Moltke's Range Diary

[Moltke]

Also 24-26 September

I shot the Starlight 3 Gun night match which was held at the same location as the NRA WSC but at night, using the following weaponlights mounted on my guns

Surefire X300 Ultra (600)

Surefire M600 Ultra Scout (500)

Streamlight TLR1 (300)

Streamlight TLR1 (300)

Nitecore HC 50 (565)

In total I was armed with 2265 combined lumens and still came in the bottom third of shooters, which for me was pretty disappointing. I learned alot of new stuff about my skills at this competition, and differences when shooting at night, and also had some brutal reminders of things that I already knew - which bit me in the ass pretty good at this event.

1) Too much light is just as bad as not enough. My headlamp was amazingly bright and I could have shot the close range courses of fire without lights on my gun if I had to. However I wouldn't have been super fast. And in fact, with my extra super bright headlamp it caused a white wash effect on my shotgun sights preventing me from easily seeing beyond the gun. Adjusting the HC50 higher on my head helped alot but it slowed me down more than once and the lesson learned only really sank in that it was hurting my times after the event.

2) My 13 inch Armalite is a fireball throwing son-of-a-bitch at night and it is NOT the ideal gun for night shooting simply because of the muzzle brake. The muzzle brake didnt just white out my sights with light from the blast but at night with illumination I could see that it was blasting dust everywhere that I would otherwise not see during the day. I think an appropriate muzzle device would probably be a KX3 or similar option and just deal with whatever the recoil is because seeing clear and fast is more important.

3) Shooting a CZ race gun for a year then grabbing a Glock 19 without any practice or even checking the zero (POA vs POI) before heading to a major was a stupid choice. The gun was shooting very high, and I chose on one course of fire to shoot pistol on some hanging clay birds.... which was a minute long disaster instead of being 8-10 seconds with my CZ. Wow. I either need a race gun with a rail or change my Glock sights & zero the gun the way I need it for competitions.

4) Shooting the WSC and the Starlight 3 Gun was a ball busting, exhausting, and tiring experience that almost killed me. No actually, I was falling asleep while driving home late and it probably almost killed me. Would I do it over again? Hell yeah. Would I want to shoot PM PM PM with Starlight instead of alternating AM sessions? More hell yes. Just changing that aspect and doing PM PM PM would make hosting dual matches much better for next year.

5) This entire shooting match was Open division. No restrictions on equipment, magazine capacities, etc and so I put on a last minute 15rd tube for my Versamax. For the most part it worked fine but it was getting hung up here and there which is not surprising because thats way more spring tension than should be there without any adjustment. However, clearing a 1 second jam here and there was way better than stopping to load 8 for 5-6 seconds.

6) Visualiztion techniques don't change at night and if anything you need to visualize more. What is the target going to look like when illuminated? What about through the scope? When are you going to come off the sights? When are you going to stay on the sight? Which lights need to be on? Which targets might you forget? Where's your footwork going to take you? I made alot of choices with these questions that I would change now if I could.

7) The prize table for this match was sick and even in the bottom third of shooters I took home a bounty of sweet stuff to include a gun, scope, and ammo. What?? Yes. Awesome.

Overall, this match rocked my world because I was tired and thought I was prepared - but I was NOT prepared. After learning alot this year I hope to come back and surprise people next year.

[Moltke]

10 October 2015

I finished 5th place Factory Division at 3 Gun Nationals in Tulsa OK, put on by 3-Gun Nation. The shooting was fast and I made many mistakes, so I think if I had shot clean & to my ability, then I would have placed 4th. Even without the long range shooting that 3 Gun normally has (even at regionals 300-400 yards) this match was an asskicker at 70 yards. I was surprised that none of the targets were un-hittable by the average person but it was a question of "who could do it the fastest" which made it so very hard to run at your optimal speed without making mistakes. I have a whole list of stuff to practice now if I can get it all down on paper before I forget it!

PS. Tulsa can be a fun town at night especially with the high population of lonely single moms hunting out of towners looking for a good time

[USA]

Awesome job. Some well recognized names right in front of you. Any vids forthcoming? Please share your list of stuff to practice, if you remember it. Are you planning on going back again next year?

[T Bacus]

Ken, if I decide to shoot this next year you can use my 5.56 suppressed SBR, no flash there!

[dmshozer1]

10 October 2015

I finished 5th place Factory Division at 3 Gun Nationals in Tulsa OK, put on by 3-Gun Nation. The shooting was fast and I made many mistakes, so I think if I had shot clean & to my ability, then I would have placed 4th. Even without the long range shooting that 3 Gun normally has (even at regionals 300-400 yards) this match was an asskicker at 70 yards. I was surprised that none of the targets were un-hittable by the average person but it was a question of "who could do it the fastest" which made it so very hard to run at your optimal speed without making mistakes. I have a whole list of stuff to practice now if I can get it all down on paper before I forget it!

PS. Tulsa can be a fun town at night especially with the high population of lonely single moms hunting out of towners looking for a good time

I guess that means you "helped" out one of those lonely mothers.

Nasty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Moltke]

2015 in review

My season ended 2 months ago and I have gone into winter hibernation. Looking back on my performance this year I am very happy! I won my first National Champion title shooting US Carbine Association 2-Gun's No Magnification division, then had 5 top five finishes at major 3 Gun championships throughout the year including a 5th place finish at 3 Gun Nation Nationals.

I got my picture in NRA's American Rifleman Magazine while at the NRA World Shooting Championship, shot my first night 3-Gun match at Starlight (thanks Chuck Anderson), and was also mentioned in 3-Gun Nation's magazine for placing well a couple of times at Regionals.

The situation with my Dad's health has improved however I really don't know how many dedicated Friday training days I'm going to have next year because of responsibility to help out with the family farm (which I do want to do). But as a result I don't expect to be as successful in 2016 because Friday shooting was always fresh in my head at Saturday matches. I'm still planning on attending around 10 majors next year if I can though!

Financially 2015 was an expensive year considering the ammo used during Friday training sessions, but considering just the majors I attended - match fees, travel, hotels... vs prize values, I pretty much broke even there. As I go into 2016 I now have 2 full sets of gear ready go for 3 Gun too - 2x pistols, 2x shotguns, 2x rifles (one Irons and one Optics). Best of all the 2nd set of gear was either a gun I won from a prize table finish or paid for with a prize, hooray.

Looking forward to down time, and looking forward to next year.

[Moltke]

Sunday 6 March 2016

The season started today with my first practice session. I demo'd some stuff for a new shooter and didn't really shoot much myself but instead helped them get ready for "not sucking" at their first USPSA competition. After driving out to Peacemaker we set up in a bay and did some accuracy, draw, speed shooting, target transitions, reloads, and movement drills. Unfortunately it was all pistol shooting and I didn't shoot very much anyway but it reinforces what I was kind of thinking... I need to start practicing because I'm rusty from sitting around the past few months. I'm hopeful that with the new family situation and responsibilities on the farm that I can still find some time to get to the range because at this point every foreseeable weekend is booked doing something. I might have to finally resort to doing dry fire!

[Moltke]

Saturday 19 March 2016

Peacemaker 3 Gun happened today but instead I worked on stuff for the NRA 3-Gun class. I did see some regulars at Peacemaker shooting the match in the 30 degree weather enduring the rain, sleet and snow.

Edited March 21, 2016 by Moltke

[Moltke]

Saturday 26 March

Had a zeroing day at Wildest Expectations Farm and then BBQ afterwards.

We started at 200 yards where I checked my competition rifles zeros. The 13 inch Armalite was dead center perfect with bullets on top of one another so I was very happy after not shooting it since October. The 18 inch Armalite was shooting high but centered with an unknown groups size but since I was hitting a skinny at 200.... I consider it ready to get the 300 yard zero finished. I should say that I remounted the Prismatic on the 18 inch Armalite which is why it needs an actual re-zero when the other gun does not. Both of these Armalite rifles really love the 69gr Stillwood Steadfast which has been my match rifle ammo now for 3 years.

We moved in to 100 yards where I zeroed the other AR's that I bought with me - Colt 11.5 inch, BCM 11.5 inch, and a Colt 6920. Now they're all zeroed for 100 yards POA = POI with 55gr ammo but I'm going to have to ditch the 2 MOA dots because I just can't see them anymore. I need to move to a 4 MOA dot or I get different optics because the 2's look unreasonable for a precise point of aim. Even at lower intensity the distortion from my astigmatism is just too much to make it a useable sight anymore.

Unfortunately the BCM clone is brand new and was experiencing a very regular failure to extract just about every other round. It has an H buffer and spring which is what it should have since its a clone of the Colt 11.5 Commando but it just won't run. Anyway, the gun is now zeroed for 100 yards but I'll have to re-do at some point anyway when I get some new 4 MOA optics. In the meantime the gun is not useful if its not going to run so I'm going to contact BCM and see what they're willing to do. I just bought this upper for the BCM lower I already had and I'm sure they'll take care of the problem - whatever it is.

Next we went to 50 yards where I zero checked my Versamax and its shooting slugs dead on just as it was last season, no gripes there. So then I zero checked the FN SLP Competition Mk 1 shotgun I won at the NRA WSC and it was not exactly hitting where I wanted. I'm going to have to spend some more time with that gun and learn the Ruger rear sight... or have it replaced with a different adjustable which would be even better. I really don't like the multi notch sight picture and would prefer as close to what I have on my Versamax as possible (standard notch adjustable rear dovetailed into the vent rib)

Also at 50 yards I zero checked my new Colt 6450 9mm rifle which was surprisingly "on" considering it is a beat to hell rental gun from a local popular gun store that probably has a million rounds through it and significant abuse from the hands of a thousand noobs. Although the mags are a bitch to load... the gun recoils just a little more than a .22 LR when shooting my subsonic gamer loads and is hitting just a bit low at 50 yards. I was running out of daylight at this point so I'll correct it next time I go to do a mass zeroing day.

I still need to do pistols and have a growing "to do" list but the highest priority guns are done. 13 and 18 inch Armalite rifles for competitions, and my 11.5" Colt Commando for home.

[Moltke]

Sunday April 10

I went to Peacemaker today and assembled gear for the upcoming NRA 3 Gun class.

Also when I got home I worked on my reloading setup and reorganizing my gun closet.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Moltke

[Moltke]

Friday 15 April 2016

Today was the last day of prep before the NRA 3 Gun class. I built the training bay, measured and laid out some fault lines, shooting boxes, walls, plate rack, other steel targets, cardboard targets, etc

[Moltke]

Saturday & Sunday 15-16 April 2016

The first NRA 3 Gun class was a huge success with 14 students learning the in's and out's of action pistol shooting, shotgunning, close range rifle, and long range rifle. I was unsure if a 2 day class could be worth a $1500 entry fee but in my opinion, we delivered a world class shooting experience. The class is geared to people who have very basic shooting experience and no competition gear as everything is provided for by the range and all they have to do is show up. But beyond the gear provided (thank you Armalite, Benelli, Sig, Vortex and Red Hill Tactical), the level of instruction provided was unmatched with a specific emphasis on reaching each student personally to give them what they needed for success.

[Moltke]

Sunday 29 May 2016

This weekend I spent Sunday on Bill's farm shooting around just for fun, with no expectation of speed or accuracy, no timer and no pressure.

[Moltke]

Monday 22 August 2016

After not posting for months I'm going to lump my recent experiences together.

1) NRA had another 3-Gun class which was great.  The USMC Combat Shooting Team attended and the new recruits have serious potential.  I taught the pistol portion of the class again and brought these guys out of their shell, they learned alot, and their performance gains were noticeable before and after.

2) The only major match I shot all year was Topton's 3 Man 3 Gun and it was glorious. On the first course of fire I shot a VTAC barricade rifle position fast & furious, wish I had video! Hell, I wish I had video of the whole day! My goal was to shoot a clean match and we crushed it. I was very happy with my performance.

3) Recently I went to Echo Valley and had a zeroing day where I took an experienced shooter and we re-zeroed his stuff to take the guesswork out of his gear. Irons is a different animal and having the best gear goes a long way. Figuring out how to maximize the performance envelope of what you're running is a must.

4) Recently I went to Bill's farm with another shooter and we did the same thing! Very good day. I expect one day this shooter to surpass me.

5) I took a shooter to the range for her first time ever and started with a .22 pistol. We focused on safety, gun handling, and the fundamentals of marksmanship.  It was a good day.

6) I took the same new shooter back to the range to try a 9mm pistol.  She shot my CZ Tactical Sport 9mm and proceeded to cut the bullseye out of the target at 5 & then 10 yards.  Then she switched to a Glock 34 for the rest of the night and liked that even better!

7) I assembled my ground hog gun.  The .223Rem 18 inch stainless Colt rifle that I won USCA Irons with, a Leupold 3-9x scope that I picked up off a prize table, a Vortex mount, and switched the Colt's muzzle brake for an AAC Brakeout.  After screwing on my M4-2000, I went to Elite Shooting Sports and zeroed the gun comfortably on a bench with 77gr PMC.  So now I've got dime sized groups that are 1 inch high at 100 yards and it should be pretty easy to take their cute furry little heads off while at my parents farm!

[Moltke]

Saturday 2 December 2017

After not posting for over a year, I want to summarize what happened in 2017

1) I opened a training company called Origin Shooting LLC

2) I partnered with Peacemaker, NRA and Green Ops to do some great classes

3) 56 people came through my program and learned some great stuff

4) I went to 3 major 3-gun competitions and had fun (3GNSC, 3GNAL, and Topton)

 

Overall I'm pretty happy and looking forward to 2018