Ammo Question

MR WICK said:

Yes they are.

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Ok great, so my question is- how do those other groups look and how many rounds does it take to get settled in and printing ?
The target shown is very good and if it’s repeatable at 600 yards and only takes a few sighters to get going then perhaps get to an mid range event with a factory or tacticool class and see how you do against other shooters.

MR WICK said:

The guys that compete use all this crazy stuff.

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Just reminding for reference - The guy you were responding to competes at high level in LR benchrest.

You definitely need to go to a competition. No one there is going to care if you dont have the best equipment. Most everyone there is just trying to have a good time and will have no problem helping you get better. The guys there that are really competing for regional/national standings are not going to be worried being outshot by a guy showing up with an out of the box rifle shooting basically fancy M80 ball, so they will also have no problem helping you either.

Ive recently started in a competition that is based around shooting semi autos, mostly ARs, in a run and gun type match from 10 yards to 500+. Basically the rifle section of 3 gun. Most everone there are running custom built rifles tuned for the matches. Giant muzzle breaks, low mass carriers, tuned gas blocks, super light triggers, etc. I run it with my duty rifle or my home defense rifle. Next time Im running my M1 Garand. No one cares. In fact the guys running "non ideal" equipment tend to get the most cheers.

The biggest thing about competition is you get real world feedback from guys who actually know what they are doing. Spending one afternoon shooting the bull with guys like Varminterror, South Prairie Jim, Walkalong, etc... you will learn more than all of these threads. Not saying these threads dont contain really good information, just that face to face interaction is that much better.

C-grunt said:

You definitely need to go to a competition. No one there is going to care if you dont have the best equipment. Most everyone there is just trying to have a good time and will have no problem helping you get better. The guys there that are really competing for regional/national standings are not going to be worried being outshot by a guy showing up with an out of the box rifle shooting basically fancy M80 ball, so they will also have no problem helping you either.

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Heck, alot of the matches I've been to, if you really need something, someone there will in all likelihood offer to let you use their gadget, ammo, extra holster, sling etc. Hard to find a friendlier group of people. My first competition of any kind (IDPA) I showed up with an old S&W M19. As a 20 something year old circa 2010 half the people thought that was all I could muster up and alot were offering to let me run their back up gun/gear.

Three of them got together and offered to let me: "use his back up glock, that guys extra holster and this guy's extra ammo"

I thanked them, and explained that, no I was running a wheel gun because that's what I felt like running and maybe once I got more comfortable with the competition format I'd switch to something more competitive. But as it was I was there to familiarize myself with how the process worked and just have a good time.

In fact the guys running "non ideal" equipment tend to get the most cheers.

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Those guys were definitely cheering me on.

Walkalong said:

I was really bad at my first PRS match, timed out on 75% of the stages, plenty of low scores on stages, but I did clean one stage, and I had the time of my life, hadn't had that much fun shooting in a long time.

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I bet you didn't finish last, and were walking pretty high the rest of the day too.

Go shoot a match! I’ve only shot a few bowling pin matches but I had a great time, everyone was super helpful and again offering to let me use equipment etc. once you get that first one under your belt you loose a lot of that “ fear of the unknown” type anxiety about the match. Then your just excited to go see your pals and talk about stuff that nobody ever seems interested in talking about in real life except at places like that. The finer points of shooting and reloading with people that know what they are talking about because they are doing it every week

MR WICK said:

I want to get a bit more comfortable before I compete.

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Piling on for this comment as well - THIS particular sentiment is effectively a guaranteed way to slow your progress. You’d learn more from a day of competition than from months of playtime at the range, and consequently, your skills would leap forward, comparatively.

The only thing better for skill development than competition as a proving and training ground is ACTUAL relevant and focused training by professionals.

Far too many shooters anchor themselves to the curb and never actually find themselves “getting comfortable enough” to compete because they think they need to practice more before they come to the firing line. Don’t be one of those shooters. Find a training class, then find some lower level matches as practices, and build your skills.

No other sport works that way - nobody stays at home and runs routes in their backyard by themselves and then expects to win a football game. Shooting sports don’t have the luxury of broadscale opportunity for regular organized practices under professional coaches, so we have “informal matches” or “club level matches” in almost every discipline to serve as the practice field.

If you want to improve skills: 1) seek relevant and repeated professional training, 2) compete, 3) apply focused practice on the gaps identified in competition using techniques derived from training. In that order.

tark said:

That looks like one of my groups at a hundred!

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for Real! that’s GREAT grouping ! Some people are naturally good shooters

gotboostvr said:

I bet you didn't finish last, and were walking pretty high the rest of the day too.

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Nah, @Walkalong was formerly a high level, highly capable benchrester, so assuredly he didn’t finish last at his first PRS match (seems like he reported being ~mid pack?), but I’m betting he walked around for the next week with a clenched jaw and grit teeth recounting missed shots and timed out stages and planning how to avoid it ever again. Hooked all the same! Bliss is addictive, but if bliss is weed, frustration is heroine!

Varminterror said:

Nah, @Walkalong was formerly a high level, highly capable benchrester, so assuredly he didn’t finish last at his first PRS match (seems like he reported being ~mid pack?), but I’m betting he walked around for the next week with a clenched jaw and grit teeth recounting missed shots and timed out stages and planning how to avoid it ever again. Hooked all the same! Bliss is addictive, but if bliss is weed, frustration is heroine!

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as ling as you didn’t get DQ-ed your a winner. Was at a USPSA match and a 1st time shooter doing really good, get DQ in the final stage. His face was if you pulled out his heart. breaking that 180 by doing a 360, felt sorry for the guy, he was a police officer and I guess training is different