Pardoe multi-gun match.
So in the last entry I mentioned the multi-gun match GFWTR allowed me to go to this past weekend. Results where posted and I won the Limited division! I was first of 5 shooters in the Limited division. It seems that the Tactical division is much more popular. The Tactical division is basic Limited but you are allowed one optical sight on one of your three weapons, this is almost always a scope on the rifle.
There was a total of 28 competitors 5 in Limited, 6 in Open and 17 in The Tactical division. For fun I recalculated my match points total against the best stage hit-factors of both Open and Tactical divisions and I would have placed forth in either of those division despite not having the disadvantage of using limited legal equipment. I am tempted to get optics for my AR so I can shoot in the Tactical Division but to be honest shooting US-poppers at 300yards with iron sight and watching them fall is very satisfying.
I did not bring my camera this year. Last year I took lots of pictures of the stages. It turn out it was a good thing since when I did pick up my camera Monday morning to take a picture of Little Miss it was dead, that would have been pretty distracting at the match. (The silver lining is that I contacted Canon and they are going to fix it for free despite being out of warranty!). All and all the match had a similar feel to last years match and other than some bad weather for the last three stages it was a great match.
Stage 1: was a short range pistol and rifle stage. They mixed classic targets and metric target throughout the stage. You started at the front of the stage shooting the metric targets with you handgun while backing through the stage. Once to the back of the stage you grounded you handgun and retrieved your rifle and engage the classic target as you advanced back through the stage.
Stage 2: was a crazy short range rifle stage called the "The Circus" with six moving targets. At the start you advanced to the front left of the shooting area to the first activator. Stepping on the plate activator activated a drop turner, a swinger and a pair of translating targets that slide clear across the bay on a wire. There were a few static targets mixed in. On the right side of the area was a second activator plate that activated a second drop turner and swinger and this oscillating four target array. The four target were arrayed in a plus sign with the pivot at the center of the plus. A vertical array of no-shoot targets stood in front of the the pivot and the targets rotate back and forth, CW and CCW, revealing target on both side of the no-shoot array. The oscillating targets failed to activate on my first run and I got a re-shoot on this one. A good thing too in my first attempt I hit a no-shoot the translating target stopped behind.
Stage 3: was a shotgun stage with a mild twist. You had 50yard paper targets and steel plates to engage with slugs. There was also 10 close range paper targets to be engage with OO-buckshot (best two pellets on the paper scored). So you had to decide what ammo you were going to load in your shotgun to start, slugs or buckshot. Shooting a target with the wrong ammo was a procedural penalty. The start was were the twist came in, your shotgun was loaded and on the table and you started the stage holding a Taurus Judge (a revolver chamber for the 410 shot shell). On the start signal you engage two clay pigeons at about 15ft on post with the Judge and then retrieve your shotgun and finished the stage. My shoulder is still sore from the 20+ round of slugs even though I was using my 1100.
Due to some back-ups on the slower stages we jump around stages the rest of the day to keep squads from backing up.
Stage 7: was a shotgun only stage and was a jungle run. 27 bowling pin steel silhouettes along both sides a tractor trail scattered through the woods. It was about a 150 yard long coarse. I left one target standing behind a tree I did not see when I stopped to early to engage that array. I love shotgun stages but it was really showing on this stage that I do not load my Rem 1100 nearly as fast as I could my old BPS. More practice is required.
Stage 6: was a long range rifle stage. There where two paper targets at 10yards. Five 6 inch square plates and two paper targets at 50yrds. Ten more 6 inch square plates and two more paper targets at 100yds. In the woods at 150 yards was two more paper targets and 6 more plates (~12 inch rectangles and round plates) At 200 yards there was two more paper targets, two pepper-poppers and four more 12 inch plates. Finally at 300rds was three pepper-popper with three of the smaller US-poppers hiding behind them. 53 round if you shot it clean. I fired 109rds in about 283sec to finish the stage. I had finished my third 30rd magazine and was loading my twenty round (oh-shit) magazine when the rain started. The rain was hissing and sizzling on my already smoking barrel. Wow was that gun hot after that stage. When that final US-popper fell I drop my mag and showed clear the magazine was empty and the only round I had left was the round in the chamber. I did, unfortunately, leave one target standing at 100yrds. The 6 inch white squares targets against the light sandy colored backstop were hard to see, especially with dark clouds rolling in. We then spent the next 45 minutes hiding under the rifle range pavilion as the sky open up on us. In that 45 minutes more than a 1/2 inch of rain must have fallen. It was puring!
After that rain let up we headed to the next stage. The sun made a brief appearance but quickly left as we shot stage 5
Stage 5: was pretty simple, 12 paper targets engage with your handgun only. The catch was the stage was in the indoor range and in the dark. Your only light source was your flashlight. I remember to change out of my spikes this year and did not repeat last years spectacular crash to the concrete floor.
Stage 4: was our last stage. The rain had returned with a bluster and then settled into a nice steady drizzle; things were getting muddy. The stage used all three weapons. In the bay where you started you had a huge array of steel targets. There were red and white target intermixed. You started with your shotgun and shot all the red colored plates. You then retrieve your pistol and engage all the white plates. You grounded your pistol and ran to the bay next door grabbed your rifle and engage 17 paper targets in a running close range hoser stage. It was raining pretty hard and by the time I finish the run through with the rifle section I was covered in mud from the back splash off the berms while engage the real close rifle targets.
All in all it was a lot of fun. It did take a lot of time to clean and dry all that wet gear when I got home. All three guns, XD-40 Tactical, Remington 1100 and RRA AR-15 ran flawless. I was especially please with my Rem 1100 given that this was the first match I used it in and I put more ammunition through it in that match than all my shooting with it up till this match. Definitely one of the better matches of the year.
There was a total of 28 competitors 5 in Limited, 6 in Open and 17 in The Tactical division. For fun I recalculated my match points total against the best stage hit-factors of both Open and Tactical divisions and I would have placed forth in either of those division despite not having the disadvantage of using limited legal equipment. I am tempted to get optics for my AR so I can shoot in the Tactical Division but to be honest shooting US-poppers at 300yards with iron sight and watching them fall is very satisfying.
I did not bring my camera this year. Last year I took lots of pictures of the stages. It turn out it was a good thing since when I did pick up my camera Monday morning to take a picture of Little Miss it was dead, that would have been pretty distracting at the match. (The silver lining is that I contacted Canon and they are going to fix it for free despite being out of warranty!). All and all the match had a similar feel to last years match and other than some bad weather for the last three stages it was a great match.
Stage 1: was a short range pistol and rifle stage. They mixed classic targets and metric target throughout the stage. You started at the front of the stage shooting the metric targets with you handgun while backing through the stage. Once to the back of the stage you grounded you handgun and retrieved your rifle and engage the classic target as you advanced back through the stage.
Stage 2: was a crazy short range rifle stage called the "The Circus" with six moving targets. At the start you advanced to the front left of the shooting area to the first activator. Stepping on the plate activator activated a drop turner, a swinger and a pair of translating targets that slide clear across the bay on a wire. There were a few static targets mixed in. On the right side of the area was a second activator plate that activated a second drop turner and swinger and this oscillating four target array. The four target were arrayed in a plus sign with the pivot at the center of the plus. A vertical array of no-shoot targets stood in front of the the pivot and the targets rotate back and forth, CW and CCW, revealing target on both side of the no-shoot array. The oscillating targets failed to activate on my first run and I got a re-shoot on this one. A good thing too in my first attempt I hit a no-shoot the translating target stopped behind.
Stage 3: was a shotgun stage with a mild twist. You had 50yard paper targets and steel plates to engage with slugs. There was also 10 close range paper targets to be engage with OO-buckshot (best two pellets on the paper scored). So you had to decide what ammo you were going to load in your shotgun to start, slugs or buckshot. Shooting a target with the wrong ammo was a procedural penalty. The start was were the twist came in, your shotgun was loaded and on the table and you started the stage holding a Taurus Judge (a revolver chamber for the 410 shot shell). On the start signal you engage two clay pigeons at about 15ft on post with the Judge and then retrieve your shotgun and finished the stage. My shoulder is still sore from the 20+ round of slugs even though I was using my 1100.
Due to some back-ups on the slower stages we jump around stages the rest of the day to keep squads from backing up.
Stage 7: was a shotgun only stage and was a jungle run. 27 bowling pin steel silhouettes along both sides a tractor trail scattered through the woods. It was about a 150 yard long coarse. I left one target standing behind a tree I did not see when I stopped to early to engage that array. I love shotgun stages but it was really showing on this stage that I do not load my Rem 1100 nearly as fast as I could my old BPS. More practice is required.
Stage 6: was a long range rifle stage. There where two paper targets at 10yards. Five 6 inch square plates and two paper targets at 50yrds. Ten more 6 inch square plates and two more paper targets at 100yds. In the woods at 150 yards was two more paper targets and 6 more plates (~12 inch rectangles and round plates) At 200 yards there was two more paper targets, two pepper-poppers and four more 12 inch plates. Finally at 300rds was three pepper-popper with three of the smaller US-poppers hiding behind them. 53 round if you shot it clean. I fired 109rds in about 283sec to finish the stage. I had finished my third 30rd magazine and was loading my twenty round (oh-shit) magazine when the rain started. The rain was hissing and sizzling on my already smoking barrel. Wow was that gun hot after that stage. When that final US-popper fell I drop my mag and showed clear the magazine was empty and the only round I had left was the round in the chamber. I did, unfortunately, leave one target standing at 100yrds. The 6 inch white squares targets against the light sandy colored backstop were hard to see, especially with dark clouds rolling in. We then spent the next 45 minutes hiding under the rifle range pavilion as the sky open up on us. In that 45 minutes more than a 1/2 inch of rain must have fallen. It was puring!
After that rain let up we headed to the next stage. The sun made a brief appearance but quickly left as we shot stage 5
Stage 5: was pretty simple, 12 paper targets engage with your handgun only. The catch was the stage was in the indoor range and in the dark. Your only light source was your flashlight. I remember to change out of my spikes this year and did not repeat last years spectacular crash to the concrete floor.
Stage 4: was our last stage. The rain had returned with a bluster and then settled into a nice steady drizzle; things were getting muddy. The stage used all three weapons. In the bay where you started you had a huge array of steel targets. There were red and white target intermixed. You started with your shotgun and shot all the red colored plates. You then retrieve your pistol and engage all the white plates. You grounded your pistol and ran to the bay next door grabbed your rifle and engage 17 paper targets in a running close range hoser stage. It was raining pretty hard and by the time I finish the run through with the rifle section I was covered in mud from the back splash off the berms while engage the real close rifle targets.
All in all it was a lot of fun. It did take a lot of time to clean and dry all that wet gear when I got home. All three guns, XD-40 Tactical, Remington 1100 and RRA AR-15 ran flawless. I was especially please with my Rem 1100 given that this was the first match I used it in and I put more ammunition through it in that match than all my shooting with it up till this match. Definitely one of the better matches of the year.