4/28/2018 Waco Tactical Fitness Biathlon AAR

This was my second time running the WTF Biathlon and my fourth run and gun style match. Previously, I've run these events with my brother, but this time I convinced my wife to run it with me. This was her first run and gun style match. The heat system used this time was a huge improvement over previous years, and we likely would not have been able to attend without it due to having family watch our kids.

I knew from the last time to take it easy the first mile which is uphill. Starting too fast at the beginning is quickly fatiguing which affects you the rest of the day. We made it to the first stage after a nice easy run. We had to hop a barbed wire fence to get to the stage which was actually the first time my wife really had to do anything physical with a slung rifle. It was not a difficult task, but it was a new one that had to be figured out.

The first stage started with climbing up and over a 10' or so chain link pyramid. It was actually harder than it looked since the unsupported chain link sagged and went vertical as soon as you stepped up on it. My wife actually went up it really easily despite her short stature. On the other side of the chain link where three pistol stations. The first two pistol stations were low ports firing at two steel mozambique targets from each. The first was at kneeling level, and the second was at prone level. I went kneeling on the first and sitting on the second. I used a compressed arm position with the gun closer to my face than usual to get a sight picture so that I did not have to get as low. My wife opted to get lower and use the bottom of the ports as rests for her forearms which worked pretty well for her. The final position was just a box to stand in with the addition of a small further target. We both were able to clean the stage.

The second stage was also a pistol stage with three shooting positions. After flipping a tractor tire, you fired two handed from the first position, right handed only from the second position, and left handed only from the third position. Your off hand was occupied with a kettlebell during the one handed shooting. Some of the targets were pretty small, but we both cleaned it.

The trek to stage 3 was a long one with a descent down into the creek, wading through the creek, and climbing back up. We did not run the stretch of the course in the creek, as I felt the chance for injury was too great. Stage 3 was the first rifle stage. Before the stage started, you had to don a ~25 pound satchel for most of the stage. The weight did not really affect me, but it had a significant impact on my wife during both movement and shooting. The first shooting position behind a stack of tractor tires was two rounds each on three steel targets between 75 and 150 yards. The second shooting position was from inside a van shooting out a side window around 100 yards. The hardest part was actually locating the three metal targets hidden amongst junked cars. My wife actually timed out after the second position because it took her so long to find the targets. The third position was standing in the bed of a truck where you could doff the satchel and shoot off the roof of the truck at four small 100 yard targets and larger targets at 200 and 300 yards. I cleaned the stage but expended more rounds than I cared to at the final position as the flexible truck roof was not super stable.

Stage 4 was the long range rifle stage shooting from a tower. I packed my laser rangefinder and lazed the furthest three targets at 350, 400, and 500 yards. I timed out on this stage last year after firing 60 rounds in a 30 mph crosswind with no splash to call misses and had already accepted that I was going to time out again this year. However, the wind was calm, and I cleaned the stage in right at a minute. My wife also cleaned the stage.

Stage 5 consisted of climbing a tree and getting hits on two long range targets. I estimated their range at 250 yards and 350 yards as I did not have time to laze them beforehand. Getting hits was a fun mix of variables of the tree moving, estimating wind, and estimating range as again there was no call on misses. My wife and I both cleaned it though. The most difficult part for her was getting up the tree into position with a slung rifle.

Stage 6 was a son of a bitch. It started out fine sitting in the driver seat of a car, drawing the pistol, and engaging two mozambique targets through the windshield. After dumping the pistol and retrieving the rifle from the trunk, there were two small steel targets on each side of the car and a larger silhouette that had to be engaged from two positions underneath the car. The fault lines at the rear of the car were extremely narrow, and I could not see the targets around the right side with my rifle shouldered (I shoot long guns left handed). When I remarked this to the RO, his response was, "yep." I had to transition to my right shoulder and eye to see and engage the targets which was extremely difficult for me as I have poor vision in that eye. The left side of the car was a easier back on my left shoulder, but the RO had to let me know that my first couple shots were through the still open driver door. Rollover prone was the only way to get low enough to see the silhouette from underneath the car, but the narrow fault lines did not allow a normal rollover prone position. The feet had to actually be in front of you to fit inside the fault lines. Again, I had to shoot using my right side from one position and left side from the other. I did finally clean the stage, but I only had 7 seconds remaining before I would have timed out. My wife timed out halfway through the stage as she had a lot of trouble shooting support side around the left side of the car.

Stage 7 hurt a lot of people. The first three shooting positions were from a narrow plywood trench through three small ports. The first port was at nearly ground level requiring rollover prone and was the most difficult. I saw one shooter attempt to get down there then just give up and DNF the stage without firing a shot when he could not get a good position. The targets were small ~4" plates around 100 yards. I kept missing from the second position even though I had good shot pictures and had called them good hits until I realized that my gas block had actually be rested on the port instead of the handguard like I had thought. Once I placed more of my handguard through the port, I was back getting hits. The last position was a rooftop with two more targets. Having experimented with rooftop shooting in the past, I have found the most stable position is to flatten both knees and feet out to the sides like a frog for traction to keep you from sliding and resting the bottom of the handguard on the top with the front of the magazine against the face of the rooftop. This gives the rifle two points of contact on the rooftop, and the support hand stabilizes the handguard against the top of the rooftop for an overall fairly stable position. I was able to clean the stage, but I was not able to describe the position well enough for my wife to use as she has never shot from a rooftop that did not have footholds. Like most shooters, she initially had trouble sliding down the rooftop and tried hooking the magazine over the top of the roof resting it on the trigger guard between the magazine and pistol grip. When that did not work, she placed the magazine against the rooftop face, but it was too high for the handguard to rest on the top edge for a second point of contact. She did eventually get hits from this position, but they were after the par time. The RO had graciously allowed her to finish the stage after the par time expired, but it was obviously still a DNF for score. My wife was very thankful for the RO's assistance on that stage as it involved a lot of tricky positions.

After the seventh stage, we ran the last  or so miles to the finish line. It was an easy mostly flat run for the home stretch, but my wife's foot started spasming and cramping forcing us to walk much of it. It took us right at 4 hours total to complete the course, shooting stages, and obstacles.

The obstacles were unchanged from last year and included a tunnel crawl, monkey bars, and wall. The tunnel was an inclined ~24" wide corrugated pipe that was probably 15-20' long. I used the same method I figured out last year which was lying on my back pushing forward with my feet and pushing my pack and rifle ahead of me. It worked, but it was slow and my rifle barrel was nose diving into every ridge in the corrugated pipe along in the way. My wife had an easier time by placing her gear on her stomach and lap. I attempted the wall last year unsuccessfully, and after a shoulder injury a couple months ago I decided not to attempt it this year. My wife also did not attempt it. However, the monkey bars were easier than I expected as I was able to skip rungs and maintain good momentum. Last year I had climbed over the top of them, but that was not allowed this year due to safety concerns. Swinging normally proved to be faster and safer though. My wife has much shorter arms than I do though, and only made it halfway across.

I used a SCAR 16 SBR with factory 10" barrel, ACOG TA01, Way of the Gun sling, Tango Down stubby VFG, and Surefire SOCOM flash hider shooting Federal American Eagle 62gr ball. The rifle setup proved excellent. The only malfunction was a failure to eject when my support arm blocked the ejection port when shooting from a weird position, but the forward charging handle allowed me to fix it quickly even from the odd position. The SCAR SBR was very easy to run and move over obstacles with due to the lightweight and compact package, and the charging handle was not obtrusive as I had feared. I had already predisposed myself to missing the long range targets with my short barrel and ball ammo, but I actually cleaned all of them to my surprise. At no time did I feel the short barrel a hindrance at long range even with the light crosswind that most stages had. I may have felt differently with a stronger crosswind.



I had used a Trijicon TR24 1-4x at my first run and gun match with good results, but I did not feel the extra weight of the variable scope was necessary in subsequent match with no close range targets. I have since used 4x ACOGs as they are lightweight, compact, have enough magnification, and most importantly a wide field of view for locating targets. I used a TA31F in the last two matches, but went with the TA01 this time since I did not find the illumination necessary and the thick chevron obscured a lot of the target between 100-200 yards which is where most of the rifle targets are placed. The TA01 worked perfectly as imagined as the stadia lines lined up pretty well with my SCAR 16 despite the short barrel due to the taller height over bore and using the Meter lines as Yard lines instead. A lot of people give the 4x ACOGs a hard time due to the short eye relief, but it's only necessary to get close to the optic if you need the entire field of view. On the last stage, I was forced to shoot with my head all the way at the back of the stock. The ACOG was still usable with my head so far back way outside of its appropriate eye relief, albeit the FOV was much narrower at that point with most of the eye box obscured by scope shadow. I will definitely be using the same optic next time and may keep it on the SCAR permanently. My wife found the reticle a little busy and would have prefered illumination, but she was able to hit every target that she attempted.

The WOTG sling really surprised me. I had gotten it for free and use it on some of my KISS rifles that don't have sling attachment points. Holding a rifle by it all day kind of sucks as the strap is narrow leading to shoulder pain after awhile, and the quick adjuster allows it to lengthen over time since the nylon is so slick. However, for a rifle that will mostly be held in the hands it worked beautifully. It's lightweight, doesn't easily catch on gear, and the slick nylon is easy on the skin during movement. I've used Magpul and Blue Force Gear VCAS slings at my previous run and gun matches, and, while they work well, the heavier nylon hangs up on gear and it is much more abrasive around the neck. While the thicker webbing on those slings may be better for supporting the weight of the rifle, the rifle is in your hands for most of this match with only brief bouts of being slung when traversing obstacles, transitioning to the handgun, or digging through your pack. The WOTG sling is definitely the way to go for run and gun matches going forward, and I'll pick up another one for my wife who was using a Magpul with QD attachments.

While my wife did not complain about the sling itself, she did have a lot of questions on exactly how to use it when needing to sling the rifle for other tasks. Normally, I just leave the sling draped around my neck for mobility when shooting, and it allows me to easily and quickly sling it either behind me or in front of me depending on which arm I put through it. Trying to explain all of this to my wife quickly before the first stage did not go well, and she needed a lot more help with it throughout the day. While I'm pretty sure she had it down by then end, I should have practiced it with her beforehand.

Normally, I only use stubby VFGs on rifles with short handguards. I have long arms and use a C-clamp grip with my support hand, and using short VFG as a handstop allows my to cheat the palm of my hand forward another inch or so. The VFG proved to be both an asset and a liability at this match. On the last stage, I placed my rifle barrel through a port and thought I was resting the front of my handguard on it. There's only about an inch of handguard left in front of the VFG, and it was actually resting on the gas block instead which unknowingly threw my shots high over the target. Once I realized what was going on, I had to place the entire VFG through the port and rest the very back of the handguard on it to get my hits. While the VFG offers a bit more control with the short handguard for standing, it doesn't leave much handguard left for barricade use. However, later on that same stage, I was unable to get a sight picture with the stock against my shoulder due to the confined position. With my head all the way at the back of the stock (still possible with the 4x ACOG as mentioned above), I was able to push forward on the VFG with my support hand while pulling rearward on the pistol grip with my strong hand to stabilize the sights enough for hits. This push/pull technique allowed me to make hits without my shoulder even touching the rifle, and I'm not sure that would've been possible without a VFG.

The Surefire SOCOM flash hider didn't look any worse for wear after smacking every rung in the corrugated pipe, and the open ended design did not retain any debris after the subsequent dive into the dirt when the pipe ended.

My wife used a BCM SBR with 14.5" EWL barrel, 13" KMR handguard, ACOG TA01, and Surefire muzzle brake. The rifle was under 6 pounds, and she never complained about carrying it. She used a HK VP9 with 10-8 fiber front and black rear sights. The pistol ran 100%, and she cleaned all of the pistol targets.





I used a S&W M&P 9 2.0 with factory front night sight and 10-8 black rear sight. The aggressive grip texture on the 2.0 was invaluable as my hands get extremely sweaty in hot weather, and they never slipped even in compromised positions.



I've used the ATS war belt in every run and gun match, and it proved comfortable again. I use four strips of velcro one-wrap as keepers to hold the war belt to my pants belt and prevent it from coming up and out of placing during movement. The Esstac pistol and rifle mag pouches, ITW FASTmag rifle mag pouch, and North American Rescue CAT tourniquet holders held everything in place without issue. The Safariland ALS holsters were fast and secure. The bottoms of both holsters were extremely dirty by the end of the match demonstrating why I don't like having my pistol muzzle extend out the bottom of the holster.









I used an Osprey day pack with Camelbak military 2L bladder. The bite valve cover and tube insulator do a great job of protecting the exposed drinking tube. Normally, I just let it hang by my side, but it was a little long and proved to be in the way often. I'm going to figure out a way to better secure it going forward. My wife used an Osprey 1.5L hydration pack designed for running. While great for easy trail running, it was a disaster for this match. I had hoped it would be light and compact for her as all she carried was ammo, water, and snacks and I had all the extra stuff like rangefinder, cleaning rod, and medical stuff. However, that lightweight pack was not designed to carry 12 pound of ammo plus 3 pounds of water. The lightweight shoulder straps were really hurting her shoulders by the end. The exposed bite valve, which is normally held in place by a magnet, does not stay in place under this kind of use and ends up in the way and in the dirt. I will definitely be getting a different pack for her to use next time.

Clothing choice has a heavy impact on your experience in my opinion. There was a long wade through a deep creek early in the day, and being soaked from the crotch down could have been miserable had it not been for quick drying shorts and pants, breathable footwear that pumped the water out as you moved, and wool/silk socks that aren't affected when wet. Cotton socks and pants that retain water would have been a disaster in my opinion. I wore shorts as I don't have any quick drying pants, but I will definitely be getting some to protect my knees when rolling through the dirt. Stage 7 was especially hard on the knees. I used Salomon Speed Cross 3 trail runners which are the perfect balance of weight, protection, breathability, and traction for central Texas in my experience.

Our normal physical training consists of a combination of sprint workouts, slow steady runs, and barbell exercises. Due to our work schedules and having two small children, our workouts are rarely longer than 30 minutes, but we usually do them 4-5 times per week. During the weekdays, we alternate days between hill sprints and barbell exercises, and on the weekends we will do a long or tempo run each day if we can. The only training we did specifically for the biathlon was running some of our longer runs on the trail to break in my wife's trail runners, and we did one steady run with my wife wearing her loaded pack and war belt (sans pistol).

Having squared away most of my gear issues in previous matches, there were still some big lessons learned from this match. On the equipment side, I'll need to find some good quick drying pants that offer some knee protection, and my wife will need a pack that holds the weight better with a more robust hydration system. Also, the height over bore of the SCAR is much higher than an AR, so you need extra clearance over barricades to make sure the muzzle is also clear. On the training side, my wife remarked that she needs to train more with the pack and belt, as her shoulders and joints were not prepared for the extra weight. Hydration was another huge problem. I had forgotten how long the entire course had taken last time and thought it would only take us around two hours, so I equipped us with only two hours worth of water (1.5L for her and 2L for me). Obviously, we were wholly underprepared for the 4 hours it took us which led directly to the spasming and cramping problems my wife had near the end. Next time we will take more water and an electrolyte supplement for halfway through the course.

Overall, we had a lot of fun, and the event definitely lives up to its stated purpose of being a test of self and gear. We will definitely try to make it regularly, as it provides us both with motivation to continue our workouts.

Great report!  My brother and I did the Sunday sprint.  We just do it for fun and just hike the course letting the more serious competitors skip ahead if we're in the way.  Neither of us did any real preparation prior to this event, and I wasn't feeling particularly well that morning.  We both started off just dragging ass, but the cool river water seemed to invigorate me.    I was happy to complete all stages this time around (minus the wall & monkey bars).  We've done all four Sunday Sprints, and I typically DNF on at least a couple of stages.  I finished them all this time around using only 2.5 rifle mags.

Nice!

I almost ran out of rifle last time with four rifle mags, so I took six this time. Ended up returning with a lot this time. I don't know an exact count, but I'll check later since I haven't unloaded the mags I used yet.

Nice write-up, OP! I am also a big fan of the ATS war belt, but I have G-Code holsters on mine. I've been giving serious thought to the Safariland ALS holsters, though, especially since G-Code makes RTI adapters for them.

I like the part about the TA01 ACOG. I use a TA31 on my issued rifle, and the chevron is not my favorite reticle pattern at all. I bought a TA01NSN not too long ago that I think will be a much better optic for the kind of shooting I plan to do.

If you can find one for a reasonable price, the older Camelbak Mule is a good run and gun pack. it won't hold three days worth of stuff, but it will get you through a long day with a 3L bladder and two outside pockets. The bottom pocket is subdivided and the top is not, so you can arrange your stuff how you like it. I use my old ACU pattern Mule for cycling, and it has been awesome.

I've experimented with using a MOLLE hydration pouch as a field expedient pack by adding pouches when I need them and stripping it down when I don't.

Great AAR. Thanks for sharing your experience. Waco is only about an hour away from me, so I hope to do a WTF  biathlon there in the future.

It was fun. Pretty sure I was parked next to OP.

Had a lot of trouble this year with the ACOG, couldn’t work the chevron for precise hits. Going over to a razor next time.

Used a Haley backpack with camelback bladder in it and my rifle on sling just destroyed it. Was nice that it clipped into my carrier but won’t be doing that again. Using a compact pistol worked, but wasn’t ideal.

The bonus stage was irksome, I was pretty sure I was dead on using the scoped rifle but wasn’t getting hits. Not sure if it was me or not .

Gonna have to switch to a different method to carry my rifle, sling on the back just isn’t comfortable and makes the obstacles difficult. If anyone has ideas I’d love to hear them.

Took home the infinity services gift card and will be sending them a beat up browning for new life.

Much thanks to the organizers and sponsors!

When we got there, they told us everyone was complaining of the scope being off, so we opted for open sights.  Just as well - My brother and I both shot Rifleman with Tech Sighted 10-22s back in December.

Nice AAR.  IT was my first.  Decided to run it heavy.  Probably not going to do that again soon - I'm still recovering, lol.  Went out w/ 140 rifle and 115 pistol, M1A, G17L in a Tyr Coma.  Came back w/ 41 rifle and 11 pistol.  The load-out was 38lbs already, so I only took about 10oz to drink in a wino flask.  Cleaned the bonus, pitched deuces to the wall, and made the monkey bars.  I think that I actually strained something in one arm and wrist on the bars.  Like lots of others, stage 7 was a killer.  Getting a sight picture using a full sized M1A was a joke.  Still not sure how I'd go about it w/o a task specific optic on the M1A for just that stage.  At some point I banged the rifle/scope hard enough to knock it out of zero and couldn't hit anything out past 250.  When I got back, I figured out that it was 1 mil high and right at 300.  Not sure whether the scope mount is the weakness, but I suspect so.

All-in-all, it actually was not fun, but it was a very fulfilling experience.  The participants, RO, and coordinators were all great and supportive.  Going to try the Impact run-n-gun and then the fall WTF.  It can't be stressed enough that the WTF will expose your weaknesses, so be honest about your ability and gear going into it.

What optic and mount were you using?

My brother tried using a cheap scope his first run and gun match, and it had completely lost zero before the end of the match. He dumped it and went back to shooting irons the next match.

Very nice AAR OP!

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!

This sounds like a lot of fun (and much harder than I thought it would be when I first heard of this event). Thanks for such a detailed writeup.

I was using the Springfield Gen 4 in aluminum.  I've had nothing but issues with the mount.  Shot it loose twice even w/ threadlock.  I think that it just heats up so much.  Also, the knobs snag on all kinds of stuff, so I molded a kydex cover for them.

Honestly, the targets are large enough and high contrast, that irons might actually make a lot of sense.  I do plan on running heavy again next spring, but if I don't use irons on the full sized M1A, I'll use a M1A Scout with a LER scope out front around 4-6x max.

Ticket sales are open for the WTF Biathlon and Sunday Sprint this Oct 20-21. https://www.wtfbiathlon.com/register

The Saturday Biathlon usually sells out in under a week, and the morning time slots are going fast already. Get in asap if you plan to participate.

I used a TA31F with red chevron last year and had the same issue with precision between 100-250 yards (which is where most of the targets are). That's why I tried the TA01 this time with the cross hair reticle, and it was ideal. I have a Razor 1-6x that I use for 3 gun, but I won't use it for the biathlon due to the weight. I used a Trijicon TR24 1-4x for my first one. It wasn't too bad since it's a lot lighter than the Razor, but you have to dial elevation past 300 yards.

As for slings, I've found the quick adjustable 2-point to be ideal (I've used the Magpul, VCAS, and WOTG slings). I carry the rifle unslung using a football carry while running, and I tighten the sling very close across the back to go hands free for obstacles.

Due to some cancellations, there are a couple of tickets currently available for the WTF Biathlon this Oct. These are Standby Heat tickets, which means we don't know what time you will run on Saturday, but you will definitely run the course.  Standby runners will take any no-show slots during the day, or worst case will run at about 4pm. (All Standby runners have gotten on the course prior to 4 in previous events.)  www.WTFbiathlon.com

Thanks for the heads-up. I haven't done of these yet, and I'm a newbie to the shooting sports. The WTF website strongly encourages inexperienced newbs like me to sign up for the shorter Sunday sprint with much less round count. But I see that the Sunday sprint is sold out. Should I register for the main Saturday biathlon instead, despite my inexperience, or wait to try a relatively easier biathlon first? For what it's worth, I'm in decent shape and am confident I can at least jog most of the 10K and handle most physical obstacles. I just lack shooting experience and gear, like vests with mag pouches and such.

Just go for it. Let the range officers running each stage know that you're new to shooting sports, and they'll help you through the stages.

All you really NEED is a rifle sling, good holster, and small backpack to carry your extra ammo and water. Everything else just helps you shoot the stages quicker which isn't really a concern for newer shooters.

Thanks for the encouragement! Just paid and registered as a standby participant. Really looking forward to my first running biathlon.