From another Wabash Rifleman
I also attended the Oct 17-18 at Wabash. I was one of the AR guys, 3 down on your left, Josh.
I'm not really a "rifle" guy, have a few and shoot them a couple times a year... and at that it's usually 3-gun type hose-fests. Arriving at the range I joked with my buddy that I could probably shoot equivalent or better groups off-hand w/ a pistol at 25 yds than prone with my rifle... but that's why I was there... to learn something and become more "one" with my long gun.
I was a little apprehensive what the "tone" would be. I had heard stories about anti-personel drills and was afraid the tone would be very 'militia-ish' or anti-gov dispite not being a billed as a militia group. Instead what I found was the instructors did an excellent job rooting the need for aimed/accurate fire in historical context and relating the training to our individual responsibility and heritage as citizens. I'm sure every 'seed is different based on the personalities of the instructors, but techres and all the others did an excellent job and I think anyone at the range looking for stronger sentiment would have felt out of place.
As for the shooting, I'm definately a better shooter today then on Saturday morning when I showed up. I took away a lot of things I want to dryfire out, and I will be taking the AR along with me more often to the range.
As I expected, my handgun skills translated over very well. Sight-alignment, trigger control, and shot calling are the same no matter what the trigger is connected to. I pulled out a 230 on the first day and backed it up with several high 220's on Sunday. Getting the "Rifleman" patch on Sat took any self-induced pressure off, and I felt I could experiment more on Sunday and learn the effects of different grips, sitting styles, sight pictures, sling tension, etc.
As for shooting at distance vs 25 yds, I agree with... everyone. Yes, the "cone" of accuracy says that a the hits should be the same. However, the ability to see the target is much more difficult as a farther target is much farther out of the focal plane. However, that means the edges fuzz even more and the very center, dark point to put on the front post may appear even smaller, giving a smaller aiming point. To those with very good eyes who can focus shift well enough (and fast enough - which can be trained) will have a definate advantage at distance, and the scores may translate identically. Someone lacking that ability and that eyesight will suffer at distance.
As for directly relating to the Army qual, the bigger deficiancy than 25 yds is the 10 shots slow-fire prone vs 20. I understand why it's done... that 10 minutes saved adds up and can results in a few more strings shot in a day. But to be consistant over 20 rounds is considerably more difficult than over 10 rounds x 2. I would guess if you had a person shoot each method 3x and averaged the scores, you would see the 'seed method score somewhat higher.
All in all, 2 great days of shooting. Now I just have to let the burns on the small of my back heal from the hot brass belonging to the guy next to me...
Making it even more fun, I built my rifle out of spare parts, including an old "ban-neutered" barrel just a week before the shoot.
Thanks,
-rvb
I also attended the Oct 17-18 at Wabash. I was one of the AR guys, 3 down on your left, Josh.
I'm not really a "rifle" guy, have a few and shoot them a couple times a year... and at that it's usually 3-gun type hose-fests. Arriving at the range I joked with my buddy that I could probably shoot equivalent or better groups off-hand w/ a pistol at 25 yds than prone with my rifle... but that's why I was there... to learn something and become more "one" with my long gun.
I was a little apprehensive what the "tone" would be. I had heard stories about anti-personel drills and was afraid the tone would be very 'militia-ish' or anti-gov dispite not being a billed as a militia group. Instead what I found was the instructors did an excellent job rooting the need for aimed/accurate fire in historical context and relating the training to our individual responsibility and heritage as citizens. I'm sure every 'seed is different based on the personalities of the instructors, but techres and all the others did an excellent job and I think anyone at the range looking for stronger sentiment would have felt out of place.
As for the shooting, I'm definately a better shooter today then on Saturday morning when I showed up. I took away a lot of things I want to dryfire out, and I will be taking the AR along with me more often to the range.
As I expected, my handgun skills translated over very well. Sight-alignment, trigger control, and shot calling are the same no matter what the trigger is connected to. I pulled out a 230 on the first day and backed it up with several high 220's on Sunday. Getting the "Rifleman" patch on Sat took any self-induced pressure off, and I felt I could experiment more on Sunday and learn the effects of different grips, sitting styles, sight pictures, sling tension, etc.
As for shooting at distance vs 25 yds, I agree with... everyone. Yes, the "cone" of accuracy says that a the hits should be the same. However, the ability to see the target is much more difficult as a farther target is much farther out of the focal plane. However, that means the edges fuzz even more and the very center, dark point to put on the front post may appear even smaller, giving a smaller aiming point. To those with very good eyes who can focus shift well enough (and fast enough - which can be trained) will have a definate advantage at distance, and the scores may translate identically. Someone lacking that ability and that eyesight will suffer at distance.
As for directly relating to the Army qual, the bigger deficiancy than 25 yds is the 10 shots slow-fire prone vs 20. I understand why it's done... that 10 minutes saved adds up and can results in a few more strings shot in a day. But to be consistant over 20 rounds is considerably more difficult than over 10 rounds x 2. I would guess if you had a person shoot each method 3x and averaged the scores, you would see the 'seed method score somewhat higher.
All in all, 2 great days of shooting. Now I just have to let the burns on the small of my back heal from the hot brass belonging to the guy next to me...
Making it even more fun, I built my rifle out of spare parts, including an old "ban-neutered" barrel just a week before the shoot.
Thanks,
-rvb
I just bought one of the Lowers from Michiana, now I need to build an AR myself.
