Zak Smith

Friday Stage 3: Pistol & Shotgun The start position was seated uprange on a "toilet" with a roll of TP in your hands. There were 9 pistol targets to be engaged going up the hill until you reached your shotgun. There, you picked up a backpack, grabbed your shotgun, and finished going up the hill engaging 18 shotgun targets along the way. My time was 77.03 clean. [ link to larger image ] [ link to larger image ] [ link to larger image ] [ link to larger image ]

Stage 1: Rifle. [ link to larger image ] Stage 1 was the "long range" rifle stage with the furthest flash target at about 320 yards. The course of fire was four shooting positions, with two or four targets to be engaged per position, for a total of 14 required hits. Three of the four positions were most often shot from prone, while the #2 position was shooting from over a tree limb. Shooters were stopped if they hit the maximum time of 180 seconds. This stage require that the shooter know where to aim at the distant targets for make hits, and that he could handle poor shooting positions. After running down the trail to the last shooting position, most people were sweating and breathing heavy which doesn't make distance shooting any easier. My time was 131.10 clean. [ link to larger image ] Stage 2: Shotgun [ link to larger image ] Stage 2 was shotgun only. We shot this in the afternoon on Thursday, and rain was threatening. The course of fire was straightforward. Shoot four plates before crossing a fault line, and then engage 20 pigeons, and finish up with two slug targets at 20 or 25 yards. The main things on this stage to remember were to not walk past any targets and to keep loading. Light rain started just in the middle of my run, which had no misses and was reasonably fast. 69.98 clean. Back in the Coors Event Center, where all the sponsors were set up, I unexpectedly saw MSTN -- I hadn't heard they were going to be a sponsor. I have discussed 6.8SPC stuff with Paul before; I finally met him in person and had dinner with he and his wife.

This is Zak's first person account of the 2004 Rocky Mountain 3Gun Match. Background First, you might want to check out my report from the 2003 RM3GM. It has details about the NRA Whittington Center and contains a full report of all of last year's stages. Wednesday Arrival I arrived at the NRA Whittington Center at about 2pm on Wednesday and checked in. Raton has had much much more precipitation this year than recent years, so the whole environment was transformed by the flora compared to last year. Strong thunderstorms rolled through the Whittington Center every day of the match around 4-6pm, and temperatures were moderate to cool, as opposed to the sweltering heat of last year's match. The general outline of the match was: 8 stages, three Thursday, three Friday, and two Saturday. There were 16 squads of approximately 8 shooters each. Each squad shot one time slot, and had one time slot's worth of downtime before the next stage. I was on squad 8, starting on stage 8. Some others in my squad included: Curt Monnig (Trijicon), Ron Adams, Darrell Humphrey, John Sternberg, Kelly Neal, and Stewart Lewis. In addition to the main match, there were two side-matches: the machinegun match run by Alan Samuel of MachinegunTours, and a long-range precision match run by Mike Kolar. [ link to larger image ] [ link to larger image ] Thursday Stage 8: Shotgun. [ link to larger image ] We started off on stage 8 Thursday morning at 7:30AM, after the shooters' briefing. There were five shooting positions from which a 40-50 yard IPSC-target-sized steel plate had to be engaged with slugs. There were four plates to engage first, and then 16 other clay pigeons throughout the course. No slugs could be loaded into the shotgun until the four small plates were engaged. Unless the shooter was careful to load slugs and engage the targets in the right order, a lot of birdshot would have to be racked out to select load slugs. My strategy was to load a slug into my Benelli's tube with one pigeon left to shoot before the slug target, so that I wouldn't waste any rounds. It's also faster to load one into the tube than to rack a round out and load through the ejection port. My run went according to plan with no misses and no loading screwups. Once I was done, the RO was temporarily confused by my engagement order and tried to give me a procedural on the grounds that my 5th shot was a shotshell at the next set of pigeons instead of either shooting a slug at the slug plate or shooting the shotshell into the berm. I had load a slug into the tube after the 4 small plates, then engaged on pigeon in the next array, and then shot the slug into the large slug plate. In the end, there was no procedural because there was officially no order besides that the slugs could not be loaded until the first four small plates were engaged. My time was 85.48 clean. [ link to larger image ] [ link to larger image ]

Just my opinion: Anything heavier than Hbar profile is a waste. Even Hbar is a little overkill for 3Gun. Here's what to consider when choosing a barrel: 1. twist. if you want to shoot 75-77gr bullets, get a 1:8, otherwise 1:9 2. type of gas system. There are three: carbine, mid-length, and rifle length. The rifle length is the mildest operating, the midlength next, and the carbine system will upset the gun the most. A rifle-length gas system limits you to a barrel no shorter than 17". If you get a 16" barrel, definitely get the mid-length gas system. 3. length: some cheap ammo won't make minor in a 16" barrel. 68gr or heavier will, no problem. 4. muzzle attachment / comp. For 3Gun, you want an effective compensator. JP's BC comp, Benny Hill's comp, the MSTN QC comp, and the Miculek comp are all good. Figure out how you want to attach it.

The Limcat XL firing pin did not fit in my SV. Dropping it in without the spring worked fine, and the diameter fit in the breech face looked good. With the spring (removed from the original SV firing pin), it wouldn't go in far enough to get it under the firing pin stop. I shot 5.3gr TG with WSR at 1.230" at RM3G and it worked perfectly.

I load mine to 1.230". My chamber will freely accept and drop out rounds of 1.270" or longer. It's a Schuemann Ultramatch in an SV. Loading longer than SAAMI will drastically reduce initial chamber pressure, which is good for safety, especially when using fast powders. More ignition volume is primarily what allows 10mm to be hotter than spec 40SW, or 38S hotter than 9x19mm. Max COAL for .40SW is 1.135. Max COAL for 10mm is 1.260". In an SV, you can load almost to 10mm lengths. (For comparison max 9x19 is 1.169") My mags will not feed factory .40SW rounds reliably. The follower flips over about 2/3 the way up. -z

S.D. problem solved ?! The fail-safe nut on my 650 powder measure was loose again. I bet that was causing the wild fluctuations in velocity. -z

I loaded a bunch with the CCI SR primers, 5.0gr N320, and 180gr MG JHP at 1.200". Same primer effect. Switched to WSR on the recommendation of some local guys, loaded it with 5.2gr Titegroup at 1.230" again, and maybe 1 in 20 primers had the flow effect. Conclusion: WSR are harder than CCI SR. I also had no misfires with the WSR, where I had about one per 50 with the CCI SR. I have a Limcat XL firing pin coming tomorrow, too. Only bad thing with the WSR is that they have HUGE velocity S.D.-- like 80fps. Whereas my CCI SR w/ 5.3gr TG had a SD of about 12. No idea. -z

Is the SpecOps vest the one they call te AK47 chest rig? -z

My point about reloading was supposed to be this: We shoot IPSC. Most of us already load ammo that either is not produced by anyone commercially (e.g. long-loaded .40SW, or full-power 38Super) or would be way to expensive to buy commercially new (e.g. 9x23). And we do it in guns that are generally in the $1 - $3k range. Add in MOR and we're already shooting wierd calibers like 6XC. We're not afraid of carefully tuning systems to get them to work well. Take that as a starting point and we're almost the ideal population to shoot a new AR15 caliber that would offer an advantage. In my opinion, 6.8 isn't quite ready for IPSC consumption yet, because of the powder and PF issue. I believe both will be solved in the next 6 months. For any other application were PF is not an issue, it's good to go now. By the way, the Giraud case trimmer pays off in the first 500 rounds of rifle loaded, just in terms of time savings doing match-quality brass prep. -z

I've secured a cache of the now-discontinued 100gr Barnes X, which happen to shoot decent in my upper. That stout little bullet should make a good deer load in this rifle. As for history, I've heard that a SOF MSG and some small companies that supported the idea developed 6.8, at $0 to the taxpayer. In that sense, it was a pet project. But right now Remington is running ammo and it should be in distributors by the end of this month or early next month (source: a friend who called a contact at Remington LE, and a separate source who's been building 6.8SPC barrels for a year). LE has allegedly shown a lot of interest, and there's undenyable interest on the "forums." All people have to do to ensure continued existence of 6.8SPC is to tell Remington it's wanted by buying lots of ammo. If the military ends up not using 6.8 in any numbers - I'm sure some will get in the "back door" to people who really need them - it will be because of the Colt/FN/HK's who want to sell a $billions project. -z

Couple more notes. The availability of mags seems to be limited by PRI's ability to produce runs of them. I have 6: 3 18's and 3 25's. (The 25's might hold 28, haven't actually tested them for capacity). Mag rebuild kits - just like Armalite's AR10 kits - are available in some limited numbers now. You guys who are complaining about ammo price are on crack. The price of new 6.8SPC will be about the same as Black Hills 308, or any other caliber that hasn't been in a military pipeline for 30+ years. Get yourself a Giraud power case trimmer and set your 650 or 1050 to work. That's what they're for. How many of you buy new factory 38Super or 9x23? -z

Follow the link to my FAQ and Load Data pages for current details. http://www.demigod.org/~zak/firearms/6.8SPC/faq.php http://www.demigod.org/~zak/firearms/6.8SPC/loads.php I don't know if we can push this to Major with currently-available commercial powders. I really need a pressure barrel to get that kind of data. Now I have to rely on primer condition and computer modeling with QuickLoad. The proprietary powders used by Remington, and some other non-canister powders, allegedly can push the 115gr to nearly 2800fps from an 18" barrel. This is second-hand info. -z

The key is to shoot steel! I'm planning to post a report once I get back. We're shooting a PSS in 308, and my CTR-02 for the carbine. I'm bringing between 24 and 30 loaded mags... My pistol is a single-stack 1911, his is a Wilson double-stack. -z

Just got my P7PSP back from Tripp. I sent it last Tuesday, it arrived here this Wed. 8 day turnaround, door to door. Beautiful job, and it runs better now. -z

Anyone want to split a hotel room? I still haven't made reservations !!

If a standard (or JP's SS) carrier is a Honda, the LW alum carrier is a Ferrari. It can work, but it needs proper lube and good mags.

I think I'm all set here. Our last "team" practice is this Sunday, and then I'm off to RM3G and back for one day. I'm planning to spot through my binocs, though I wish our set of new Geovids had arrived already. Switching from a LRF to binocs is not optimal and it's more junk to carry. -z

In my CTR-02, switching from the aluminum LW bolt carrier to JP's normal stainless carrier increases recoil and gun movement noticably. -z

Unfortunately, I didn't do an A/B comparison with the JP BC comp. That day I was shooting a braked 50BMG, my JP BC comped AR10, a 20" with the MSTN/PRI comp, and an 18" with a Vortex F/H. It was about the same volume as the 18" w/ Vortex. I always double-up on earpro so it's hard to tell. -z

Couple more notes on the PRI handguard. The rails are removable, and removing them lightens it up quite a bit. Adding a rail at 1:30'o'clock would just be a matter of drilling two holes like the other holes through it. I do like the JP tube- got it on two rifles. -z

Eh, it came on my upper. I did shell out the asking price for their AR10 tube. There aren't a lot of good choices in AR10 tubes. I haven't seen the Clark model, so I can't compare the two.

There is a new comp from MSTN/PRI called the "Quiet Control" brake. I tested a 5.56/223 version of it. It was more or less as effective as the JP & Miculek comps. It is supposed to be quieter than the normal comps we use. -z

I locktited mine. Removal will require a heat gun and likely a strap wrench. -z

Is KBR, Halliburton, or Blackwater hiring?