F T/R Competition I shot my 1st 1000 yard match at Camp lejeune last weekend and failed epically

[chefcam864]

I went to Lejeune to shoot in the Hathcock 308 challenge, and had a bit of a rough time. Don't get me wrong, I had fun and learned, but man did I ever stink the place up! I shot a 670-2X. I did fund the X ring 6 times in the team match, but Tom goodman deserves the credit for those since his coaching was the reason for that. I also have to give credit to the guys at Coastal Carolina Rifle Club for putting one hell of a match. Everything was quick, organized, and on time! Those guys are a class act!

I thought I would do better than that. I came in 2nd in master class, with a 436-19X, in my first match (300 yards at Catawba). I have a whole new appreciation for guys who shoot well at that distance!

I did get to watch some great shooters shoot some great scores though! Kent reeve shot an amazing 790-31! Robby burton also shot very, very well.

My stock SPS Varmint may be hurting me a bit, but not near as much as my inexperience doping the wind... I really want to try again, as I know I can shoot better than that. I barely missed being in last place, and that is not where I want to be ! This was only the 3rd time I've shot beyond 200 yards, and boy am I behind the curve!

I don't even know where to start. How did you guys learn to read the wind? My problem is that I don't have scces to anything further than 200 yards.

 

[proneshooter]

There is no other way to learn how to read the wind than going out there, observing wind indicators (flags, vegetation, smoke, mirage, dust) and matching what you see in wind indication to the effect you see on the target.

The above presumes you have excellent zeroes for the distances that you are shooting at AND that you can call the shots accurately.

This isn't a game for impatient people, in so many different ways.......

 

[XTR]

You didn't fail, you put shots down range and you learned things, and obviously one of the things you learned is that there is a very big difference in shooting mid range and long range.

The more you shoot at long range the less time you will spend shooting and the more time you will spend watching and reading wind and the better your scores will get.

 

[chefcam864]

XTR, that's a better way of looking at it. By day two, my scores were improving (still nowhere near competitive) and I felt like I had a better handle of what went wrong. I still made bad wind calls, but after swing my shot, I understood what I had done wrong. I'm commited to getting good at this, as I'm a competitor and don't like doing poorly when I know I have it in me to do well...

 

[gstaylorg]

You learned something and you had fun. As long as you can say those two things, it was not a fail and there's absolutely no need to choke down the flavor of loser-sauce until the next match. In my first competition at 1000 yd at Camp Pendleton here in SD, I was doing reasonably well until the 3rd match. Then the Pendleton freight train wind kicked in and I had 4 misses in a row. The way the range is set up, there can be a pretty vicious crosswind between 800-1000 yd, which is totally different from the rest of the range. I completely missed the call and after the first two misses, I ended up having to hold on the right/left sides of the target to even figure out on which side I was off. Of course, the first side I picked to hold was the wrong side LOL. Anyhow, I learned and that's never happened since. My second outing there resulted in 72 pts and 8 X's higher score, I'm sure part of which was simply not being the first time, getting sighted in at 1000 yd, and everything else that goes along with your first time at something. If you're committed to doing well, keep at it and your wind-reading abilities will improve.

If you're interested, here are a few reading sources that might help you get started:

The Wind Book for Rifle Shooters (Linda K. Miller and Keith A. Cunningham)

Prone and Long Range Rifle Shooting (Nancy Tompkins)

Applied Ballistics for Long-Range Shooting (Bryan Litz)

Each of these have varying amounts of information with regard to wind-reading strategies that can help improve your scores in competition. Of course, having some knowledge and a plan to deal with wind conditions is just a starting point. Then it becomes critical to actually test and see what works and how things behave at the range. In any event, good luck with it!

 

[LongRifle75]

The only way to learn to read wind and weather conditions is like said above.................... experience. You gotta get out there and do it to learn it. Also like was said above, dont think you failed if you know more when you got done than you did when you started.

 

[ryanpierce]

Everyones gotta start towards the bottom. You will pick up things at every match you go to. Try and find a mentor at your range who can help you out and give you some good pointers My first match I had no idea what to do and Charlie wind coached me. First string was around 186. I thought I was doing pretty good until the next string he had me coach myself. Cant remember what it was but it wasnt pretty. But I learned alot. Keep at it and as long as you learn something everytime you go out and have fun its a success.

 

[usafabrad]

I remember my first 1000y match. Ran my windage turret 13 minutes in the wrong direction, tried to get on paper with a mix of 168 FGMM, 168 AMAX, and 175 Asym out of a factory 20" AAC-SD. Yeah i had a bad day and blew close to 100$ of ammo. Learned alot, however, and made some good friends.

 

[chefcam864]

I met Bryan litz's father at Butner, but he had just sold the last of the books he'd brought with him. ( He's the one that actually taught me how to score targets.) I've been wanting to read both Bryan litz's & nancy Gallagher's books. I hear the winds out west are something else! Lejeune is on the water, so it makes things a little tricky as well. I really just have to keep at it in order to improve. I was up there with some world class shooters, but they couldn't coach, except for the team match. I learned a lot by looking through Tom's Big Eye setup watching mirage and everyone's shots. You can see every target on the line with those things!

 

[bluto77]

I recently joined a rifle club in my area, and they have the only 1000 yard range in Texas with a pit (commercial/non-military). I've been told that the best way to get into it is to come out to a match. I think I'm going to practice a little bit more though, and actually hit a steel target at 1000 yards before going! My farthest is 600, but I felt like I was "cheating" b/c I had a lot of help dialing in my elevation from guys that have been doing this much longer than me. I'm planning on getting out that far again this weekend with a different rifle and figuring it out myself.

Good call on Brian Litz's book. I've been meaning to get it, and this thread prompted me to do so. Just ordered it off his website.

 

[chefcam864]

It definitely helps to have someone coaching you. But don't be afraid to just go out there and do it. I was feeling a little discouraged when I posted this thread, but I'm glad I shot the match. It was great fun and I got to to talk/hangout with some top notch shooters. I was on the phone with a very talented shooter/smith named Nik Taylor for 1-1/2 hrs last night talking about the match.(the dude has/had 20 something national records) He set me straight on my performance, and we discussed my build. I'm fortunate to be able to shoot with those guys, and can't wait to learn from them! I guess my point is to not be intimidated. You probably wont be among the top shooters, but you;ll have lots of fun and you'll learn.

 

[WSFTR]

Check this article out as well.

This blog changed the way I approached the wind and helped me to define when I should start and stop shooting. Spend more time thinking about the wind than you do your gear and you will be surprised at how well you can do with what you have.

The Rifleman's Journal: Basics: A Few Wind Reading Tips

 

[chefcam864]

Check this article out as well.

This blog changed the way I approached the wind and helped me to define when I should start and stop shooting. Spend more time thinking about the wind than you do your gear and you will be surprised at how well you can do with what you have.

The Rifleman's Journal: Basics: A Few Wind Reading Tips

Thanks for the link! I've actually read that before, but I went ahead and read it again. I love German's blog! Very informative!

 

[unoboats]

Check out bangsteel.com. Dan Newberry can help you a lot .
Chip

 

[unoboats]

Check out bangsteel.com. Dan Newberry can help you a lot .
Chip