GORUCK Custom Breacher Course

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Sunday, Nov 19:

Core & Restore and Quick Restorative Yin Yoga with Adriene.

18A "Hanging Abs" in 15:47, Glute and pec PT v2 in 28:27, GORUCK TNT "Frannish" in 10:45.  

Monday, Nov 20:

18A "Upper Body Prep" in 22:37, "Push-up" in 43:49.

Tuesday, Nov 21:

I got a used tripod that I might use for a spotting scope one day.  It seems to be able to hold up my gun.

I also practiced using a new armboard for the first time.  It's stiff and has heartier velcro, which is nice.

I mainly practiced shooting from the top of my pack and from the top of a tac table.  I focused on building very squared and skeletal positions to minimize wobble.

I figured out that it's more efficient to do bold elevation dial turns. 

It is neat that 32 min of dry fire can help you discover new techniques and test gear in a very cost-effective way.

Wednesday, Nov 22:

I did a 5am ruck with 50# in the v2 rucker wearing MACV2s.  I covered 4.5 miles in 1:03:20.  My glute was sore at the end, and my Achilles felt a little strained.  I used the TENS unit at night.

My dad arrived in town that evening, so I had wanted to get in the ruck while I could.

Thursday, Nov 23:

THANKSGIVING

I went to Iswa Nature Preserve with my dad and used 30# in my RPC wearing Garmont T8's.  My glute was sore. It was low-key, and my dad even took a break to enjoy the view.  We covered 1.5 miles in 39:32.

Later, I did HDT 31.1.2 (CORE) in 34:02, followed by Glute and pec PT v1 in 28:40.  That's the good HDT core workout that is able to make my abs sore.

Friday, Nov 24:

BLACK FRIDAY

I went to Blackstone for donuts, a bit of browsing, and then a full auto demo day with Daniel Defense.

I had signed up for Green Beret Fitness's Operation Shooter the day before, and they warn that your gear may get wet and abused, so I went to the range to practice with my iron sights Glock and with my old LMT with the red dot.

The pistol shooting was pretty accurate, but I got malfunctions, and the armorer helped me figure out that my extractor might be dirty because it was sticking out.  

I switched to my CZP10C to continue training.

When I got home, I did a full disassembly and cleaning for my Glock.  It was the second time I've done that, with the first time being in early 2022.  I was proud of myself for watching youtube and successfully disassembling and re-assembling everything without losing any parts or breaking anything.

At night, I took my dad to see the new Lights trail at the USNWC.  He learned the word "zamboni" today.

The trail was obstacle course-themed this year.  They put lights on the existing obstacles in that area, which is probably a little easier than putting up a bunch of brand new art pieces.

The vibe was different than from previous years, since there were a bunch of screaming kids around, instead of it being a peaceful nature-themed art walk through the quiet night.  It was fun and interesting, though.  We did 1.5 miles in 1:00:34.

Body check: I've been taking Ibuprofen for the past 1.5 days due to glute soreness.  I've also been eating 700cal over my body's needs (resting plus activity), after not eating much while working hard in Iowa.

Saturday, Nov 25:

I did a 11.5 mile trail run (per Garmin with Glonass) in 2:16:00 in Brooks Mazamas and a t-shirt.  I did Parkway-Panda-Smokey-Bandit-Rail-Gravy Train for the first time.  Gravy Train looked interesting, since it took me under a bridge at first.  It looked like there was a backstop of the edge of the property not too far away, so I wasn't expecting to be out on this trail for long, but it switched back as many times as possible within property bounds, so I was on it for a long time!  Zombies Run on my phone says that I did 13 miles.

My core was still sore from HDT 2 days ago.

Sunday, Nov 26:

In the morning, I went to Blackstone again.  I wanted to check my Glock for proper function after the full cleaning and shoot my prize gun from Sheepdog after mounting my prize Sig Romeo from the Ready Tournament on it.  I had also moved the Aimpoint on my night shooting LMT closer to the butt stock, so I wanted to re-zero that.

My dad went on a walk while I did all of this.

My "forever target" now had 540 rounds on it.

Yoga for Lymphatic Flow and Center - Day 21 - Strength with Adriene.  My hip flexors still felt a bit strained today, and my abs were still sore from HDT.

Monday, Nov 27:

Glute and pec PT v2 in 23:58, 18A "Upper Push / Chin-up" in 35:28.

At night, I invited the ruck club out to the USNWC, and we played on the obstacles and chilled by the fire.  It took 2:02:43 between the obstacles and the fire.

I did mess around with doing traverse wall climbing with a ruck and discovered that I could do it, which would come into play later on at GBF Operation Shooter.

Tuesday, Nov 28:

18A "Lower Body Prep" in 23:02, 2.5 mile half interval run with a 1-mile warmup from 7-7.5mph, then 2x (0.5 mi @ 9mph, then 0.25 mi @ 7.5mph).  I couldn't manage more than that today.  I used my lime/teal Saucony Kinvaras.  I finished with a 20 min HIIT Peloton Ride with Jenn Sherman covering 5.8 miles to still get in some cardio.

Wednesday, Nov 29:

Another trip to Blackstone, my fourth with the forever target.

I went back to shooting the CZP10C, and I practiced some more rifle at 25yd.

870 rounds total on the target now, but a little TLC makes it as good as new!

GORUCK CUSTOM BREACHER

Part of the requirements for earning the "Fight Terror" GORUCK Shooter Capstone patch is completing a Tactical Shotgun Operator or Breacher Course.  They used to have a course called "Breacher" that emphasized breaching, but since then, they've shifted the focus to defensive shotgun.  This course is rarely put on, though, maybe once per year, and you're lucky if it's in a part of the country that's easy for you to get to.  My southeastern friend figured that it'd be waaaay cheaper to organize a custom class as long as he could get at least a few to jump in on it, than to pay for airfare, hotel, and the class, to go across the country to earn that patch.  He filled up the class and then some, so we had one at his range.

SB and I helped PM make practice door pieces for the breacher portion of the class.

In the dry fire barn area, we learned about 

- the parts of a shotgun.

- loading procedures (chambering one then using the mag tube for the rest)

- unloading procedures (pushing the detent in the mag tube)

- topping off on ammo and ammo swaps between different types of rounds like buckshot for close range vs slugs for longer range, due to the spray and therefore missing that buckshot would do once you got about 20yd out

- emergency reloads

- walk, stop, shoot, continue

- manipulating the gun straight out in your workspace for quick re-engagements

- kneeling (tall kneeling due to recoil)

- barricades (leaning 45 degrees out and forward due to recoil)

- dry fire walkthrough of the eval course of fire, which involves all of the above, plus shooting while walking-ish

Notes: 

- Any time you're not on target, go on safe, so do that for reloads, when you're walking at low ready, etc.

- some guns like mine wont' let you add another round in the mag tube without chambering the next round, so ammo swaps may involve ejecting whatever you currently have, unfortunately.  

- for transitions to pistol, for extra safety, have the pump back and have the gun on safe

On the live fire range, we

- saw a penetration test of birdshot vs buckshot vs slugs on melons as well as cinderblocks

- realized that exit wounds on melons are much larger than entrance wounds; the same would apply to flesh

- walked back with buckshot to see how the spread of the pellets increased as our distance increased... 20yd is about my limit before starting to miss the torso with some of the pellets, with my ammo

- practiced the skills that we had dry fired earlier

- ran the qual

- used special Hatton rounds to breach a door that JB had helped PM construct... go at a 45* angle horizontally, a 60* angle downwards to increase the chances of hitting the bolt, which is centered to the knob, and go right above and right below where you think the bolt might be, to maximize your chances of getting it for sure within 2 shots.

Notes:

It's tempting to slap the trigger with the amount of boom that the shotgun creates

Not having the buttstock firmly planted on your shoulder is a self-correcting issue

With the quality of cadres who teach the class and the people who are part of the participant community, we get to learn life lessons and learn to become better people, beyond just learning shooting skills.  Makes me want to keep coming back for more!

Jayden's Jamboree PRS22 Match

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Sunday, Nov 12:

At night after SUC, I did 4 miles in 58:04 with 50# in the v2 rucker.  I needed to get back into rucking after a week of travel!

Monday, Nov 13:

6 mile ruck with 50# in the v2 rucker in 1:27:36.  Felt good and could've gone faster were it not for a tight glute.  It wasn't bad, though.  I felt fine from yesterday, with no soreness yet.

Tuesday, Nov 14:

It would've been nice to be able to do 8 miles today, for a 4-6-8 mile back-to-back series at full weight and pace.  That had been a nice training milestone the previous year when I was training for the 2023 edition of the 3-day Mammoth Sniper Challenge.  My glute wasn't 100%, though, and I was tired from working until 9pm, so I took it easy and did Gentle Yoga - 25 min Morning Yoga Sequence & Yoga Stretch with Adriene.  My arms were craving a workout, though, so I'd hit that tomorrow.

Wednesday, Nov 15:

18A "Upper Body Prep" in 28:03, "Chest Barbell" in 36:20, Glute and pec PT v1 in 28:52, "Hollow" in 16 min

Thursday, Nov 16:

I hadn't really planned on doing CHAD1000X again this year because I was busy enough training for Mammoth, but SB suggested it, and why not?  We went back out to First Ward Park with a mile ruck warmup in 19:20.  I thought I chose a reasonable step, but while doing it, it felt higher than last year's and was tough, but I got through it.  We rucked a mile back in 20:28.  I used 30# in a rucker v2 and wore Ballistic Trainers.  

It's a good community event where people make an extra effort to come out to show that they care.

Friday, Nov 17:

My local range instituted a new rule where you had to use their target backers.  It seems like a money grab, since they charge maybe $4 per target now (I think when I first joined, it used to be $2).  Their reasoning was that people were shooting towards ceilings and walls and floors using their own targets, and that their poster-sized ones helped to get people within certain safe bounds.  It is still very possible to shoot up the lane depending on your angle, even if you're within the limits marked by the poster, though.  

Anyway, I had no choice but to play along, and they do allow you to paste your own targets on top of the poster.  That is important, because there may be specific drill targets that you want to use, or you may want splatter effects to see hits.  My goal became to see how long I could make a single poster last, though.  I call it my "forever target".  I was able to put 175 rounds on it that day, only using one quadrant, which still has life in it.

JAYDEN'S JAMBOREE

This would be our first 22LR PRS match.  We were excited to give it a try.  As a bonus, it was being MDed by Andy Slade.  On top of that, it was a match to celebrate his daughter's recent win at the IPRF World Championship Junior division.

There was a last-min venue change, but the MD adapted, and we got to shoot at an awesome location with all the props you could ever hope for.  We drove up in my car this time, since we only had two rather small rifles, rather than "all the guns" like we end up having on some trips.

We didn't have a ton of time to zero before the match brief.  I was 0.5mil high and 0.2mil left, and my group at 50yd seemed pretty large.  I slipped the elevation turret and just dialed 0.3 on wind.  No time to chrono or even confirm after slipping the turrets.  Oh well, it was go time!  Next time, we should get there an hour before the brief, instead of 30 min before the brief.

We walked through stage briefs that were given to the ROs.  The targets looked tiny out there, compared to the centerfire targets that we were used to.  At first, all I saw in the field were t-posts or sticks.  I couldn't believe that the targets (seemingly stick-sized targets) were somewhere on the posts.  You couldn't always see them with the naked (at least untrained) eye, and needed glass to spot them, even though they were the only things in a very open and clear field.  Andy did preface the match by saying he may have made the courses of fire a little too difficult, in retrospect.

Stage 2: Christmas Tree

This was the tiebreaker stage for the PRS22 match.  You shoot at a 79yd target with 2 rounds from each of 5 unique positions.  I dialed up 0.9 per the Kestrel.  We had a 105s PAR time.

I ended up with 8 points out of 10 shots attempted in 89.84s.  Not a bad start, considering how worried I had been about the tiny target sizes.  

There was some bend in my knees during standing, and during kneeling, my elbow wasn't able to make contact with my right knee, so there's some room for improvement.

We chose to squad with Jayden.  It was really cool to watch her shoot... the best in the world!

Stage 3: Bomb

We shot at a 117yd target from 3 spots on a fence plus 2 spots on a cattle gate.  We had 105s of PAR time again.

I got 5 points out of 10 attempted.  

The kestrel said 7mph, so 0.9 right, although Jayden kindly shared that she used 0.5R, so that's what I started with, although I switched to 0.4 after missing initially.  I wonder why my original wind call plan was so off... maybe I didn't take into account wind direction enough.

The upside of having a single target the whole time is that once you figure out the elevation and wind, it's all about building positions from there.  I missed the first two shots where I tried 2.6 and 2.7.  I hit the 3rd, missed the 4th, got the 5th, missed the 6th, got the 7th, 8th, 9th, missed the 10th.  

Is it me?  Is it the natural SD of the round?  

I did swap pacman positions for my gamechanger based on the type of surface I was using, which was slightly cumbersome to flip, but the right decision, I feel.

Stage 4: Tank Trap:

We shot at 1 target at 91yd from 2 different tips of the tank trap with 2 shots each, and then again from the crux with 1 shot.  

Then, we did the same but on another target at 133yd, for 10 rounds total within a 105s PAR time.

I made 4 hits out of 5 attempted.  I had a malfunction when I tried to run the bolt forward.  I tried harder with no luck.  Nothing happened when I did a mag drop, but there was a round stuck in the near right side that did come out the second time when I fully removed the mag.  That ate up time.  I'm not sure what caused it.  Fortunately, I was calm during the malfunction, because I didn't have high expectations for my first time at a PRS22 match, so there wasn't high pressure to perform well.

I held 0.3R based on what everyone else was using for wind.  

We all shared bags so that we could all double up on the crux, too.

Stage 5: Rocky Mountain Dogs

Shoot at a target at 69yd from the near rock with 2 shots.

Shoot at a target at 104yd from the middle rock with 2 shots.

Shoot at a target at 113yd from a far rock with 2 tries.

Then go back and shoot 2 at the 104yd target and 2 at the now 63yd target (originally 69yd away) still from that last rock, all in 105s.

I made 6/8 attempted shots / 10 possible.  I missed 1, hit 2, missed 3, hit 4, hit 5, hit 6, missed 7, hit 8, and ran out of time.

I stuck to my shot process, dialing before leaving the prior position.  

I had to be thoughtful about adjustments after missing.  I started with 0.3R wind, then switched to 0.2R after missing, since the wind had died out a bit.

Stage 1: Wheelin'

Choose any spot on the wagon wheel.  Shoot at 4 bottle targets with sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4.

I made 4/8 attempted / 10 possible.  I missed once when I dialed down to 1.9 instead of 0.9 while working my way from far to near.

I had deployed my tripod but didn't bother trying to use it, since it seemed like it would be slow.  I just went barricade style. 

I had a jam in the mag again, but I knew how to clear it this time, dropping the mag and running the bolt.

I had planned to dial 0 wind because it might be shielded by the trees, but I did hold right edge for the far target that was beyond a clearing.

Lunch Break

They provided lunch, which was hot dogs and chips.  I slammed down 3 bun-less hot dogs plus 2 bags of chips, since we had an early morning start, and I hadn't eaten any snacks during the morning.

Stage 8: Don't Move

We were upon on a platform 2 at a time, even though this wasn't a team match.  We'd help with spotting while we were up there with someone else, and help speed up the stage flow since we had to get up there.

Shoot at a circle at 282yd with 1 round, then shoot a near yeti at 75yd with 2 shots, then the circle again with 1, then a second yeti at 104yd with 2, then the circle again with 1, then a square at 286 with 2, then the circle again with 1, all from prone in the tower.

I made a big 0 out of 5 attempted.  The circle was the farthest target all day and was tough.  I only held 0.5R but needed 1.5 according to others.  I was second to go, so there was no chance to share wind calls beforehand.  

I was 1 rev off on the near yeti, and I saw the tree branch above the target puff, but it didn't register in my mind what was happening until the second shot.

We had to swing the gun and reset it drastically to switch between the circle and the other targets.

Stage 9: Another Dang Wagon Wheel?

We shot at a near 98yd and a far 140yd target from 5 unique positions on a wagon wheel-themed fence in 105s.

I made 2/6 attempted.  I tried to hold 2.2 for the second target instead of dialing, but I never hit it.  SB held with 2.1 successfully.  

I held 0.4R for wind and hit 2/3x on the near target.  

Stage 10: Grenade!

From the roof, shoot 5 targets N->F then F->N.

I made 8/10, which was nice redemption after 2 rough stages.  

4mph of wind from 5 o'clock is what people guessed, but I went down to 0.1 because the wind had died down.  I dialed 0.2 of wind for the first three targets then added another 0.1 for the last 2.  

I did hit the wrong target once on the way back.

Stage 6: Tired

From the left tire, shoot 3 diamonds N->F.

From the middle tire, shoot 3 diamonds F->N.

From the right tire, shoot 3 diamonds N->F and repeat the F once more for 10 shots in 105s.

I made 3/6 attempted.  I used barricade style instead of trying to build modified prone.  That's what most of the squad used.

The wind was hard to pick here because of the wide range of estimates.  I went with 1.2 for the close target and 1.7 for the 2 far targets.  

I hit the near one, never hit the middle one, and hit the far once once.  I started just guestimating wind clicks, since it was all a guess, so I didn't feel like spending extra time trying to precisely dial.  I guess that's a bad move if I need to hit that same target again later, if I'm not sure what I used before, although I could just track in relation to what I used instead of absolute values, I guess.

Stage 7: Jeep Needs a Match

Our squad's last stage of the match was a fun one to end on.

Shoot the largest target on the KYL rack. 

Shoot a match stick, where you must eliminate the red tip to get a point.

Shoot the next smallest target on the KYL rack.

Shoot a spinner 1x (no need to spin it).

Repeat, alternating between next smallest target on the KYL rack and on the spinner, for 10 rounds total in 105s.

I made 3/6 attempted.

Changing parallax was essential when switching among the targets, just to see the reticle.

I nicked the right edge of the middle of the matchstick, which was where I was aiming elevation-wise, but the windage was just off.

I got spinner hits but kept missing on the KYL.  The amount of panning would be enough to significantly change the wind value, I guess, and the KYL targets are probably smaller and less forgiving.  I should've probably adjusted subsequent KYL shots based on where my misses were landing, though.

I held 0.1R on the match and 0.2 on the KYL.

I spotted for others on this stage, which was fun.  It was a little easier here.  It's easy on small targets that move a lot when hit.  It was really tough on the far circle from the platform, though. 

Overall

I ran the timer and clicker on more stages than usual at this match, which was good for gaining experience.  I also spotted, but a couple of times, I'd hear something but not see a splash... who knows if it hit the post or something.  I would think that the target would've moved.  It's tough to call those.  

Baker Wings or a Grey Ops plate might help with stability.

I wonder what caused the jams 2x... it was my first time using 10-round clear mags, which were otherwise good, and definitely useful for seeing how full the mags were.

The glass on the Vortex Viper definitely wasn't as good as what I was used to on the Nightforce.  It felt a bit blurry, but I guess it was good enough.  

Wind calls are hard, and I relied heavily on shared calls from others.  Even the Kestrel's wind calls didn't match what the pros were using, maybe due to direction.  

Levelling the gun takes more time on the light gun that would roll left and right, but I took my time with it to get it right.  The light gun does make it easier to move around though.

Highlight of the match (other than partially hitting the match): Getting to be Jayden's chamber flag-bearer for a couple of stages while she shot.

After

After the match, we all went to Rifleman's Outfitters to check out Andy's new store, and to get some gear like chamber flags and rimfire and glass cleaning supplies, plus a Grey Ops plate.  

Went back to CLT and got to see the dog!