Two more days at SIG
Friday and Saturday were spent at SIG Academy for the Advanced Long Range Precision Rifle course. As many know I've had a bumpy ride with this particular build and in the end it came down to flawed optics (3 different scopes)... With the help of the builders, we got Nightforce to upgrade my glass for free. Now, instead of running the original 8-32X56mm NXS they sent me a 5-25x56mm ATACR, zero stop and MOAR reticle as well as a new set of 6 screw rings because the ATACR's are 34mm not 30mm. So, it really was getting down to the wire, the replacement scope arrived on Wednesday evening, I ran in the house and got everything mounted/leveled/torqued.... Thursday went to the range to get it zeroed, and had enough time to put maybe 10 rounds through it. Then it was time to pack it all up and head out to the Class on Friday morning. Talk about cutting it close....
Nutshell: Gear performed flawlessly.
First, the BAD NEWS about the class itself:
Overall the class was a disappointment, Not because of the Instructor though. There were way to many novices in that class who didn’t have the gear nor the knowledge to handle rifles and scopes at 100 yards, let alone 1000. There is NO way they should have been allowed to sign up for an Advanced Precision Rifle course, so that will be something I share with SIG. I do feel a bit short changed as far as the amount of personal time I got with the Instructor and the amount of Rounds fired. I’m by no means an experienced long range shooter, that's why I was in the class in the first place however there is no way I would show up to an advanced class with a $300 dollar rifle and scope (COMBINED), MEH!
Now for some GOOD NEWS:
I did get to spend two days with a Marine Sniper who did two tours in Iraq. This kid was about 32 years old. At the end of Saturday I got the Honorary TOP-Shot for the class of 10 other students….. He didn’t have the pin though. Shot better than I ever have, both days and here are some additional pics and info.
We were on an upper deck, prone, no benches but this is the view of 1000 yards. The first area you can see where the road crosses, is the 750 yard firing position which is 250 yards away from the spot this picture was taken from.
This is full zoom on the camera, you can see the 750 yard benches and the 1000 yard impact area in the distance. Center gong is actually 48” x 48” and those 4 black dots are the steel torso targets….they’re standard size 15”W x 22”H
Note my neighbors gun case :-) I warned everyone before we even started, put me on the end and be at least 6ft away from me, otherwise my brake will blow your hats/glasses off and possible shoes... Nobody listened or took me seriously so I had several changes of neighbors over the two days as previous residents sought safer locations to shoot from. Each time someone would make a comment as they packed up their shit, I would remind them... I told you it was vicious.
The range is very sheltered from trees and winds were only 1-3mph so all the windage adjustments were very minor and mostly just for spin drift. I had been using the scope-dope card that is on the butt-stock for my MOA adjustments pretty much all day both days (worked really well even though I generated it with a slightly different velocity) and adjusting as necessary, so I looked at the card and made the correction on the scope for 1K….25.5 MOA UP, 2.25 MOA Left My first shot EVER at 1000 yards was about 1 foot low on that 4ftx4ft steel gong. He gave me a correction of 1 MOA UP followed by a second shot on the gong… HIT, Center, No correction!.... Then he says "I want you to reload and move over to the steel torso targets"
Spotter: “ Spotter ready “
Me: “Shooter ready” Deep breath,blow it out, reaching the bottom of breath cycle, finger comes inside the trigger guard.
Spotter: “ Send it! “
Me: “ Finger touches the trigger, shot breaks “ CRACK!
Spotter: “ Hit, Center of Mass No correction, Continue engaging, ”
Spotter: “ Send it “ CRACK!
Spotter: “ Hit…..Sternum ” slight pause to work the bolt, “ Send it “ CRACK!
Spotter: “ Hit….. Center of Mass “ slight pause to work the bolt “ Send it “ CRACK!
Spotter: “ Hit…..Sternum ” slight pause to work the bolt, “ Send it “ CRACK!
Spotter: “ Ok, you can come off the gun “
Spotter: THAT is some SEXY shooting! You just put 5 shots into that steels chest at 1000 yards, you are shooting sub ½ moa all the way out to 1K….. Congratulations, Outstanding shooting!... He came out from behind the spotting scope to shake my Hand.
Proudest moment I’ve had in a while, NOT because of how I thought I was shooting… but because A Marine Sniper with two tours purposely came out from behind his spotting scope and shock my hand. I’m sure I had a grin from ear to ear and puppy dog eyes because I look up to those guys with so much respect and admiration. Even though the class was delayed due to noob’s, that made it worth it.
Packed up, we were done….
Learned a couple new things...not nearly as much as I had picked up from the first class, but still super valuable and I'm getting more comfortable with the dope/corrections and most of all the documentation. I'll update my dope card for the conditions and velocity I had on Saturday as well as more data for my cold bore shots. Been tracking those and the cold bore on a fouled barrel are always about 1/2 and inch to the right of any future shots as shown below. This was my first group out of the rifle on Saturday morning to re-zero and correct for different conditions than we had on Friday.... Cold bore is on the right, the next 4 shots went through the same hole :-) Not even sure how I'm going to measure this one, its probably the tightest group I've shot
Just as an example, my correction from a 100 yard zero was 26.5 MOA UP and 2.25 MOA Left for a 1000 yard shot. Almost all of that 2.25 MOA is spin drift.
Anyway, that's the scoop on how I spent part of my weekend.
Nutshell: Gear performed flawlessly.
First, the BAD NEWS about the class itself:
Overall the class was a disappointment, Not because of the Instructor though. There were way to many novices in that class who didn’t have the gear nor the knowledge to handle rifles and scopes at 100 yards, let alone 1000. There is NO way they should have been allowed to sign up for an Advanced Precision Rifle course, so that will be something I share with SIG. I do feel a bit short changed as far as the amount of personal time I got with the Instructor and the amount of Rounds fired. I’m by no means an experienced long range shooter, that's why I was in the class in the first place however there is no way I would show up to an advanced class with a $300 dollar rifle and scope (COMBINED), MEH!
Now for some GOOD NEWS:
I did get to spend two days with a Marine Sniper who did two tours in Iraq. This kid was about 32 years old. At the end of Saturday I got the Honorary TOP-Shot for the class of 10 other students….. He didn’t have the pin though. Shot better than I ever have, both days and here are some additional pics and info.
We were on an upper deck, prone, no benches but this is the view of 1000 yards. The first area you can see where the road crosses, is the 750 yard firing position which is 250 yards away from the spot this picture was taken from.
This is full zoom on the camera, you can see the 750 yard benches and the 1000 yard impact area in the distance. Center gong is actually 48” x 48” and those 4 black dots are the steel torso targets….they’re standard size 15”W x 22”H
Note my neighbors gun case :-) I warned everyone before we even started, put me on the end and be at least 6ft away from me, otherwise my brake will blow your hats/glasses off and possible shoes... Nobody listened or took me seriously so I had several changes of neighbors over the two days as previous residents sought safer locations to shoot from. Each time someone would make a comment as they packed up their shit, I would remind them... I told you it was vicious.
The range is very sheltered from trees and winds were only 1-3mph so all the windage adjustments were very minor and mostly just for spin drift. I had been using the scope-dope card that is on the butt-stock for my MOA adjustments pretty much all day both days (worked really well even though I generated it with a slightly different velocity) and adjusting as necessary, so I looked at the card and made the correction on the scope for 1K….25.5 MOA UP, 2.25 MOA Left My first shot EVER at 1000 yards was about 1 foot low on that 4ftx4ft steel gong. He gave me a correction of 1 MOA UP followed by a second shot on the gong… HIT, Center, No correction!.... Then he says "I want you to reload and move over to the steel torso targets"
Spotter: “ Spotter ready “
Me: “Shooter ready” Deep breath,blow it out, reaching the bottom of breath cycle, finger comes inside the trigger guard.
Spotter: “ Send it! “
Me: “ Finger touches the trigger, shot breaks “ CRACK!
Spotter: “ Hit, Center of Mass No correction, Continue engaging, ”
Spotter: “ Send it “ CRACK!
Spotter: “ Hit…..Sternum ” slight pause to work the bolt, “ Send it “ CRACK!
Spotter: “ Hit….. Center of Mass “ slight pause to work the bolt “ Send it “ CRACK!
Spotter: “ Hit…..Sternum ” slight pause to work the bolt, “ Send it “ CRACK!
Spotter: “ Ok, you can come off the gun “
Spotter: THAT is some SEXY shooting! You just put 5 shots into that steels chest at 1000 yards, you are shooting sub ½ moa all the way out to 1K….. Congratulations, Outstanding shooting!... He came out from behind the spotting scope to shake my Hand.
Proudest moment I’ve had in a while, NOT because of how I thought I was shooting… but because A Marine Sniper with two tours purposely came out from behind his spotting scope and shock my hand. I’m sure I had a grin from ear to ear and puppy dog eyes because I look up to those guys with so much respect and admiration. Even though the class was delayed due to noob’s, that made it worth it.
Packed up, we were done….
Learned a couple new things...not nearly as much as I had picked up from the first class, but still super valuable and I'm getting more comfortable with the dope/corrections and most of all the documentation. I'll update my dope card for the conditions and velocity I had on Saturday as well as more data for my cold bore shots. Been tracking those and the cold bore on a fouled barrel are always about 1/2 and inch to the right of any future shots as shown below. This was my first group out of the rifle on Saturday morning to re-zero and correct for different conditions than we had on Friday.... Cold bore is on the right, the next 4 shots went through the same hole :-) Not even sure how I'm going to measure this one, its probably the tightest group I've shot
Just as an example, my correction from a 100 yard zero was 26.5 MOA UP and 2.25 MOA Left for a 1000 yard shot. Almost all of that 2.25 MOA is spin drift.
Anyway, that's the scoop on how I spent part of my weekend.