What's a Rattle Battle Match?

[Religious Shooter]

This is the second time that I have read the term "rattle battle." What type of match is this?

[Tom Freeman]

Its the National Trophy Infantry Team Match. Its a NRA sanctioned event.

In a nutshell, its IPSC and High Power rolled up into one. You shoot at 600, 500, 300 and 200 yards. And you earn bonus points if you put more than 6 shots on paper.

Good time, hard on barrels.

[kellyn]

Rattle battle is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Regrettably, it's not a common match. Teams of six shooters and 2 coaches are issued a certain amount of ammo (I forget the exact number). The match is essentially 4 strings: prone at 600, prone at 500, sitting at 300, and offhand at 200. You have 50 seconds to engage the 8 targets (military silhouettes) from each range. Targets have a higher point values the farther away you are. Since there are 8 targets and 6 shooters, some shooters have to engage more than one target. You start at 600 yards and shoot as much ammo as you can in that 50 seconds. Good teams have no ammo by the time they get to 200 yards.

I shot it in the 1980s with an M14. We'd damn near catch them on fire practicing in Arizona. I'd usually fire about 22-25 rounds at 600. I've never been able to do it with an AR/M16 which has just got to be too much fun.