I'm going to tread carefully here because I am acutely aware that there a LOT of things I just don't know. I don't know what I don't know, right? I'm a scout rifle guy. I'm relatively porficient with a scout rifle and consider that to be the ultimate in "practical" riflecraft. Clearly however, this community's definition of "practical" is different than mine and I am not here to argue that.
Listening to your podcasts have been making me think about things I never had. I want to expand my definition of "practical" without sacrificing the speed and handiness of what I currently use. Right now, I'm looking at a class that will allow me to use my scout out to 600+ yards and see how things work out.
That's not actually the point of my post though. My point is that I'm genuinely curious about why the long range community has given up on shooting slings. In your latest podcast, you talk about real life time to engagement. How long does it take a rifleman to get from eyeballing a target to actual engagement? It is hard to simulate that in a competition because everything is staged to allow for tripods to be set up and you're carrying bags and other aids that might not represent a real world engagement.
The scout rifle community focuses very hard on this idea. The Ching and Rhodesian slings are intended to be rapid deployment shooting aids in addition to being functional carry straps. One can transition from standing to looped prone in a matter of seconds without removing a pack, setting up a tripod or getting bags into place. Both of those are actual loop slings that lock your rifle to your body nearly as effectively as an old school 1907 sling but are MUCH faster to get into.
Shooting slung prone however, puts your body into a very different position than I know you teach. Your body must be bladed several degrees off center for this position. Same is true of slung sitting. You can't be square to the target or you can't get your support hand under the forend. None of this though is more stable than shooting from a rest or a tripod. It is however, extremely fast.
The last scout rifle class I took in NM, we had two drills that you might find interesting. The first is Rifle Bounce. Shooter starts from standing and engages a pepper popper at 100, drop to any other shooting position and engage a pepper popper at 200. Switch to any other position and engage a target at 300. A good time is under 20 seconds. Standing, sitting and prone in 20 seconds.
The other drill is Rifle 10. That one starts out with a standard USPSA target at 300. On the timer, shooter shoots 2 from any position and then runs 25 yards and shoots two more. Run 25 yards and shoot 2 more. Run 25 and shoot 2 more. Run 25 and shoot two more but these have to be done from standing. Par time is 2 minutes. That's 300, 275, 250, 225 and 200 with 10 shots in 2 minutes. Deductions are made for misses and anything outside the A zone.
Clearly, this isn't long range shooting. But is it practical? Does it teach fundamentals? Both of those drills are next to impossible without a sling At what range does a sling become impractical? At what range does it not allow for enough stability to hit a target? My guess is that range is somewhere between 300 to 500 yards. Whatever that distance is, shooting out to that range would benefit from learning this technique but it isn't taught in the long range community. What is it that I'm missing?
Listening to your podcasts have been making me think about things I never had. I want to expand my definition of "practical" without sacrificing the speed and handiness of what I currently use. Right now, I'm looking at a class that will allow me to use my scout out to 600+ yards and see how things work out.
That's not actually the point of my post though. My point is that I'm genuinely curious about why the long range community has given up on shooting slings. In your latest podcast, you talk about real life time to engagement. How long does it take a rifleman to get from eyeballing a target to actual engagement? It is hard to simulate that in a competition because everything is staged to allow for tripods to be set up and you're carrying bags and other aids that might not represent a real world engagement.
The scout rifle community focuses very hard on this idea. The Ching and Rhodesian slings are intended to be rapid deployment shooting aids in addition to being functional carry straps. One can transition from standing to looped prone in a matter of seconds without removing a pack, setting up a tripod or getting bags into place. Both of those are actual loop slings that lock your rifle to your body nearly as effectively as an old school 1907 sling but are MUCH faster to get into.
Shooting slung prone however, puts your body into a very different position than I know you teach. Your body must be bladed several degrees off center for this position. Same is true of slung sitting. You can't be square to the target or you can't get your support hand under the forend. None of this though is more stable than shooting from a rest or a tripod. It is however, extremely fast.
The last scout rifle class I took in NM, we had two drills that you might find interesting. The first is Rifle Bounce. Shooter starts from standing and engages a pepper popper at 100, drop to any other shooting position and engage a pepper popper at 200. Switch to any other position and engage a target at 300. A good time is under 20 seconds. Standing, sitting and prone in 20 seconds.
The other drill is Rifle 10. That one starts out with a standard USPSA target at 300. On the timer, shooter shoots 2 from any position and then runs 25 yards and shoots two more. Run 25 yards and shoot 2 more. Run 25 and shoot 2 more. Run 25 and shoot two more but these have to be done from standing. Par time is 2 minutes. That's 300, 275, 250, 225 and 200 with 10 shots in 2 minutes. Deductions are made for misses and anything outside the A zone.
Clearly, this isn't long range shooting. But is it practical? Does it teach fundamentals? Both of those drills are next to impossible without a sling At what range does a sling become impractical? At what range does it not allow for enough stability to hit a target? My guess is that range is somewhere between 300 to 500 yards. Whatever that distance is, shooting out to that range would benefit from learning this technique but it isn't taught in the long range community. What is it that I'm missing?
