I would like to participate as a spectator once before actually shooting a match since I have never shot anything like this before, but have been wanting to. Might I join you folks as a deadwood?

WOOT! I'm also really good at watching the cooler full of frosty beverages.

i'll be there for sure....

ok, really, ill make it this time.

I'll be there.. I might even shoot if my new scope gets here in time.

Great pics and vids. Thanks for sharing.

My alarm went of, and in a stupor I thought "Why is my alarm set for 6:30 am on a saturday morning, so I turned it off, just to wake up at 9 pissed off that I got up late.

I'll try harder to make the next one.



HAH!.. I hadn't noticed the pic of Warrens "Pimp Stick" that thing makes me smile when I see it. It's all very well finished though, nothing cheesy about it.

Looks like fun stages. I shouldn't be so lazy.

Observations of a newbie:

First and quite possibly foremost.. That was EXTREMELY fun! The weather cooperated, but it could have been 110+ and I would have still had fun.

As excited as I was, I showed up considerably earlier than most of the guys. This gave me the opportunity to look over all of the stages and walk through them to form a little mental strategy on attacking each. As people started showing up and shooting the stages, I got to see a wide variety of individuals shooting many different types of weapons with an even wider variety of experience levels. There were other folks there shooting for the first time, there were many who attend (and win) national matches.

Without exception, everyone I talked to, observed and shot with was extremely friendly and helpful. Veteran shooters were more than happy to provide helpful hints on shooting the stages as well as provide feedback after watching you shoot the stage. I found the feedback extremely constructive and geared toward tactical advice. I found this refreshing compared to much of the product/device bashing or recommendations that one experiences on here when asking for advice.

As far as gear goes, I think Russell said it best. "Use what you've got". This is truly a low stress environment. For the rifle stages, I would have felt completely comfortable just having spare mags in my back pocket, no extra gear at all. In fact, you can see in the short range rifle stage video that I grab a previously dropped mag to use on my way to the next position. The shotgun stage w/ the car was specifically designed to take the "gear junkie" out of his element. All reloads had to come from the trunk of the car, not the chest rig, thigh rig or buttstock. I was pleasantly surprised when my time came in under many of the experienced shooters. A fact that I attribute to my utilization of that Mossberg while hunting coyotes.

The stage variations were great. While we sat off to the sides and joked about some of the real-world innacuracy on some of the stages, each stage did train tactical fundementals useful in any situation. Skills such as quick reloads, reloading while moving, prioritizing target engagement and task specific ammunition application.

Speaking of task specific ammunition application, this is the point where I hang my head in shame. Let me preface the following by saying I'm one who just HAS to try things himself before mistakes will sink in. Having said that, I would just like to commend Russell for editing out the first portion of the short rifle stage video where I'm fumbling with feeding problems while using WOLF ammo.

Russell has given me some good advice in the past, but none has proven more true than this "Do NOT use WOLF ammunition when it really matters! After fiddling with malfs. for a while on the long range rifle stage, Shawn finally threw me a mag full of mil-spec that allowed me to finish the stage without incident. Like many here, I had never had a problem with the stuff while plinking or practicing, but the stuff choked BIG TIME when it really counted. Lesson learned, I'm ready to move on with life.

To wrap up, let me just say, get out there. Use what you've got. One $15/box for 100 birdshot and $6 for 10 Slugs from WalMart will last me several matches. $35 worth of .223/5.56 will most likely last a while too, but  I'll definately make sure I restock because I ran a few of the rounds 2 or more times because it was that much fun, and I knew I could beat my previous run.

If gear is your issue, it's a non-issue. You don't need it. And even if you want to try some gear out to see how it improves your performance, they guys that show up have enough gear that you could borrow/try that it'll never be a problem. Heck, with proper arrangements, we can even make sure we've got spare guns for you to shoot. In short, show up with ammo, $9 and the expectation that you're going to have a blast, and you'll be back for more, I gaurantee it. Don't believe me, check the pics and watch the vids.

Quoted: Looks like fun stages. I shouldn't be so lazy.

... +1

... PS, nice ass, who's?

Is it range policy that doesn't let you keep that sucker loaded?

Quoted: tinypic.com/28g28 Is it range policy that doesn't let you keep that sucker loaded?

Yes, Rio is a cold range. If it was a three gun match or similar in which you would be using the pistol later in the stage then it would be loaded on the line at the smae time as your rifle.

Now I'm really pissed off I missed that match.  Those look like some cool stages.  I was driving up to Prescott while you guys were tearing it up.  I almost cancelled the trip when I saw how over cast and cool it was.  I won't miss the next one.

We also ran into MP5_guy and his wife at the match, nice to chat with them as always.

Likewise, Sinistral. Too bad that Bren wasn't running... it would've been a riot to see Shawn shoot the match with it.

I also dragged a buddy of mine out, so it was his first time doing this sort of match. He did pretty well -- 13th overall, and second in Tactical-Iron. I guess the Army *did* teach him how to shoot. He was practically drooling over the Bren.

I think you were taking pictures when my wife had the primer blow out on the ammo she was using. I'll post the reply from Winchester when I hear from them about this. I hope it was just a fluke and not a QA issue.

Link to Q3131 problem thread

Edited to add above link.