that day. I just could not get my pack and sock to agree with each other or me. My neck was sore as hell after an hour or two, my lungs were half full of silica and sand, and the pace was steady enough to not have a lot of time to figure out the eternal question of.... "What the fuck??" Top that off with having Dave Champion laying to my left, and Don W. (Who built my 3 suppressors) to my right. Dave was kind enough to throw all the sand and stones from his shooting mat onto my mat right after I had cleaned it.... Several times!!! As I told him, it was not the sand and stones that disturbed and concerned me; but the hardy laughing when he noticed what he had done
Day one ended with a lot of new data, a turkey neck that felt like it had whiplash, sunburn, nostrils, ears, eyes, and clothes caked in sand, and one frustrated Marine. Of course Bill did his part as range master by continuously reminding me that I was in the Corps and that my targets looked like they had been "Shot with a shotgun"...... Nice guy huh?
I met mark in Vegas, and we spoke for about 20 minutes, and I asked him why my rifle was painful to shoot. He confirmed that the Ergo's and my set-up were all jacked off and he made some recommendations which turned out to be key. Thanks Mark! So I went home, showered, ate, cleaned my rifle, and at 2300 I was out in my Goddamned underwear laying on my patio dialing in my rifle. It turns out that I needed the bipod lower than expected, my cheek-piece needed to be raised 100% higher than it was (8 revolutions of my thumb-wheel instead of 4), and I needed to build a second sock to use with the first one. I crashed with about 5 hours before I needed to be back up and on the road.
Day 2: First lesson learned on day 2.... Bring your friggin' Shemagh on day one!!!!!! My Shemagh got the NV sun off of me, created a nice sunblock for my scope eye and never left my head for days 2 and 3! We collected a lot of good data, and my whole system just turned around compared to day 1. My consistency increased as well as solid groups at distance. The cheek-piece adjustment and bipod turned everything around and I started to feel my rifle becoming an extension of myself.
Day 3: The third day just felt good.... I lowered my bipod another notch and got "snake low" to the ground and my system felt even better. A LOT more data collected, and we finished our 100 yard incremental shooting at 900 and 1,000 yards out. We then hit all of our 50 yard increments, meaning 150, 250, 350, etc, etc out to 950. The highlight of my day was my group at 900 yards. I shot a 4" center to center group @ 900 yards! That is sub-1/2 moa my friends. I was definitely not the most consistent shooter over the 3 days, but I do not think anyone topped that group size at that distance. Jared said "That is competition level shooting", and Bill shook my hand and congratulated me..... He then went on to use it against me whenever my group size opened up at closer ranges. I believe "Christ, you shot better at 900 yards" was the saying for the remainder of the day....
One other note on this course was the amount of interest expressed and head scratching done by quite a few guys because of the accuracy my rifle was capable of (as long as I did my job) using a 20" barrel. As I told them, I did EXTENSIVE research before having Don cut and thread my barrel. I had multiple conversations with my Bro Mike Rescigno over at Tactical Operations. http://www.tacticaloperations.com/ Mike's rifles typically leave his shop with 18" or 20" barrels and he guarantees 1/4 moa or better at long distances with factory match ammo! In my opinion, probably the best built; most accurate rifles you never heard of. (Read the reviews on his site) Mike's anal retentiveness on his rifles is WAY over the top and I value his work and opinion. I also got the thumbs up from Remington's Military Division, and also from G.A Precision.
Day 3 finished by humping our gear over to yonder bluff and shooting 55 gallon drums at 1,760 yards or 1 Mile. I hit within 10ft with the .50 cal, and had three hits out of 5 with Barry's Sako in .300 Win Mag. Several other people had multiple hits with the .50's and other rifles.
Overall the course was a great success, and I welcome the problems of day one... Why? Because it tests us both mentally and physically plus our gear and makes us think critically about ourselves and our gear selections. Part of the reason I attend these courses it to test myself and my gear! Do I like my rifle?, and if not what needs to change?, How are my fundamentals?, how are my scope and bino's working out?, how about my shooting mat?, Is my clothing working out?, does my cleaning kit or cleaning technique suck??? These are the types of things you learn at these courses. We laid in desert combat conditions for 3 days straight, and believe me, you WILL figure out what you do or do not like about your system.....
This course comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, and if you have a chance to attend next time, I would urge you to do so. The next course is supposed to get into field craft and other techniques. When it happens, I WILL be there! I met some great guys, and others I just had no time to get to know. We had a solid group of guys and one gal. I am also looking forward to Mark's next fieldcraft class up near Reno. All the gory details can be found on Stormtactical.com
Thanks Bill, Jared, and Mark!
P.S As to human nature and a couple of conversations I had over the weekend,,,,,,, let me just say that I am NOT a quitter under these conditions, nor am I willing to sell out my Freedoms, morals, scruples, ethics, principles or my fucking soul for money!!! I am not for sale,,,, apparently some are! That is how I live with myself, I don't know how others do. Enough said.
