PRS Talk My first national match...Experiences...Lessons Learned...Observations

[kenzup]

Hey everybody,

I went to Rocky Mountain Mayhem this weekend for my first national match. I first want to say that Austin was awesome. I talked to him well before the match and he did well communicating and was really helpful. We camped in the parking area near the match on Saturday and he came and talked with us for a minute before heading home. Just all around good guy. Second, Nick from Vortex the primary sponsor of the match was in my squad. He was awesome to hang out and shoot with. I am a Vortex fan and he was great to talk to you and just a great brand ambassador for them.

Many of the Pro's said that Austin put on a hard match. I will say that from my local matches that it was really difficult. My goal was to be 50% on my shooting and wasn't even close. I made some rookie mistakes but had a great time and learned a ton. Three things that I learned from this weekend about my self and my shooting.

1) My wind calls where off a good bit this weekend. This was compounded by the fact that everything was wet due to the weather and couldn't see my splash. Living in New Mexico there is always splash and adjustments are easy to make off a first round miss. This really created a struggle for me. I used my kestrel and was looking at mirage and though I had a decent wind speed but after running the ballistics I was still having issues. This will be my primary focus on improving as I move forward. This would of been a huge difference in my score.

2) Gear management. I lost a ton of time moving gear on a stage. This was definitely true when using the tripod as a rear support. I even had a tripod collapse on me in the middle of a stage. On another stage my game changer dropped off the barricade and as I went to pick it up released my magazine.

3) Target acquisition. I typically use around 10x power and have a really good field of view but still had issues. I followed my land marks on my way into the scope and just had issues. I really don't know what else to do to get better at this but something I need to work on.

I for the most part thought everybody was friendly at the match. I am really excited for my next. I hope that I can improve some of my downfalls and do better. I am planning on going to Quiet Riot next month. There are only 27 people signed up and they are going to need 60 total by the middle of next month. I hope to see you all there.

 

[MountainHunter]

I was there as well. Probably the best run match I’ve been to. I loved the venue and the course of fire was a ton of fun.

It was definitely a wind match. Targets were small and the wind was shifty. Never stayed the same for long, often changing mid stage.

I really liked their blind wind stage. I talk wind with my squad as much as anyone but it was fun to have one stage where it’s you against the wind with no outside influence.

That was probably one of the tougher two day matches that you’ll go to but the lessons you’ll learn from it will be invaluable.

I was staying on site too in my truck camper. I was going to come over and hang out with you guys at the fire Saturday night but after shooting 16 stages in one day I was beat and crashed about 8:30.

 

[kenzup]

I was there as well. Probably the best run match I’ve been to. I loved the venue and the course of fire was a ton of fun.

It was definitely a wind match. Targets were small and the wind was shifty. Never stayed the same for long, often changing mid stage.

I really liked their blind wind stage. I talk wind with my squad as much as anyone but it was fun to have one stage where it’s you against the wind with no outside influence.

That was probably one of the tougher two day matches that you’ll go to but the lessons you’ll learn from it will be invaluable.

I was staying on site too in my truck camper. I was going to come over and hang out with you guys at the fire Saturday night but after shooting 16 stages in one day I was beat and crashed about 8:30.

You should of came over we ended up hanging out and sipping on some whiskey until midnight.

 

[MountainHunter]

You should of came over we ended up hanging out and sipping on some whiskey until midnight.

Yeah I should have. That woulda been fun. I had 1 banquet beer and crashed. I woulda shot like shit though day two if I tried to stay up any later than I did.

How’d your buddies shoot? Was it all of your first two day?

 

[kenzup]

Yeah, it was all of our first 2 day. One of my buddies shot about 50%. Which I thought was awesome for his first national. That was my goal at least. I only shot pretty bad. I had some rookie mistakes and could of done better.

I am looking forward to quiet riot next month. Hope to see you there.