Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters National Guard Machine Gun Target Shooting

Went to the range to what National Guard practice. They had 10 stations set up with
the latest 308 cal. mach. guns on tripods. One guy told me they are the model we are using in the Middle East. What I didn't understand, was the fact that the targets were only about 10 yds away. I asked one of the Guardsmen and he said it was easier to change the targets. And when they shoot up close they just make the targets smaller. Was he pulling my leg? Can you improve your marksmenship by shooting that close?

zeroing and part of the qualification fire is done at 25 meters.Mostly it tests your ability to manipulate the traversing and elevation mechanism. Once you are done with that you fire on a popup target course of fire from the bipod with targets out to at least 1100 meters. To shoot a good score on the first part requires a deft trigger finger and smooth transition between targets because your round count is fairly limited.

I don't remember what that target was called, that was 30 years ago, but it should have been setup at 25 meters.
It was stapled to a frame about 4'x6' and had 2 rows of silhouettes of different sizes.

Dodge, you are correct. It has been along time and my memory is not what it was.

We shot a reduced-scale course with the M-16 a few times. I think the equivalent for 30-caliber rifles was called the "1000-inch" course.


Okie John

It's been a few years since I fired the actual qualification, I seem to remember vertical, horizontal and diagonal rows of little silhouettes on it though.

He was just pulling your leg. Those 10 yard miniature targets were originally designed for this machine gun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zdXfGvBRGc

I thought it was fairly challenging . With the 1100M course combined for a score it was difficult to make expert. Probably less than 5% of the machine gunners in my Brigade made the expert cut.

When we shot them with our saw's they were at close range(dont remember the exact range).They where called tombstones and the range they where set at was supposed to correspond with the bullets trajectory at 300 meters I believe.

When I was in the AF I only shot at 100 meters one time with the M16 and never more than 25 meters with the M60 for qualification. Most AF bases don't have the room for a long distance range. I did shoot the M60 and M16 and SAW at further ranges when in combat training in TX, but that is about it. For qualification it was always 25 meters shooting at the little tombstones. It doesn't really teach a person to shoot at long range. There is no wind to deal with and other problems that can arise. But, the AF spent its money on planes not rifles.

Now the M19 and M203 grenade launchers were shot out to the effective range of that gun at Army National Guard bases..