Hello to all! According to the published schedule, C2 normally has Open Range Day on Wednesdays. I guess the Holliday made switching to Sunday a good idea and I decided to show up. I'm very glad I did!
Open Range Day gets you multiple trips through an outdoor carbine/pistol tactical course, with some side trips to do basic pistol drills on paper at the next range over. Sunday's course was as follows: (to the best of my recollection):
1. From a sitting position (metal folding chair) draw pistol and engage 6, 6 in. round targets at maybe 5 yards.
2. Unass the chair, turn left and engage 1 man sized steel target, maybe 15 yards through a barricade with multiple options- slits, canted angles, urban prone or strong side/support side. This was a carbine optional target. Unsling and shoot, or prestage it at the barricade.
3. Turn left again, and engage 3 small steel targets at range- maybe 15-25 yards (???) this was also carbine optinal. Barricade was much more basic- a hi-low window type thing.
4. Turn right, and engage 3 paper targets on the move- 5 or so yards depending on how you approach them. Carbine optional, suggested support side engagement.
5. Move up to a blue plastic barrel, pistol mandatory engagement on a small metal plate at maybe 10 yards.
Good fun! Highly recommended. Cost was $35.00 for 4 or 5 runs, 30 min. in the pistol bay with some dedicated 1 on 1 training time (THANK YOU TO THE STAFF!) and about 4 hrs. time overall. Round count was maybe 90 carbine, and 120 pistol, but I'm not really sure. I brought 500 ea., and came back with a LOT.
I saw AK's, 300 blk (sub w/ can) another high-zoot 5.56 (???) w/ premium optics, and two S&W M&P carbines, one of which was mine. Glock and Sig pistols; I had my junkyard dog USP. I asked politely and was given the OK to scavenge range brass. I'm pretty sure I brought back more than I took, which was very nice (AGAIN- THANK YOU TO THE STAFF!)
I believe this will one of be my primary "go to" events. Safety was stressed, and we briefed the "oh shit" plan. OTOH, it's NOT a strict IPDA type event. MIss a target, shoot 'em out of order? Wanna hammer a full mag through the paper bad guys? Get some, killer! The range staff was very accommodating to "move and shoot" type activity.
So what did I learn? Well, my kit definitely slows me down a bit, but I'm limited on retention holster choices for a HK UPS with UTL. In a drop leg setup on top of that LOL. The guys with Kydex and Glocks on warbelts beat me every single time. Not too worried about that, but on the run my Blackhawk pistol mag pouches are a bit too close together- I fumbled the reload twice and popped out a full mag into the dirt. Both times I got a full mag in the gun, but when the time came to reload- that pouch was empty .
and the full mag was back behind me.
That's gonna need some SERIOUS work, or re-kit. I've never noticed that before, and I've had this setup for years. But not in this type of dynamic environment...
Traffic through the Pungo Strawberry Festival sucked! Lots of detours that had my GPS earning it's keep.
TL/DR: Open Range Day at C2 is fun! $35.00 and shoot at a interesting pistol/carbine action course. Multiple trips allowed.