Time to Re-Do your Quanitco Vetting Documents

VFEMI does most of our training at MCB Quantico under the umbrella of Quantico Shooting Club (QSC). If you want to train with and be part of the team, it's super convenient if you are also a member of Quantico Shooting Club. Either way, to get on base you'll need to fill out some paperwork. If you choose not to join, you get to fill it out every year. Here's the latest notice from QSC:


QSC Members,

Associate members,

I am asking that you please redo the vetting documentation so that we are in compliance. The base stated that they do not delete the members however, the form itself does not show who is a member or a guest. I wish to be sure that we are compliant. If you have already done this you do not need to do it again. Thank you. 

Forms can be downloaded HERE. Please do not fill out 26-28 and only use drivers license. Mail to club address or drop it off. 

Rayna Sprouse QSC Operations Officer 703-463-8214

Post Office Box 212
Quantico, VA 22134
UNITED STATES

How to shoot standing by Carl Benosky

I copied this off of the US Rifle Teams forums, and it rings true for me.

How to shoot standing by Carl Benosky

Posted 24 September 2012 - to http://www.usrifleteams.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=22346&hl

Shooting consistently good standing is a matter of rounds down range, with thoughtfully executed goal.

But first, your hold will determine the success you will have.

#1 your hold has to be 10 ring to shoot 10’s. This means that there should be a reasonable amount of time (enough to get a shot off) that your sights are within your best hold. No attention should be paid to the sight when they are not in the middle, it’s wasted energy. My best hold is within 5 seconds after I first look though my sights. I’m ready to shoot the shot at that time. If the gun don’t stop I don’t shoot…I start over.

#2 the shot has to be executed with the gun sitting still within your hold. If the gun is moving…it’s most likely moving out, and you've missed the best part of your hold.

#3 recognizing that the gun is sitting still and within your hold, with lots of training (dry fire or live fire) will initiate you firing the shot. It’s not subconscious to me, but it’s close.

#4 don’t disturb the gun when you shoot the shot. That being said, I don’t believe in ball and dummy rounds drills and being surprised when the shot goes off. I consciously shoot every shot. Sometimes they are a mistake and I over-hold, but the more I train the less of these I get. If I get a dud round my gun will dip. This is very noticeable to me when shooting pistol. I can shoot bullet holes at 25 yds, but if I’ve miscounted the rounds I’ve fired out of my magazine, my pistol will dip noticeably…so do the pistols of the best pistol shooters I’ve watched and shot with. One might call this a “jerk”, I call it “controlled aggressive execution…executed consistently”  . I don't believe you can learn to ignore recoil. You must be consistent in your reaction to it.

#5 know your hold and shoot within it. The best part of my hold is about 4 inches. When I get things rolling I recognize a still gun within my hold and execute the shot. I train to do this every shot. Close 10’s are acceptable Mid-ring 10’s are not. If my hold was 8-inches I would train the same way. Shoot the shot when it is still within the hold, and accept the occasional 9 but not accepting the shots out of my hold.

#6 rounds down range. I shudder to think the amount of rounds I've fired standing in my life, and it still takes a month of shooting standing before Perry to be in my comfort zone. That month before Perry I shoot about 2000 rounds standing, 22 shots at a time. It peaks me at just about the right time.

This is a picture to what I believe it takes to shoot good standings. I hope it gives some insight, understanding, and a roadmap to your own success shooting standing.

Good Shooting,
Carl 

-----

Carl does seem to know what he's doing.(ed.)

Maryland State Service Rifle Championships 2013

I shot the Maryland State Service Rifle Championships over 2 days. For the first day (9/21) I got up at 5am, ate a bowl of oatmeal, and drove the 2 1/2 hours to warrior mountain. I was on relay 3, so I went to the pits first, and fired standing 3rd. I ate a sandwich in the pits, but I got hungry with low blood sugar about 5 shots in to standing. I was a bit of a wobbly mess, so I did not do very well standing that day. I did have a nice sitting score.
Rapid prone, I wasn't sure if my elevation should be 23 or 20. I went with 23, right 2 plus a little left for the wind, and ended up with a good group high left. The next string I went down to 20, and was centered low. Go figure.
I got rained on in slow prone, and that caused some problems. Actually, for the first couple of shots, the rain helped me focus on the front sight, and I shot x's. After that, the gun got slippery, and I had a hard time getting a good cheek weld, and holding position. In the end, I did at least shoot my classification.

Last	First	Stand	X	Sitting	X	R prn	X	S prn	X	Score	X	Percent
McGinnes	Michael	174	3	196	5	184	0	179	3	733	11	91.6%

The second day (9/22) was the EIC match. I slept in a nearby hotel (7 C's Lodge, pretty nice), and only had a 20 min drive to the range. Nonetheless, I just felt crappy that morning. I'm not sure why.
So I'm relay 2, so I'm shooting 2nd (which I prefer). When I mounted the rifle for the first shot, it was all over the target. At that point, I should have taken the rifle down and started over, but instead, I shot a miss. That's right, my very first shot was a miss, and I knew it as soon as I pulled the trigger. I figured my day was pretty much over, but I kept it together and finished standing with an 82. I really do need to write down a shot plan for standing. It needs to include finding my balance in my feet, relaxing my legs, and relaxing my upper body, shoulder, and arms. I need to practice at least 22 rounds a day.

Sitting, I had a good position, and not to much pulse. I took it one shot at a time--breath, front sight, squeeze-- and shot a 98.

Rapid prone, I had a pretty good position. My goal was to break every shot in the X, and get a nice small group so that I could confirm my zero. I ended up with a good group, but a little too much to the left on the 9-10 line, netting me a 96. Which means I'm going to 600 down 24 points. That's not actually too bad, but it doesn't leave much room for error.

Then, I had a phenomenal stage and string in slow prone. For the first string, I really wanted to try to break clean shots, so that I could adjust my zero as needed. I decided to be brave about spinning the knobs as long as I broke a good shot. I helped to focus on each shot, and keeping focus on the front sight while I squeezed the trigger. The second string in particular I took shot by shot. I finished with a 92 and a 99, for a stage total of 191--personal bests for string and stage. As a result, I have the beginnings of a shot plan for slow prone. Roll left, place rifle in shoulder (high), establish cheek weld with nose in charging handle, roll right and place right elbow, lift and reestablish cheek weld. While looking at grass, relax left arm, relax shoulders. Breath, sight picture, front sight focus. I also have a new no wind zero (NWZ): Right four clicks. I started and ended with the same elevation, with a little fiddling in between.

I ended up with a 467, which I knew was good-- and gave me hope of getting EIC points -- But I hadn't realized that that was a person best for a National Match Course. I ended up 5th, 5 points and a few X's out of the money. In other words, if that first shot had been just a six instead of a miss, I would have finished 3rd, taking home a bronze and 6 points. As it was, I didn't even get first leather. Still, lesson learned: never give up.
Other lesson learned: if my wobble zone is the whole target board, take the rifle down and start over.


After shooting the Maryland State Service Rifle Championships at Ft. Hill/Warrior Mountain, I need to update my personal bests, and goals (new PBs in bold):

Personal bests to date:
Standing 97/100; 191/200 (spring league, M4)
Sitting 100; 196
R. Prone 100; 195 (2012 Creedmoor Cup)
S. Prone 191 - 5x; 99 - 3x(?) (MD State SR Championships)
Navy total: 474-11x (spring league, M4)
NMC total: 467-8x (MD State SR Championships)
800 Agg : 750 (2012 Creedmoor Cup)
Best Ball (NMC): 488

Goals:
Standing: Clean, regular 90s.
Sitting: Regular cleans
R. Prone: Regular cleans
S. Prone: Clean string, 195, regular 90s ea. string.
NMC Total: 475, regular 470s.

Last	First	Stand	X	Sitting	X	R_prn	X	S_prn	X	Score	X	EIC_Ranking
Podshivalov	Roman	96	1	100	1	99	2	191	6	486	10	Winner
Bloss	Tim	94	1	97	0	97	1	191	4	479	6	Second
Read	Justin	92	2	96	2	96	1	188	5	472	10	Third
Thomas	Alex	91	1	94	0	96	2	189	5	470	8	High_Junior
Lechliter	Leah	85	0	96	3	98	2	188	4	467	9
McGinnes	Michael	82	0	98	1	96	2	191	5	467	8

Presidents 100, 2013

President's 100

I'm a very long shot for the P100. If I have a really good day, it's possible, but mostly I shoot it to prepare for the Individual and Team matches. Also, it's a match, and having fun shooting matches is the whole point.

The match is just three stages: 10 shots standing (offhand) at 200 yards in 10 minutes; 10 shots prone at 300 yards in 70 seconds (rapid prone); and 10 shots prone at 600 yards in 10 minutes (slow prone).

I shot on relay 6, which means I went to the pits first, shot 3rd after the pit change at 200 and 300, scored at 300 and 600, and then I could shoot and scoot at 600. 

Offhand: I tend to be either good or bad on this stage. If I get in a steady position, with a good natural point of aim (NPA) I can do really well. If something is off, it can be a challenge.  I was having a good string. I wasn't 100% solid, but I had a good NPA. I was hitting 9s and 10s, although I couldn't seem to find the X ring. The last shot of the string was solid, I broke the shot right in the middle, and it came up the elusive X...on the target next to mine. I had cross fired, earning myself a big fat 0 for that shot, and finished with an 83. Even if I didn't drop any more points, I was out of the 100.

Rapid Prone: The wind at 300 was blowing pretty good. I estimated 8mph out of 7:00, so I put on 1.75 minutes of left wind. That was not quite enough, and I lost points out to the right, finishing with a respectable, but not great, 95. 

Slow prone: There are two great challenges to shooting at 600 yards. The first is that the target is unforgiving. The X ring is just 6" ( 1 minutes of angle) across, so every little thing counts. Your position has to be solid, and consistent with a good NPA. You also have to keep a laser focus on the front sight, but still be seeing the target well. The other factor is wind. If you don't correct for it, or make the wrong correction, the wind can blow you completely off the target. I struggle a little bit with the first part, and the wind was tough. I estimated the predominant condition to be about 10mph, and variable. I put on 4.5 minutes right, and shot a 7 at 10 o'clock. I figured some of that was me, so I only put another minute right on the gun, and fired. The score keeper called out, "eight, dumb-ass." OK, the "dumb-ass" was implied, but you could hear it in his voice. I put another minute right on the gun, and the next shot came up a 10. From there, I did my best to read the wind, and chased the spotter a little bit. 

Juddgernauts - Spring League 2013

It was a good year. We were the second place Expert team, missing first place by 4 points (5582-90x to 5586-81x). Spring League Team Results

On the last match of the series, I set some personal bests:

97-2 / 100 Standing
191-4x / 200 Standing (first time breaking 190 offhand).

Navy Match: 474-11 (second Master score).

I also broke 1400 for the league (1500 agg).

2013 - 1403.025

2012 - 1394 

2011 - 1351

My off-hand was much improved. I did not do as well as normal in the rapids. Slow prone was a little improved. If I can maintain my slow scores,
I need to work on improving my rapids so that I can regularly shoot 98+, that get's me to the 480s.

Personal bests to date:
Standing  97/100; 191/200 (spring league, M4)
Sitting  100
R. Prone 100; 195 (2012 Creedmoor Cup)
S. Prone 186 - 3x; 94 (RC200), 95 (RC100)
Navy total: 474-11x (spring league, M4)
NMC total: 455-6x
800 Agg : 750 (2012 Creedmoor Cup)

Goals:
Standing: Clean, regular 90s.
Sitting:  Regular cleans
R. Prone: Regular cleans
S. Prone: 190, regular 90s ea. string.
NMC Total: 475, regular 470s.

Aug. Fun Match; Personal Bests

At this months Fairfax Rod and Gun club "Fun Match," I shot a personal best 761-17x for the match, my first Master level score. Extracting stages of a National Match Course, this would be a 471, also a personal best. I also had personal bests in standing, sitting, and rapid prone.

I shot the first relay on target points 14 and 15, paired with Greg Spitzer. These TPs have the targets in the shade through sitting, with dappled light in prone when the sun was out. It was partly cloudy. I was shooting using my new short hood and .46 aperture, Creedmoor 50 coat, and a web sling. First shot was at 0900, and we shot until we finished all stages.

Standing

I fired a personal best tying 95-2x in the first string, and a personal best 186-3x for the stage. The ground is flatter and more even than Quantico or Perry (no grass), but I still ended up with my feet closer together than normal to find a good spot. Rear foot was still tilted back a little.

Success Analysis

The first string seemed easy. I had a good NPA. I consistently placed the buttstock in the same place, with the toe just inside the humeral head, near the top. I brought the rifle down and set-up, feeling my position, before looking trough the sights (thank you, Olympics). I also shot with a relaxed diaphragm (thank you, Jeter). The larger aperture allowed more light, which seemed to make it easier to focus on the front sight.

Solutions Analysis

I'm looking for a solution to fatigue and loss of focus during the last 5 shots of a 20 shot offhand string. I think the problem was aggravated by trying to record my own score, and keep score for my partner.

Sitting

I fired a personal best 5x clean on the first string, and finished the stage with 200-9x, my first double clean sitting.

Success Analysis

Felt easy. I kept a front site focus, I took a breath on each shot, and exhaled relaxing the diaphragm each shot. I called a couple of shots high and low, but all were in the 10 ring.

Solutions Analysis

I'm looking for a solution to my magazine hitting my sling. I think I need to get my sling higher on my arm, and more outboard.

Rapid Prone

I fired a personal best 196-2x for the stage.

Slow Prone

We were pair firing and scoring, which meant I had to break position to record Greg's scores between shots.

Success Analysis

I kept Greg's scores in my head if it was an X or 10. I wrote it down and forgot about it if it was anything else. I shot a reasonable score on the first string. I finished the stage with three 10s, and three Xs.

Solutions Analysis

I am looking for a solution to getting myself into a stable prone position, with a good NPA; and keeping or getting myself back into a the same position through the stage. A stable prone position allows me to relax my left arm and hand, and right shoulder. It also allows me to get on target without muscling the gun.

CMP National Trophy Matches at Camp Perry, 2012

For those he don’t know, the CMP National Trophy Rifle Matches have been held at Camp Perry, Ohio every year since 1907. Camp Perry is an Ohio National Guard base, and was home to German and Italian POWs during WWII. The huts that housed those POWs still stand to this day, although somewhat worn by time and weather.

I ended up staying one of those huts with Jason and Charley, two other VFEMI shooters. I could not have had more fun. Well, not in a week when I'm getting up at 5AM every day, and giving up caffeine, alcohol, and sarcasm. Our hut came with a gnome. 

Monday: Presidents 100

I started off really well with a in the President's 100 with a 93 in Off-Hand (very happy). We went to 300 prone, and I shot a nice tight little group at 6 O'clock in the 8/9 border for an 86. I was a minute and a half low for some reason. The targets were backlit, and it was overcast, so it might have been the light. Some people say you just shoot high at Perry because of having blue-sky instead of a berm and the targets are high relative to the shooting positions. Who knows? Anyway, at 600, there was some wind, and I shot at the low end of my normal range (88) for a total of 267-- which put me solidly in the Secretary of the Treasury's 600.

Tuesday: NTI - F-Bombs Ahead

When we got to the line at 0-dark thirty, it was just starting to sprinkle and the wind was blowing like hell. It looked like a storm was blowing in, so we didn't know if we were going to shoot, or how we were going to shoot. By the time we started, though, it had blown past us and turned into a nice morning. I started off AWESOME in off-hand: 10, 10, 10, (this is easy!) 9, (Ok, I still have to focus) 10, 7 ( WTF?), black (I can't see!). My aperture had come loose, and was flopping around in the hood. I got the aperture out of the hood, and figured I didn't have time to try to get it back in, so I kept shooting. I actually could see the target OK, but I didn't really get back into my zone, so I ended up with an 85. (so I dropped 4 points with the first 6 rounds, and 11 points with the last 4 rounds. There was a pair of 6s in there somewhere. Ok, 85 is not good, but it's not death either. 

I got down in sitting. My head wasn't really where in needed to be, but the position felt good: Bang, bang. Reload. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. I counted 10 rounds, and I thought about giving the trigger one more squeeze, but I didn't for some reason. I had time. When the targets went down, I looked at my bolt. It was, strangely, closed. And when I opened it, there was a bullet inside. Fuck. It came up an 88, with a saved round. I figure I need a 470 to make the cut, and I am down 27 after two stages. Double fuck. But, there is still hope. Never give up. 

We move the 300, and rapid prone. The sun is now out, and on the face of the targets. I estimated that there was about a minute of wind from the left. Now I have to decide if I was low Monday because of the light, or because "It's Perry." I decide it was mostly the light, so I just use my normal zero. I shoot a nice tight little group about a minute out at 3 O'Clock, because I never actually put the wind on the rifle. I still managed a 93.

We move on to 600 prone, and holy fuck, we got the wind something terrible. It was a switching, gusty 5-10 mph wind. It just pushed me all over the target, and I didn't have the confidence to chase the spotter. I would shoot a 7, not change the sights and shoot another one right next to it. I'd finally change the sites, and the wind would change direction, which I would discover when the next shot was a 7 out the other side. Tuesday night, we drank. Not much, but enough.

Wednesday: Hearst Doubles

It's a fine morning. We are sharing the firing point with Team Remington. I'm partnered Jason, and we are both a little hung over. I start by shooting two 7s. It's going to be a lovely day. After that, I start to get my groove on, and end with an 88. Not bad, considering I started with two 7s. And hey, my aperture didn't fall out.

By the time we get back to 300, our hangovers are gone. I'm ready for 300 rapids, and the targets are backlit, but it's not overcast. I take a wild guess and come up a minute. I'm in there, and come away with a 99. Not. Fucking. Bad.

Before we shoot at 600, I score for Team Remington, so I get to look through the scope for 23 minutes watching the mirage while listening to them discuss what it means. This is the best wind reading lesson ever. By the time it's our turn to shoot, I not only have a good starting wind call, but a good idea on how to read the changes through the scope. Plus, the wind is being kind to us. There was one 7 that I knew was bad as soon as I sent it, but everything else was 9s and 10s. I was actually seeing that I was stacking them up on the right side of the 10 ring, and came left a quarter to correct. It was awesome.  I ended up with a 93, for a total of 280. Our team finished 101st.  If I'd shot these scores in prone on Monday, I would have made the President's 100.

Scores

President's 100
Rank	Standing	Sitting	300 Prone	600 Prone	Total
551/1242	93-1	n/a	86-0	88-1	267-2
Notes			Elevation 1.5 minutes low due to overcast / back-lit targets	The wind something terrible
NTI
792/1125	85 - 1	88 - 3	93 - 2	162 - 1	428 - 7
Notes	10,10,10,9,10 - aperture falls out. D'oh	1 saved round. In other words, one more squeeze would have made that a 97 or 98.	Got the elevation. Failed to add wind.	OMG, the wind.
Hearst Doubles
160/576	88 - 2	n/a	99 - 4	93 - 1	280 - 7
Notes . top 28%	Hungover. Started with a pair of 7s, then things started coming together.		Good coaching and wind call. Added a min of elevation for backlit target	Bam! Watching Nate and team Remington call wind was very helpful. Calling wind for my partner helped me.	Nice score. Quite happy. Take best ball standing from p100, and I'm in the P100 with a 285.