Lapua Practical Rimfire Challenge Finale...post op..

[Hookturnr]

I haven't seen anything around here yet so i figured i might as well get it going..

Nov. 3 @ Peacemaker Nat'l PRC Series Finale

Well, The weather was WINDY!!, about 45 degrees with winds variable from 5-20mph and the occasional 30 mph gust.

I'd like to give a shout out to Forest for running a clean match throughout the shooting portion of the day. The stages were well planned and the flow through the event was good. The overall course of fire seemed like the right mix of ranges to keep you on your toes. The targets from 185 or so out to 297 were extremely difficult with the high winds but they were doable.

Now, once the shooting was done for the day, I can't be as congratulatory.

My squad broke our last shot at about 4pm. A couple other squads finished up over the next 30-45 mins.
This was a prize table match for the series with scores being a combined point total of your two best previous matches and your finale score.
While we all expected to wait a bit for scoring, no one expected to wait until today. There was no communication from match HQ to the field indicating any kind of problems and we waited until after 7pm on the course to then be informed that there was a problem with the scoring, and nothing would be announced until the next day.

As for the prize table for the series, I can't be as congratulatory there either. Anyone that shot these matches last year knows the prize table for each match was excellent. There were prizes of good value down into around 18-20 places. There were high end prizes for the winners as well.

This year they ran the this as a points series for 4 matches and just a Finale with a prize table so you had to shoot a minimum of 2 matches during the series to qualify for the Finale match with the prize table. The billing was along the lines of "if you liked last years prize tables, wait until you see this one!". I think I can speak for everyone when I say I was highly disappointed. There were excellent prizes for the top 3 shooters in both classes (1 Vudoo barrelled action and 2 Magnum Research MLR22's) and top Junior got a case of SK Std+. After that, I'd guess it will be about 2 boxes of SK per shooter. So, competitors effectively tripled the match fees paid in over last year for a third of the prizes up for grabs.

Due to the scoring issues, no one walked that table yesterday and everyone was told prizes will be mailed out.

I don't know what happened between last match and now but I don't think we shooters were delivered the series end we were led to expect.

This is just my honest assessment, good bad and otherwise. I was never in contention for one of those 1,2,3 prizes, I just enjoy playing the game.
I would probably make the trip to shoot a couple of these matches with no prizes involved for a reasonable match fee.

OK, Rant over...

 

[Jaymiller5]

Well summarized, it was definitely the worst administered and logistically lacking detailed matches I have been to this year and for a finale.. well this was a failure by PNTC especially given the cost of a series match. I am not sure for the reasons but the outcome, including the impact to the sponsors that paid good money, are not setting well with me. And I too am not or was not in the running for those coveted top 3 spots from the start of the season but from the last match which I highly enjoyed to this one was a complete 180. And I still have not seen the season totals 24 hrs post match being posted.

But, first world problems as they say and I will "vote" with my wallet next year.

 

[Afkirby]

I wonder if I’ll get a 50 round box of SK mailed to my house for participating?

 

[Hookturnr]

When Tom Pohuski was the match director there, these matches ran extremely well and were always "as advertised". Now that Tom is no longer there, I hope PRC can survive but this way no way to start that. I'd think you would want to support a match series that is putting 60-90 shooters in your facility every event....

As I stated above, the new MD Forest ran a pretty clean match through the shooting portion of the day. Everything that happened after the last shot was fired should be considered an embarrassment by the entirety of PNTC. Hopefully there is some corrective action taken and they get the train back on track.

 

[steve123]

I went to a match that was somewhat similar, the scoring got messed up and instead of getting 2nd I was put in 5th. I didn't pay attention to my scores but by judging how the match went I thought I was close to winning??? The MD called me up and told me what happened days after I got home. 2nd place got a nice rifle about 3 times the value of the prize I left with. The MD said he tried to get the rifle back but the other guy had sold it already. He offered to give me a free entry for the next year, but did not offer the difference in money or extra reimbursement, I didn't want to go after that fiasco.

Well sorry to hear about this

 

[JG26_Irish]

Sorry to hear about that foul-up at PNTC. They have a premier facility and last year the match I attended was great fun and the prize table was above my expectations. I used to help run IPSC matches at my local range and we were the host of a State Championship match that drew national class shooters from all over the country and even the Army Marksmanship Training team of instructors. Our prize table was ALWAYS generous and even mid-pack non-racegun shooters like me went home with great prizes. One year I won a chronograph.

Irish

 

[Hookturnr]

Series standings finally posted about an hour ago to the PRC facebook page.

 

[uncoffeed]

Who got fourth? LOL

 

[Trigger Monkey]

Cool beans, it looks like 2nd in division and 8th overall in the finale, rounding out the season at 11th in semi-auto division.

Let's face it, scoring was a fiasco but the shooting was pretty good. I try to find the positive experiences in every match and I thought it was interesting that for all the bags I brought and the tripod I had strapped to my pack I used my Game Changer 95% of the time. My Kestrel was also exceptionally accurate throughout the day and I don't think I had any gross elevation errors shooting the ELEY Force, most of my misses were from the wind, shocking I know. My favorite stage was probably across the course, it felt good to sling up and it's something I'll continue to work on. I blew my first shot because I got ahead of myself and sent my first shot sailing over the plate at 12 o'clock. Overall, I felt like my rifle, optic, and ammunition were jiving pretty good, something that was a bit of a struggle at matches earlier in the year.

 

[Jaymiller5]

Let's face it, scoring was a fiasco but the shooting was pretty good.

In fairness though, creating a COF is the easy part, how the logistics and administration of a match is handled is the part that makes or breaks a match. This was the worst ran match of the entire year for me with no other single match even coming close to how big of a failure it is. For a match, I pay money to not have to deal with running the match, ensuring scores are tracked, logistics such as food, timeline of events on where to meet etc are all taken care of even if it does cost more for those addon items such as lunches or drinks. For this one, there was not any communication on when or where to meet, lunch was not communicated and it was cold when we were told about it while in the middle of shooting, where to meet up post match was a cluster and varied depending on whom you asked and then the 2+ hr wait for the scoring just to be let go and wait days for the details is all unacceptable in my book.

The positive for me, I got to hang out with buddies and make new friends which was awesome. I personally will not be giving money to PNTC for a series next season based on how my first yr doing these matches has been ran with the finale nothing short of a giant CF.

 

[Patty]

The last 3 matches I've been to at peacemaker have been progressively worse in the way that they are run. Lunch has not been on time in the last 3 matches, historically for big matches like finales, lunch is included in the match fee. For this finale we paid for our own lunch, which was cold and the portion smaller than usual. 2 wings and a small side of green beans. It sounds trivial, and it is, but its the accumulation of issues at peacemaker that make it difficult to overlook small things.

The prize tables recently are the worst I've seen. The PRS club series finale a few weeks ago had a few kestrels, a defiance discount cert, a thunderbeast discount cert, and a handful of Hornady ultrasonic cleaners and solution. The waiting around for the prize table has been a problem peacemaker has had since I started this sport a year ago and I have not been to a prize table match at peacemaker where there was any less than 3 hours after the shooting stopped until the time winners were announced. Every time the prize table is not even set up until hours after the event is over as if the event ending was a surprise to everyone. Preparedness goes a long way.

At this rimfire finale, I saw something especially stupid, and that was the placement of a t post, directly in front of the muzzle of the shooter on the PRS skills stage with caution tape wrapped around it, so as to warn shooters not to allow their muzzle to cross it and potentially be aiming at someone coming down the hill from the other stages. I understand the need for safety precaution, but this created a hazard, more than it did protect anyone. There is berm here that helps the situation, and the t post idea is fine, so as long as its not stuck directly in front of the shooter while he is aiming in a safe direction on the barricade. We had to shout at one shooter in our squad before he sent one right into the t post because if you positioned your gun right against the upright on the barricade it had you aiming right at the T post. Everyone was pretty well amazed at how dumb a choice that was.

Peacemaker could be great, but it lacks the leadership necessary. I know next season i will be signing up for less matches here unless i see some change. Its unfortunate because this is my home range and most other matches are a 3-4 hour drive for me, but they are worth the drive.

 

[MDrimfirerookie]

very interesting perspectives so far. i was there too and noticed some of these things but being very new to competitive shooting, i don't have the same frame of reference.

the first thing that struck me as off was the fact that the 8am safety brief didn't start until almost 845 and then it was kind of a if you've shot these before you know the drill kinda thing. i figured for a finale there would be a little more information and guidance, especially regarding the end of the day.

there was no mention of lunch at all and my squad was fortunate enough to be at stage one around lunch time. our RO drove up to check and see if lunch was available and then came back to let us know it was. that must have sucked for those up on the hill around lunch time.

the t-posts really surprised me as well with how close they were to the barricades and just how much they limited you on that top right position on the PRS skills stage. i agree that that might not have been as well implemented as it was thought out.

i don't have a comment about the prize table or scoring fiasco because i was no where near good enough to warrant sticking around after i was done shooting. i'm glad i did take off though.

all of it aside, i will likely continue to shoot these matches because i view them as another opportunity to be around shooters who are way better than me and it can only help me develop further. thankfully, i don't shoot any other discipline competitively so its not like these entry fees are huge hit on my wallet.

 

[Hookturnr]

Had 2 boxes of sk std+ show up in the mail about a week ago...apparently the prize table has been distributed....

 

[Patty]

Had 2 boxes of sk std+ show up in the mail about a week ago...apparently the prize table has been distributed....

Same. Nothing like 8$ in ammo to award a 10th overall finish for an entire series.

 

[dghboy315]

I'm still waiting for mine...