News:

We need volunteers in sales, marketing, PR, IT, and general "running of an organization." 
Maximize your Appleseed energy to make this program grow, and help fill the empty spots
on the firing line!  An hour of time spent at this level can have the impact of ten or a
hundred hours on the firing line.  Want to help? Send a PM to Monkey!

Main Menu

Raton, NM May 17, 18, 19 2013 3 Day Full Distance Rifleman's Boot Camp NRAWC

Started by TaosGlock, May 20, 2013, 08:40:24 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

TaosGlock

New Mexico's second 3 day Full Distance Rifleman's Boot Camp was held at the NRA's Whittington Center.

BTW, our Sept 13-15, 2013 3 Day FDRBC shoot already has 16 folks signed up!

What a fantastic group of shooters!! These are folks who are a cut above the rest!
At the 400 yard line:
Standing L-R: AZBastiat (James), Boyd, Long Rifle (Alan), Rick,  and BlueFeather (Gill).
Bottom: Alex, Jules and CSHR (Michael).


Nearly every semi-auto MBR platform was represented. These rifles are tools that are an indispensable for the Rifleman:

The FAL. Adopted by nearly 93 countries at one time as a MBR. It has seen action from Viet Nam to Rhodesia to the Faulklands.
Still being made today, thanks to DSA in part. The FAL is a great rifle!
The NRA WC hosts a FAL only event each year!


The M14/M1A. From Viet Nam to present. Powerful, reliable, simple and rugged, it is considered the ultimate battle rifle by many.
It is the platform the USMC recently chose for their DMR.
Still made and widely used today with many options and models. It is fast and easy to load its magazines. With its precise iron sights and long sight radius, it's a very accurate rifle and a pleasure to shoot.



The M1 Garand.  "The greatest battle implement ever devised." The rifle that helped us win our freedoms during WW2. No wonder it is one of the most popular rifles today! History and freedom combined with a easy to shoot rifle in a very powerful and hard hitting cartridge.
Get to an Appleseed today so you can purchase one from the CMP and have it delivered to your door!


2 AR-15's below. From Viet Nam to present. The most popular, affordable, user friendly rifles of the bunch hands down. Superbly accurate.
The Armalite Rifle is often referred to by many as America's Rifle. It rules the roost in modern day shooting matches. Most of the military and nearly everybody owns one...or three!



This 24" AR delivers it's payload nearly 300 fps faster (with some bullet weights) over its little carbine brothers!


...lots of ammo:


Here was our 3 day itinerary:
Warm Up Shooting, zeroing rifles.
Target Detection
Range Estimation
IMC Review
Determining Baseline Sight Settings
Trajectory
Zero Verification at Distance
Adv. Trajectory including, Battle Sight Zero
Come-ups
Wind - Speed Estimation, Correction
Shooting at Distance in Wind
Full Distance Squares
Discussion of Mechanical Sight Corrections vs. Holdoffs
Wind Holdoffs
MOA Exercises using Silhouette Targets
Full Distance AQTs.
Steel shoot 300/575 yards

..more to come when we get unpacked!



89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

AZBastiat

I learned a lot (not least about my equipment) and gained essential hands-on experience. Thanks to all the instructors!!

I've been late getting on the CMP M1 Garand bandwagon. Even with the enormous delays nowadays, I may PM one of you for the participant verification form I need.

CSHR

HINT: This class is a MUST to take, get it while you can, class size is limited.

This is the 'how to' in full distance....and more....see the posted 'itinerary' at the last picture....

The instructors are very knowledgeable, personable and dedicated. Once they provide you with the verbal information using charts and graphs, they give you a hand out, and then discuss it again individually...if you leave without the knowledge and practical application it's your own fault. You are expected to get involved with discussions. There is homework!!

NRA Whittington is a world class range:  http://www.nrawc.org/index.html
If you've got teenagers be sure to look into their Adventure Camp (already sold out 2013&14).

CSHR

P.S. IF you're real good they'll point out their 575, 715 & 925 steel targets and see what you really learned.
"But rightful Liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add "within the law" because the law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual." -- Thomas Jefferson

TaosGlock

At the target line. Here shooters measure groups in inches and convert to MOA.
If a correction is necessary, then MOA's are converted to the clicks on their rifle.
Usually 1moa or ½ moa values for most MBR's

Scope's are usually ¼ MOA. Scope shooters learn how repeatable their sights are when "dialing/clicking" up/down.
Everyone will find out their "bottom out/baseline setting so if the rifles sights get loose (M1/M1A) or they (especially scope shooters) forget where they are between stages or did not look or mark it, they can dial down  to baseline and come up to say their 100 zero and start from there. Scope shooters at our last shoot had to dial down to bottom out, then put over 100 clicks up to get to his 100 zero, then add the clicks to get to the stage we were shooting. Most M1/M1A's come up 8-15 clicks/MOA to reach 200 yard zero. Much easier.

To generalize, sighted in at 25 yards most M1A's and M1 Garands are pretty much dead on at 200 yards.
Most A2 style or a detach carry handle sight, or drums marked 6/3 or 8/3 AR's are about 3-4" high at this range.  As their 25 zero is on at about 300-325 yards-depending on ammo, shooter  or the usual variations in machining of the sights. They zero that style at 300 yards and adjust the front sight up or down. They do an adjusted POA for 100 and for 200 yards flip up the larger peep is often closer.

At 300 yards, they hold dead center on the D to make hits in the V, 5 or 4 scoring area.
AR shooters/AR scope shooters that use the popular 50 yard zero can make their needed adjustments. It's your rifle, so your target is the guide to how you adjust.  Remember it's  sight in for long range shooting at 100, 200, 300,400 yard stages,  not QCB. YMMV as always and that is what we are all about when helping the shooter with his sights.

Since there is a huge difference in bullet hole size, 223/5.56 and 308 shooters use 1 target.
200 yard line:
Jules and Rick.




At the 300 yard line.
CSHR, BlueFeather and AZBastiat  on the 300 yard line measuring, taking notes, then will make corrections back at the line or note where they need to use adjusted POA if that is their choice.


300 yards is a generous battle sight zero for the M1 and M1A but works fine at 7000' in long range situations. It does require a slight adjusted POA; bit of hold under at 100/200 yard stages.

For  400 yards a "hold up" near the top of the black between the 3 and 4 scoring area on the D targets. About 3 moa high or 12" from the V.
There are variations depending on rifle, ammo and shooter of course. YMMV in your home range.
Shooters learn the traditional BSZ and a 300 yard BSZ.

This makes it easy really and keep in mind we are talking hits on more or less man/deer size targets.

Congrats to CSHR and Alex! Our FD Rifleman!! Shown at 400 yards.



All the backers are visible to 500 yards from the covered firing line:





89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

TaosGlock

Long Rifle (below in red hat) was the driving force behind this 3 day event.
Getting ready for Stage 4 slow prone on the D's.
"All ready on the firing line, FIRE"!


Let er' rip boyz!

Smoke and boom and hot lead downrange! :~
Hot brass from an M1A caught in action while engaging the 400 yard targets.
Boyd sends a 147 grain NATO mil-surp round at close to 2800 fps down range on the center of an US Army Dog Target (D's) to score an effective hit.


A 24" AR and a nicely stocked M1 Garand with Scout scope set up.


...more smoke and boom as lead flies downrange to the 400 yard D targets.
AR's, M1A's, FAL...







Detail of just 2 of the shooters at the 400 yard stage. You can barely see the orange and green backers thru the sage and grass.





89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

TaosGlock

Again, we teach range estimation methods (among those, using your front sight as a rangefinder) target detection, battle sight zero, wind corrections, trajectory and come ups (based on minutes of angle), proper zeroing and finally shooting at distances from 100-400 yards. We actually have targets to 925 yards at this range located at the NRAWC in Raton, NM

This is real deal field expedient riflery based around the principles of traditional combat riflery. We cram a lot of info in your brain in just 3 days. And we give 2 pages of homework that we go over in the morning!

This is a precision rifle course. It is a course designed from lessons learned by the 3 of us Red Hats that helped train the 2nd Engineers Battalion at White Sands and offered thru Project Appleseed. (It is actually a blend of much of the RBC existing material.) That was 5 day SDM course to 500M.

BlueFeather and one of the troops at WSMR, NM on 3/9/09:



Rack grade rifle and mi-surp ammo are all you need to get effective hits to 600 yards.

This is the course to take when the batteries in your scopes and rangefinders have died, the glass is busted in your fancy optics and you have to get effective hits now!

We quickly review the 6 steps to firing a shot, natural point of aim, firing at cadence, inches, minutes and clicks as it relates to trajectory, come ups and you rifles sight system etc. It is highly suggested that you shoot "Expert" on the AQT or at least have the fundamentals wired before you attend. Previous attendance to an Appleseed will also get you in the door. Students and instructors often shoot side by side as marksmanship is a perishable skill and who wants to lose that.

It gets loud under the covered line but this means we can shoot in bad weather.  And the range yardages are on from the concrete slab to the backers.

Oh yeah, and we ain't gonna stop unless the wind is over 60-gale force (that is what the frame/backers are rated to), we get lightning or a blizzard, pounding rain obscures the line or safety issues related to weather, etc.
You learn as much about your gear as you do skill sets.



Long Rifle gets Jules into a tight position.


And yes, as you can see, we use "adaptive Appleseed" methods only for those that require it!

A sure cure for "draggin' wood" or aluminium in this case. Tape the port side of the trigger guard. Tee he.
Thanks to Long Rifle for that tip!


Touching the op rod or squeezing the support hand too tight is a no no.
You will miss the D's at 400 yards!
But we can cure that!
Check out the difference now.
After a sight adjustment, this shooter is on his way to Rifleman status!











89 fantastic Appleseeds since 2008/24 Libertyseeds!
Adventure Camp Director/Current Lead Rifle Instructor: NRA WC Raton,NM
New Mexico's first Rifleman: Sept. 2008 NRAWC
Their walls are filled with cannonballs, their motto is don't tread on me-Grateful Dead
Liberty is not a cruise ship full of pampered passengers. It is a man of war and we are all crew-Boston T. Party
"Make no mistake, when you cheer for the people of the American Revolution, you are cheering for traitors and criminals.
They broke the law, because liberty is always illegal"- Larken Rose

MI-copperhead

Awesome ! I would love to, someday, come to the Whittington Center to do a full distance RBC. Right now I settle to be able to make a KD 'seed somewhere near me.
Morgan's Rifleman 250 yard cold bore, 10/29/2022, Tusco Rifle Club, New Philadelphia OH KD/Rifle M1A w optics/Prone
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God ! I know not what course others may choose, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death ! " Patrick Henry
"I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty, than to those attending too small a degree of it. "
Thomas Jefferson
"Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." Capt. John Parker
" I have'nt a man who 's afraid to go." Capt Isaac Davis
"I would say that the majority of Americans have no real sense of the value and the uniqueness of being a U.S. citizen.  Once they realize what they have, they are less likely to stand by while some politician attempts to whittle down their rights."  Troy a.k.a. solarguy

BlueFeather

Here is a handy dandy front sight measuring image for those of you who asked for one.  Just make sure it prints so that the widest part of the white wedge is 3 inches wide.

/G
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. (not Edmund Burke)

Sharpshooter

This is Alex, so I was successful in finding my login info.

Just wanted to say thank you again to all the Red Hat Instructors and how much we appreciate you!

The class was excellent as was the comradeship between students and instructors all around!  I'm already working on trying to get others to attend with me the next one in Sept and this after action report helps!

Thanks too Bluefeather for posting the front sight measuring image!

Colorado Pete

"Good shooting is good execution of the fundamentals. Great shooting is great execution of the fundamentals. X's are what you want. Tens are okay, but nines indicate you've got a problem" - Jim Starr
"The purpose of shooting is hitting" - Jeff Cooper