TRAINING LEAD-UP
Wednesday, Sept 30:
Glute and pec PT v1 in 25:01, then Peloton 30 min 1:3:5 ride with Hannah Frankson, covering 9 mi, 41% ave resistance, 277 cal, 84 rpm ave cadence, 136 watts ave. Wanted cardio yesterday, but I was too sleepy after work and too tired early in the morning, so I did this after work.
Night-time Dry Fire...
- 2 mags of draw and shoot, not bad from having done it in a while
- 2 mags of draw, shoot 1, reload, shoot 1, trying to be more in my workspace. I was pretty happy with my efficiency, and I chose a higher target so that I would be less tempted to look down during the reload
- 2 mags of draw and shoot, not bad from having done it in a while
- 2 mags of draw, shoot 1, reload, shoot 1, trying to be more in my workspace. I was pretty happy with my efficiency, and I chose a higher target so that I would be less tempted to look down during the reload
- 2 mags compressed or uncompressed surprise break, with double tall kneeling, to mimic TTG conditions. I tended to yank high right, but I can't tell why it's happening.
- Another 2 mags seated compressed or uncompressed surprise break, untimed, since I was tired but wanted to try to slowly figure out potential variables affecting the movement of the gun post-trigger
- 5 min multiple targets while moving forward or backward
Thursday, Oct 1:
Home - Day 9 | Inquire & Yoga for Heavy Hearts with Adriene
Friday, Oct 2:
Skills & Drills, working exits/entries and multiple targets
- Don't yank the first shot just because the target is low and the index is a bit different
- Get a sight pic for a third imaginary shot on the last target in the array before exiting, to ensure follow-through
- I was good about getting the gun up early going into the second array, but I was aggressive with the speed, so my dot wouldn't settle until the end
- I switched between hands by side and hands above shoulders to practice both
- One new guy was introduced to ball and dummy, which was transformational when I learned about it
- At the end, I did a walk backwards for front array and a run after a static front array, with similar times, but better hits when static, but it was still good to try shooting while walking backwards
(That vertical spread is all me, and is why I asked Em to help me check, but it's pretty obviously to the right)
I also ended up changing the zero on my unported CZP10C and spent 6 mags doing that.
37 PSR COMBAT MATCH 26-IV
I had seen some videos from matches they had earlier this year. One had a shoothouse, so I really wanted to sign up for an upcoming event. In another one of their videos, I was also struck by how encouraging the RO was to the shooter. They seemed like a great group of people.
Some of their events are billed as "gun runs", but it didn't end up being what I'd traditionally think of as a "gun run" where the whole event is a single continuous run where you stop at various points to shoot stages. Instead, it's more like a traditional match in that there are different stages that you get around to doing over the course of the day. Some involve a little physical activity, and others are mainly about shooting skills.
When I first rolled up, bright and early, since I was making this a day trip, I had to wait in the parking lot for a while, since the gates to the range area didn't open until closer to event time. At first, it seemed like most of the competitors there had rolled in straight from Bragg, but later on, there were also some that looked like recreational shooters like myself.
We got a safety brief. The event would start by running everyone through the biathlon stage, which is where the "gun run" part really came into play. There was a shoot house stage that we'd cycle through, next. After that, they'd open up three other stages for us to work our way through. There weren't squads, so it was a matter of getting in line for each stage. With the free-for-all situation on the last three stages, some finished all of the stages really quickly, while others might've had to wait for hours longer. This was their biggest event yet in terms of participation numbers, so I'm sure over time, they'll figure out what works best for them from an organization and efficiency perspective.
There was one other female there. They also made plate carriers optional - if you wore it, you'd get time bonuses on the stages. I wanted the full experience. Tactics mattered, too... if you ever ran dry mid-stage, that would be a significant penalty. You could do pre-emptive reloads to avoid that situation, but if you were in a shoot house, you'd need to do that behind cover, otherwise that would also incur a penalty. You don't see that at many matches, but this is called a combat match, so I appreciated the special focus on it.
Stage 1: Biathlon
There's some "chance" in play here, because this was run 2 at a time, and your score depended heavily on whether you or your matchup shot the stage faster and by how much. You could get unlucky. The organizers' goal was to have people match up with people of similar ability, but in a tournament, for example, you'd do seeding the opposite way. I don't think they do awards at this event, so it really didn't matter in the end, anyways.
1. Two at a time, start behind the red line with a hot pistol in the holster and hot rifle on the shooting table.
2. On the beep, go to the shooting booth table and shoot a 25yd spade 2x with pistol, holster, shoot a 100yd torso 2x with rifle, safe, and return the rifle to teh table.
3. Run out to the barrel, back down to the far wall, and back into the shooting both.
4. Repeat until 4 shoots and 3 runs are done.
The run ends as soon as the first person finishes. There's a 20s penalty for any shots you don't get in if your matchup finishes first. There's a 90s bonus for wearing full kit, meaning your plate carrier with 5 full rifle mags on your body/rifle and 3 full pistol mags on your body/pistol.
Learnings/Outcomes:
- I went up against the other female, who also had a PC. We were like the second pair to go or something and had a line of guys behind us in the shooting area watching
- This was comstock, but I had 1 R miss sand 2 P misses total
- We were allowed to use the booth / table for support if we wanted. I shot with the mag on table for rifle but didn't brace for pistol, since the target was pretty big.
- It was super loud in the enclosed shooting area.
- I was happy to shoot pretty well in front of the line of guys watching. It's good to show them from the start that women can shoot well, too, and to not be written off.
Stage 2: Shoot House
1. Start with the muzzle of the stage suppressed 22LR pistol on the starting point outside the door
2. Off the clock, start clearing the house until you take care of the first 5 targets with 2 rounds on the brain dot of each target. As soon as you miss at all, though, you'll have to start your timed run from there, after loading rifle, since you've blown your cover.
3. Make your way through the remaining targets and the rest of the house until you get to the end, at which point you use your pistol to hit the red stop plate.
For the non-22LR targets, you either need 4 hits in the grey C-zone-ish portion of the target, or you need 2 in the dotted grey A-zone-ish area.
If you wear your full kit, you get a 20s bonus.
You get a 90s penalty for hitting a NS. There's a 60s penalty for an FTE. There's a 20s penalty for a partial neutralization.
You get penalties for having your muzzle exposed past doors when you're pie-ing off.
There's a penalty for over-exposing yourself. Pie off, dig your corners. If you go dynamic, you'd better be fast and accurate.
You get a 60s penalty for not reloading behind cover if you do reload.
You get a 20s penalty if you go dry but are able to transition to pistol.
You are allowed to switch to pistol at any time.
Retain your mags to avoid additional penalties, although this doesn't apply if you're doing an emergency reload after running dry.
Lots to think about!
Learnings/Outcomes:
- My strategy was to aim for 2 on the zone instead of needing 4, to minimize the need for reloads, since you don't know how many targets might be in a room, and the penalty for going dry is hefty.
- I did shoot extras a couple of times to be sure to neutralize, though
- I was breathing heavier and heavier as the stage went on, from fatigue
- My gun was trembling in the video like one commenter pointed out... I don't know if it's because the gun was heavy to hold up in low ready for all that time, or if it was adrenaline.
- I go the 22LR shots on the first 2 targets but missed left on the third target
- There was one closed door in the house that we had to push open... my first kick made the door open all the way and re-close, so I had to do a softer kick the second time
- I rehearsed footwork prior to the stage, since it's been a while since I've done pie-ing
- I was happy with my use of the safety
- The RO noticed that my butt stock wasn't really on my shoulder, affecting recoil. I was using the 45 degree offset dot, so it was kind of a jacked up position. Maybe there's a way I can make it better, though.
- I missed my first attempt on the stop plate but hit the second time
- I felt good about not having my muzzle stick out past the door
(A guy who honors the 82nd Airborne did the comp with some awesome kit!)
1. On the beep, open the door and knock down the one steel with pistol
2. Neutralize 2 full and 1 hostage taker with a NS's head from the car (either outside or inside) with pistol
3. Pick up the bag for your division and go to the next bay to shoot 2 Mozambiques with the bag on your shoulder(s). You must walk side-step laterally between the 2 targets for safety.
4. Holster and return the bag to the car
5. Run to the TX star around the corner and shoot the 5 arms.
20s bonus for wearing full kit.
Learnings/Outcomes:
- I shot 2x at steel and 4 on the first paper from the door corner- I shoot 2 at paper and 5 at the hostage taker from behind / to the left of the door... risky to take so many attempts at the hostage taker near the NS, but I had erred towards hitting high and away from the NS and wanted to make sure I didn't get a FTN. It wasn't obvious how many hits I had on the target, since it was far away
- I did a proactive reload before picking up the SB onto my left shoulder, to leave my right arm ready to shoot unobstructed
- I did a proactive reload when running to the TX star and had 2 misses there (but comstock)
- I braced on the car as much as I could for the difficult shots, but they were still hard
Stage 5: Hostage
1. From the 5yd line, hot and holstered, shoot 1 @ the hostage taker within 5s
2. Repeat from the 10yd line (on a different hostage taker with more exposure)
3. Repeat from the 15yd line (on a different hostage taker with even more exposure)
4. Repeat from the 20yd line (on a different hostage taker with the most exposure)
90s penalty for a NS
Learnings/Outcomes:
Learnings/Outcomes:
- It started lightly raining a few people before it was my turn
- I jumped into this stage before doing Stage 4, since there was still a long time before it would be my turn on Stage 4.
- At 5yd, I grazed the right side, so the RO gave me partial credit
- At 10yd, it would've hit the hostage taker if the picture of his head wasn't cut off to the right
- At 15yd, I got a good hit
- At 20yd, I wasn't even on paper, but I didn't want to shoot the hostage
- The borders of the hostage taker vs the hostage got harder to see, the more pasters got added. It was black and white from far away, which I guess would be a possible scenario if you're under NODS or in dark conditions where colors aren't obvious.
Stage 4: Positions Behind Cover
1. Start with a hot and holstered pistol, facing uprange, with rifle staged at the VTAC, also hot
2. On the beep, run to the VTAC and shoot 2 prone, 2 kneeling on the steps, 2 left side hits on steel
3. Run to the spool and shoot 2 shots from the left side, 2 from prone, 2 from the right side with your feet behind the spool for cover, on paper
4. Run to the front of the spool and shoot 2/paper target from anywhere, as long as you're behind the front stick
5. Holster and run to the start cone and back to the VTAC, and repeat the course of fire but with rifle (not mandatory to shoot with your left hand on the left side)
20s bonus if wearing full kit
- Prone pistol was good
- Messy kneeling pistol, supposedly low
- Dancing around with misses on the left side, too
- For static shots, I ran up to the line instead of walking and shooting like lots of guys who ended up missing, did... it was hard enough shooting static
- I had 2 misses on paper, and you get +5s per ring you're outside
- From the left side of the spool, shooting pistol, it was hard to see the reticle
- I used 2.5x magnification on the LPROV, which was fine on the long shots. On the spool, it made the paper targets huge, so I had to sweep from target to target slowly to not miss the one I wanted
- I used 10rd P for prone and kneeling, so I did a mag change before going to the left... good thing, since I needed 8 to hit 2 on the left. I did a mag change again before the spool for the last 12 shots, which are VA count. Not missing pays off in this match, since you don't have to do as many mag changes.
- Left handed rifle was OK
- Mag retention requirements make mag change needs even more time-consuming, too
- I probably didn't do height over bore for rifle, but it was a tall target, anyways
- I did this in moderate rain.
Overall
- The match flow could use some improvement
- Nice, knowledgeable, and encouraging ROs
- The MD recognized me from Mammoth
- Neat to do a tactics-heavy event
- Nice array of different types of stages
- Had contractor bags to protect my stuff from the rain, but I didn't secure it before it started really coming down
- A fellow competitor had a rifle issue and got to borrow mine, and he ended up doing even better than I did with it!
- Cleaned both guns afterwards, to prevent rust.
- Great match... I'd definitely do it again, to keep learning more!
