Event:
Mammoth Sniper Challenge 2023
January 5-8, 2023
Fort Gordon, GA
Team:
Sisters of Steel
Primary Shooter: Jennifer Lee
Rifle:
Ruger Precision Rifle in 6mm Creedmoor shooting Hornady Match 108gr ELD
Pistol:
CPZ10C with Holosun 507c-X2 red dot shooting Blazer Aluminum 115gr 9mm
Shooting Gear:
Nightforce ATACR 7-35x56mm F1, NightForce X-Treme Duty Ultralite Unimount, MDT GRND-POD Bipods, Custom Rear Bag with GitLite, Safariland 7390RDS-7TS ALS Mid-Ride L1 Retention Duty Holster, Wilder Tactical Inner Belt, Tactical Tailor 7.62 Double Mag 10rd Pouch, 5.11 Bungee Pistol Mag Pouch, Vortex Bubble Level, Vortex Fury 5000AB LRF with Mystery Ranch chest rig, Kestrel 5700 Elite with AB, 3M Peltor Electronic Ear Buds
Camping/Rucking Gear:
REI Magma 15 sleeping bag, Sea to Summit Ether Light XT Sleeping Pad, Patagonia Capilene Cool Daily Hoodie, GORUCK Tac Hat, GORUCK Simple Pants, Fox River Wick Dry Socks, Salomon Speedcross trail running shoes, Columbia Omniheat Puffy Jacket, Oakley Radar Path Prizm Trail Sunglasses, Garmin Fenix 5S Plus GPS Watch, Sea to Summit Dry Bags, Merino Wool Buff, Osprey Ariel 55
Secondary Shooter: Shannon Bass
Rifle:
Tikka T3X in .223 in KRG X-Ray Chassis shooting IMI Razor Core 77gr
Pistol:
Glock 19 with Holosun 507C red dot shooting Blazer Aluminum 115gr 9mm
Shooting Gear:
Vortex Razor HD Gen II 4.5-27x56 FFP with Vortex Rings, Atlas BT46-LW17 PSR Bipod, Custom Rear Bag with GitLite, Safariland 6395RDS ALS Mid-Ride L1 Retention Duty Holster, Wilder Tactical Inner Belt, Tactical Tailor 7.62 Single Mag 10rd Pouch, Krydex Single Mag Pouch, Vortex Bubble Level, Decibullz Custom Molded Percussive ear plugs, Raine Tactical Armboard, Vortex Monocular LRF
Camping/Rucking Gear:
Big Agnes Tiger Wall UL2 tent, REI Magma 15 sleeping bag, Klymit Sleeping Pad, MSR pocket rocket stove and fuel, Leki Ultratrail FX.One Superlite trekking poles, Smartwool socks, Prana pants, Smartwool short sleeve shirt, Smartwool quarter zip long sleeve, REI down puffy jacket, Smartwool beanie, GORUCK Tac Hat, Altra Lone Peak shoes, Seal Line vented dry bags, Merino wool buff, Sierra Designs Flex Capacitor 40-60L Pack, Pack Rabbit Pronghorn Rifle-N-Bow Bucket
THE 9 MONTHS LEADING UP
Shooting Training
Both of us have been shooting pistol and AR15s since about 2020. We were first exposed to the world of precision rifle when we spectated the Vortex Sniper Challenge at Colemans’ Creek. We fired our first precision rifle shots in March of 2022. We have been avid ruckers for a few years, and Scott Whitehead, who I initially met at a random ruck in 2019, encouraged us to give Mammoth a try. We had Mammoth 2024 in the backs of our minds, but when 2023 didn’t sell out immediately, Scott put the idea in our heads again, and we took it as a sign.
We took basic and advanced group classes with GORUCK Tactical, as well as Dan Posey. We had access to a local 100yd range, where we would meet up to practice. Between the two of us, we did a few matches, which were great learning experiences – the Tactical Sniper Series Event 4 at The Sawmill Complex, Sniper’s Unknown at Clinton House, and the Guardian Team Match at The Arena. We listened to podcasts, joined Riflekraft, and read books on the subject.
We would dry fire with our rifles at home, focusing on different skills, and sharing learnings with each other over Messenger to keep each other accountable. We would also go to an indoor range one a week to work on pistol.
We met up with Scott Whitehead and with Andy Slade a few times, to soak in all their knowledge about shooting and about Mammoth. They provided valuable guidance on shooting skills, teamwork and communication, gear, and match prep. We read and watched AARs about Mammoth, to get an understanding of what physical, logistical, and mental challenges to prepare for.
We continued to compete in 2-gun competitions periodically, because they were fun in and of itself. As a bonus, those matches gave us opportunities to practice shooting and performing under pressure.
Ruck Training
We had a decent amount of experience with all-day and even multi-day rucking events, which typically allow little to no sleep. We had a good endurance background and the capacity to endure difficult conditions. Our usual ruck weight was about 30 pounds, though, and while we did often carry additional weight on top of that, it was at a slower pace, and the weight was shared among the team.
As soon as we signed up for Mammoth in July, we each developed a plan to gradually build up our ability to carry heavier weight at speed. Shannon took the approach of gradually increasing weight each month. Jennifer went up to 50 pounds from the start, but gradually increased speed. There’s always a fine line between training and overtraining, and avoiding injury by listening to our bodies was a big priority. Carrying 50 pounds is significant, when it’s 50% of your body weight. We have always been proponents of full body strength and mobility for peak performance, so we continued those routines as well.
Finding packs that didn’t add significant weight by themselves, that fit our torsos, that could hold all of our gear and also securely hold our rifles, was a challenge. It required some trial and error, but we each found usable solutions for the event. Jennifer was a big fan of “rifle on top”, which Shannon would have also liked to do, but her ruck only allowed her an option of carrying the rifle on the outside of the pack.
THE WEEK OF
Physical Prep
For the three weeks leading up to the event, we tapered down our physical training, using the 75% 3 weeks out / 50% 2 weeks out / 25% 1 week out rule. We used the extra time for gear prep.
Shooting Prep
Jennifer used Boretech C4 Carbon Cleaner to clean her rifle’s barrel, and she cleaned the action one last time. After the last cleaning, and the Monday before the event, we went to our local 100yd range to zero, chrono, practice some pistol shots under pressure at 30yd on an 8” plate. We built paper dope cards from -1000DA to 3000DA based on the final chrono, which was unchanged since our last chrono.
Gear Prep
We re-confirmed where the reticles on the LRFs were in relation to the beams. We swapped in fresh batteries on all of our devices (ear pro, LRFs, headlamps, Kestrel). After swapping batteries, we made sure that the desired settings were still in place. We repacked freeze dried Peak Meals into lighter weight ziplock bags. We unpacked and reviewed every piece of gear and its weight with a seasoned Mammoth competitor, to look for opportunities to trim excess. Shannon practiced assembling and disassembling the tent.
THE DAY BEFORE
We left Charlotte at 7:30am, so that we could be in Augusta by 11am, leaving us plenty of time to zero and address any unforeseen issues. Registration was a breeze. The vendors tents were nice to visit. We spent some time chasing tenths of mils while zeroing Shannon’s rifle, and Jennifer adjusted up by 0.1 mil.
Some ROs and competitors recognized us from our Instagram account, which was a nice surprise.
We were able to check in at the Candlewood on base early, and we took a nice nap to maximize rest before the event.
We had an early dinner with a couple that we met, who were also competing. It was nice to get a mental break from planning, instead of staying in our hotel and continuing to obsess about our gear. We had already done just about everything we could do to prepare.
We visited Scott and Joe before we turned in for the night. It was good to have a hanging scale to sanity check total ruck weights, and we also had printouts of our gear lists with itemized weights, in case we needed to verify anything. With warmer weather in the forecast, we were able to remove some items from our ruck, which made us happy.
THE MORNING OF DAY 1
We set alarms on two different phones, which was good, because one of the phones ran out of batteries despite being plugged in.
We expected to have a little bit of time to pack up our jackets after the match brief and before the first ruck, but the ruck was ready to step off right after we got an overview of the route, so we had to rush to get ready.
RUCK PLAN
The first ruck wasn’t that hard. The trail and sunset were pretty. Our bodies were still fresh. The course markings were clear and understandable, as they were all weekend.
Our #1 goal was to complete the event, and one of the most difficult aspects of the event is finishing all of the rucks within the time hack. While we have been doing rucking events for years, we typically ruck with about 30 pounds. For this event, we’d have to ruck with about 45 pounds, at a sustained fast pace.
Because the consequences of failing a ruck were high, we had to build in some buffer time with our pacing strategy. The rucks were point-to-point, often with unknown elevation changes and terrain, so we had to be prepared in case we were slowed by technical terrain, hills, or unexpected issues with gear.
We minimized the risk of gear issues by checking the tightness of each others’ straps, and checking that bipods, lens caps, etc, were firmly attached to the gun, as well. We stashed items in our hip belt pockets, which we might need during the ruck, such as a pen for time hack notes, a headlamp, the cell phone, and a little bit of fuel.
For rucks that were 2+ miles, our plan was to aim for a 15:00/mile pace, which would bank us 1 min/mi as a buffer. For rucks that were less than this, we generally aimed for 14:00/min pace, since there would be less time and mileage to make up for any slowdowns. Jennifer would call out the average pace every half mile or so, to make sure we were on track with our plan. Shannon also had her GPS watch on, as a backup.
We were not permitted to ruck on roads, but the grass on the sides of the road were fairly flat and ruckable. The dirt roads offered fairly friendly rucking surfaces, too. Only a few spots here and there were rocky or sandy. We generally prefer to ruck on soft surfaces, anyways, because it saves our joints. It is slightly slower than asphalt, but nicer for the long haul.
We experimented with trekking poles the month before the event and found them to be pretty useful for reducing the load on our legs and providing a bit of forward propulsion. In the end, we decided to only bring a single pair between the two of us. Shannon really liked using them, and Jennifer was indifferent to them, so Shannon ended up using them the whole time.
PRE-STAGE PLAN
When we arrived at the finish line of the first ruck, we got to choose between shooting 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. We took third.
Upon arriving at a stage, we’d use the restroom if needed, as the remainder of the rucking group arrived. We’d re-hydrate and eat something if we needed a boost. We used the Kestrel to get an updated DA, if it had been a while since we had last shot and if the conditions may have changed in the meantime. We’d put on our armboards and battlebelts, to be prepared for the stage brief.
STAGE PLAN
We’d listen to the brief, ask questions, and stay to listen to other teams’ questions, in case they thought of something that we didn’t consider. Over the course of the event, we each figured out the most efficient ways for us to capture stage notes.
We’d put together a strategy based on our strengths. We’d choose who would shoot what, and where we would prioritize our time to maximize points. We’d emphasize key instructions, like target sequence or hit counts, so that we wouldn’t mess those up. Attention to detail is big in this match, since not following instructions can cause you to miss out on points that you would have otherwise earned.
As we stepped up to shoot, we planned to look around with our eyes for 5s, to get a lay of the land. If Pistol was involved, we prioritized getting those hits, even if it took a while. It would still take us far less time to earn each pistol hit, than it would take us to find, range, and engage a rifle hit, so we had to make those count.
We had one pair of good LRFs between the two of us, so based on who would be shooting rifle first, the other person would start with the Fury and be responsible for ranging. Both of us would search for targets, though, with the shooter using her rifle, since it offered good magnification and would put her on the gun and on target immediately. Once a target was found, we’d talk each other on, range it, and shoot it.
For Rifle, our general plan was to find whatever target we could, range it, and shoot it, as opposed to using all of our time to find and range many targets without getting to shoot anything.
DAY 1 ACTIVITIES
Day 1 - Ruck 1
The first ruck covered 3.61 miles at 15:08 pace, from the parking lot and briefing area to range 7, with 210 feet of ascent and 194 feet of descent (16 feet net gain). We rucked on the sides of the roads, and on some dirt roads. The first part was in the dark, but we got to enjoy the sunrise, and there were really nice views through the trees and at big ponds.
Day 1 - Stage 1 (officially Stage 3)
First, we used pistol to shoot 3 rounds each on 4 targets going near to far. Then, we moved into a car, which had to fully contain our bodies and our gear. We had to shoot at different targets out in the field based on whether we were the left shooter or the right shooter, alternating shooters and targets. We timed out on our four minutes before shooting a single rifle round at a target 295 yards away with -853 D/A, because Jennifer spent time trying to build a modified prone position on the seats, instead of using her ruck as a barricade. We got 16/24 pistol hits, which wasn’t as well as we could have done, if we had taken our time a little bit more. Many teams had hits that didn’t earn any points, because their feet were on the ground.
One team didn’t follow the rules about having a clear chamber and mag out when they dumped their pistols in the buckets, and they received a match DQ, ending their Mammoth 2023. We were already going to be very careful about following the safety rules, but that just reiterated to us how easy it can be to make mistakes when you’re rushing. To us, it was worth the extra second to double check as we left the pistol area at every stage.
Day 1 - Ruck 2
We went down the road to range 4, which was 0.41 miles away. We covered it at 13:35 pace, with 10 feet of ascent and 33 feet of descent, for a net drop of 23 feet.
Day 1 - Stage 2 (officially Stage 1)
We moved with our gear between two sandbags that marked the boundary of our shooting area. Over the course of 5 minutes, we had to alternate target engagements downrange at -370 D/A, where distances were specified at 895yd for a diamond, 702yd for a 75% torso, 701yd for a rectangle, 604yd for a circle, 798yd for an oval, 989yd for a bigger circle, and 499 for a smaller diamond. Some farther targets were worth more points, and first round hits were worth more points.
During the planning phase, we decided which targets each of us would ideally go for, and in which sequence, based on what was available and what could earn us the points that we were most likely to get.
All of the targets were clustered together downrange, and fortunately, Jennifer saw the oval she was looking for. Jennifer should’ve been more clear when talking Shannon on, about which “1 and 2” she was referring to, since there were multiple sets on the range. She could only see half of it from her position, so she moved farther left to get a slightly better angle on the target. Jennifer made all of her hits on the oval, despite forgetting to hold for wind. It’s good that ovals are wide.
Shannon struggled more, and Jennifer did see trace, which is exciting, but didn’t use that info to provide detailed corrections like she should have. For ranging, we could have used our packs to help stabilize the LRF more. After another team lost their LRF during the first stage, we were careful to always check our area before leaving. We earned 8 points from the three hits on the oval and were happy to finally get a rifle shot on target.
Day 1 - Ruck 3
We rucked back up to range 6, which was where we had registered and zeroed, which was next to range 7, where we had first shot that day. We covered 0.41 miles at a 13:37 pace, with 16 feet of ascent and 20 feet of descent, for a net drop of 4 feet.
Day 1 - Stage 3 (officially Stage 2)
It was now 12:15pm and we were slightly ahead of schedule, so we had about 15 extra minutes to recover before the stage brief. We shot at 5 pistol targets with 3 rounds each, with the left shooter going from left to right and the right shooter going from right to left. After shooting her pistol rounds, Shannon began, but Jennifer noticed that we weren’t getting “impact” calls, and figured out that Shannon needed to start from the right. We focused on making pistol shots, knowing that speed was not a strength of ours when it came to finding, ranging, and engaging rifle targets.
After finishing on pistol, we moved to a “pit” where we had to shoot over a concrete wall whose top was just above ground level. Jennifer tried to build a modified prone position by throwing a pack just outside of the pit and putting her bipods on it, but getting the bipods in just the right spot to get a good angle was time-consuming. Looking back, using the wall as a barricade might’ve been quicker, even if it was going to be less stable. She was not able to get a shot off on the square at 350yd at 140 D/A in time. It was good that we at least got our 21 pistol hits.
If we had finished with the square, Shannon as the right shooter would’ve engaged either of two other squares next to the original square. Then, we would have engaged 12” circles. Then, we would have engaged rulers. Then, we would have tried to hit an oval with our guns at a 90 degree cant. We did not plan to get that far, but we had hoped to at least make a rifle shot.
Day 1 - Ruck 4
Our next ruck took us to a range 0.73 miles away. We covered it at a 13:58 pace, ascending 10 feet and descending 59 feet, for a net drop of 49 feet.
Day 1 - Stage 4 (officially Stage 4)
The DA was now 300. We ran up some stairs, and one shooter had to engage two rectangular pistol targets with 3 rounds each, and the other had to engage two circular targets with 3 rounds each. As we ran up and saw the sizes and distances of the targets, we decided that Jennifer would go for the rectangles, and Shannon would go for the circles. The RO didn’t call impacts on pistol at this stage like the ROs had done at other stages, which threw us off for a few moments before this was clarified. We made note to ask about that during question time in future stages.
Once we were done with pistol, we had to move under a tower on the far right, which would involve getting through some unnamed obstacle. As we approached the tower, it wasn’t clear to Jennifer what the obstacle was, but Shannon recognized that we had to duck under ropes. Maybe because Jennifer is just over 5 feet tall, she didn’t see that as an obstacle.
There were three troop lines, where the secondary shooter had to shoot the two nearer ones before the primary shooter could shoot the two farther ones, with three rounds per target. The leftmost column of targets had a starting target that was only 140 yards away, and which was clearly marked with a red t-post. Shannon made those hits, plus one on the next target at 300yd. We did learn to use our packs to stabilize the LRF, but the targets were difficult to laze through barren tree branches, from our position near the ground. Sometimes, we’d get an initial reading and start dialing dope for that range, and then we’d get better numbers to adjust for moments later. Jennifer spotted her first miss at the close 400yd target and corrected to make her next two shots. We ran out of time before engaging the last target in the column.
We were the third team to shoot, so we had a good amount of time in the post-shoot holding area to recover. While we were there, we retroactively found a green sniper’s head target. The Match Director told us before the match that 1-4 targets would be hidden in the stages on Friday and Saturday, and we’d be able to hit each target once, with 5 points per hit. We did think about looking for the sniper’s head prior to this stage because it seemed like a good range in which to hide one, but there’s no guarantee that it’s even there, and you could be spending time searching in vain. We ended up being occupied by the normal course of fire, anyways.
We earned 9/12 pistol points, and earned another 6 on rifle.
Day 1 - Ruck 5
The nice thing about the final ruck of each day is that you don’t care at all about placement, because you don’t have a subsequent shooting stage where you’re trying to fight for a good slot. You only need to worry about making the time hack and not burning yourself out while doing so.
Our last ruck of the day was 3.32 miles back to the parking lot. The route involved some dirt roads, which don’t bother us. We covered it in 15:34, with 253 feet of ascent and 243 feet of descent, for a net gain of 10 feet.
During this ruck, there were some rolling hills. Whereas on the first four rucks we always stayed pretty much within arms’ reach of one another, at this ruck, we decided that if Shannon felt good and wanted to go faster on the downhills and take advantage of her strength there, she could go ahead, and Jennifer would catch up. We still wanted to stay close to each other in case one of us had a gear issue or physical issue and needed help, but we were more comfortable with a little bit of separation now.
Once we completed the ruck, we still had to ruck another third of a mile or so, to get to the campsite. It was unexpected, but it wasn’t a bad thing. The extra walk would be a good warmup and cooldown each day. We could go at whatever pace we wanted. We got to celebrate finishing the day and banking that day’s points.
FIRST NIGHT AT CAMP
The sun was still up, and we wanted to take advantage of the daylight to put up the tent. Our first priority was using the restroom and dropping off our ammo, which would be secured overnight for safety. We brought some water over from the pallet to our camping area. We put up the tent together, so that Shannon could teach Jennifer how to do it. Afterwards, we used the MSR jet boil to heat up enough water for our Peak meals and hot drinking water.
We prepared our sleeping pads and sleeping bags to put in the tent, so that we could eat in a warmer environment. Jennifer had not practiced blowing up her sleeping pad beforehand, so she wasted about 20 minutes making it work. We put our rucks and rifles in the vestibule areas of our tent, to protect it from frost.
We met our campsite neighbors and decided to keep each other accountable for being up by 4:30am (with alarms set for 4am), which would give us time to eat breakfast, take down camp, and arrive at the briefing site down the road by 6am. We also visited our friends Scott and Joe, and talked to Maryanna and Micah, to see how their days went.
Before going to bed, we made one final trip to the porta potties, which were accompanied by some portable sinks that were a pleasant surprise. Jennifer plugged her GPS watch into a power bank to bump it up from 40%. We brushed our teeth and went to bed. The full moon made late night bathroom trips easier.
It took Jennifer about 1 hour to fall asleep, and she woke up about 1 hour early, but she had a solid 6 hours of sleep. Shannon also slept well.
MORNING OF DAY 2 AT CAMP
It was cold when we woke up, so we prepared as much as we could from inside the tent. We made Peak meals for breakfast and boiled extra water for tea. When we woke up at 4am, the ammo lockers were not open yet, but we’d be making another trip to the nearby porta potties later, so that was ok. We ate in the tent and started to put away our sleeping pads and sleeping bag. We kept careful track of time, because we didn’t want tardiness to cause us to miss the time hack for the first ruck.
We each only ate half of our Peak Meals for breakfast. The 350-400 calories that we did take in felt like plenty to us and our appetite after the hearty Peak meal dinner from the previous night, and the upcoming ruck. Jennifer saved the second half of her sweet pork rice meal for later in the day. Shannon discarded the rest of her egg scramble, because she had other food already planned for the rest of the event.
It soon came time for us to exit the tent and put that away. Condensation had formed over the entire underside of the rainfly, but we shook it out as well as we could before putting away the tent. We went to the porta potties one more time, retrieved our ammo, and packed up our rucks. The ⅓ mile ruck to the briefing area by the parking lot helped us generate a little bit of body heat. At the brief, the Match Director reiterated the safety and match rules that had given teams issues the previous day. Abandoned gear could not be recovered until after the match was over. Leaving pistols in the buckets with mags in would lead to a match DQ. The match had started with 90 stepping off the previous morning, but 84 remained at that point.
DAY 2 ACTIVITIES
Day 2 - Ruck 1
We received route instructions, and we were prepared for a quick step-off this time. The squads going in our direction were released in two waves, to help reduce congestion. Squad 6 left in the second wave. We had a 3.63 mile journey ahead of us, so we felt no need to be a part of the melee at the start. Especially with a horizontally oriented rifle, we were happy to let everyone who was in a rush to get out in front do so. We prioritized not bumping into others and not rolling any ankles, over the few seconds the initial rush might gain.
The route started on a road, but that road soon turned into a dirt road. We made note of the elevation changes, knowing that we’d be coming back up this way eventually. The road went downhill to a bridge, and then it went back uphill. We covered it in a 15:04 pace as planned. We had 197 feet of ascent and 213 feet of descent, for a net drop of 16 feet.
Jennifer kept her puffy jacket on during the ruck, because it was cold enough to do so. It did get sweaty towards the end, but it was worth keeping on.
Day 2 - Stage 1 (officially Stage 6)
It was chilly, so we opened a single hand warmer to share. Discomfort is fine, but shivering would negatively impact our pistol shots. It was -1400 D/A and 35 degrees, which was the lowest we’ve ever recorded while shooting. When it was our turn to shoot the stage, we were surprised to be starting with a team from another squad who also rucked to this bay. We would both be shooting our separate stages simultaneously, side-by-side on a dirt road, shooting down the road. Shannon was on the left, I was on the right, and the other team was between us.
We would start with pistol shots on our own side’s 75% torso, with 3 shots, a mag change, and another 3 shots. It ended up being the only stage where we needed two pistol mags to complete the course of fire. As the left side shooter, Shannon shot pistol first, and then Jennifer could start once Shannon had dumped her safe pistol in the bucket. We earned 8/12 pistol points.
For the rifle portion, each of us had the sequence of targets that our partner had to shoot, where we would take turns shooting our targets. While Jennifer was wrapping up her pistol shots, Shannon searched for Jennifer’s gong target on Jennifer’s side of the road. She was looking for a circular target dangling from some sort of beam like a traditional gong, and couldn’t find anything like that. Jennifer had noticed that the word “circle” was not used in previous stages, and that gongs and circles were being used synonymously, so she was looking for any kind of circle. She saw one in the distance, but it was hard to tell if it was a circle, because of other targets that seemed to be directly behind it, and because the target had shots pockmarking it already.
Jennifer tried to range the target with the backup monocular LRF, but the heat and sweat from inside her puffy jacket fogged up the glass, and she could barely see past the pistol torso. Shannon couldn’t see the target either, because she was still looking for a traditional gong, but she noticed that all of the visible targets seemed to be at about 100 yards, so she advised Jennifer to just treat everything like it’s at 100yds, which was the right call. Jennifer shot at the first potential circle but didn’t hear an “impact” call. She then happened to notice a gigantic circle farther to the right and closer, and then it became clear that this was the gong. The next two shots were easy and on target. Unfortunately, they weren’t worth as much as a first round hit, but it was something.
Now, Jennifer gave Shannon her target - a square. It was about the same distance away as Jennifer’s circle had been. We had to shoot off of a barricade on which she couldn’t leave her rifle while she was ranging and spotting, so by the time Shannon started to build her position, time ran out. We only managed 2 points from rifle shots.
During the 4 minute stage, with the induced chaos caused by the simultaneous stages, we soon learned that we had to shout to hear each other. We wish we could have made more rifle hits because they were all close. We need to learn that when targets are big, and we can approximate the distance, we should just go for speed over accuracy in ranging.
Day 2 - Stage 2 (officially Stage 5)
We got to stay in the same place for our next shooting stage, where we’d be doing what the other squad had just done, shooting from the middle position of the road while the other squad now took the outer positions.
There were three plate carriers that we’d shoot with pistol going from left to right, with 3 rounds each. Primary would start, and secondary would repeat.
Next, we used the barricade in the middle to find, range, and engage three sets of targets, where a target was composed of a 75% torso with a plate carrier cutout that had a gong filling the gap. When we found any one of them, we could engage it, with primary shooting first at the torso head or outsides with three rounds, and then secondary going for the gong in the middle of the torso.
We were able to engage two of the torsos. Jennifer saw one in the center, and then Shannon saw a closer one on the right, which we started with. Ranging was challenging from the barricade, so corrected ranges were given upon additional scanning, but a barricade is still better than going free-hand.
Unfortunately, Jennifer shot low and hit the gong instead of the head on each of her first round hits, costing us valuable points, but the other hits were better after an adjustment. She should have figured out that she needed to adjust on the second torso, like she had on the first. With barricade shooting, she has a tendency to shoot low.
Another challenge that the shared barricade presented was that it would wobble if one person was working on building their position while the other person was trying to shoot. Jennifer would ask Shannon to stop moving when she was trying to shoot, and then Shannon would try to continue building when Jennifer was conducting grosser movement patterns like running the bolt, to maximize time. Jennifer didn’t even try to spot for Shannon through her rifle scope, because she didn’t want to disturb Shannon’s shots.
We did earn 13/18 pistol points and 5 rifle points.
After the stage, we found spots where the sunlight was hitting the ground, to warm up, and we continued stretching to stay mobile for the rucks.
Day 2 - Ruck 2
Our next ruck took us further away from our campsite, to a large bay 1.25 miles away. We covered it at a 14:36 pace, with 98 feet of ascent and 33 feet of descent, for a net climb of 65 feet.
Day 2 - Stage 3 (officially Stage 8)
We had a couple minutes before our stage brief, and it was noon, so we ate some food for lunch. The D/A was now 210, and we felt some wind, which seemed to be coming from 6 o’clock generally, but which would gust with a slight left or right vector on occasion. It was probably 7mph, so it wasn’t nothing. This next stage had a 5 minute par time, and it was rifle only. Our shooting area was a sideways slope, that went downhill to the right. Fortunately, the angle of the slope was such that a fully extended right bipod leg and a normal left bipod leg worked pretty well. Upon building our positions, the ROs noticed that Shannon didn’t have ear pro in, so she had to grab and insert those on the clock. Fortunately, they were pretty accessible.
The plan had been for Jennifer to also do a quick scan for a sniper head while looking for targets, but we ended up focusing on the course of fire. Again, there’s no guarantee that the sniper’s head is even out there, so we were fine with only really trying to pursue it if we happened to see it.
There were 5 boar targets that the primary shooter could engage, and 1 coyote and 4 prairie dog targets that the secondary shooter could engage. We could fully engage the targets in any order, with 3 rounds per target. Generally, Shannon is better at ranging, and Jennifer’s rifle is good at reaching out, so Shannon started with the Furys. The plan was for Jennifer to shoot first, but she found a prarie dog first, ranged it, and shot it. She made her first round hit, so Jennifer started trying to range the boar just beyond that, but struggled with the dimness of the Fury’s, which were set on level ⅗ brightness at the time. She also struggled with how the Fury’s reticle needed a different ocular focus for her vs. for Shannon. Afterwards, we changed the brightness setting to AUTO, and made note that we’d need ways to get around the different ocular focuses in the future. Jennifer had struggled with the low magnification levels of the backup LRF, so she didn’t use that, either.
There was a second prairie dog to the right of the first one. It looked like it could be on the same plane as the first one, so we assumed that it was at the same range, but that was likely a Match Director trick. The targets were on a berm, so they could have easily been placed at some distance behind the berm, but at a height that made it look like it was on the berm. Jennifer tried to give corrections, but none of the rounds were able to make an impact. We walked away from the stage with only 2 points.
It was a difficult stage to walk away from, because between the challenges with ranging and the stoppage for ear pro, we didn’t get very many hits. We did our usual post-stage AAR, but the conversations were more difficult. The difficult topics are the most important ones, though, and trusting and valuing each other enough to share our thoughts openly is important. It’s OK to have differences in opinions, too, because we all bring different personalities and approaches to the table.
Another plan that we made after this stage was to have the neck strap of the Fury’s stuffed inside the chest rig, so that they’d be less likely to get caught up in other gear.
Day 2 - Stage 4 (officially Stage 7)
Our last shooting stage of the day would include robotic movers brought to us by Marathon Targets. First, we’d run up to a pit, where we would take a simulshot at steel coyote and torso targets. The coyote was slightly smaller, so Jennifer would aim for that, while Shannon would aim for the torso. Before Shannon could talk Jennifer on to the targets, though, Jennifer saw a sniper’s head. We decided to go for that first, because it would earn us 5 points for a hit, and it would be fun to go after. Shannon ranged it 800 yards, and the D/A was now 700. Since we had unlimited tries at it, we agreed that Jennifer would go ahead and start shooting at it even if Shannon wasn’t set up to spot yet.
The ground beyond the pit was close enough to the top of the barrier that tall bipod legs allowed for a form of modified prone. There were wooden platforms next to the pit, which Jennifer dragged into the shooting area so that she would be tall enough to see the targets over the pit. Shannon didn’t have a platform handy, so she had to stand on her toes at times. The first round missed, but Jennifer could see the impact on dirt and made a correction up and left to hit it on her second try. We were excited about the hit. We noticed that the movers had started moving, too, but we could still proceed with our simulshot. We had practiced this before, so Jennifer counted down from 5, and we made our hits flawlessly.
It was time to get busy with the movers. Shannon is stronger at movers, and ranged and hit the first one at 200yd. Each of the 4 movers would re-anmiate once after 5 seconds of being down, so Jennifer encouraged her to stay dialed in for 200 and get the second hit while she was already there. There were berms dividing the movers, so we estimated that they were stationed at 100m intervals (meters for military ranges). The mover is tall, which gives us wiggle room when it comes to elevation, anyways, and they were programmed to drop on any kind of impact, not just fatal ones.
Shannon continued working her way through the movers. Jennifer shot at them, but may have only made one hit at most. The one time she did spot a miss, it indicated too small of a lead. Based on Shannon’s successful hold of 1 mil from the leading edge of the target, the movers were likely going at 2mph.
We ran out of time on the 5 minute stage before we could get through the movers and go on to engage the final target, which was a torso at the far end of the range. We were able to earn 5 points for the sniper’s head, 4 points for the simulshot, and another 20 points for movers, though. Jennifer used up 10 rounds on the movers and had a box of ammo handy in case she used up her two mags, but never got that far.
With 29 points, we were thrilled about how this stage went. We communicated well, did some decent shooting, and put the outcome of the previous stage behind us. The ability to move on from rough stages and focus on the task at hand is big.
Day 2 - Ruck 3
After completing the mover stage, we could celebrate our win and then prepare for the last ruck of the day. We ate, drank, and used the restroom. We were ready to get the ruck over with, so that we could maximize daylight at camp. This ruck was looming in our minds because it would be our longest to date, we had a day and a half worth of rucking fatigue on our legs already, and we still needed to leave something in the tank for the last day. If we finished this ruck, one big hurdle would be done, and we’d bank the day’s points for scoring purposes, and earn a good night’s rest. We cross-loaded a little bit of gear, based on who was feeling slightly better.
We had to go 4.89 miles, which we did at a 15:11 pace, with 220 feet of ascent and 272 feet of descent, for a net drop of 52 feet. We worked together well even on the ruck, motivating each other and sticking with our pace plan. We were retracing our two previous ruck routes, so we knew when to expect the hills. We were happy to cross the finish line, and then walk over to camp.
SECOND NIGHT AT CAMP
Our second time around at camp, things went even more smoothly, because we knew the routine. We dropped our gear at the same spot as the previous night, and went to drop off ammo and visit the porta potties. We assembled the tent after drying it off a little bit more, and then boiled water for dinner and for drinking. We were tired from our two days of rucking, and we wanted to maximize rest before the last day. From last year’s AARs, we were anticipating that we might get woken up at 2am by some match organizer shenanigans, so we wanted to be in bed early. We were able to turn in 30 minutes earlier than we did the previous night.
Jennifer’s legs felt a bit inflamed from the mileage, so she tossed and turned a lot more on this night. It was still good to just lie down, though, even if she wasn’t asleep. Shannon was lights out pretty quickly. Jennifer charged her watch overnight. The team phone on power saving mode was still at a nice 87%. We had really only taken it out for pictures, a quick check of the Mammoth Sniper Challenge FB page, and one wind forecast. It was on airplane mode the rest of the time. The 2am surprise never came, so we were rudely woken by our alarm at 4:15am. Perhaps the mental games of worrying about a 2am surprise is its own kind of mental torture, and they didn’t even have to do anything extra or wake up extra early to do stuff to us! The briefing for Sunday was moved to 6:15am, which gave us an extra 15 minutes of sleep.
MORNING OF DAY 3 AT CAMP
Again, we knew our routine this time around. We used the portapotty, and bypassed the locked ammo. We heated up water to make breakfast, which we decided to share this time. Neither of us had eaten more than half of our Peak meals the previous day, and our appetites still felt about the same, so we shared a Homestyle Chicken and Rice dish (more egg scramble didn’t appeal to us), which was perfect. Jennifer felt like she could have even been happy with a cold breakfast of bars, which would have saved us some jet boil effort. The hot liquid for tea was still nice, though.
We finished eating while we put away our sleeping pad and sleeping mat, and then we took down the tent. We retrieved our ammo, and we used the porta potties one more time. We packed up our rucks and made the warmup trek to the briefing area.
The field of competitors had reduced in size again. Although we had started the event with 90 teams, less than 70 now remained. On the last day of the competition, the entire field rucks and shoots together.
DAY 3 ACTIVITIES
Day 3 - Ruck 1
The first ruck of the day was 2.82 miles long, and took us to back to range 6. We knew the difficult final ruck was still looming, so we just needed to survive this ruck, even if it was slow. As long as we were under the 16 min/mile time hack and didn’t burn ourselves out doing it, we were good.
We ended up with a 15:19 average pace, with 180 feet of ascent and 161 feet of descent, for a net gain of 19 feet. Some teams like to run near the end, maybe because the finish line and beating others is alluring, or maybe because they care a lot about the shooting sequence. We were focused on finishing, though.
Day 3 - Stage 1 (officially Stage 9)
The bay on which we had zeroed was very wide, so all 8 squads were able to shoot in their own lanes simultaneously. The ROs made sure that everyone received the same briefs and got the same answers to questions. We took out our other hand warmer to help minimize the shivering.
This stage would test our technical skills with rifle and pistol. We would start on pistol, shooting at a sniper’s head from three positions - standing 1-handed, kneeling upright other handed, and prone, with 4 rounds from each position. The subsequent rifle shots would be challenging for us, so we again prioritized making hits with pistol. We thought about whether we wanted to go support hand standing to be able to use our strong hand while kneeling, but we both decided to do string hand standing and support hand kneeling.
Jennifer forgot that it was 4 rounds per position, but thankfully, Shannon reminded her. Support hand shooting is always a challenge, but we are quite good at prone shooting with two hands. As Shannon shot, Jennifer reminded her that these shots were all that mattered, and to take her time. Jennifer took breaks on pistol when she couldn’t hold her arms out in a stable way anymore, and even those two seconds helped significantly.
After completing the pistol portion, it was time to switch to rifle. There was a good chance that only Jennifer would get to do some shooting before the 4 min ran out. Shannon ranged the 50% torso at 350yd. Our main priority was to do everything safely, and avoid match DQs or NDs. We had come this far, and we didn’t want to make it all for nothing.
The first position was standing unsupported. With a 17 pound rifle, it’s very difficult for Jennifer to get and stay on target. She fired shots safely. They probably only had a 1% chance of hitting with the amount of wobble that there was, but we wanted that 1% chance as long as it could be done safely. She would put the gun on the ground to run the bolt each time, because it was too heavy to do in the air. After 4 misses, it was time to move onto the second position, which was kneeling unsupported. Again, this was a challenge, and she continued to run the bolt while the rifle was on the ground, but she timed out after taking one shot from this position.
We were happy to still earn 15 points from the pistol shots, though, which was the best that any of the 4 teams from our squad so far had done on that weapon system.
Day 3 - Ruck 2
Our next ruck took us down to Range 4 again. This was our third time doing this stretch of road for a rucking leg, so we knew what to expect. For the 0.40 mile ruck, we didn’t go quite as fast as we had the first day, as we were more tired now. We still covered it at a 14:43 min/mi pace, though.
Day 3 - Stage 2 (officially Stage 10)
The next stage would involve some more shenanigans. We’d shoot at a 66% torso 707yd away down our color-coded lane. Secondary would go first, with 6 rounds hit or miss, show clear with mag out, and then Primary would go next. Then, we’d swap positions to be on each others’ rifles, and go again, with Secondary shooting Primary’s rifle, and then Primary shooting Secondary’s rifle.
Since we’d have to go mag out anyways between shooters, we decided to use two mags of 6. That would also make it obvious when we had completed our 6, and we wouldn’t have to worry about changing mags mid-shoot.
We knew what the range was from the brief, so we were able to prep the dope and parallax ahead of time.
Shannon initially forgot that she was first to shoot, but got ready and inserted her mag after that. 707yd is about at the transonic zone for her caliber, so we knew it could be a struggle to get on target. We didn’t see anything with the first round, so we repeated it. When we didn’t see anything again, she held up a mil, since that was what she had to do with a different brand of ammo before. It was a very flat range, so there wasn’t much to go on in terms of dirt impacts. She kept holding higher, which was probably unnecessary. Jennifer did see trace on two of the rounds towards the end and advised holding left, but it didn’t help.
707 yards is much easier with the Primary rifle, so Jennifer was able to make 6 hits in quick succession. An RO told her afterwards that he thought she had a gas gun at first, because the bolt ran so smoothly.
Shannon and Jennifer then switched spots, and Jennifer told Shannon that she could just aim for the center of mass. Shannon didn’t realize quite how heavy Jennifer’s trigger was, and thought that there was a malfunction at first and ejected a round. When she chambered the second round and saw it go in, she fought through the wall and sent it. It was a miss, but Jennifer knew that the center mass hold was good and encouraged Shannon to focus on the fundamentals. The next shot was a hit. The one after that was a miss, but she was on target two more times after that. There was one ejected round that she tried to emergency load, but she realized that she had to remove the mag for this to work on the Ruger Precision Rifle. It does take some time on a gun to understand the nuances of the trigger, the reticle, the bolt, the mag inserts and removals, and emergency loads. This was a lesson learned for the future. We ran out of time before getting to the last round on the Primary rifle. With the difficulties of shooting at that distance with .223, we weren’t too bothered by the fact that we didn’t get to our second mag there.
We had banked another 18 points, didn’t struggle as much as some other teams had. Most importantly, we were still in the game! While waiting for the other teams to finish shooting, we ate, drank, stretched, used the porta potties, and readied ourselves for what would be the final ruck.
We also took a Day 3 Squad 6 picture, which included our “Squad Mom” Shane. He was super nice and encouraging throughout the event and did an excellent job.
Day 3 - The Long Ruck
Everyone talks about how challenging the last ruck of Mammoth is. It’s the longest of all of the rucks, it’s hilly, and there’s a sandy portion. The cumulative fatigue is high by then, too. On the bright side, you have eaten almost all of your food, boiled away fuel, and shot a lot of ammo by then. We didn’t shoot as much rifle ammo as we had planned to, so we still had some of that weight to carry around.
The result of this ruck would dictate whether or not all of the miles we had put in, and all of the points we had earned while shooting, would lead us to a finish. We were ready to give it all we had.
The last ruck would be 7.35 miles long, the longest ruck that any Mammoth Sniper Challenge had ever planned. The previous record was 7 miles, which was last year’s final ruck. The year before that, it was 5 miles.
Our plan was to go at a 15:00/mi pace, which would bank us 7 minutes by the end, to help us get through the hills and sand. There were supposedly three very steep hills to worry about.
We set off. There was a team on our squad that we were often close to on the rucks. We must have had similar pace plans. They were reliable, and they thought the same of us. Since all of the squads were together, we came across other teams that we had not seen before, too. Everyone was fighting their own battle against the route.
There were lots of uphills and downhills. Like we had done on other rucks, Shannon would go ahead on the downhills with a faster shuffle, and Jennifer would catch up on the uphills. Jennifer would shout out how far behind she was, so that Shannon was aware and didn’t have to worry.
We each carried a bottle of water with us, which was good for refreshment along the way. We also ate from snacks that we had prepared in our hip belt pockets for easy access. They provided us with boosts of sugar and morale.
We came across one guy who was so tall that even though he had a horizontally packed rifle, Jennifer could ruck right next to him and still be well below his rifle. It was cool to see so many different types of shooters out there - big and small, short and tall, male and female,old and young, newbie and experienced. We were all out there to test ourselves and overcome challenges.
Some of the hills went up so high that it looked like we were about to hit the end of the world, and that there was nothing beyond that. Further down, we heard someone mention that we only had one hill left, though, which meant that we had already conquered two of the three big hills. That was a nice surprise, because we didn’t realize that the ones that we had already climbed were the famous hills. We thought that even bigger hills were still coming.
We turned off of the main road, and onto a dirt road that would lead us towards the finish. This is where the sand supposedly is, but to us who regularly like to ruck on soft surfaces, we didn’t notice it too much. We could see how it could further slow down a team that might already be struggling, but in the scheme of things, it was still a pretty ruck-friendly surface.
We were now approaching a big area with a parking lot, a lodge, and a range. We could see big banners for Vortex, marking the finish line. We could have run, but we were happy to cruise on in, and enjoy the moment before getting ready for our final shooting stage.
At the line, there were many people cheering. We saw our friends. As soon as we crossed the finish line, Tim Jensen from Grunt Style and the Garrison Commander of Fort Gordon Col. Reggie Evans congratulated us. Tim and the media team interviewed us, asking us how it felt to be the first all-female team to ever complete the Vortex Optics Grunt Style Mammoth Sniper Challenge. At the time, we were smiling and nodding, but in the backs of our heads, we were still thinking about the last stage that we had to shoot successfully before we would truly be finishers.
After the interview, we set our gear down and started to re-hydrate. Shannon found our squad leader Shane, to check in, but we were still unclear about the shoot sequence situation. Then, Joe came over and told us that there was no final shooting stage, and that we were truly done. This was the best news ever, and then Tim’s comments finally made sense. We had really done it!
FINISH LINE FESTIVITIES
Shannon jumped in a van with other competitors for a long ride to the parking lot, so that she could pick up her car and drive it over to the finish line. We packed away our gear and caught up with Scott and Joe.
Someone offered us some leftover pizza and crazy bread, which we gladly accepted. We moved over to the lodge, where we were shocked to find our names on the first page (of two pages) of results. We typically work our way from the bottom of the rankings to look for our names, when it comes to shooting competitions. We had managed to place 49th out of 65 teams who had completed the full three days of shooting stages and rucks.
We checked out the prize table, especially the lower end of it, haha. Winners were announced, and they received their awards. A nice addition for this year was finishers’ patches.
Jennifer was happy to get a holster holder off the prize table.
On the 2.5 ride home, we did a debrief of all of the whole event, and savored the accomplishment. We had been working really hard at rucking and shooting for the past 6 months, and this was quite a challenging goal. We planned and executed well, and leveraged our strengths and our good teamwork to accomplish what had once seemed impossible.
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