Garand Match this weekend- Camp Pen...

[EBWhite]

Anyone going to be there?

[five.five-six]

darn I knew I needed a garand for somthing

[ocabj]

Yes. I'll be shooting Sun-Tue (Garand, Swede, Garand) and Thu-Sat (AR15 service rifle).

[EBWhite]

I'd like to go shoot my garand sunday- ive never shot in a match before- can you explain what the basics are and what goes on?

thanks
eb

[ocabj]

I'd like to go shoot my garand sunday- ive never shot in a match before- can you explain what the basics are and what goes on?

thanks
eb

Get to the range around 7 to check-in. They give your scorecard, t-shirt (and whatever swag they may hand out this year), and you'll sign an affidavit releasing any liability (if you have not done so with the CMP before). Then you take your scorecard to the ammo table to get your bandoleer of ammo for the day's shooting.

Then there's going to be a short safety briefing regarding empty chamber indicators, handling of firearms on the line, keeping the line clear if not shooting, etc. I don't think they give a tutorial on how to work the pits (marking targets, scoring, etc), so if you don't know, just ask the guys on your firing point for info. Here's the first reference regarding scoring in the pits that I could find on google:

http://www.iowastateriflepistol.org/competition/highpower/whatishp.htm

Squading is pretty much random. They put the most experienced shooters on the firing points first, and then the rest fill up the points. It should be 5 shooters to a firing point. The experienced shooter will be the 1st shooter. Two will stay to shoot 2nd and 3rd. Two will go into the pits. The experienced shooter will then be available to coach and advise the 2nd and 3rd shooters. After the 3rd relay, the 2nd and 3rd shooters will go to the pits and the 4th and 5th shooters come to the line from the pits to shoot (with the 1st shooter available for coaching and assistance).

The actual course of fire is 30 rounds for record, with 5 optional sighters. The first string of fire will be slow fire prone. 15 minutes to fire your 5 sighters and 10 record shots. Single load each round.

The next string of fire will be rapid fire, prone from standing in 80 seconds. It is usually 70 seconds, but since bolt guns will be shooting with the Garands on the same relays, the Garand shooters get a 10 second advantage. You start from the standing position, load 2 rounds and close the bolt to chamber the round (wait for commands, of course), drop to prone and fire your two shots, reload, and fire the next 8.

The final string of fire is slow fire standing, 10 rounds for record. Single load each round.

Pretty straightforward. Just bring your rifle and a sling. Everything else is technically optional. You'll get your ammo there (Greek HXP on clips), and if you don't have one, an empty bolt indicator as well.

It would be nice to have a mat to lay on since you'll be laying on dirt. But I'm sure one of the other shooters on your firing point won't mind if you want to use their mat. Spotting scope will be nice, but you don't really need one since your scorer will be able to spot for you. 2-round enblocs are good, but again optional. Lots of guys do the cross rounds in the 8-round enbloc trick, but quite a few guys will fumble with it and hold up the firing line. I'm sure one of the other shooters on your firing point with a 2-round enbloc will let you use it for the rapid fire stage if you don't have one.

Bring food and water. Trust me. You get there at 7. Shooting doesn't end until around 2. Food doesn't make it around till then, or maybe even until 3pm.

Bring wet wipes. There are porta-johns/potties. But no running water on the line or in the pits. Plus, you'll want to clean your hands off every now and then (especially after working in the pits).

Here's a short checklist of what I brought last year:

http://www.ocabj.net/index.php?content=shooting_cmpwg_checklist

[xrMike]

Yes. I'll be shooting Sun-Tue (Garand, Swede, Garand) and Thu-Sat (AR15 service rifle).

Don't you have a job? Or are you independently wealthy? How come you get to go shooting during the week?

(don't be mad; that's just the jealousy talking right there)

[ocabj]

Don't you have a job? Or are you independently wealthy? How come you get to go shooting during the week?

(don't be mad; that's just the jealousy talking right there)

Took the whole week off, which is actually only 4 days since we (at least at the University) get Friday off for Veteran's Day (which is actually Saturday).

Amazingly, I'm only going to use 20 hours of vacation leave since I have 12 hours of comp time on the books. Which means I don't *have* to take 10 hours off next month which I always have to do every month because I'm always at max on my vacation hours. I don't travel.