gose Posted April 14, 2014 Share Posted April 14, 2014 It is my first time shooting Iron Man and I have a question about the long range bonus stages. My buddy shot it last year and he said he didn't even try to shoot the bonus stages. I would like to try but I don't want to make my scores/times even worse. If I completely fail on the bonus stage could my score/time get worse or is there only an upside to the bonus stages? My second question is whether I can use a bipod on the gun I use for the bonus stages? I am shooting in the Tactical Optics class. Thanks Travis might have to chime in here in case there are changes this year, but in previous matches, those long range bonus targets have probably been the most important targets of the match. They have been worth around 200+s on a sub 300s stage, which means that if you dont shoot them, a decent run without shooting them would give you maybe 25-30% on that stage. In 2012, the best score that didnt shoot them was 26%, so there's not much to lose by trying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idHawk Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 It is my first time shooting Iron Man and I have a question about the long range bonus stages. My buddy shot it last year and he said he didn't even try to shoot the bonus stages. I would like to try but I don't want to make my scores/times even worse. If I completely fail on the bonus stage could my score/time get worse or is there only an upside to the bonus stages? My second question is whether I can use a bipod on the gun I use for the bonus stages? I am shooting in the Tactical Optics class. Thanks The only downside to attempting the bonus targets and missing them is the time added. Last shot is last shot. The timer keeps running while attempting the bonus targets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
window2time Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I was wondering if it worked like that. For me, those might be more accurately described as "penalty stages". It seems like "bonus stages" would be structured so there would only be an upside to shooting them? But I understand the approach being used probably works fine for most everyone. Thanks for educating me on this. Can you also confirm for me that I am allowed to use a bipod or other support device on the "bonus stages" even though I can not use it on the other stages -- I am shooting Tac Optics class. Thanks for the help It is my first time shooting Iron Man and I have a question about the long range bonus stages. My buddy shot it last year and he said he didn't even try to shoot the bonus stages. I would like to try but I don't want to make my scores/times even worse. If I completely fail on the bonus stage could my score/time get worse or is there only an upside to the bonus stages? My second question is whether I can use a bipod on the gun I use for the bonus stages? I am shooting in the Tactical Optics class. Thanks The only downside to attempting the bonus targets and missing them is the time added. Last shot is last shot. The timer keeps running while attempting the bonus targets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambluemax Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I don't participate in trooper, but after being at ironman last year and now reading between the lines on what is involved...it sounds much harder online than it actually is in real life IMO. The distance between stages is not far. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Anderson Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I don't participate in trooper, but after being at ironman last year and now reading between the lines on what is involved...it sounds much harder online than it actually is in real life IMO. The distance between stages is not far. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk The last couple years yes. A few years ago they had a stage on the hill as you drive into the range you had to hike to and back from. The current range layout isn't bad. The difficulty isn't in having to carry your gear, it's in not being able to get help from anyone if something breaks or goes wrong. Last year in Tactical my bolt latch broke on my Benelli. If I had been shooting Trooper, I'd have been SOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Eskew Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I was wondering if it worked like that. For me, those might be more accurately described as "penalty stages". It seems like "bonus stages" would be structured so there would only be an upside to shooting them? But I understand the approach being used probably works fine for most everyone. Thanks for educating me on this. Can you also confirm for me that I am allowed to use a bipod or other support device on the "bonus stages" even though I can not use it on the other stages -- I am shooting Tac Optics class. Thanks for the help It is my first time shooting Iron Man and I have a question about the long range bonus stages. My buddy shot it last year and he said he didn't even try to shoot the bonus stages. I would like to try but I don't want to make my scores/times even worse. If I completely fail on the bonus stage could my score/time get worse or is there only an upside to the bonus stages? My second question is whether I can use a bipod on the gun I use for the bonus stages? I am shooting in the Tactical Optics class. Thanks The only downside to attempting the bonus targets and missing them is the time added. Last shot is last shot. The timer keeps running while attempting the bonus targets. You can use a bi pod on your Long range "bonus" gun. You CANNOT use a bi pod on your tac rifle for that stage. (unless you're ready to graduate to open class) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goat68 Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I was wondering if it worked like that. For me, those might be more accurately described as "penalty stages". It seems like "bonus stages" would be structured so there would only be an upside to shooting them? But I understand the approach being used probably works fine for most everyone. Thanks for educating me on this. Can you also confirm for me that I am allowed to use a bipod or other support device on the "bonus stages" even though I can not use it on the other stages -- I am shooting Tac Optics class. Thanks for the help It is my first time shooting Iron Man and I have a question about the long range bonus stages. My buddy shot it last year and he said he didn't even try to shoot the bonus stages. I would like to try but I don't want to make my scores/times even worse. If I completely fail on the bonus stage could my score/time get worse or is there only an upside to the bonus stages? My second question is whether I can use a bipod on the gun I use for the bonus stages? I am shooting in the Tactical Optics class. Thanks The only downside to attempting the bonus targets and missing them is the time added. Last shot is last shot. The timer keeps running while attempting the bonus targets. You can use a bi pod on your Long range "bonus" gun. You CANNOT use a bi pod on your tac rifle for that stage. (unless you're ready to graduate to open class) In the past, the long range targets are engaged from the 100 yd berm with a staged long range rifle. If you intend to use your normal Tac Rifle, you will need to take the long range shots near the bottom of the slide which is 100 yds further than the berm. The reason is you will need to abandon your rifle and engage shotgun and pistol targets before reaching the berm. In the past, you were not allowed to handle 2-long guns at the same time. If you put on a bipod at the bottom of the slide, then, as Bill mentions, you will be in Open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gose Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 I was wondering if it worked like that. For me, those might be more accurately described as "penalty stages". It seems like "bonus stages" would be structured so there would only be an upside to shooting them? But I understand the approach being used probably works fine for most everyone. Thanks for educating me on this. Can you also confirm for me that I am allowed to use a bipod or other support device on the "bonus stages" even though I can not use it on the other stages -- I am shooting Tac Optics class. Thanks for the help It is my first time shooting Iron Man and I have a question about the long range bonus stages. My buddy shot it last year and he said he didn't even try to shoot the bonus stages. I would like to try but I don't want to make my scores/times even worse. If I completely fail on the bonus stage could my score/time get worse or is there only an upside to the bonus stages? My second question is whether I can use a bipod on the gun I use for the bonus stages? I am shooting in the Tactical Optics class. Thanks The only downside to attempting the bonus targets and missing them is the time added. Last shot is last shot. The timer keeps running while attempting the bonus targets. You can use a bi pod on your Long range "bonus" gun. You CANNOT use a bi pod on your tac rifle for that stage. (unless you're ready to graduate to open class) In the past, you were not allowed to handle 2-long guns at the same time. Unloading and slinging it should be ok, I'd think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Hayden Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 .... In the past, you were not allowed to handle 2-long guns at the same time. Unloading and slinging it should be ok, I'd think On Stage 11.. at least once a few years back.. that was required Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openclassterror Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Approximately what ranges are the long range bonus targets? I am very confident in my AR to about 450, but wind drift with the 55s I shoot is horrendous once you get way out there. I have a Rem 700 .308, A custom Savage .300WSM with detachable mags, and a .338 ultra Tactical rifle that weighs about 18 lbs. Which would be most appropriate if it is beyond my AR limits? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Anderson Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Long ones are 900 ish. Short ones are 725 or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gose Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) Approximately what ranges are the long range bonus targets? I am very confident in my AR to about 450, but wind drift with the 55s I shoot is horrendous once you get way out there. I have a Rem 700 .308, A custom Savage .300WSM with detachable mags, and a .338 ultra Tactical rifle that weighs about 18 lbs. Which would be most appropriate if it is beyond my AR limits? Semis rule. If you dont have one or can't borrow one locally, see if there's one in your squad you can borrow. Edited April 18, 2014 by gose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-Bros_JLR Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 Approximately what ranges are the long range bonus targets? I am very confident in my AR to about 450, but wind drift with the 55s I shoot is horrendous once you get way out there. I have a Rem 700 .308, A custom Savage .300WSM with detachable mags, and a .338 ultra Tactical rifle that weighs about 18 lbs. Which would be most appropriate if it is beyond my AR limits? Semis rule. If you dont have one or can't borrow one locally, see if there's one in your squad you can borrow. This^ ... I run a bolt gun pretty fair, and my time after the bonus was just about the same as my raw time before I started shooting the bonus targets. Any decent long range semi auto (bigger than 5.56) will definitely help out when shooting the bonus targets. The targets as I recall were around 600, 700, and 9 something. Wind was also ripping about 20 when I shot it last, just to make things interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openclassterror Posted April 18, 2014 Share Posted April 18, 2014 (edited) Well, crap. I guess that means I hafta buy an AR.308 now, since I already registered. Gotta tell the woman I have no choice..... Approximately how big are the long range targets? We can only practice to 600 locally, so I am gonna have use my 300 to 600 yard dope to predict comeups. 900yds is too far to call shots from bullet impact and make corrections, even with a nightforce. If we don't have at least 3 or 4 MOA to shoot at I might as well skip the way out there stuff. Edited April 18, 2014 by openclassterror Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Anderson Posted April 19, 2014 Share Posted April 19, 2014 Well, crap. I guess that means I hafta buy an AR.308 now, since I already registered. Gotta tell the woman I have no choice..... Approximately how big are the long range targets? We can only practice to 600 locally, so I am gonna have use my 300 to 600 yard dope to predict comeups. 900yds is too far to call shots from bullet impact and make corrections, even with a nightforce. If we don't have at least 3 or 4 MOA to shoot at I might as well skip the way out there stuff. The long ones are pretty big and there's plenty of dust kicked up if you miss on them. At least for the ones straight out. They've had some off to the right in the grass that suck. Not calling misses there. The longest target is the easy one size wise. The ones closer in have been smaller and definitely the harder ones. But who knows what Travis is going to put out this year. He's been playing around with precision long range stuff so it might get a bit harder this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziebart Posted April 24, 2014 Share Posted April 24, 2014 Last year there were some at 550 that I watched people take with their regular AR and 7th bullets. Just like in the other thread there is no such thing as a bonus target. If someone else gets it your score will go down. You need to decide if the target is worth shooting for you and your skills/equipment. Only way to do a bonus target/stage is have it separate from the match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openclassterror Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Problem solved.... LR308 on the way, with time to develop loads and get used to it. I may not be competitive, but at least I got to buy a new gun! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Sierpina Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 Problem solved.... LR308 on the way, with time to develop loads and get used to it. I may not be competitive, but at least I got to buy a new gun! Tom Now you get to make another upper, just because the factory one isn't exactly what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
openclassterror Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 You know, I have already been thinking about a 7mm-08 or a 6.5 creedmoor/260 Rem barrel swap, and the rifle isn't even here yet! But really, my time would be better invested getting used to the rifle and developing loads. Instead of monkeying with it up until the day before I leave and loading ammo in the hotel the night before like I do with my AR15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 FWIW, 7mm-08, 6.5 CM, .260...the 6.5CM is the ticket for the .308 AR pattern rifles...except maybe for the .243. I shot the "Massive Penalty Phase" of Iron Man with the .223. You have to shoot from a downslopeing hill, from further away. Even switching guns to another .223 would have been significantly better. But a decent bolt gun is what I would choose next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Anderson Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 FWIW, 7mm-08, 6.5 CM, .260...the 6.5CM is the ticket for the .308 AR pattern rifles...except maybe for the .243. I shot the "Massive Penalty Phase" of Iron Man with the .223. You have to shoot from a downslopeing hill, from further away. Even switching guns to another .223 would have been significantly better. But a decent bolt gun is what I would choose next time. Bolt gun? I specifically went with a semi for this. The targets are so close to each other it's nice to not have to manipulate anything and just bang away on the targets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 FWIW, 7mm-08, 6.5 CM, .260...the 6.5CM is the ticket for the .308 AR pattern rifles...except maybe for the .243. I shot the "Massive Penalty Phase" of Iron Man with the .223. You have to shoot from a downslopeing hill, from further away. Even switching guns to another .223 would have been significantly better. But a decent bolt gun is what I would choose next time. Bolt gun? I specifically went with a semi for this. The targets are so close to each other it's nice to not have to manipulate anything and just bang away on the targets. You just faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gose Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 (edited) FWIW, 7mm-08, 6.5 CM, .260...the 6.5CM is the ticket for the .308 AR pattern rifles...except maybe for the .243. I shot the "Massive Penalty Phase" of Iron Man with the .223. You have to shoot from a downslopeing hill, from further away. Even switching guns to another .223 would have been significantly better. But a decent bolt gun is what I would choose next time. Bolt gun? I specifically went with a semi for this. The targets are so close to each other it's nice to not have to manipulate anything and just bang away on the targets. I remember Keith lugging some really nice and fancy AI .308 up there one year. The next year he was shooting a semi with the rest of us... Especially with the wind often howling, walking them in with a bolt is just going to be way too slow. I dont think I've ever seen any top guy shooting a bolt on those targets, but maybe Mark will be the first one Edited April 25, 2014 by gose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Anderson Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 I think the AMU guys brought out some .338 Lapua the first year they shot. That went away real quick the next year. The other issue is capacity. There are normally more targets than bolt gun magazines hold. (Except Armalite's new one.). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkCO Posted April 25, 2014 Share Posted April 25, 2014 (edited) FWIW, 7mm-08, 6.5 CM, .260...the 6.5CM is the ticket for the .308 AR pattern rifles...except maybe for the .243. I shot the "Massive Penalty Phase" of Iron Man with the .223. You have to shoot from a downslopeing hill, from further away. Even switching guns to another .223 would have been significantly better. But a decent bolt gun is what I would choose next time. Bolt gun? I specifically went with a semi for this. The targets are so close to each other it's nice to not have to manipulate anything and just bang away on the targets. I remember Keith lugging some really nice and fancy AI .308 up there one year. The next year he was shooting a semi with the rest of us... Especially with the wind often howling, walking them in with a bolt is just going to be way too slow. I dont think I've ever seen any top guy shooting a bolt on those targets, but maybe Mark will be the first one Come now. You know I will never be a threat to win a match. But I do get some lucky squirrel nuts on a long range stage here and there. When I was playing with the .308 pattern ARs, I shot my bolt gun at 3 10" steel gongs at 600 yards. 15 rounds, 15 hits, one mag change. I was halfway through the 3rd mag when I got my 15th hit with the gasser (47 rounds). The bolt time was 30% faster than the auto time. It is like I get on the semi-auto trigger and my sight pictures are not perfect, but what they hey, send it anyway. With the bolt gun, I become more patient. What is the line about knowing your limitations? When I get the .308 AR-15 upper running, I might try again and do an upper swap on the clock. That will be a first. Edited April 25, 2014 by MarkCO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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