After Action Report for New Braunfels, TX KD Shoot March 15-16 2025

[GenX Minuteman]

A Bit Carried Away

    Our Spring KD event in New Braunfels, TX this past weekend was set to be a unique event from the start.  As of Friday, the Weather Stations around the area had been warning of strong winds on Saturday.  Well, their predictions certainly did not fall flat this time around.  I worked diligently to get our students familiarized with the new challenges they could experience shooting KD events regarding picking the correct zeroing scheme, taking advantage of a centerfire cartridge's trajectory to make effective hits on target, how to adjust for wind and how to do simple range estimation.  I tried to get as much shooting in as we could before Mother Nature hit.  Well, that plan went in the trash right around mid-morning!

    We got our students zeroed at 25m and worked on keeping their equipment from becoming airborne.  After the 25m zeroing was done, we walked up to the 100 yrd line and proceeded to do the same exercise.  After we finished zeroing we went ahead and completed a Stage 1 string of fire on an actual AQT.  Some students wanted to try the Battle Sight Zero method while others wanted to try the Dial-up process or rely on their Bullet Drop Compensation built into their reticles.  We gave the students a chance to see what the change in trajectory was going from the 100 yrd range to the 200 yrd range before completing a Stage 2 string of fire.  At this point, the winds were getting pretty bad and our target backers had already been ripped down once.  This plus the fact the blowing dirt was already messing with our student's rifles indicated we may be wrapping up Day 1 a bit early.  Our students pressed on to the 300 yrd marker and repeated the same process to finish up a good solid Stage 3 of the AQT.  By the time we were at the 400 yrd line the winds had gotten to be a bit ridiculous and the forecast indicated they were only going to get worse within the next few hours.  We were lucky to have just finished up with our 400 yrd portion of the AQT when we saw our target line get ripped down yet again!!!  We gathered our targets, secured the target line and decided to head for the house!  We were all beat and tired.  This first day ended at 4:00 p.m. knowing we could have easily gotten another AQT finished, but everyone was of the same opinion – stop when it made sense to do so.

    Luckily our students, Reagan, Devin, Kevin, Jon, John, Boe, David and Matthew all came back on the second day undeterred from the challenges of the day earlier.  Kevin had taken upon himself to do the challenge with a bolt action rifle.  His precise movement of the bolt system was somewhat impeded by the blowing dirt, but not by much.  He did an excellent job running that rifle in harsh conditions.  Jon's AR10 kept having feeding problems from a finicky bolt carrier group not wanting to cooperate.  Reagan and Devin ran into a number of ammunition related problems which are still a little puzzling to me.  Poor John found out a part on his SCAR 17 was starting to fail.  Matthew's M1A, well it kept banging away like an M1A usually does, hahahaha!

    We started our second day by testing everyone's ability to prove themselves as one of Captain Morga's Rifleman by taking a cold-bore shot at a small target place 250 yrds away.  I am happy to say Devin was able to rise to the occasion!!!  His marksmanship skills keep improving with every event he attends.  Way to go Devin!!!  We knocked down two AQTs in the morning and then took a bit of break for lunch.  While at lunch I was able to tell our students the tale of Billy Dixon's 1500 yrd shot with iron sights at "The Second Battle of Adobe Walls".  It is always fun to see the student's reaction to such an accomplishment.  We put one more AQT in the history books after lunch, but still without a good solid Rifleman's score.  Our students were close, but not quite there yet.

    We took a quick break from shooting and did a short Range Estimation Exercise to help everyone realize a Rifleman always has the tools on them to make a good guess about how far away a target is.  We took range estimates of six different objects downrange.  There was a bit of a three way tie between Boe, Jon and David.  All three then range estimated a seventh target to break the tie.  Jon was able to nail it the closest!  Way to go Jon!!!  The prize was a copy of "The Long Range Shooting Handbook" by Ryan Cleckner.  A very good book for Rifleman. 

    The day concluded with one final AQT attempt.  All students except John, who had to bough out due to exhaustion, which is understandable, were still in the hunt for a good score on the last AQT.  Now with good weather on our side, the time for a good score was certainly now.  Everyone got their game faces on and buckled down.  I wish I could say everyone made a KD Rifleman score, but we all know it is difficult to do after two long days of shooting and being buffeted around by the wind.  One student, Boe, was able to bring everything together and knocked out a great score of 211!!!  Way to go Boe!  Last AQT of the event and he nailed it!

    This was a challenging weekend for everyone!  Our environment is not something we can control, just work around.  Not easy for sure!  Luckily this weekend I had a great group of students who persevered and made the event an absolute blast.  I would like to make an ultra-special "Thank You" comment towards Reagan Williams!!!  Reagan helped haul the seated shooter's trailer around all weekend for the entire group.  Reagan maneuvered that thing around like a darn F1 driver through a course!  I'm still convinced he could teach people how to get their CDL license.  Thank you greatly sir!!!!

    What a darn good way to spend a weekend – with rifles and friends,

Chad Stovell – GenX Rifleman (Shoot Boss)
Jerry – Twinkle Toes (IIT)

[GenX Minuteman]

[scuzzy]

The wind has been crazy lately.

KD in a hard wind takes it to a whole other level. We've had that a few times in Temple. Seems I over estimate wind values too. The 1 moa per 10 miles an hour per 100 yards is usually too much - even if I get the wind speed right.

At Temple we have cross winds - it can change several times from the firing line to the target line. That's fun. Which reminds me - I want to get some of the really nice windage flags.

[Gus]

The wind has been crazy lately.

KD in a hard wind takes it to a whole other level. We've had that a few times in Temple. Seems I over estimate wind values too. The 1 moa per 10 miles an hour per 100 yards is usually too much - even if I get the wind speed right.

At Temple we have cross winds - it can change several times from the firing line to the target line. That's fun. Which reminds me - I want to get some of the really nice windage flags.

I well remember the winds at Temple from the instructor's KD January of last year! It was cold too.

I wish I could have been at the KD in New Braunfels. Love those KDs.

See you this weekend in Fredericksburg.

In Liberty,

Gus