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Posted: 9/4/2009 6:49:20 AM EDT
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Just got back from the NCSA Match at Camp Perry, the Rifle and Ammo did their part, can't say I did mine!
Very important lessons learned, please take note! I showed up the first day for sight in. Pulled the AR-50 out, dialed in the adjustment for 1,000 yds on the scope, fired the first spotter, NOTHING! If you know anything about Camp Perry, there is no backstop/berm, if the rounds go over the target, you have no reference where they went. The area in front of the targets is also covered with heavy grass, so it can be almost impossible to see a low impact. Long story short, after trying everything I could think of and firing another 22 rounds, I am out of time and I am still not on paper! This now means, I am going to have to start the match with 8 spotting rounds left, and a 10 minute spotter period! I show up the first day of the match sweating bullets! Fortunately with the help of Nick Mullet and Brian Charley, I finally get on paper during the 10 minute sight in period after firing 8 rounds. Unfortunately this means I have shot all of my spotting ammo, and I only have enough rounds left to shoot the record shots, NO spotters left! Not surprisingly because they are all great people, 2 other shooters offered me some spare ammo to use as spotters. I shoot the first 5 rounds of my ammo for record, result is a 47 out of 50, so there still might be hope! I use the borrowed ammo during the next 3 minute spotter period, and none of the rounds are on paper! The loads do not match mine, so I am stuck with what I have, NO Spotters! I fire the next 2 rounds of record fire, and finish the day with a 141-2X. I show back up on day 2 sweating bullets again, I have NO spotters, so it is only going to be 15 shots for record! Fortunately for me, the weather conditions were not that different and my first shot was on paper! I was able to finish the second day with a 142-4X. LESSONS LEARNED: 1. Know your zeros! After going through everything with the numbers, I figured out I wrote down my zero as being 1 stadia line higher than what it actually was. I had been shooting my rifle at a lot of different ranges prior to the match, and I had improperly documented my zero changes during the process. When I started my 1,000 yard zero process I was actually 10 MOA or 100" to high! Make sure you get your zero numbers documented properly! On a lot of scopes it can be easy to misread the stadia lines, so double check everything, and when in doubt put a physical mark on the scope so that you can 100% verify where your zeros are at. 2. When you are having trouble, shoot short and put the rounds in the dirt! You can not adjust your point of impact if your shots are in the air and you have no reference where they are going. We tried repeatedly to get a trace with a spotting scope to see where the rounds were going but out of 3 different people spotting no one could do it. We finally got a call on a shot when it was put low/short in the dirt in front of the target. 3. You can never have to many spotting rounds! I had brought an extra 30 rounds of spotting ammo, which had always been plenty in the past, but with this problem it just showed that you can never have to many. This also shows that there can be a lot of variation between .50 cal ammo, so you may not just be able to grab someone else's ammo and fire it with the same results. For the Camp Perry Match, Larry Curik with Allied Precision Arms pretty much cleaned house, I think he needed an extra vehicle to get his awards back home! As always, Nick and NCSA did a outstanding job of putting on the match, it was really a great time. If you have not given it a try, you really should check out the NCSA Matches, they are really a phenomenal opportunity to do a lot of different shooting events. They still have 2 matches coming up this year: Ft McCoy, Sept 18-20 - http://northcoastshooters.com/index_files/Page2858.htm Ft Drum, Oct 9-11 - http://northcoastshooters.com/index_files/Page2855.htm Thanks again to all of the shooters for all of the help, without it I would have never even gotten on paper! Capt Richardson |
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