Graham Smith

Shooter runs on both iOS and Android, Ballistic only runs on iOS, JBM is a web program. Applied Ballistics is Android and Kestrel.

If the bench is 21 inches wide then there should be at least two studs it can hit. Go to the home center store and see if they have any 2' long scrap cut pieces of 2x3 or 2x4 or 2xSomething. You can sometimes get this for free or nearly so. Find the studs on the back wall and screw this piece of lumber into the studs using deck screws. Attach the bench to this. For the top, 1/2 to 3/4 in plywood is good. Glue strips of 2x3 or 2x4 onto the underside and run lag bolts or lag screws into these for the mount.

In almost all states, you are limited to a 3" blade for it to be legal. And, oddly enough, some states have carry permits that allow you to carry a gun but not a knife longer than 3".

It's not uncommon to find people running the squads at a L1 match who are not certified RO's and some do a really good job of it too. So limiting the job to actual RO's may mean that those few people are stuck doing the whole thing without a break. I've been in a number of matches where certified RO's still yell that the range is going hot and ask if you understand the course of fire and use a few older variations on the commands. So that really doesn't shake me up either. I can only recall one RO who used to buzz immediately and that was because he didn't know how to use our timer correctly. In this case it sounds like this squad is in the habit of buzzing without a pause. Not strictly by the book but not a huge issue. However, it is an indication that they have their own way of doing things. But, when combined with the rest of the comments you made, this does not sound like a squad I would be happy with. And if the MD is as casual in their approach to things, it's probably not a match I would drive very far to attend.

On a slightly different note, I've often thought that what I really need at a match is something with a bit more protein. While looking on line for information about protein bars that don't include a lot of calories that I really don't need, I ran across a reference to Tanka Bars, made mainly of buffalo and cranberries and similar to a low fat version of pemmican. I located some Tanka Bites on Amazon and while the price seemed a bit high (roughly $2.14 per ounce), it's cheaper than jerky and is relatively low in sodium by comparison. What the heck, worth a try. Got the package today and the box contained 6 - 3oz packets. The sealed packets are shelf stable and have a "best by date" of Oct 2016. Opened one and had a taste - interesting. Light pepper, a bit sweet and tart from the cranberries, and a smoky beef taste from the buffalo. They are made in SD on the Pine Ridge Reservation by a Lakota Sioux company. There are no nitrites and the buffalo are raised with no antibiotics or hormones.

I ran across this game recently when reading reviews of puzzle games. It's rather difficult to categorize since it's unlike anything else I have seen. Superficially, it's designed to look like a board game that you play turn by turn against the computer. You control Agent 47, the character from the video games and an upcoming movie, The computer controls all the other "players". Each player characters is color and appearance coded which dictates a predefined set of moves. Agent 47 (you) move first then all the characters move according to their rules. Moves are constrained to an outline on the board, much like you would see a path on any board game. You can move in any direction along the path and sometimes have to move forward and back a couple times to allow the players to get far enough along their path to allow you to safely move. With the exception of the first 5 boards, which are kind of like tutorials, each board has three goals you have to accomplish to get all of the points for that board. On some boards, you have to kill (knock off the board) all the enemies (other players), others you can't kill anyone, there are briefcases to pickup, guns to use, objects to throw and distract other players, bushes to hide in, trap doors, and a number of other creative items. There are no instructions. You have to figure out what the players do by moving and watching them. At one point, the game introduces disguises which allow you to move by a player unseen. And there are snipers out there looking to get you if you get in their line of sight. It is often ridiculously simple but can be frustratingly complex as well - like one board where one goal is to finish in under 36 moves. In a number of boards, the goals are mutually exclusive. IOW, you cannot get all three points in one go, so you have to play the board two or three times to get all the points. This game is addictive!!!

For many people, more than anything, it needs to fit you and you have to be able to grip and shoot it comfortably. Go to a gun store and pickup and handle several different brands and models. Does it fit your hand? Is your trigger finger too far in/out? With your eyes closed, raise the gun and point it. Open your eyes. Is it pointing roughly where you thought is should be? A good grip with the right angle will give you a better natural point of aim. You won't have to spend months trying to train your arm and brain to naturally put the gun where it needs to be.

Another option is to look online for a used package (rifle and scope) that fits the bill. Or, a used rifle and scope separate. FWIW, if you are shooting with LEO's, odds are good that they will be shooting 168gr Federal Match ammo. Get the same ammo and they can get you on target a lot easier because your drops (come up's) are going to be pretty much the same.

Simple answer is see if you can locate a Rem700 5R Mil-Spec. It's a 24" barrel which is adequate for most things and not too much for others. Failing that, then look for a Rem700P (police). Both have decent enough stocks and triggers. Get a Harris bipod and a couple Triad bean bags for support. Find a source of 175gr target ammo and use the published drops for. The scope is the tough part. You can easily spend more on it than on the rifle. Just starting out, a good option is the Vortex PST FFP. Either the 4-16x or the 6-24x depending on how much you can afford. Go with the MRAD version and if you spring for the 6-24x go with the EBR-2C. Get a 20 MOA base (EGW is good enough) and TPS TSR rings. Get a good hard case to carry things in. This will run you around $2600 but it's about the lowest you can go. You can spend less but you will just start an endless round of upgrades.

AND, organizing your own stuff to make sure you can actually shoot the match. Showing up with everything you need to run the match but forgetting your gun or ammo is a real possibility.

First off, don't. Here's why... Long range shooting is expensive. It requires a lot of expensive gear. While you can shoot factory ammo, most people are loading their own. It requires a huge amount of specialized knowledge of things like ballistics and atmospheric conditions and wind, etc. It requires a lot of range time to get everything working together. If you can, go anyway as an observer. Offer to help out doing misc things and spend the time talking with people. Find out what this is all about, what gear they are using. Most importantly, find out if there are other places to shoot - it's a bitch to have $3000+ worth of gear sitting around and nothing to do with it.

Monopods are something of a mixed benefit. If you generally shoot from the same level surface, then you can adjust them for that. But even if that's the case, you generally have better control over the adjustment and better recoil control with a rear bean bag.

Learn something new every day. I can see the advantage of that but it seems a wee bit pricey. Still, most of the competition is built for the Rem700 actions so that kind of limits the choices.

I'm confused. You said you are getting a MDT LSS Chassis system, correct? Doesn't that have an adjustable buttstock? If not, can you just slap any AR buttstock on it?

Outline is, perhaps, an understatement. Mine looks somewhat like yours but doesn't cover the match setup as detailed as you do since it was written for someone who was, or should have been, somewhat familiar with EZWS. Also, I used screen shots in place of some verbiage. I can see some definite differences in how we set things up, but you certainly have a thorough process. And the important thing is that it works for you.

The procedure I wrote is rather more of a 3 page outline than a narrative and it was written for someone who has a fair amount of experience with software. It's also geared more toward EZWS <--> Practiscore than it is a detailed instruction sheet on how to run EZWS since there's a fair amount of that already. It sounds like yours is much more inclusive. It might be instructive to others if you could post that as a PDF.

There are 1,001 choices out there so it would help if you could narrow down a few things. Like how big/little is right for you, are you in the $30 or $130 market, do you want it to do a couple things or a dozen? As an example, I have a Leatherman Skeletool CX and a Style CS. Both handy, both very different.

I ran into a similar issue with my first AR and found that I hadn't tightened the barrel nut down enough. Turned out that the problem was that the threads on the upper were just a bit tight from coating such that when the barrel nut was "tight", it hadn't tightened down the barrel enough. Coated the threads with anti-seize and spent an hour tightening and loosening the nut (without the barrel in place) a little bit more each go. After that, I was able to completely tighten the nut down onto the barrel properly.

I did the same and spent the last 4 matches editing and refining the instructions to give to the fellow who took my place and found that, despite that, he had a lot of trouble. I even passed on to him a NetBook that was all setup with EzWinScore and everything he needed. This is a person who works with computers and has more than adequate skills. But he and I don't think the same way and you need to have worked with both EZWS and PS for a while to start to understand how the two can easily work together. He is getting there but it's been a struggle for him. Here's the thing, I have no doubt that I had a good system. Or that you have a good system. Or that many other clubs have good systems. But they are all our systems that we have setup to suit the way we think things should be done. It's really tough for someone unfamiliar with all of this to just pickup what we have uniquely created and be comfortable with it. We think about it differently because we spend so much time with it. But to someone who hasn't, the mental links that we have formed between all the pieces don't exist and they see all the gaps that our experience fills in. Of course, this is all just my opinion and conjecture which is worth a big fat zero on the open market.

Now, on to the issue of, "The job isn't finished until the paperwork is done." As I noted, we can usually get enough people out early to help with setup so that we can start pretty much on schedule with a minimum of wailing and gnashing of teeth by the MD. Plus, we have a Cracker Jack team doing registration and squadding. But it's what comes before and after that's the real time eater. One of the things that many clubs don't have is someone to deal with the scoring afterwards. Using Practiscore can help tremendously, but as you can see from Cha-Lee's original post, there is still a lot of work to do after the match. Having one or two people who are responsible for the entire registration and scoring process (start to finish) is one of the most desirable things, but also one of the hardest things to manage.

On the other side, the 6.5 is far more short barrel friendly than a 5.56. If I were to get one, 16-18" is the most I'd do. After 19.5 (per AA's charts), you're only gaining .086% per inch in velocity. The fundamental problem with a shorter barrel for any "precision" caliber is that it decreases the options you have for tuning your load. You don't always want the maximum velocity you can squeeze out of a load. You want to be able to find a node(s) where small variations in charge have very little effect on velocity and precision. With a short barrel, you have a lot less velocity to play with before you start getting too slow.

As far as I am aware, there are no studies to show that "eye vitamins" are of help for anything other than slowing certain eye diseases. BUT, there is nothing in them that's going to harm you provided you aren't eating them like peanuts. And if they seem to be helping then more power to you.

I would never nay-say a JP upper. But if it is out of your budget, then there are some excellent options for building your own or having one built. One thing to remember is that this is NOT a tactical rifle caliber so don't try and build a 16" shorty or you are just going to be wasting your time.

Without any doubt, this is the most important thing, and it's something that we lack. There are generally only 2 - 3 people doing stage designs for a match and one of those is the MD, who really cannot afford to tie themselves to one stage during setup. Our normal routine is that there are about 5 - 6 people with enough experience that they can be given a setup sheet, briefed, and turned loose. Additional people are distributed to help. The MD then runs around answering questions and pointing things out. Then there are about 3 people who can be counted on to walk the stage and find the "Oh sh!t's" that people missed seeing and fix those. Then the MD makes a final walk through, invoking the Old Gods to look kindly upon the stages.

GREAT writeup. It sounds as if you have a really solid cadre to get things setup for you. Over the past couple years, I got things smoothed out a lot, but it still took us about 2.5 hours to get all the setup done and blessed. And setup the night before has been nearly impossible to manage. This year two guys have been doing most of the setup on two small ranges the night before. These aren't open to the general range membership, and that has been a huge help and has cut setup time down to under 2 hrs. One thing we do have is a dedicated registration team. Three people who bring everything needed to handle registration and squadding, which took a lot of work off my plate (I retired from being the MD at the end of last year).