TPG @ Coleman's Creek 2025

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Monday, Apr 21:

Day 3 - Anchor | BREATH & 10 min Morning Yoga with Adriene.

Later, Glute and Pec PT v2 in 25:16, then my "Mammoth" workout with a 20#WV and 45#SB in 27:51

Wednesday, Apr 23:

3 miles in 1:07:11 with a 30# v3 rucker and Garmont T8s with my dad at the USNWC dog off-leash park

Thursday, Apr 24:

Glute and pec PT v1 in 26:48 was my strongest yet, then HDT 31.1.2 (core) in 32:30

TPG @ COLEMAN'S CREEK

This was TPG's first time at Coleman's Creek, which also happens to be my home range.  It would be interesting to see how they'd use what the property offers, since TPG does a good job of keeping things fresh.

Stage 6 - Lost Dog (opposite the graveyard)

- Stand with hand on the orange stick, with empty guns
- Either go left to rifle first, or right to pistol first... blind stage, though, so you haven't seen the targets yet
- On the pistol side, shoot 5 targets on a jungle run with arrays of 3 and 2, then shoot 10 falling steel from the box at the end, and clear.
- On the rifle side, shoot 5 targets left to right, once each, 2x through, and clear.
- Run back near the start and shoot the stop plate (which is a little closer to the rifle end)

Learnings/Outcomes: 1/1W, 45/70O

- used 14R, 17P, but I brought 1 mag of rifle and 3 mags of pistol

- Went to pistol first for less running overall, and I'd be able to do pistol while I was the freshest

- I split up the jungle run to shoot the arrays of 3 and 2 from a static stance

- I ran too far on the way up to the rifle area and missed the left turn into the woods... I wasn't paying attention to the flags on the left, and I had thought that previous competitors had kept running down the path that would curve left naturally later... one downside of a blind stage, I guess.

- I was huffing and puffing with my gear going up the hill to the rifle area.

- My shooting was pretty good overall

- The far right rifle target was only visible from the far right of the shooting area.  Initially, I tried to engage the target from a little bit ahead of the line, but I kept hitting trees in front of the target and had to shift back and right.

Stage 1: Rock the House (at the shoothouse)

- stage guns and kit on the table, empty

- start seated on the log, zip-tied and "hooded" (shirt hanging over head)

- on beep, don gear and go in the shoot house

- from the 2nd room, first door, draw and shoot 4 card suits, left to right, 1 time through

- repeat from the next window on the same targets

- from the door in the next room, shoot 4 more steel left to right, 1x each

- from the next door, repeat on the same targets and clear

- in the next room, climb up the ladder to go to the catwalk

- shoot 5 cardboard, 2x each

- shoot 5 far steel, left to right, 2x through (~25-300yd) and clear

- go back down and near the start point to shoot the stop plate

Learnings/Outcomes: 1/1W, 29/70O

- used 25P and 20R

- staged my glasses on the table to avoid fumbles, but I ended up fumbling the cobra clip on my belt because I didn't fully clip it, and the belt fell right off

- pistol could've been cleaner, but not bad

- used 2.5x power the whole time on the rifle

- held right for wind on the far targets

- I was a little high on the 300yd target

- fortunately, I could see misses on some of the rifle targets, since there was sand around

- went down the stairs vs going down the ladder, because it seemed faster

- OK overall, I guess

Stage 2 - Country Roads (@50x50 bay and pistol arcade)

- start with empty guns inside the start box

- at each of 3 barrels, shoot 3 steel L->R, 1x each, clear

- run to the pistol arcade

- at the pistol arcade, 1) shoot 2 steel with 1 hit each, 2) shoot plate rack, 3) shoot 10 static steel of various sizes

- run back and shoot the stop plate

Learnings/Outcomes: 1/1W, 38/70O

- I used 37P, 10R, so I missed about half of the pistol shots

- The red dot had gotten dim somehow

- Main issue was not holding high enough, maybe, because I was hearing hits, but the plates weren't going down, despite me using 147gr ammo all day long

- Running in MACV2s (mid-height) hurt my arches a bit, without insoles

- Needed 2 shots on the stop plate, but it was a little far

- Braced on the barrel for rifle at least initially... not sure if I switched to standing at some point

Stage 3 - It's All On You (@ Forest Bay)

- start at the barrel with both hands on it

- run to the tank trap and shoot 5 rifle steel, L->R, 1 hit each

> for each miss, run to the barrel and back (max 2 runs/position) with gun on safe and grounded

- repeat from PRS barricade 

> same penalty rules

- repeat from the wobble platform + skinny barricade, but no penalty runs from this spot

- clear and put gun on table

- go to tire and shoot 4 pistol targets (card suits) L->R, 1x through

- go to the spool and repeat card suits

- shoot the spinner

Learnings/Outcomes: 1/1W, 26/70O

- used 16R, 31P

- 3x power was good for seeing targets and having precise holds on the far targets

- I held low for the 150yd target and a little left for wind (which was mostly straight on, but the target angles were changing due to the wide fan of the bay)

- using the pint-sized gamechanger was helpful

- I used the tank trap right leg end, since the crux seemed to have an obstructed view of the first targets because of trees, and the ground leg came straight back at you and would be in the way if you were kneeling

- I had tried to shoot nearly tiptoe from the PRS barricade, and maybe that caused my miss on the first shot... should've known better, because that wasn't even the hardest target in the array.  I switched to kneeling afterwards, and that worked better.

- The wobble board wasn't actually that bad, since you had support in the front

- I used bent knees on the board, which wasn't ideal compared to straight-leg, but I didn't have an ideal height spot to prop the gun on for full standing, and the wobble board was limited in width

- The spinner wasn't too bad, but it was weighted, maybe, and harder to spin than usual, it seemed

- My one penalty run felt pretty efficient on this flat, smooth ground

Stage 4 - Rambo Ravine (@ and even in, the Wild Western Bay)

- start in the start box with empty guns

- run to the log and shoot 6 rifle targets L->R 1x each (230-270yd)

- repeat from the tires

- repeat from a rock of your choice

- clear and run down to pistol array #1 and shoot 4 targets L->R, 2x through, and hot holster

- run to pistol array #2 and shoot 4 targets L->R, 2x through, and clear

- grab flag, run back to the start, and shoot the stop plate

Learnings/Outcomes: 1/1W, 34/70O

- used 23P, 32R

- brought 2 mags of R and 3 mags of P... glad I didn't bring a 3rd rifle mag, because the targets weren't bad, once you figured out the hold, and you could see misses well

- brought the gamechanger... worth it, I guess

- retaining all the mags took a moment and added extra incentive to reduce mag changes due to misses

- on the 1st rifle series, I maybe only had 1 miss on the farthest target

- it got messier after that, for some reason... I should've stuck with holding low for all, since it was similar distances for the targets, even if they looked like they were different distances... I would've gotten more 1st round hits that way

- noise from the shots going over the tire were a bit disorienting

- I tended to miss quite high, it seemed, like 1/2 a target high, so maybe my second zero is at 350yd

- I had trouble on the first pistol target, but it was ok after that

- I felt my arches in the MACV2s again

Stage 5 - Is that a Corgi? (@load dev bay)

- rifle starts bolt forward, empty mag, at the start cone on the corner of the platform, with empty pistol

- only 1 30-rd mag is allowed, but infinite pistol

- go to the shooting tree, and from any position, shoot 3 steel per berm, L->R, 1 hit each, on the 100, 200, and 300yd berms

- repeat from 2 more positions

- take the sled down and around the farthest pistol box, and on the way, shoot 2 pistol L then R, 1 hit each, from 3 increasingly close positions

- bring the sled back and shoot the stop plate

Learnings/Outcomes: 1/1W, 56/70O

- I used 10P, 24R, before a catastrophic failure where a primer popped out and got lodged somewhere between the BCG, CH, and upper.

- I had tried 2x to mortar the rifle, with no luck (not knowing that the loose primer was the issue), and the bolt was stuck halfway back into the buffer tube

- after the match, a guy named Matt from Virginia helped me disassemble the butt stope to diagnose the issue and fix it

- fortunately, the malfunction happened near the end of the rifle portion, and I didn't have that many rounds left anyways (6 more)

- this stage was tricky, since the smallest target always came first, and you had to decide how much to go to war on a target, vs saving the ammo for later... you only had 3 total rounds to spare before you'd have to start skipping targets

- the deer head target's bottom (the larger half of the target) was obscured by the 100yd berm from the lowest rung of the tree, but I was allowed to switch to a different branch mid-position

Aftewards

- I went to a cowboy bay and re-checked the zero of the BCM, after mortaring and all the efforts to clear the jam via disassembly, just to be safe, even though it seemed fine when I test-fired right after the stage with the last 6 rounds

- 5 rounds with 55gr @36yd was 1" and centered

- I chronoed, too, at 3200 average, 22SD, 55ES

- I did 5 rounds with 77gr next, still 1" but 1" lower

- Chrono on 77gr was 2807 ave, 20SD, 48ES

- I also checked zero on the piston shovelnose LMT, in case we wanted to use that as a carbine at Real World

- I got 3/4" groups on this, shooting from a bag (vs on mag)

- Chrono was 3038 average, with 65SD and 220ES with 55gr

- 77gr for the LMT shovelnose piston got me a group that was 1" higher, oddly, which is counter-intuitive, but the group size was also 3/4" at 36 yards

- Chrono was 2627 average, 31SD, 102ES

Overall 1/1W, 35/70O

- GC was still great to have

- still happy shooting 55gr

- learned about mortaring and a bit of butt stock disassembly today

 - my cardio is probably ok, but this match pushes you, no matter what your cardio ability is

- don't try to shoot through trees, since they'll throw off your trajectory

- don't lose focus on the run and miss your turn

- continue to do more risk mitigation when donning gear, like removing eye pro, double-checking cobra buckles