I'm at loss for words at how lucky I am to have been able to spend the better part of a day at the CMP Marksmanship Park in Talladega, AL last Friday. It is quite possibly the most beautiful facility of its kind and has all the bells and whistles.
It turned out to be an above average day for me marksmanship wise as well...I feel like I either got really lucky or my rifles did all the talking.
I didn't document the facility as much as I should have...in fact I didn't even take the picture of the outside of the main building until I had to come back to retrieve my license at the end of the day (traded it for key card access to the 100 yard range to sight in). That being said, I'm fairly certain almost anything you could want/need to know about the place could be found on their website.
I used the 'Waze' app to try and get there from the east...might be better to take the next exit. Ask me how I know :/
Aside from running on fumes in the girlfriends Focus, Waze quit on me in the middle of cow country Alabama. It put me down a road the had wooden 2x6 planks as a bridge across a stream and I had to drive out of the dead zone to get a signal before I could find my way. I wrote down all the directions on paper and I was on schedule to arrive at 09:00 (thought it would be 10:00, but forgot about the time zone again!) I pulled up the facility and the digital gauge on the speedo read '5 miles to empty'...hmmmm, i'll figure that out later I decided.
Day started at the 100 yard range so I could zero in and prove the capabilities of my rifles and myself as a safe shooter. I was the first one on the range at 09:15 and the range officer was nice/bored enough to give me a run through of all the capabilities and functions of the electronic targets/scoring systems. After he saw that I and my rifles could cut the mustard, I was off to Range 1! '4 miles to empty'...hmmm...that definitely wasn't a mile.
Pull up to range 1...'3 miles to empty'...ok, don't think about it too much...just go out and have fun and you'll figure it out later. I go up front and grab a golf cart (included with $30 daily admission) and bring it down to the 200, 300 and 600 yard range...drop off my gear and bring the golf cart back up front so someone else can use it. Only guy on the range aside from the RSO was a 'regular' that retired nearby and goes every week.
I started out on the 200 with all three rifles. I actually had an easier time getting in the black than I did at the 100 (SR-1 target is scaled down slightly even from standard SR target to compensate for lack of wind call and bullet drop, I think).
Once I got three shots in a row in the black with each rifle I talked to the RSO and he dropped the 200 yard target and put up the one at the 300 yard line.
Here's my first three shots with the Garand I shoot in the CMP matches at Old Colony. Just a CMP Springfield mixmaster in a new stock.
and a zoom in on the center black
and the K31 three shot group zoom in at 300
and out to the 600 with the Swiss lady. In the spirit of full disclosure I completely missed the target with the first 3 shots because I didn't adjust the rear sight to shoot at 600 yards. Once I put it on the correct setting, I made what could possibly be the best shot of my life.
yep...my first shot with the sights at the correct setting and I hit the damn x-ring. The RSO just so happened to be standing behind me watching me take my first shot. He told me he had never seen anyone attempt a 600 yard shot with a K31 since the range opened. I think he might be telling the next guy he sees with a K31 about this 'lucky' shot he saw that day! Some Marine with a hard-on to hit the center black at 600 yards...lol.
Anyway...I never expected in a million years I would make that shot and I strongly suggest all my accuracy had to do more with the rifles than the shooter. I was using a web sling and a soft rifle case to lay on so I could shoot in the prone...pretty much as low budget as it gets! As a side note I've decided to use that Cabelas gift card I got from Mountain for the Garand Postal Match last summer to buy a shooting mat finally!!!
Onto the Garand at the 600... admittedly my two best consecutive shots out of about 2 enbloc clips and NOT my first shots. I actually had to play with my dope a little...600yd setting was too low...800yd setting was just right until the barrel heated up then was too high...700yd setting was my 'hot barrel' setting and I feel like as long as I kept putting rounds down the pipe it would have stayed consistently on target.
No word of a lie, I NEVER shoot this good...I suspect some malfunction with the electronic targets!
and the Match M1A built by 'Chicken Mac' Isaac McCaskill (SSgt. USMC 2112 -Retired) I bought it off NES about this time last year and have since built an M14 of my own out of the 'box o parts' that came as part of the deal. I can't say mine shoots anywhere NEAR as good as the M1A though.
All in all...this was probably the best day of shooting I've ever had. I'm honestly so grateful for the experience and for all those that have helped me get to this point with shooting and reloading. With that said, the only rifle I didn't use reloads with was the K31...I had enough GP11 in stock to last me the day. The other reloads were my 'weak' loads with 168gr Nosler Custom Competitions with Varget behind them and standard CCI 200 primers in Remington Brass...certainly nothing special by any means.
I would HIGHLY recommend stopping by for a few hours or a day to anyone in the area or even passing through on route 20. This not only gave me a day of fun, but also the confidence boost I needed to start thinking about taking competition rifle marksmanship a little more seriously this coming season.
Here's a shot of the main building I took on my trip back after I realized I forgot to get my license back from the nice lady at the front desk.
'2 miles to empty' in the Focus and somehow I drove 8 miles on back country AL roads to the nearest gas station...drove back to Atlanta and picked up my girlfriend after her step 2 medical exam and we drove straight home to MA from there...no stops except gas and potty breaks for us and the dogs!
Thanks for reading...and Happy New Year!
It turned out to be an above average day for me marksmanship wise as well...I feel like I either got really lucky or my rifles did all the talking.
I didn't document the facility as much as I should have...in fact I didn't even take the picture of the outside of the main building until I had to come back to retrieve my license at the end of the day (traded it for key card access to the 100 yard range to sight in). That being said, I'm fairly certain almost anything you could want/need to know about the place could be found on their website.
I used the 'Waze' app to try and get there from the east...might be better to take the next exit. Ask me how I know :/
Aside from running on fumes in the girlfriends Focus, Waze quit on me in the middle of cow country Alabama. It put me down a road the had wooden 2x6 planks as a bridge across a stream and I had to drive out of the dead zone to get a signal before I could find my way. I wrote down all the directions on paper and I was on schedule to arrive at 09:00 (thought it would be 10:00, but forgot about the time zone again!) I pulled up the facility and the digital gauge on the speedo read '5 miles to empty'...hmmmm, i'll figure that out later I decided.
Day started at the 100 yard range so I could zero in and prove the capabilities of my rifles and myself as a safe shooter. I was the first one on the range at 09:15 and the range officer was nice/bored enough to give me a run through of all the capabilities and functions of the electronic targets/scoring systems. After he saw that I and my rifles could cut the mustard, I was off to Range 1! '4 miles to empty'...hmmm...that definitely wasn't a mile.
Pull up to range 1...'3 miles to empty'...ok, don't think about it too much...just go out and have fun and you'll figure it out later. I go up front and grab a golf cart (included with $30 daily admission) and bring it down to the 200, 300 and 600 yard range...drop off my gear and bring the golf cart back up front so someone else can use it. Only guy on the range aside from the RSO was a 'regular' that retired nearby and goes every week.
I started out on the 200 with all three rifles. I actually had an easier time getting in the black than I did at the 100 (SR-1 target is scaled down slightly even from standard SR target to compensate for lack of wind call and bullet drop, I think).
Once I got three shots in a row in the black with each rifle I talked to the RSO and he dropped the 200 yard target and put up the one at the 300 yard line.
Here's my first three shots with the Garand I shoot in the CMP matches at Old Colony. Just a CMP Springfield mixmaster in a new stock.
and a zoom in on the center black
and the K31 three shot group zoom in at 300
and out to the 600 with the Swiss lady. In the spirit of full disclosure I completely missed the target with the first 3 shots because I didn't adjust the rear sight to shoot at 600 yards. Once I put it on the correct setting, I made what could possibly be the best shot of my life.
yep...my first shot with the sights at the correct setting and I hit the damn x-ring. The RSO just so happened to be standing behind me watching me take my first shot. He told me he had never seen anyone attempt a 600 yard shot with a K31 since the range opened. I think he might be telling the next guy he sees with a K31 about this 'lucky' shot he saw that day! Some Marine with a hard-on to hit the center black at 600 yards...lol.
Anyway...I never expected in a million years I would make that shot and I strongly suggest all my accuracy had to do more with the rifles than the shooter. I was using a web sling and a soft rifle case to lay on so I could shoot in the prone...pretty much as low budget as it gets! As a side note I've decided to use that Cabelas gift card I got from Mountain for the Garand Postal Match last summer to buy a shooting mat finally!!!
Onto the Garand at the 600... admittedly my two best consecutive shots out of about 2 enbloc clips and NOT my first shots. I actually had to play with my dope a little...600yd setting was too low...800yd setting was just right until the barrel heated up then was too high...700yd setting was my 'hot barrel' setting and I feel like as long as I kept putting rounds down the pipe it would have stayed consistently on target.
No word of a lie, I NEVER shoot this good...I suspect some malfunction with the electronic targets!
and the Match M1A built by 'Chicken Mac' Isaac McCaskill (SSgt. USMC 2112 -Retired) I bought it off NES about this time last year and have since built an M14 of my own out of the 'box o parts' that came as part of the deal. I can't say mine shoots anywhere NEAR as good as the M1A though.
All in all...this was probably the best day of shooting I've ever had. I'm honestly so grateful for the experience and for all those that have helped me get to this point with shooting and reloading. With that said, the only rifle I didn't use reloads with was the K31...I had enough GP11 in stock to last me the day. The other reloads were my 'weak' loads with 168gr Nosler Custom Competitions with Varget behind them and standard CCI 200 primers in Remington Brass...certainly nothing special by any means.
I would HIGHLY recommend stopping by for a few hours or a day to anyone in the area or even passing through on route 20. This not only gave me a day of fun, but also the confidence boost I needed to start thinking about taking competition rifle marksmanship a little more seriously this coming season.
Here's a shot of the main building I took on my trip back after I realized I forgot to get my license back from the nice lady at the front desk.
'2 miles to empty' in the Focus and somehow I drove 8 miles on back country AL roads to the nearest gas station...drove back to Atlanta and picked up my girlfriend after her step 2 medical exam and we drove straight home to MA from there...no stops except gas and potty breaks for us and the dogs!
Thanks for reading...and Happy New Year!
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