I was excited for my second opportunity to compete at The Proving Grounds. We ended up with 3 women in the division, which is good. I want to see more women competing.
The MD at this event was different from Rich, who had MDed the first TPG that I did at Gryffon Group. The round counts for this match ended up being *minimum* round counts, not *exactly specified* round counts. It was good that I had brought extra ammo, by chance... about 100 rounds extra per caliber.
The squads were mixed, maybe to keep all of the photo package competitors together. It was fun to be in a squad with the other women plus the intermediate men the last time. With the mixed squad, I did get to see more variety in the other shooters.
Stage 2: Lock In Your Position
The event was held at Virginia International Raceway, which seems like a surprising place for a shooting range with multiple bays, but they have it! I guess it's loud there, anyways, with the cars practicing and racing all the time. I didn't think about how race cars would be doing laps on the track even on non-race days, but it makes sense that they have to practice all the time, too.
The first stage for my squad was all rifle, for 7 min of PAR time. Right before the stage, we went on a wild ATV ride through bumpy trails, to get our HRs up, which was an awesome and unique way to start the stage.
On the beep, we jumped out the ATV, and from each of four positions while bringing along a tire, we had to shoot at 6 targets, with 1 hit each, going left to right and calling targets. They were at different distances, so I had to focus on holds with my LPVO, but that was challenging, because with the 36yd zero that I was new to, sometimes, I had to hold under, and sometimes, I had to hold over, and I got it mixed up sometimes. I need to get more used to the dope.
The first prop was a slanted tire. The second one was concrete. The third was rocks. The fourth was the side of a hill, where you wanted to go prone, but the grass made it such that only seated or above was possible. There was a lot of shooting to do in a short amount of time, so the ROs advised us that if we couldn't make a given hit after 3 tries, to move on, or we'd time out for sure. That was a good tip, especially for scenarios where I was holding the wrong direction and never would've made the shot. If we made it to the last shooting station, we had to drag a tire back to the start.
I watched my time and started the tire drag back, but still timed out, which was a waste, since I'd end up getting the "didn't finish work" penalty either way, but I could've used the tire dragging time to keep going for shots, instead.
It was interesting to see what portions of the props different people used, and how they used it. For certain targets, I think you probably had to be on certain sections of the prop to see the targets.
Another lesson was to always take the time up-front to build a good position, which I've been learning from PR, but maybe it'll stick eventually! Don't settle for a bad position.
Stage 1: Smoker's Express
This stage had long distance rifle and pistol. The pistol targets seemed far away. I wished I had a red dot.
If you're not standing really close to the ROs, it's hard to hear the sequence when it's your turn, so I had to rush to put on my gear when it was my turn. That jacked up my HR and stress levels, although there was still the ATV ride to let it come down a bit.
We started with the ATV ride again. We got out, grabbed a division-appropriate SB. I was told to grab the wrong SB initially, which ate up time, and then when I put the right one on me, it knocked off my ear pro and knocked out the batteries, to putting the ear pro back on (without batteries) ate up time. Fortunately, the ear pro survived.
We ran up some stairs to the mid-section of a staircase and had to use the diagonally sloping handrail to shoot at 8 pistol targets 25-62 yards away, followed by 3 rifle targets at 213, 313, and 413. There was a bonus target at 517 that you could hit as many times as you wanted for 30s off per hit. You moved to the top of the stairs with your SB, used a pulley to bring another SB up and back down. Then, you ran up another flight to repeat the pistol and rifle shots, and then you pulled up and dropped down a different sandbag, and then you came back down. Pistol missed targets cost 10s, and rifle missed targets cost 30s each.
The SBs to pull were heavy, but I was used to dealing with it from OCRs.
Pistol was hard, as I expected, so I moved on early to get to rifle, which also ended up being hard. It was a tough first shooting segment from the diagonal beam, so I wasn't expecting much better from the upper section.
When you know you're likely going to run out of time, strategy becomes a much bigger aspect of the competition. Where are you going to try to rack up points, based on your strengths and weaknesses? We had 7 minutes. When you know that you can finish everything, it's much more about making good hits, especially when there are fixed round counts. This match was shaping up to be a different ballgame.
Stage 4: Hang On
This was another really cool location-specific stage. Where did TPG find all of these awesome ranges? They are so much cooler and more involved than the typical ones that I go to and have competed in.
The stage started with a "vehicle rollover" that was powered this time by a truck that pulled over our car until it tipped (vs last time, where we were in a car on an axle that spun slowly). This was more jarring, so we had to wear bump helmets.
We exited, dragged a dummy out and back, and then shot at 2 IPSICS and a plate rack from underneath a different car, with our rifles. We practice this kind of thing with the lower ports of VTAC boards, but it was my first time actually doing it! The space was more generous than what you get from a VTAC port, but we were in gravel and sand. I chose to have my ejection port against the ground, which caused a malfunction each time I fired. I fought through it, but I should've tried switching to holding my rifle the other way around. I did "know my holds" pretty well, but I ate up a ton of time.
That was a shame, because the shooting got progressively easier as you moved on. We moved up to a car, where we shot from standing at the same targets with rifle. I timed out here, but if I had finished it, I would've moved on to hitting poppers with pistol, from around a forest of barrels. I would've done well there. I got caught up in fighting through the most challenging shooting position, instead of cutting losses and moving ahead to shooting positions with higher chances of success. It is interesting that the stage was designed with the most difficult shooting up-front, instead of having it opposite. Like I said with the previous stage, strategy is huge when the PAR time is going to limit you.
Once your time ran out, it was time to go for a run through the woods. It was a 1.3 mile loop. We didn't try to push too hard, since there was still a lot left to do, although this is a points plus time match, so it does help if you go faster than others.
Stage 3: Wrong Way
This stage was so much fun (again)...
This was another first for me - first live fire shoot house. I happened to have brought frangible tip ammo, which was not a bad thing to have in a live fire shoot house.
We started by doing sledge hammer work, and then we ran into the shoot house to clear our way through four rooms and a hallway. There were cardboard targets and 3D Mario targets that needed 2 hits each. There were also no shoots where you'd earn time penalties if you shot them.
After one loop through the house, we came back out for more sledge hammer work, and went back in to clear the house in the opposite direction. This was so cool.
Bosco took some video of this for me, too, which was awesome...
Afterwards, you can help to reset the stage.
Stage 5: Who's Here
We were able to get in one night stage before the range told us (unexpectedly) that we had to go cold for the night. I was on a squad that did the shoot house again, but with the targets re-arranged. The other squad did an outdoor bay. I liked getting to do the shoothouse again.
I thought about trying NVG again, but decided against it, since at the time, I still expected this stage to be for points, and I did want to score as well as I could. Since I was still new to NV and the gear, white light was more in my wheelhouse.
The scores ended up not counting, since nobody was able to shoot both stages, but that's OK with me. I'm in it for the fun and experience.
Results
I ended up taking 1st for the females, placing 1st out of every stage in my division for all stages other than the car rollover one. It was different having unlimited round counts for this. I'll hopefully be prepared for any scenario in the future (limited or unlimited round counts). I need to have a cooler head when it comes to strategy. Avoid being sucked in. If I know that the PAR time is going to be an issue, be more OK with cutting losses early, even if it hurts. I also need to practice position building more, and practice doing hold unders and hold overs for my 36 yard zero.
I loved the unique aspects of this competition. I got to experience so many "firsts", and got to do some cool things that made the price of entry worth every penny of it. Matt the MD and Sarah the organizer did a great job.
In addition to the prize and trophy, I got a bonus souvenir with a story to tell behind it!
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