Sorry for kinda derailing this thread with this post, but I know people are out there that this will apply to.
Just wanted to type this up real quick in case any one wants to come out to the competition, but are daunted by the equipment or worried they don't have the gear or rifle needed to compete.
You honestly don't need much for this match below is a list of the bare minimum you need. This is really a lot of person opinion based on one match, things may change, so take it for what it is.
.22lr Rifle
Quality Scope
Quality Scope Rings
Enough mags to hold 20rds total
Bipod
Quality Ammo (last match was probably under 150rds)
Dope and a Good Zero
.22lr Rifle: There's no reason you can't shoot this match with an out of the box factory gun, cheapest options are probably a Ruger 10/22 ($200ish) or a Savage MkII ($230ish). I'd personally suggest the 10/22, there's a lot more aftermarket for it, and you can upgrade as you progress. The first gun I ever bought myself when I turned 18y/o was my 10/22, now the only factory parts on in are the receiver, trigger housing, and a modified factory bolt. I would probably suggest just going with the 10/22 carbine options, the Ruger target models aren't anything to write home about, so save your money, buy an aftermarket barrel down the road. If you have more to spend then the CZ 455 is the choice.
Quality Scope: As far as scopes go, I have to admit I have spent lots and lots of hours trying to find the prefect under $300 .22lr rifle scope and I probably found it, had it, and sold it
That was the Primary Arms 4-14x44mm FFP R-Grid Reticle scope, which I don't think they make any more with that reticle, just the mil dot reticle now, still in my opinion the best option.
******** It appears the BSA Tactical and Falcon Menance 4-14x scopes are also discounted and I've always felt those and the PA scope were all the same just re-branded and this kinda confirms its. So PA is probably just selling of the stock of the 4-14x mil-dot ones they have.*********
The Vortex Diamondback Tactical looks like a good option but the fixed parallax kills it for me.
Since I can't make a suggestion that's not being discontinued here's what to look for in a .22lr scope:
Magnification Range: 3x or 4x on the low side, for offhand and faster paced quick shot stuff. Then I would say about 12x minimum on the high side. I did a lot of the distance stuff around 20x, probably could have gone lower. The high the mag you use the smaller your field of view gets so transitioning from target to target gets harder when you can't pick up the location of the next target.
Adjustable Parallax: I can just flat out say you don't want fixed parallax on a .22lr, you'll be shooting closer than most other rifles you own and then things further away. So look for a scope with side adjustable parallax. You want it to AT LEAST go down to 50yds, the lower the better.
Reticles:
I dislike BDC reticles they hardly ever line up and if that do, at what DA, which lot of ammo, and list goes on, but if that's your cup of tea, cool, drink it.
V-plex or simple, it'll work, can't knock those to much.
Mil dot or Hash marked, definitely a plus for measuring you impacts and making corrections.
Christmas tree or horus style reticles, are even more of a plus, you can do your hold overs and offsets for wind without touching your knobs, and remember this is a budget scope, the turrets or knobs are probably cheap and don't track well.
Focal Plan: FFP or SFP. Probably won't matter to much for this match to be honest, but I'd suggest FFP if you can find it. Plus it will depends on the reticle you chose that'll influence your choice in focal plan. Kinda silly to get a measurement reticle that only works at 16x and you're using 12x for most of the time.
MOA or MRAD: Your choice, just make sure your turrets/knobs match your reticle. Gone are the days of mil reticle and MOA knobs and doing math (1Mil=10.8/π MOA) in your head. I will say most people are probably going to use Mil, so if they're trying to help you their corrections will likely be in Mils. Kinda a know your audience thing.
Manufacturer Reputation/ Reviews: Kinda common sense, research, read or watch reviews (lots of them), get to know how the community feels about the company your buying your scope from, buy from someone reputable. You'll eventually upgrade and want to recoup your investment on the first scope by selling it. So why buy something you know no one else wants to buy. You'll have no luck selling it. If you don't sell it you want something that'll last and a company that stand behind it.
Quality Scope Rings: Not much to say here and again read reviews. Understand the height you need, cheek weld is important. My suggestion for cheap rings are the Vortex Tactical Rings or the Weaver Tactical Rings, they're both around $40 a set. I should probably mention here that you'll likely want a upgraded scope base. I know for a fact the factory ruger ones are trash. Plus with this match pushing .22lr to 300yds you'll want something with some MOA cant built in, so you have more elevation to work with on your scope. I'm using a DIP Inc 25MOA rail on my 10/22, not saying you need 25MOA but you'll need some, especially if you're using a 10/22, they have barrel droop that makes almost all of them shoot low, just the design of the gun.
Enough mags to hold 20rds total: Most of the stages were limited to 15rds. If I remember correctly a few had 20rds limits. So you want enough mags to hold that. Four 5rd mags, two 10rd mags, one 10rd & two 5rd mags, doesn't matter, just changes how many mag changes you'll have make during the stage, and remember there are par times so mag changes are on the clock. Ideal set up is probably two 10rd mags and one 5rd mags, I don't trust myself down loading mags, I didn't pay attention in kindergarten so I count bad and that always burnt me when I shot IDPA before.
Bipod: I follow the buy once, cry once mentality on most things. So that being said, just buy a Harris 6-9" Swivel Notched Leg bipod. You can get that around $100 on sale or on ebay from reputable sellers. I've never messed with the caldwell or blackhawk or other cheap stuff, the fact of the matter it's cheap and will likely break and you'll be out of the $40-60 you spend on it and spend $100 of the Harris you should have gotten and have a total invest of $140-60 instead of $100, so much for the $40-60 saving you got buying cheap.
Quality Ammo: I used CCI Standard Velocity last match and that worked fine. If price or availability is a problem I'd start with CCI SV for sure. But rimfire is kinda weird you'll just have to find what your gun likes and groups well. Just buy quality ammo. Couple company's to look at CCI, SK, Wolf, Aguila, RWS, Eley, Lapua. Just depends what you want to spend, what cycles and groups well with your rifle. Stay away from that bucket-of-ammo stuff you grab at walmart, like golden bullets, thunderbolt, federal auto"match", etc.
Dope and a Good Zero: Get a good zero, like a really really good zero. I think the consensus for a zero is 50yds. Just remember all your corrections are going to be made off of that. I like to mark my scope and count the click for the bottom up to my zero and write that down. You'll likely not have a zero stop on a cheaper scope so this helps to make sure you don't get lost in rotations, if you do crank it all the way down and count clicks back to zero. You'll also want to get some dope for the ammo your picked. Having dope for this match is a key. The first match I didn't have a good zero or dope and that wasn't fun. Zero was off, so all my corrections were off, and my dope was off some my corrections from my incorrect zero were even further off. Honestly the guys that rocked the shit out of the long distance stages were the ones spin kestrels around getting environmental data and plugging it into Applied Ballistics. Not saying you need to go out and buy a Kestrel 5700 Elite with link to be good here. But simply knowing what your gun and ammo does at distance is going to help. I highly suggest looking at
http://jbmballistics.com/ or something similar and plug some info in and making dope cards and what not, it'll get you in the ballpark. I was sorta in the ballpark with my bad zero and bad dope and manged do alright, so don't get discouraged.
Bonus item to have: Rear Bag- These are not only helpful only with the prone shots but on the barricades as well. You just throw it on the barricade and it provides a more stable platform for shooting without you foreend trying to roll and what not. You can make your own if you're on a budget, lots of threads on doing that. I use a Tab Gear (
https://www.triadtactical.com/TAB-Rear-Bag.html) rear bag and love it. The loops are helpful to slip over the barrel and keep it in place. Lots of guys are going to be using pillows, you don't need that to start with.
Anyways mostly just my opinion on things based on just the first match, take everything with a grain of salt, but it's not going to take a lot to get start in these matches. I really hope these matches start to get more popular and bring in more shooters and new shooters. I have no doubts that everyone at the match would help out a new shooter and offer them advice and gear. So, seriously, do not hesitate sign up for these matches.
