April Multi-Gun Match

Multi-gun match this month was... interesting for me to say the least. It was fun (as always), but I had some interesting problems and definitely picked up on some things that I need to work on.

The division I was shooting in is “Tactical Irons”, which means that all the guns I'm using have iron sights. Also, by the rules we're using any one A hit or any two hits on paper count as neutralizing the target and earns no penalty. There's a 5 second penalty for only one C/D hit, 10 second penalty for no hits, and a 15 second penalty for failure to engage.

Here's my match video:



Oh boy. There's so much to say about what happened at this match.

Rifle/Pistol
The procedure on this stage was starting down range in a shooting box, hands at sides. On start signal, grab the dummy with your weak hand and shoot the paper strong hand only. You then drop the dummy in the second shooting box, ground the pistol and retrieve your rifle (which is cold, safety on). Through the top port, shoot the six reactive steal down range at 50 yards (an RO called the hits), drop down to the low port and shoot the six again.... then there was a similar thing on the other end.

This stage just took forever-- for everyone. Many people had scores of more than two minutes. I think mine (with penalties) was around 4 or 5 minutes. It took a very long time. Shooting that steal at 50 yards was difficult. In some cases, my sight completely covered up the target. I didn't worry too much about getting all of my hits on that steal. I got some, and then moved on. Normally, I wouldn't do this, but I just didn't have the ammo with me-- 90 rounds (of which I used about 67). I didn't want to run out at the end. I definitely need work on my long range accuracy, but I decided this wasn't the place to acquire it. To tell you the truth, I was actually pleased that I hit anything at all considering I almost never practice with that rifle.

Shotgun Only
You know, I'm usually pretty good at shotgun shooting-- but not today! I got tripped up on several things. This is my instructor's gun. He's left handed, and the safety was switched to the other side. I kept fumbling with the safety. The aiming point is slightly different than the gun I usually use too-- also borrowed. Also for some reason, I was pulling to the left. Recoil anticipation? I'm not sure.

As always-- slow reloads.

On the positive side, you can see me dropping down several times here. I learned my lesson about proper stance last month and stayed at least reasonably low for most of the match. This was definitely an improvement and I'm happy about that.

Shotgun/Pistol
Welll.... the shotgun problems on this one were the same as the last stage, and I almost ran out of ammo. Eeek! That last shot I took was the last shell I had.

Transitioning to pistol was strange. I was slow and hesitant. Suddenly I have this thing that doesn't recoil and is super small! You can see me kind of hesitate there. However, I got all of my hits on this stage. :)

Overall, I think I did alright. I finished with 52% of the best score in my division and 32% of the best score overall. I think I can do better, and will do better in the future, but I definitely had fun.