Attended my first NRL Hunter match East of Bloomfield, NM last weekend. A 7-hr drive from my Utah home. Man, what a great match format. We had a about 60 shooters. Great weather and beautiful scenery. I had lightened my heavy NRL/PRS rifle in 6.5x47 to exactly 12 lbs. It had been 16+ lbs. Had the 26" Hawkhill Marksman contour barrel carbon wrapped, loosing a solid 1 lb. I then removed the Manners T2A stock at something like 60 oz and replaced it with a new Mesa Precision Arms prototype stock which I believe was close to 20 oz. Put on a Athlon Midas Tac 6-24x50 running a MOA reticle. I did have an IOR G2 Recon 6-30, 40mm tube scope on before. I ran a tall Atlas bipod as well as the attachment point for the Snipe-Pod bipod. Actually use the Snipe-Pod during one COF. Was very please with how quick it attached and deployed. Used a Safari sling through out the event. To carry all my gear, I used my beloved Eberlestock Lo-Drag II pack. I carried 3 light weight bags of varying size, 96 rounds of 6.5x47 ammo, a LeFoto tripod with my beloved Leica 10x42 HD-B ranging binos attached to the top of the tripod. The binos give me precise dope to 1008 yds. For wind I had a quick 5, 10 and 15 mph wind conversion on my left arm in a football quarterbacks arm sleeve. Our farthest target was approx 950 yds. I did hit the 950 on the 2nd shot (1 point), just barely off the left edge of the 12" square for the 1st shot (2 points). A COF ran something like this..
RO would have us come up, rifle slung and all gear on our backs, make sure we understood how many targets, shape and sizes. Point in the direction the targets were located. At the start of the 4 minutes, we would step up to the shooting area, set my rifle on it's bipod, drop my pack and remove the tripod/bino combination. From a kneeling position, I had to locate the 1st target, which would have some brightly colored streamers within approx 20'. If their were more targets (up to 3 more) they have no markers near by so it can be tricky to locate them. They usually ran "out", near to far. I could tell they had been painted white "at one time in their history"; showing mostly grey steel. Once I found the first target, i'd mentally note the dope from the Leica's and quickly dial my elevation turret. Shooting position/s were simply painted marks or streamers on the ground, log, tree, etc. I had to be able to reach out at any time I was shooting, with either arm or leg and be able to touch the mark. Engage the 1st target (hit and move on or reengage then move on, to the 2nd target). Targets had to be engaged in order so I discovered it might behoove me to find all targets in the beginning so as not to shoot at the wrong target; which I did at least one of the 20 COF; 12 on day one and 8 on day two. I think I made every mistake at least once, sometimes more than once. My most common mistake was to get the range, rush to my rifle to dial the dope but realize I'd forgotten to see the dial up dope in the bino's lens. I'd have to go back to the bino, locate and range the target again and wait for the dope to appear in the bino's lens. I also, repeatedly forgot to find landmarks around the target/s after ranging them. Which caused me much waisted time to have to relocate them through my rifle's scope. I repeatedly waisted time with these two items over and over. I did miss, but rarely since I'd take the time to get into a good shooting position. This is where field experience comes into play; building a solid position from the ground, over a tripod, tree branch, log, stump or rock. Timing out do to not finding all the targets was a common occurrence with all 60 competitors. With the mistakes I made I felt uncomfortably good about my 25th place; but, I know I can do better....much better.
The prize table was packed, to say the least. Leica, Sig Sauer, Nightforce, Bushnell, Timney, Cole-Tac, Helix 6, Federal ammo, H-S Precison, Leupold, Black Rifle Coffee, Hawkins Precision, Redsand Safaris, Thunderbeast, Vortex and other were their with actual items or certificates. I was very happy to take a 50% off Brux barrel certificate home. It will be another 6.5x47 barrel which will be carbon wrapped by my local guy, Travis Bennett, of Spanish Fork, Utah. For me, my next match will be in Southern Idaho, 3rd week of May; only a 5 hr drive this time.
Hope some of you some shoot a NRL Hunter match.
Alan
