JP RM3G World Champs and Shooting Tips!
Sorry this article took me a bit to get out, but, we are getting ready to film volume 8 of the series and yes it will be on shotgun shooting!
JP Rocky Mountain 3 Gun World Championship
Placement:
Open Champion
Overall Champion
Well, I was kind of dreading going to this match. Not because of the match itself but because of the drive! I don't like driving since most of the time I have a tendency to go to sleep on the road. Flying wasn't an option since no airline flies to Raton, NM. The 701 miles from my house to Raton made for a long day in the truck. My Ipod was cranked into the stereo in my Armada and made it quite a bit more livable since I didn't have to change CD's or find another radio station in the middle of nowhere.
An explanation of how the eight stages are all "equaled out" to 100 points. The top time in each division is divided by all the other times, then your percentage is your points. Example: top time is 76.47, your time is 98.22. 76.47/98.22 = .7785% or 77.85 points. Now this system can be an advantage or disadvantage to you depending on how you are doing and how the times on the stages are going. A 10 second loss on a rifle stage that takes 100 seconds for the top time isn't nearly as bad as a 4 second loss on a 22 second stage. You would only lose 10 points on the first one and 15.5 on the second one! The shorter and faster the stage is, the more important the time is. Now where this factoring helps is if you dump a stage because of a gun problem etc. Even if you get a 300 second stage and the top guy shoots it in 75 (rifle stage for example) you would still get 25 points out of 100. Yeah, 75 points is going to be hard to overcome in the match but it beats trying to overcome 225 seconds! The part that sucks is if you're the guy that shot it in 75 seconds I am sure you would rather have that 225 second lead. I have both won and lost matches because they were or were not factored.
Now on to the match!
The match was quite diversified as far as the type of shooting other than very few shotgun slugs were required. The match was probably heaviest on the shotgun, then rifle, and then pistol.
Ok, to be honest I did something kind of stupid prior to the match. I experimented with a different (50yard) zero on my rifle. Shouldn't have made a difference but the targets proved otherwise. With angles up to 15 degrees and targets out to 300+ it proved to be a problem. After the second rifle stage I changed it back to my 100 yard zero and that worked out better on the following stages. I ended up in a hell of a race with Gene Ragulsky. Gene shot very solid the first day and ended up having a lead of 15 points after the first three stages. The second day went a bit better for me and I picked up a 4 point lead. With two stages to go, it was going to be an interesting Saturday morning. We had to skip the machine gun stage and go off to a pistol/shotgun stage. The pistol was provided by Springfield and frangible ammo by International Cartridge Company. You started with 5 or 6 steel targets about 2 yards away then dumped it and ran back around the corner and up the hill to pick up your shotgun to shoot 17 (I think) clays and a slug plate. Picked up a significant lead and held it through the last stage. It was a great time shooting with and against Gene. Haven't had a race like that in a while and I can't wait to do it again!
One of the interesting things that toughens the match up is that it is held at the NRA Whittington Center at 7,000 feet. Five of the stages were uphill! By the time you were done with a walkthrough, you were already breathing heavy!
Thanks go out to:
JP Enterprises for sponsoring the match and their continued support of my shooting.
Sabre Defense for the tactical AR that I won.
The match staff, especially the RO's that ran up and down those hills with the shooters all day long!
Tac-Pro Shooting Center for their support and for letting me shoot the AW .50 and having it shear my Rudy Project glasses in half! Might even post the pictures sometime of what happens when you don't "get behind" a .50 on a slick concrete surface.
Congratulations to all the winners and everyone that finished the match!
Tips from the match for multi-gun shooting:
Rifle:
1. Practice oddball, uncomfortable position shooting with a rifle. In the match you had rocks and trees to shoot off . Focus on learning to use your bi-pod, magazine, or fore-end for any support that is available.
2. If you can, practice on targets at significant angles and ranges. Here is a drill for you: Buy some 8" plates and set them between 200 and 300 yards. Do a few wind sprints and find an awkward position to shoot them from.
3. Be careful of having your barrel contact anything. I watch one shooter have extreme difficulty when he found a really solid position with the barrel against a tree limb. He wasn't hitting anywhere near the targets. On free floated barrels you would be surprised how far off the gun will shoot. Also make sure when you go into positions on rooftops, trees, rocks etc. that you aren't going to hit them while you are looking through the sights.
4. Check your comps and screws for tightness and re-LockTite them if needed. I know this is one that most people take for granted. I watched a top shooter get knocked out of the running by a loose comp from the match the previous week.
5. Know your ballistics, sight-in, and hold overs including angles. Use a ballistics program if you can.
6. Really work on shooting on the move especially over uneven ground if possible. I watch a lot of shooters lose time because they come to a stop on targets that were 10-15 yards away.
7. Have different sizes of magazines for either stages with odd ball positions or to make sure you can avoid a load.
8. Replace your gas rings if you are shooting an AR before the match and then test fire 30 rounds and inspect them again.
9. Replace your gas tube every 3-5K rounds. One shooter had a catastrophic failure that cost him a stage due to erosion on the tube. I would also check your gas block for erosion after 5K then every 1.K or so.
10. If you have a variable power scope, check what power it is at before you walk to the line.
Shotgun:
1. Have spreaders for clay only stages and test them out with different chokes. Then check and see how your slugs group with that choke.
2. Know where your slugs hit out to at least 50 yards. All the way to 100 for some of the other matches.
3. Work your loading out until you can do it smoothly on the move. Covering ground almost always is better.
4. Break the stages out by number of rounds. Figure out when the most opportune time to load is and then mentally plan it.
5. Practice putting your guns down both empty and just putting the safety on so you can do either one on demand.
6. Make sure your stock is tight along with any other screws/attachments.
7. Don't leave rounds in your elastic side saddles between stages. They will start falling out under recoil very soon.
8. Clean the damn gun. Use an electric drill or a cordless to clean the barrel. It helps get out all the plastic from the wads. Use compressed air on the trigger group to clean out the corners. On a 1100/1187/870 watch out for your fingers inside the receiver, it is sharp and will slice you open.
9. On a Benelli when you start tube loaded, chamber empty click the button and put one on the loading gate. Finding that little button under stress can be difficult.
10. Use a glove on your weak hand or you will probably burn yourself at some point on a long stage.
11. Don't use an Arredondo magwell on your Ar if you want to use a Beta-mag in the match.
Pistol:
1. Have a locking holster that you can still draw from like a Ghost holster if you are shooting open class.
2. Learn to adjust your style of shooting to the scoring system for the match. Under IMG rules you need two hits or one A. Sometimes you want to just keep them on the brown if you are in Open whereas for a single stack you may want to just shoot A's to do fewer reloads. This may also apply to a rifle for short range stages with 20 round mags in He-Man class. In USPSA 3 gun, don't drop any points if possible, especially on stages scored for rifle/minor.
3. Practice loading the gun with either a mag in or out pre-start. If you have the option when it is empty don't put the safety on a 1911 with the hammer back. Trust me, you may forget to take it off and won't be able to rack the slide.
General Tips:
1. Have different pairs of shoes and boots available to adjust to different terrain or if they get wet. Extra socks don't hurt either as having wet feet sucks.
2. Keep your guns bagged up as much as possible.
3. Use good ammo. Old surplus ammo may not work. Don't spend $800-1000 bucks for the match and then try to save $30 on your ammo. Use new brass on reloaded pistol ammo.
4. BREATH whenever you are moving on a stage. Remind yourself beforehand since most likely under stress you can forget. I have seen incredibly in-shape people that are almost purple since they tried to hold their breath for the whole stage. Push air in or out whenever having a large transition on rifle targets, then clench and roll the sights into the next one using approach shooting if you are too low on oxygen. This also works with really awkward positions. Check out PSV 6 – The Ar-15 for more info on approach shooting.
5. Plan your transitions between guns and make sure each gun is in the optimal start position.
6. Know how your guns work including all the safeties and buttons before going to the match. Learn how to find the different buttons without looking for them. Dryfire and familiarize yourself with all your guns. Know them inside and out.
7. Don't have extra equipment on the gun you're not going to use. It is just more stuff to fall off, break, or distract you. It might look tactically cool but less stuff is lighter and faster.
8. Don't have extra equipment on you that you are not going to use. Read the above.
9. Use plugs and muffs. If your earmuffs fall off you still have some protection.
10. Watch the position of the brim of your hat if you have a stage that you have to go prone on. Either take it off or keep it fairly high on your brow.
11. Get some hard shell knee and elbow pads if there is a chance of falling down. It gives you something to absorb the impact other than your bones. Just try to remember not to catch yourself with your hands since generally your gun is in them!
12. Listen and make sure the RO has said "load and make ready". Ask them if you didn't hear the command clearly. I saw a guy DQ'd at a match several years ago when the RO said, "Are you ready?" and the guy loaded up. I also take a look down range just one more time to make sure somebody isn't lagging behind.
