This is part 2 in David’s Firearms Blog series, “Preparing a Family for 4 Days of Rifle Marksmanship” in which he discusses his process of preparing 5 shooters of varying ages and experience levels for a 4-day training course.
As I write this, I have just over five weeks left to prepare my shooters for the 8th Annual Firearms Charity Course. While that might sound like plenty of time on paper, I would wager that if you asked any precision rifle competitor how they felt about a five week window to get a new target rifle system through the build, zeroing, testing, ammo load development, DOPE*, and break-in, they would laugh at you in mockery. That’s simply not enough time, unless this is a professional endeavor and you don’t have a day job to hold down.
| *DOPE – Data on Previous Engagements A data set (usually recorded in a written table or hashed out on a rifle’s elevation and windage knobs) expressing the holdovers required for known distances, under known conditions, with a given ammunition type. The data is developed by methodically shooting the rifle and observing the ballistics. |
In addition to building a new rifle and getting it set up, I’ve got to assemble an accessory set for the gun (the “kit”), including magazines, sling and mounts, bipod, belt, appropriate mag pouches, field cleaning and tuning tool sets, and more. Lastly – just in case we’ve lost sight of the size of this mountain – I’ve got to do that for five complete systems, four of them for people with different eyes, hands, reach, size, strength, and experience. This is a marathon-sized task, and I’m going to have to sprint the whole way.
With the fundamental question of, “what rifles will we shoot?” answered (see the first Blog entry), now I can progress to ironing out the details of those rifles and the rest of our family’s kit. While I still have over a month of prep time left, I also want to take stock of what other needs we might have in addition to one rifle and kit per shooter. I don’t want to hyperfocus on the rifles for four weeks and then realize that it’s too late for everyone to order other equipment we’ll also need.
In order to chart a good course, we’ve got to know where we are headed. Here’s the course requirements and recommendations straight from Front Sight Firearms Training:
- The weapon must be fully functional, have all factory-installed safety devices intact, and have no dangerous modifications (such as a “hair” trigger, removed trigger guard, etc.)
- The weapon`s caliber must be a rifle round of at least 5mm/.204 or larger and have an attached sling. An appropriate sling may be used for stability of hold during the course.
- The weapon should be able to hold a 7″ or less group at 350 yards with factory match or hunting grade ammunition and can be semi-automatic, a bolt gun, lever gun, or pump action.
- The weapon must have a stock, not a wrist or forearm brace, as the rifle will be mounted to the shoulder throughout the course.
- Electronic hearing protection is mandatory and is available at the Axil store inside the Front Sight Pro Shop or numerous retailers.
- Elbow and Knee pads are strongly recommended.
- Iron sights, red dots, and magnified optics can be used. (As there is limited zeroing time, you will have to have any sights or optics already mounted, and cannot change them out during the course.)
- Easily carried rest such as a monopod, bipod, tripod, bag rest or monopod.
- Some type of magazine pouch/ammunition carrier on the belt is strongly recommended.
- A lightweight dust mask and a handkerchief/bandana are recommended.
- Do NOT bring shooting mats, rangefinders, Kestrels, or Ballistic Calculators. Tracking Point rifles can only be used in Suppressive or Traditional Mode.
- Your choice of factory match or hunting grade ammunition should be chosen according to the twist rate of the barrel. If you are unsure about the twist rate, it may be stamped on the barrel, in the owner`s manual, or you can contact the manufacturer. If you are unsure about the appropriate bullet weight, but do know your caliber and twist rate, please contact the Ammo Bunker.
Notable is the directive not to bring shooting mats and rangefinders. Those are a part of my standard precision rifle kit; by their exclusion, I presume we’ll be ranging the old school way. That’s a good thing. We’re also limited to commercial ammo, so there won’t be any need for handloading and working up custom loads for accuracy. That was part of my initial reasoning for selecting 6.5 Grendel – I only have 3 varieties of ammo for it, so it’ll be a short process to find the one each rifle likes and stick with it.
From the list, I see that I need to get three of my family members shopping for elbow and knee pads, and advise them to pick the shemagh (tacti-cool scarf, see photo below) of their choice from our collection. There’s a myriad of other advance arrangements to be made including lodging, 5 days of proper attire, snacks, personal items, and much more, but that is beyond the scope of this Blog.
It’s getting late and I’ve done more writing than prepping today, but I did manage to take one major step that I’ll share as I close. Having laid out a general plan of action for the rifles we will use (see Blog Entry 1), I now have to scrounge up glass (scopes) for the handful of AR platforms and a Vepr that I’ve selected. We’ll make it five ARs total, so that we have a backup platform or two – I’ll probably bring my Ashbury Precision Savage 6.5Grendel bolt gun for backup, as well.
“Scrounge up glass” is my euphemism for begrudgingly pulling six or seven high quality riflescopes currently mounted on my favorite rifles, and temporarily devoting them to these rifles that didn’t exist in my inventory last week. I believe quality scopes are necessary because the course of fire specifies a pass/fail of 7″ groups at 375 yards and 1″ groups at 100. In order to equip my family for success, I want the scopes to be accurate, have solid and consistent adjustments, and be FFP (First Focal Plane) lenses so that my newbie shooters don’t have to deal with reticle scaling math. I want to be able to issue common tutorials and range assistance, so I want everyone’s scopes to have the same mechanics (MIL reticle/MIL turrets as opposed to MOA/MOA or mixed, as some mediocre scopes offer). These criteria collectively describe high-end scopes, and I can’t just devote another $12,000 to new glass for this class so the ones I already have must be repurposed.
Most of the criteria above are self explanatory, but the FFP bears specific discussion. With a traditional second focal plane optic, the size of the reticle etched into or superimposed over the glass remains consistent in size, while the objects in view change in apparent size as the shooter zooms in and out. This means that the effective distance between the reticle’s hash marks is different depending not only upon the distance to target (as with any magnified optic), but also differs based upon the level of zoom dialed into the scope. This requires the shooter to maintain an entirely higher level of discipline to keep track of their current zoom setting, and also requires additional math computations in their head to calculate reticle scale. On a timed course with results scored and recorded, removing these extra complications for a new shooter is a blessing.
One of the scopes I pulled from another rifle is on a high quality QD (quick detach) mount from Samson, and I saved my zero and mounting data from its donor rifle. That way, I can put it right back on its customary rifle after the training course, and quickly return it to zero. This platform portability is one of the best features of high quality one-piece mounts – you can put one $1,000+ scope to good use on more than one of your rifles, so long as you are diligent about recording your zero settings and mounting data for each platform served. This experience did teach me that I need to invest in some more of these one-piece cantilever mounts. For most shooters with a handful of rifles it isn’t relevant, but for those of us who have multiple safes full of long guns and lacking $100K to burn on a bunch of scopes, it is a very useful tool.
To round out the seven scopes, I have two more on the way from my distributors. After having great experiences with previous Burris and US Optics models, I have wanted to try out the new Burris XTR III and US Optics TS20x. Although I can’t buy seven new scopes, picking up just a couple with the mostly-valid excuse of professional product testing and evaluation – while spending quality time with the family – should certainly pass muster with my wife, right? Right? Please say yes, honey… I’m sorry.
That’s all for tonight. I have to go do some dishes.
– David
