2013 Post 435 Service Rifle Clinic

[xd ED]

I heartily agree with yuppiejr;
Great time and excellent learning experience, especially working the target pit. . .in a downpour...

Thanks to Mark and the crew from the Post 435 CMP Club

[Rip Van Winkle]

The 2013 Post 435 Service Rifle clinic is now history.

We had 22 shooters and only one no-show which was still the biggest turn out for our clinic, ever! I was impressed with our group this year, outside of a few gentle safety reminders I didn't have to blow my cool and scold anyone. We ran 3 relays of shooters through the National Match course of fire, 20 shots Prone, 10 Prone Rapid Fire, 10 Sitting Rapid Fire and 10 Standing.

As ex ED mentioned, we had to call one Cease Fire in the afternoon due to a rain squall. I tried to talk relays one and three into buying after the clinic for you guys getting wet in the pits but to no avail.

Overall it was a long day, (7:00 - 18:30) but the positive response received at the end of the day and here made the efort worthwhile.

Who won the woodtick contest BTW? I only pulled 2 of the little buggers off me last night.

Downloadable Results Bulletin

[Erud]

Nice work Mark, 22 is a great number for a clinic. Were any new HP addicts born?

[photogpat]

At 2:33 - do I spy someone shooting the course of fire with an underfolding AK?

[Rip Van Winkle]

Eric,

I signed up one new member and set the hook in a few others. Historically I get one new member for every 10 - 12 I run through the clinic and maybe 1 of 5 of those will decide to try their hand at full distance.

On another note, my CMP program has grown to the point where I'm worried about exceeding range capacity. We've been at or near capacity every week except one. I'm not sure what I'll do if everyone shows up on the same night.

[yuppiejr]

Nice work Mark, 22 is a great number for a clinic. Were any new HP addicts born?

...I'm feeling the tickle, starting to look into a proper national match style AR since my 16" PSA Dissipator style rifle with Magpul furniture is nowhere near service rifle legal.

I give the AK guy a lot of props, he caught a fair bit of **** on the line for his choice of gear but stuck with it and shot through the whole match while taking it all in stride, short sight radius / huge banana magazines / underfolding stock and all.

[Rip Van Winkle]

At 2:33 - do I spy someone shooting the course of fire with an underfolding AK?

Yes, and he did better with it than I thought he would.

[Erud]

Nice work Mark, 22 is a great number for a clinic. Were any new HP addicts born?

...I'm feeling the tickle, starting to look into a proper national match style AR since my 16" PSA Dissipator style rifle with Magpul furniture is nowhere near service rifle legal.

I give the AK guy a lot of props, he caught a fair bit of **** on the line for his choice of gear but stuck with it and shot through the whole match while taking it all in stride, short sight radius / huge banana magazines / underfolding stock and all.

Well, I hope the tickle festers into a full-blown itch! We are always looking for new shooters in the sport. After remaining pretty stagnant for a couple of years, there seem to be some new faces turning up again, which is great. Some people Get sort of nervous about shooting an actual match after doing a clinic, but I encourage you to get out and do it. Just set the bar low for your performance and plan on making mistakes and learning how things work. After you get one under your belt, everything slows down and the 2nd match will be a breeze. It is not uncommon to see new shooters improve by 50 points of more from their first match to their second.

It's going to be a somewhat odd season due to gas prices and component shortages, but there is still a match almost every weekend if you are willing to drive a bit. I just got back from a 3-day match up in Duluth and had an absolute blast, even with sketchy weather. State Championship is down in Red Wing on June 29-30 and we'd love to see a bunch of new shooters show up and shoot. I'm sure Mark would really like it if you showed up for the Leg match on Sunday! As you guys learned this weekend, Mark is a good guy and very knowledgeable in all things HP. Listen to his advice and you'll be heading in the right direction.

Regards,
Erik

[bothwell]

Who won the woodtick contest BTW? I only pulled 2 of the little buggers off me last night.

The Post 435 range has nothing on Chengwatana or Hinkley, in the woodtick department. I think I saw two ticks on the ground at the 435 clinic. By contrast, last weekend in Hinkley, I pulled three off my socks, one off my neck, one off the brim of my hat, and afterwards, one out of each shoe, and three out of my pants cuffs... after only 3 hours on the range. That was actually a good day ('cuz only the two in my shoes hit paydirt). On other visits, they've crawled across my peep sight and spoiled a shot

[bothwell]

After remaining pretty stagnant for a couple of years, there seem to be some new faces turning up again, which is great.

Hey "Stagnant" is my middle name (I think it's German for "horse," or something).

It is not uncommon to see new shooters improve by 50 points of more from their first match to their second.

The accomplished marksmen mark scores using "<score>-<number>X" (because you need to know how many bullseye''s they got, to break ties). For normal people, I think we should score it as "<score>-<number>M" to show how many misses. Misses are a golden opportunity: just a smidge of improvement, and they turn into 5's, or better! It's easier to take a 90-4M score (90 points, 4 misses) and add 40 points, than to take a 110-0M score and add 20 points. It's very cool to see people crush their previous scores after only a few weeks.

bothwell

[Erud]

Nah, you're focusing on the wrong thing. X's are good, misses are bad - concentrate on the good shots. You don't need to shoot a lot before misses become a thing of the past, I can't remember the last time I shot one. When you are just getting started in this sport there are big gains to be made all over the place and you can progress very quickly if you work at it.

Shoot more 10's and X's and forget the bad shots.