Three Forks September 2010

[LTR]

Got home yesterday and finally figured how to get the pictures I have off of the camera. Three Forks for me was beyond fantastic. From a bigger view, it is unfortunate more do not or cannot take advantage of this opportunity.

I left Castle Rock Sunday night and arrived in Three Forks Monday Night. Got to the range around 9:00 am Tuesday morning to find Pa Rah had set up a full distance AQT. I was smiling from ear to rear from being back in beautiful Three Forks and knowing full distance was in my near future. There is a picture of the long range below. The silhouettes are what we were shooting. For those that have never been, if you look at that picture closely you will notice what appears to be small white dots. The one on the left of the picture is 400 yards the ones on the right are at 500, 600, and 1000. The silhouettes are posted at 100, 200, 300 and 400 yards.

To my surprise there were very few who came to work. In fact, counting Guy and Pa Rah, there were only six which was fine with me. My first boot camp and Appleseed was at Three Forks in 2009 and that was an all out week long marathon that ended in me shooting a 187 high for the week. A year later I arrived shooting 4.5 to 5 MOA. I shot a 199 at distance Tuesday morning. Shooting full distance takes some time as you shoot the course and then walk the range to score your targets and paste the holes. I took my dog Nikki with us when we walked the course.  An incredibly relaxing thing to do.

Wednesday Morning Guy has seen enough (inconsistent shooting) and moved us to the 25 meter range to shoot 1 in squares. This proved to be very profitable for me as we were able to diagnose and correct several problems which would jump my scores and my confidence. The first thing he went after was my support elbow. When I obtained my M1A, I shot 10 round magazines which allowed me to get my elbow under my rifle. Pa Rah invited me to Vale in the spring to shoot High Power. I showed up with my 10 rounders and was quickly advised those could not be used in Service Rifle. I remember asking how to get my elbow under my rifle and was told you just get as close as you can. Guy was sick of seeing my right hand float down the fore stock after every round and attached a stop to the underside of fore fore stock using Gorilla Tape and three empty cartridges. Ugly, ugly, ugly but very, very effective. The next thing he did was build up the comb of my stock with some card board. This raised my head considerably and allowed my head to be closer to the heel of the receiver without getting punched in the lip every time I pulled the trigger. These two mechanical changes shrunk my groups to between 2 and 3 moa with a single flier in a 5 round string. There is a picture below that shows a group with a flier to the right.  I had both, but primarily mine were left. (more on that later)

Thursday morning we were back to squares. I put 5 rounds thru one ragged hole which at first I did not believe. I had Pa Rah verify and my confidence level was increasing by the minute. I could not stand the taped on junk on my rifle, but by then I had learned the required hand position and set out to rebuild it before Guy showed up. I marked the stop with a sharpie and pulled it off the rifle. I used some of Pah Ra's skate board tape and placed a longitudinal strip from the magazine well to the sharpie mark. I then built up three transverse strips of tape at the sharpie mark. I tried it with no glove but it was so abrasive I was beginning to sing the Choir Girl Blues. I grabbed a leather work glove and repositioned the tape to accommodate the extra thickness and wal ah I was on my way. Guy showed up with a little frown, but all he really cares about is about is function and the 5 inch group thru one hole was good enough for him.

Thursday afternoon we were back at distance. One of our biggest problems was 1) not knowing our come ups 2) not being able to consistently run the sights. Guy had us verify our come ups at each known distance. This was a luxury I did not expect, but it saved a lot of time later because for at least three of us our 25 meter zero was one minute low at the 200 yards stage. With my 200 yard zero set to 11 moa, my come ups were -3, 0, +3, +3. Pa Rah had me put 1 moa right into the windage at 400 which put me right in there.

We were finally able to shoot full distance AQTS late Thursday afternoon. My first attempt was a 185 because I did not execute the come ups as I should but my groups looked good so I was excited. My next attempt yielded a 208. It was getting very late and everyone else had packed it up. I coerced Pa Rah to stick around and run one more course of fire ( he had just finished the day with a 235 out of his AR 10) as usual he good heartily agreed. The lighting was getting pretty weird as it was after 7:00 pm but I was in the groove and felt confident I would get it. Ended Thursday night with a 216.

Friday morning we were back at the 25 meter range and reduced our string count to 3 rounds. This was a great thing as I figured maybe we could figure out why I had a consistent flier to the left. It did not take very long - drum roll - I shoot out of the rhythm of the cadence. I do not shoot the cadence on the first round. I fuss the first round which causes me to buck.  Once the ride starts I'm rhythm and they go where I want. The ones to the right are lazy follow thru as I have decided to bail out before the ride is over. Follow thru is a no brainer, to fix the buck changes things up a bit so I've got some work to do there.

Friday afternoon we headed back to the full distance. John and I walked the course to repair targets but by the time we got back cold windy rain was headed our way and John was unwilling to soak his rifle so we took cover and hoped it would pass. Eventually someone had the idea to go get burgers so we packed it in and headed to Three Forks. I was glad I stayed Thursday night because I could see my chances to shoot again diminishing quickly. John still had not shot Rifleman at distance because his come ups were to low and he kept grouping out the bottom of the black. With Friday rained out I figured we were done with the long range since Saturday was a regular Appleseed at 25 meters and I was going to Instruct. I felt bad for John but happy I stayed late Thursday and shot a score.

Saturday was way to many Mattel guns, with way too much crap bolted on them, and enough ego to slay Goliath. Just a hand full of .22's and only one shooter in the bunch (shooting a .22). Seemed to me the full distance range was a done deal.

Sunday morning started with 1" squares and my end of the line was pretty bad. I wondered what in the world they had taken from Saturday. Pa Rah had gone over the cadence with an excellent demo on Saturday but since you cannot rack the bolt on an AR without knocking the shooter in the in the head they were never able to dry fire and feel the whole cycle for themselves - too bad - especially considering I had 3 LTR's to pass around. At noon Clod Hopper opened the long range to John and I. I had not even brought my rifle I was so convinced all was lost. I drove back to Three Forks get my rifle and ammo.  

It was an absolutely gorgeous day and the lighting was perfect. The picture of the range is representative of the day. I had a conversation with Guy about front sight focus on Wednesday. I have been having some trouble with what I see as a "ghost" or mirage on top of the font sight post before I fire and I would have to constantly reposition my head to get rid of the ghost. I attributed this to not wanting to give up on the target but after Guy had me build up the stock with card board I don't remember struggling with this anymore. In fact all I remember was extremely clean sight pictures even in low light. I fully expected to shoot Rifleman scores every time I shot an AQT. We shot three and my scores were 214, 188, and 217. I forgot to run the sights on the first stage of the 188 and had also left the 1 moa windage in for the 400 yard. John was still grouping out the bottom on the first AQT and I mentioned to him about the come ups being different. He made the elevation adjustments on the second AQT he shot Rifleman - yahoo John - I shot the 188.

The 188 hardly phased me because I had an assignable cause. I got a chance to shoot another one and shot the 217. My scores for the week from (low to high) went

159,185,187,188,199,199,208,214,216,217. I shot 790 rounds and never got my LTR out of the case. It was a very enjoyable laid back affair and I can't remember making so much head way with so few rounds.

Rod and Guy - I can't thank you guy's enough - seems like you would get tired of showing us.

Glocker - books are in the mail -  .

John - Great week - I enjoyed you company and your knowledge.

Paul and RL - You boy's frigging blew it -

Todd - if you read this thread that picture is for you (without the card board).  Light sand and satin poly - nice job baby, I couldn't be happier.

If you are instructing and have never been to a boot camp you are doing yourself a major injustice. It is not an Appleseed - it is a boot camp. You get to meet great people, great shooters, and get to interact at a level you will not encounter at an Appleseed.

Did I mention my mother would buy off on Guy's spaghetti.

Always focus on the front sight - Long live the Republic.

[LTR]

Pictures

[LTR]

Pictures - edit re-size pictures and move up.

[LTR]

Pictures - edit re-size pictures and move up.

[The Guy]

Well, I had a fine time.

Always love MT, plus the higher quality than usuall shooters allowed us more centerfire and distance time.

Oh yeah, I never told them that the AD score is only 200.....LOL!  It was more fun to watch them try to get a 210+ and succed!   

Can't wait for next year, congrats to the newest MT IIT, BEEMER.  Also thanks LTR for maintaining skill so we did not have to start from a position of regression.  I was happily suprised as to how much you had improved in the last year in shooting ablity.

Guy

[AFTERMATH]

Huzza!
O0I really wish I could have been there!