3-5k, some years even more. Either have barrels on hand or a few uppers... I couldn't shoot this much on one rifle. And only 1200-2000 or so in actual comps. And alot of dry firing.
When you dry fire don't just snap in and clickkitty-klack the trigger over and over. Sit on your couch and watch a move and do that. Get your subconscious mind learning the feel of the trigger. Spend your real dry fire time refining your position and natural point of aim down.... And quickly. You only have so much time to fire don't waste it refining a half assed position, spend it focusing on the front sight and breaking clean shots and shooting a small group. Spend your basement dry fire time getting into position getting NPA, click it, change mag, click it, get up and start over, do it again and again. Go through the motions of getting your sling on and set, establishing NPA, standing up, loading on a closed bolt, dropping to position, getting NPA re established, click change, click, sling off start over. (Cmp style matches you stand load on a closed bolt drop down fire no sighters,NRA there is no standing to position, you stay in it, load when targets come up on an open bolt, and you get sighters. I shoot my sighters like I shoot the string. Target up, load mag with single round, close bolt shoulder and fire, drop mag put one more in it, dismount, look at sighter shot, repeat. I do NOT take the rifle from my shoulder during rapids after mag change, and check te scope for shots in sitting, only check the mirage on a tricky day in prone rapid) the idea is, you want to show up to your firing point ready to execute with minimal fuss and minimal time. You only need to worry about your hits and the conditions, not how to sling up, not how to get NPA, not adjust your scope and stool and mags and coat, work that stuff out at home, alot. You want all your focus on tat front sight being centered, on target, and small groups. Nothing else. Prepare for the match the night before. You will not get it all done the next morning. Prepare fr practice the same way. When you do go practice live fire, if your shooting bad.... Stop. Go do something else for 10-15 minutes. And when you start back dont go back to that position, go to another one and come back to it. For rapids, shoot until you clean it, not for time. If it takes you 5 minutes to clean 10 shots sitting, so be it. You have to know how to do it and what it takes and looks like before you can do it more often than you don't. You will get faster, and clean it in 30-40 seconds eventually. If your always rushing and under time, you will rarely clean it. Matches are matches, not practice, and practice is practice, not a match. Practice is for you. Your time your needs your abilities, no one else's. use it to get you where you want to be not where everyone else is. You will get there. When match day arrives just execute your best shots like you saw and executed in practice, and you will make every time limit without trouble and much better groups, and better scores. I can't emphasize small tight groups enough. Your zeros will be rock solid, your margin of error is smaller and your error margin bigger, and scores higher. You will be able to get away with small mistakes on your bad days, and have excellent results on your good days. Offhand is all about NPA. It drifts, watch it. Be aggressive but not jerky. Be thoughtless but mindful of your previous shots, watch the group, pay attention, but execute one shot at a time. Rapids is all NPA and repeat ability of action. It's having your mags ready where you can reach them, it's making a wind call and riding it, a tight group will keep you safe if your wrong... Even 1-1/2 minutes wrong. Don't rush but don't take your time, there is a set amount.... But a 90 with one saved round is a far better score than a 90 with all ten off. Don't worry about time just be mindful of it. 600 slow fire is NPA and wind. Trust your shot call and adjust the sights. Find te safe side of the x ring fr the push an pull winds wind is hardly ever steady... Just like offhand watch the group, watch your NPA. I your at a big no sighter match, wait... Someone will shoot right away with out putting wind corrections on... Especially at the nationals.. Look down the target lines an you'll see it, there's your free sighter...
see if it agrees with your cal and if it does, set it, fire and see what happens. If its good, remember what the mirage and the flags looked like and keep shooting when they are that way or close. Hold off when they aren't. If its bad, correct off that shot, and go. Don't over think it.
For all of this to work you need to be able to do a few things, 1. Call your shots. Call them within a spotter. 2. Hold good elevation. This is the key to success. Especially at 600. Points lost to wind happen, points lost to elevation you let happen. The wind can be a brutal factor. The mirage tells speed, flags direction. And of the 3-4 flags you see, 2-3 of them are lying. One is actually telling you what's putting the effect on your bullet. Figure out who that flag is ASAP. And 3. Be able to identify and establish NPA. Critical. You can't do the other two things if you can't do this. Practice this. Everyday. Everytime you grab a rifle, any rifle. It's the hardest to learn and easiest to neglect, and has the greatest effect.
One shot at a time....
