Talladega 600 Matches

Here is the lineup of the rifles I will be shooting, top to bottom:

1) Armalite National Match AR-15

2) 1943 Springfield Model 1903A3

3) 1942 Springfield M1 Garand

4) 1944 Long Branch No. 4 Mk I/3

5) 1944 BSA No. 4 Mk I (T)

I’m shooting the AR first in four different matches (all at 200, 300 and 600 yds). Then will shoot the M1, 1903 and Long Branch No. 4 at 200 yards (prone slow fire, prone rapid fire and standing slow fire). The last match is the Vintage Sniper match which I will shoot the BSA No. 4 (T) at 300 and 600 yards prone, single shot only. 

I’m expecting a good turnout for these matches. Weather looks fairly good, likely get some rain, but we fire from a covered shooting position. 

I will report my progress here on this thread. 

200 Yards Standing Slow Fire - 20 rounds in 20 minutes

200 Yards Sitting Rapid Fire - 2 strings of 10 rounds each in 60 seconds

300 Yards Prone Rapid Fire - 2 strings of 10 rounds each in 70 seconds

600 Yards Prone Slow Fire - 20 rounds in 20 minutes

Two sighters for each of the four stages above.

Yesterday did not go well, placed 11th out of 50 shooters in the civilian class.  My off hand (standing) stage went bad. Weather was about perfect, overcast but fairly bright, winds at about 5-7 mph from 10-11 O’Clock.

Today was better, placed 3rd out of 57 shooters. I did manage to hit the X ring 26 times in the 80 shots, tied for the most shots in the X ring (which means absolutely nothing!).  I missed 2nd place by one point (I scored 775 out of a possible 800).  The 1st place shooter kicked my butt with a score of 785.  Much darker today, gusty winds again from 10-11 O’Clock.  

Tomorrow is a light day, the Congressional 30 Service Rifle Match which I will provide a report on tomorrow. 

200 Yds Standing Slow Fire - 10 rounds in 10 minutes

300 Yds Prone Rapid Fire - 10 rounds in 70 seconds starting from standing

600 Yds Prone Slow Fire - 10 rounds in 10 minutes

No sighter shots.

My first shot in standing was darn near a miss, a 5 at 3 O’Clock. With that behind me, I recovered fairly well to finish with a 89/100.  At this point, I figure shooting the next two stages clean will give me a respectable aggregate score. Always think positive. 

Dropped only one point in prone rapid fire for a 99/100. OK, better. 

Prone slow fire was a disaster. I really don’t know what happened. Shots started out high in the 9 ring at the same scope settings used in the previous two days that were giving me 10’s and X’s.  I chased the shots all around the 9 ring ending up with just 93/100.  

Final score placed me 31/95 shooters, just missing the cut of the top 30 shooters getting the Congressional 30 medal by one X ring count.  The top shooter only dropped 5 points across the course of fire, I lost that many points on my first shot. If I shoot this poor tomorrow, I’m sunk. 

Gotta get this out of my head for tomorrow, the main event…