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.
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