Shot first tactical rifle match....It was great.

[Nick Weidhaas]

I shot my first tactical rifle match at the Harvard Sportsman's Club, MA this past Sunday. The club is a big USPSA pistol club and has hosted the AREA 7 many times. Unfortunately, rifle or 3 gun matches are not big in our area. The club ran 5 pretty cool stages, IMHO. Targets were not further than 50 yards, but required some precision shooting with partially exposed targets, small steel and a LOT of no-shoots and hard cover. 55 shooters showed up to get the dust out of their rifles.

I used the match to test myself and my work rifle. I'm an LEO and am issued a Bushmaster A3 16" 1:9 twist. Rifle wears an Aimpoint Comp M2, ARMS mount and BUIS, ZM sling and Surefire light. I was happy to see this rifle set up held it's own against some high end JP and custom built rifles. It was a big confidence builder to run my work rifle and do well. I found the Aimpoint Comp's dot to be perfect for both fast and precision shots. I don't think this set up would be the best set up if targets were over 100 yards as the dot will cover 8" at 200 yards, but for up close to intermediate ranges it was awesome. Rifle and similar matches are a great placed for LE officers to train. It is unfortunate more do not take advantage of these matches.

One lesson that a lot of shooters learned was where their rifle's poi is on close targets. Many a no-shoot sacrificed themselves show shooter that their sights and optics are higher than your barrel and will make you shoot low on close targes.

Having shot a factory rifle in the match, I had a chance to shoot two JP rifles after the match. One was a tactical rifle with an 18" LW barrel, BC comp, JP ACOG, low mass bolt group and a JP BUIS on the forend. I thought the rifle was too light and found it difficult to hold on longer targets (went to a different range to shoot this rifle). If I were to order one (and I probably will) I would get a medium weight barrel. The BC comp was effective, (but not as effective as the JP Open Comp). I liked the comcept of the JP ACOG and the way it sits on the receiver. I thought the reticle lines were a little thin. The target background had a lot to do with how well I could see the reticle.

The Open JP rifle was pretty amazing. It had a 3-9X scope with a Jpoint on the forearm. The rifle just shuddered when shot, but the reticle did not move off the target. It was pretty cool.

That's about it. Thanks for looking.

Nick-

[rhino]

Welcome to another third of 3-Gunning! Sounds like a great match.

A lot of people don't realize that it's actually harder to shoot an AR under 25 yards than it is at 50 yards and up because of the difference between the line of sight and the boreline. You have to know your holdovers, whether shooting in matches or for tense social situations!

[George]

Hi Nick,

IMHO, long gun shooting is more fun than pistols alone. We just went to a long gun only format to replace all of the 3 gun matches at our local club. Less work and just as much fun considering that you can find a pistol match about every half hour around here.

I use a JP full race open AR and love how light it is. I seldom actually stop on a target when shooting offhand and find the lighter an AR is, the easier it is to snap it to another target after slowing just enough to get the shots off as you pass through the scoring zone. Back before I got the CTR-02, I ran an AR with a heavy barrel, weighted handguard and weighted butt-stock to tame recoil and cycling impulse. It shot like a house afire and was just about the same to shoot as the JP is once it was on target, but to start it to the next target and slow it when there, it was a tank compared to the JP. You can really drive a light rifle where you want to, as fast as you want to. As far as stability on longer stuff goes, that has a lot to do with using available support whenever possible if you want to go really fast.

My IPSC rifle shooting style has changed a lot since I got behind a piece of technology like the CTR-02. I still like a heavy rifle when I shoot NRA high power, especially for offhand. The Colt HBAR I use for high power is almost seventeen pounds and it holds real nice, on “one” target ;-)

Welcome to multi-gun. If you get a chance next year, go to to the RM3G in New Mexico, or another large 3gun match like say the DPMS tri-gun challenge in Michigan, the SSM3G in Arizona, or the US3G wherever it will be. You will find yourself shooting point blank, to over 300 yards with rifle. The penalties for not hitting a target at IMG scored matches are too steep to recover from easily so you pretty much have to be able to hit the long stuff reliably if you want to be competitive at those matches.

BTW, after going to a JPoint low on the handguard (dot is just over 1.5 inches over bore centerline) on my CTR-02 I don’t feel the need to use holdover anymore when I shoot at close upper A/B zones. Even at point blank, if I hold middle of upper A zone, worst I can get is 2 b’s. Less to think about is more better (intentionally bad grammar). The JP iron sight modules that go on the handguard coupled with the JP small diameter handguard also get the sight line down near 1.5 inches off bore axis.

Another point to consider is that I am shooting it at about a 10-15 degree right cant which puts the dot at 1:30 to 2 o’clock, which results in closer to just over 1 inch low on POI and maybe 1 half inch left of my actual POA. That is so much better than the 2.5 to 3 inches most folks abide by that I just ignore the offset now.

Getting the sight axis close to the bore is a very good thing in CQ targeting. I also like the JP CTR-02 upper design which mates directly with an ACOG, thereby shaving some distance off it’s POA to POI offset compared to when an adapter is used on a normal flat top. It’s all good stuff when it comes to putting the sight line closer to the bore line.

Learning to use a large offset on close stuff is not required anymore unless you really want to do it. Heck, if you could find a way to get your eye down level with the handguard tube, you could just sight along it and get under an inch offset at point blank targets.

--

Regards,

Edited November 3, 2004 by George

[GTOSHootr]

Nick forgot to mention that he won the match!

Nice job!

Remember to order a JP for Mini-Nick too. You need to get him a nice gun for once.

Steve Lyons

[smokshwn]

Nick,

There are two JP uppers in the classifieds just waiting for you.

BTW the SV is running great thanx again, Craig

[Nick Weidhaas]

Hey George-

I appreciate your comments and insight. Your comments about the lighter weight rifle being easier to "drive" makes sense. You are correct in that my statement about not liking the weight of the JP LW rifle was based on having shoot heavier rifles in hi-power and other "precision" rifle disicplines. 3 gun or tactical rifle is a different game for sure. Do you ever find yourself blowing past a target with a light rifle? I've shot a lot of sporting clays and I don't like a light shotgun as I have a tendancy to push the shotgun too fast and blow by the target. A heavier shotgun is harder to get started, but swings much smoother. Maybe not a proper comparison, but that is where my experience is. As I think about it, you certainly shoot more targets in a rifle stage and are not really swinging the rifle like you would a shotgun. Hmmm, you got me thinking.

I really loved shooting that rifle match. I can honestly say I had way more fun than any pistol match I have shot (and I love shooting pistols.) My thought was that 2-Gun would be the perfect game. Rifles and pistols, transitioning between both in the same stage. Going to have to see if we can get something going around here. I've got to try and shoot one of the big 3 gun matches. Those have to be the most fun you can have with your clothes on..........

Hey Steve- Your killing me. Mini-Nick is going to cost me a small fortune if he starts shooting rifle too. He is worth it though. For those of you that are wondering, Mini-Nick is the name my 11yr old son goes by when he shoots with me. Poor kid.

Hey Craig-

Small world!!! Glad that SV is working out for you. Gott'a go check out those uppers in the classified section.

Thanks guys.

Later,

Nick-