Recently I attended a carbine competition. I didn’t place well. 7th out of 10 competitors.
The
course was a 400 meter shot requiring two hits, pop up movers from 3
positions, pop up movers prone at 300, and a 100 meter steel silhouette
requiring a position change after each hit. I didn’t know what to expect going into the course. Didn’t know a soul other than an internet acquaintance from ARFCOM. I had plenty of questions for him before I went. It was a really important learning experience and I am glad I attended. Some things I learned for myself:
Don’t forget your ammo.
I
left a loaded 15 round mag at home of with my reloads. I was forced to
use wolf at the 100 meter silhouette. I felt like this event was in the
bag. I practice on targets that size and smaller all the time at home.
Standing and kneeling were first round hits, but prone I couldn’t hit
the thing. I can’t blame wolf at the moment until I test it and it’s
zero at the range. It might have changed my zero, but then again maybe
it didn’t. Shouldn’t have made that much of a difference at 100 yards
but then again I couldn’t hit the target prone. Prone is my best
position.
The A2 stock is long.
After
the 100 meter silhouette I examined my setup. I had a real hard time
getting a nose to charging handle cheek wield on the 3 position timed
silhouette. This could be a compounding reason I couldn’t hit the darn
thing, especially at prone. The other stages allowed my time to setup my
prone position to perfection. This course did not. The timer threatened
me as well as knowing I would have to pop back up to kneeling position
after a hit. The thing I remember though is how my face was all over
that stock. I scored way more hits on my targets at 200 and 300 meters
then I did on this 100 meter silhouette.
Since
I intend to use the SAME EXACT rifle for XTC matches AND carbine
courses it needs to fit both roles well while being easily modified back
and forth for both competitions.
Luckily I found this in the CMP rule book:
“(10) The M16A1 rifle (short) butt stock or the commercial equivalent, or a fixed length
aftermarket stock that will reduce the length of pull to no less than
10 inches may be installed on an M16A2 or M16A4 rifle or the commercial
equivalent. Any aftermarket stock must have the same external characteristics
as the A2 or A1 stocks except for the shorter length.“
So
I can switch from a A2 length stock to an A1 length stock and still be
legal for CMP and XTC. This is the first needed change to my setup. I
put my upper on to my Cav Arms lower and it felt much better being that
it is A1 length… although it is obviously not CMP legal.
Things that went right:
I had fun.
My
zero with my reloads: The A2 chopped rear was on and I made the right
click adjustments before each stage. I dialed in my distance and things
went well. Except at 100 yards.
My rifle’s reliability: No one had any malfunctions. Neither did my rifle. It shot smooth and functioned well.
Hitting targets at 400, 300, and 200 yards: I scored well on these stages.
I placed higher than 3 competitors who were using optics.
I was third place in the side match challenge. 7 yards 4 targets engaged in 1-4-2-3 order.
First place went to an acog shooter, second to a red dot shooter, third fastest time was my irons.
My new sling setup.
Things that went wrong:
The only other guy with irons beat me on overall standing.
Didn’t bring enough of my own ammo. By accident.
Need a water carrier.
Need to play with my IBZ setup to learn where it hits out to 300 yards.
A2 stock felt too long when used under stress. Poor nose to charging handle cheek wield.
So
its back to the range again with a few minor changes and some practice.
I intend to examine how wolf affects my zero (if it does at all), and
where my IBZ setting is actually hitting at 7 to 300 yards. Lets see
what happens next time with a bit more practice and a few MINOR changes
to my rifle. I would recommend readers attend a competition when they can. It was buckets of fun and I will be attending more in the future. A competition serves as a excellent benchmark for your skill level and will illustrate CLEARLY which areas you should be working on to improve your marksmanship.
Here is my rifle as it currently sits:
