JUST DO IT!!!!!

Show up with whatcha got, pay your match fee and shoot. You need one rifle and 2 magazines. Period.

That’s all there is to it.

Yeah, yer gonna be layin’ in the mud, and yeah, you ain’t gonna do as well as somebody that’s been doin’ it for years. That’s a given. But what did you expect? Are you really dumb enough to think you were going to ‘leg out’ at your first match? C’mon. Get real.

I recommend starting out at a 200 yard reduced course for a number of reasons. Mainly because you really don’t need a spotting scope if the target puller will use the 2 ½” spotting disk. You can see that with the naked eye from 200 yards. Still need a little help? A cheap pair of binoculars works great.

But…but… but…

But, nothin’. All that fancy gear don’t mean squat.

Few of us had much when we started. Most of us improvised.

Notice that it’s the older shooters that have a lot of the nicer gear. That’s because they’ve been collecting it for years. Among the younger guys that have nice gear there are 3 types.

First, there’s the rich. They generally have more money than brains or talent.

Then there’s the kind that made a lot of it themselves or borrowed it from their dads or are single.

Thirdly, there’s the kind that replace a mat every time it gets dirty or get a new scope every six months. These guys are pretty easy to spot. Go to his shack while his 6 kids are leaving for school. They’re the ones that are walking through the snow barefoot in worn out clothes with a burlap bag as an overcoat. But, By Golly, Dear old dad sure has some pretty neat gear!

First-class gear IS expensive. It takes time and sacrifice to save and accumulate gear. At least if you’re working class.


Still, if you’re there to improve yourself, all you need is a rifle that shoots better than you do, some ammo and a couple magazines.

One of our guys, Blind_Rat, is a High Master and he’s now shooting matches with a cheap kit rifle and a cheapie jacket. He can beat the pants off of a lot of us with that kit rifle. Of course, he CAN shoot somewhat better with his match rifle, but the point is that he gets pretty damned good scores with a kit (as-issued) rifle.

(He’ll tell you guys he shoots off a leopard skin mat, but the truth is that it’s really a mat he made from a leopard print piece of polyester he bought at Wally World. Don’t be fooled.)

And don’t let the lack of gear keep you from shooting!

Unless, of course, you are there for show. In which case, please don’t waste our time. Shooting ain’t a yacht club. Unlike many some of the boats you see at a yacht club, we USE out rifles.


As for expensive gear and highly modified rifles, get out and shoot the course a few times before buying ANYTHING. With the price of gear, you only want to buy it once. Take it from me. I accumulated my gear one piece at a time, and have thought out every single piece for quite a while before I shelled out my hard-earned cash. Still, as I WAS slowly accumulating my gear, I shot every chance I got.

Shooting is what we go to matches for.

I remember my first match. I showed up with an M-1 and some surplus ammo. I wandered in and found a guy that looked like me might be someone and simply said: “I want to shoot.”

He said, “I want your money. By the way, is this your first match?”

I told him it was and he shouted at a 12 year-old kid, “New guy! I’m puttin’ him next to you! Keep an eye on him!”

Smart move on his part. The kid got the responsibility of teaching a new shooter, and I learned the rules from him. Sharp kid. When I act as RO, I do the same thing. Last time, I put a new shooter next to a 13 year-old girl and gave her the same orders.

My second match I showed up with my M-1 and an oven mitt. I did better. Not because of the oven mitt, but because at least I had a clue as to how the match was run and I relaxed a bit.

Besides, I was now an EXPERIENCED shooter.

If you want to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.

Thanks for the post. I can't help but think that some of this is directed at me, with due cause I might add. Thanks to you piccolo, I am going to attend the first match of the season at our local range on March 6th. I will post the results, and how much fun I had.

www.ar15.com/forums/announcement.html?b=1&f=10&id=205

The link list is constantly being added to and modified. If you have any more Getting Started links or any other that may be useful please IM or email me. Thank you.

Doug

Naked80, No doubt. I saw the same thing from time to time. But just because I saw someone else do that, doesn't mean I'm about to even consider it. I've also seen people shoot some fantastic scores w/ some unbelievably fancy equipment. I'm not rushing out to buy everything, or even anything, thats on their equipment list. I myself am going w/ equipment that should be 'no-excuses' for pretty much until something wears out, but w/o breaking the piggy bank. YMMV. Monte

I shot my first match, a CMP to qualify to buy a Garand, lying on a beach towel, shooting American Eagle 55gr out of a stock AR with a 1/9 barrel. When I decided to try highpower, I went to a clinic the ISRA Gold Team puts on every April. After that, I put a 2-stage trigger in the stock gun ($125) and shot the rest of the season with that rifle. I used a tarp for a mat, borrowed other shooters' spotting scopes, and got a nice, but used, coat for Father's Day. An oven mitt would've been an improvement over the glove I used. Made expert. For the next season, I had a float tube and 1/4 x 1/4 sights put on the rifle. I got a decent mat and stool. I bought a scope stand, and put my crappy Tasco spotting scope on it. Made master. For this upcoming season, I've gone all-out. Stainless barrel on the rifle, new glove, and a Kowa scope. Even got one of them fancy Ray-Vin wheel kits for the stool. (It's all about the bling-bling!) Point being, you don't have to buy everything all at once. Now I think I've got pretty decent stuff, but it took me three years to accumulate it all, and the experience I got during that time is priceless. It's better to get out there and shoot with what you've got, and accumulate gear as you learn what you like and what you need.

CMP, not DCM... sorry, picking nits...

I remember my first match. I had nothing and was slightly embarrassed when I saw everybody else's gear. The embarrassment quickly went away when the match started and was replaced with nervousness! I think I was only able to relax until after my third match. I agree with everyone here! Why wait! Jump in and get your feet wet. The only things I would recommend is to make sure you have a sling, single fire follower, and a safety flag. I was lucky to team up with someone with a mat and a spotting scope!

[quote]Originally Posted By LS1Eddie: I fired my first match last weekend. Here's what I learned: - It's hard work - It's fun - No matter how well you do in other disciplines HP is "different" - It's hard work - Sight settings change with psoitions - It's fun - You can't get the sling too tight - It's hard work - The wind will gust just as you break the shot ...and finally - It's hard work and fun. I'm hooked. Eddie[/quote] Bet you feel like a dumbass for not starting earlier. I'd LOVE for you to post what gear you did/didn't show up with. Not that it matters....... Just curious.

Showed up with: - ArmaLite lower with match trigger - RRA CMP Upper (zeroed for standing) - Plenty of mags and my handloads - A borrowed sling - My issued field jacket - A used mat - Old dove hunting stool Didn't have: - Scope and tripod - Sight settings for sitting and prone - Ability to see .224 holes at 200 - Enough flexibility to "fall" into sitting position Mistakes: - Lack of sight settings - Clearing FTF rather than calling an alibi during rapid fire (40 (potential) points, but training is hard to overcome)) - Cross firing (another 30 points (my also first-time buddy appreciated the help)) I WILL be more prepared for the next match (if the rain ever stops). Eddie P.S. Yes, I wish I had taken this up decades ago.

Yes you can compete with less than ideal equipment. I shot my first match with a borrowed mini-14. I had to aim 2 feet above the center of the target to hit center at 100 yards. I was using 55 grain fmj run of the mill ammo too. Out of a possible 400, I shot a 288 my first go. IIRC was a 40 round match. Second time, same range, same type of match except I had my new AR-15A2 and 69 grain Sierra Handloads, came away with a 343 out of 400 that time. Can't recall how many X's. Third and last time, a 319 out of 400. Had an ammo malfunction in rapid fire and only got off 8 rounds. No more ammo. Spotting scope was a Trashco on a tripod. It can be done, and done rather well. EDIT: no glove, no sling and no mat did I have or use. Got my $165 Garand though. Danny

I'd like to squelch rumors that I'm a HighMaster. I am not. I can turn in HM scores in each position. Just never at the same time. But do aspire. Career and Family come first right now, so shooting opportunities are far between now. I do however agree wholeheartedly that you don't need the high speed match gear to get out and compete. The needs as Picollo says are pretty basic. I shot my first match with a sporterized Enfield and Lyman sights that I needed a screwdriver to click adjustments with. I couldn't even get all my shots off in Rapid fire. But I loved it! The AR makes things so much more friendly for beginners. Many folk already have a rifle that is lightyears ahead of what I started with. And the upgrades can be done easily and cheaply as time and budget allow. I'll say that anyone with an iron sighted AR that is interested and not getting out there to at least give it a try is a big fat[size=5]CHICKEN[/size=5]!

when you say just show up with a rifle and 2 mags , is there a certain rifle you need to have? in other words what rifles are not allowed? i am new to this and i just bought a Bushy 20 inch Vmatch. would this rifle be acceptible or not? i would like to get in volved in this kind of thing but dont know if i have the right rifle or even where to go to in my area to shoot these competitions. i live in east Texas, Tyler area, so if any of you know where close to me or how i could find out pleases let me know. if any of you live near hear and would like to get together sometime and share some of yer knowledge with a newbie i would be very interested.

[quote]Originally Posted By bluecowdawg: when you say just show up with a rifle and 2 mags , is there a certain rifle you need to have? in other words what rifles are not allowed? i am new to this and i just bought a Bushy 20 inch Vmatch. would this rifle be acceptible or not? i would like to get in volved in this kind of thing but dont know if i have the right rifle or even where to go to in my area to shoot these competitions. i live in east Texas, Tyler area, so if any of you know where close to me or how i could find out pleases let me know. if any of you live near hear and would like to get together sometime and share some of yer knowledge with a newbie i would be very interested.[/quote] As long as your rifle has iron sights and is capable of holding 5 or 8 rounds in the magazine, that is essentially all you need. What you may want to do is to go to a match as an observer and see what all the kinds of rifles that are used in highpower. To find a range, first try your state rifle association. Look up at the top of this forum and see where the topics are thumb tacked, it will be there.