Kingman, AZ, Advanced KD Clinic - Oct 17-19, 2015

[azmule]

I thought for sure this was going to be one soggy weekend, going by the rather dismal forecast, but fortunately, the weatherman was stereotypically inaccurate, and the predicted 3 days of relentless thunderstorm downpour became 20 minutes of sprinkle on Saturday afternoon and an hour or two of light showers (just enough for a bit of "shooting in the rain" experience) on Sunday morning.   

Saturday morning 7 hardy Riflemen and 4 Instructors met up on the 25M line at the always wonderful 7 Mile Hill Range in Kingman, AZ, to verify zeros, sight adjustment resolution, and front sight / reticle dimensions.  Rifles were then cased and we headed to the clubhouse for the "classroom" portion of the weekend, where in-depth topics of discussion included target search/identification in the field, various options for ranging, trajectory, come-ups, windage, slope and other environmental effects, plus lunch and a recounting of how Riflemen helped General Washington secure victory at the Battle of Trenton.  Followed by a target identification/ranging exercise in the field - where students were tasked with finding and ranging objects that "didn't quite belong" distributed up the hill in the desert just west of the 500 meter bay.

Sunday morning we met up on the 500 meter bay to verify come-ups and/or reticle holdovers for each distance, followed by KDAQTs - shot in both rain and sun, as the day dried out in the afternoon.  This is the first year we've held this event on the 500 Meter silhouette bay, which features multiple target lines and a fixed firing line instead of the other way around, which saved us a LOT of time compared to previous years.  Lunchtime featured tales of how the redcoats - aware of the colonial's proclivity to attack Hessian patrols - tried unsuccessfully to use the latter as bait to lure out attackers, and the story of another thoroughly unpleasant surprise for the British at the Battle of Cowpens.

Monday morning - after a few raucous HUZZAHs in celebration of the anniversary of Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown - we re-verified zeros and got in a few more KDAQTs before lunch, revealing a KD Rifleman, Chris.  Lunch featured the tales of two Riflemen - Patrick Ferguson on the British side, and Timothy Murphy of the Colonials.  Then spent the rest of the day knocking over silhouettes from 200M to 500M, then ringing the gong on the 1000yd bay from 600yds out to 1000yds.

Kingman KDers, this is the place for comments, questions, discussion, pictures, etc.  (my pictures will be posted soon.)

[crobjones2]

I would like to thank the four instructors that came from AZ and CA to teach this wonderful class.
Coming from Southern CA we have few opportunities to test our skills at such distances. I was able to use the skills learned in previous Appleseeds to easily handle the 100yd targets, but due to the lack of experience with my particular rifle at any greater distance, I had to fall back on bad habits. With the lack of distance shooting, I had a hard time reading the wind, but through experimentation and the addition of a couple of flags, I was able to begin to read the wind. Shooting the distances with winds that swirl and switch directions was quite an eye opening experience. As was watching the flight of a bullet through a spotting scope.
My greatest take away from this experience was the camaraderie of the entire group, having dinner together both nights allowed us discussion beyond the range. It was during these discussions that I had an a-ha moment after some insight from Jacob. I spent some time making a hopeful modification to my rifle and was off to test this new idea. ( I was using a PTR91 unslung as there is no real good place to add a sling. I had been holding the rifle normally beginning Sat then moved to a tactical hold with some success.) We were discussing a " shoot with what you carry" idea as the colonist would have done when getting the alarm at 3am. I had made mention of carrying an ammo can and using it to support the barrel. Jacob pointed out that being unslung the rifle would bounce all over. A-HA - there is why I am only on target 50% in the mid stages.
With this new information and Cornwallis' army in turmoil, I was able to put the 6 steps together again and show that CA boys came to play( there was a fun little rivalry between the two states due to some of our ridiculous laws. i.e we never got to do a quick AQT because the CA guys didn't have magazine capacity)
I was really impressed by one hearty soul, Del, who came out with a M1A and iron sights. Amazingly he was able to ring steel out to 900yds. Excellent!!

Again
Thank you to Scott, KC, Jacob, and David for their excellent instruction and dedication to teaching.
Thank you to my fellow brethren who made this a great experience.
I look forward to doing this again at this wonderful facility.

I will add some pictures when I scale them down.
Chris

[azmule]

You're very welcome Chris!

And now that I'm at the only computer that my phone will connect with....

A field of redcoats "turned upside down."
Ringing steel @ 600.
The Rifleman!  (ummm- right side up this time, sorry)

[azmule]

Working our way back to 1K.

[azmule]

BANG......................................................................(ting!)

[crobjones2]

pictures of the weather and the range

[crobjones2]

Registered and booked hotel for Feb.
Lets do this again!! in the rain!!- preferably the snow!!

[azmule]

You're not alone I see, the next one is half-filled already!

Snow would be a first for Kingman, even in February - pack a sweater though at the very least.   

[crobjones2]

with the supposed and much needed El nino rumored to be upon us.... I can only hope for snow and plan for rain