Practing for hunting - 357 Magnum Franken-Ruger

[xphunter]

Next week, I will be zeroing the 158 Swift load at 100, and checking drop at 150.
Then, I will be shooting the rest of the 158 Noslers at pd's.

[Malamute]

Thanks for the interesting posts!

Id like to see the results of your AR pistol shooting, and the gun if you get time.

[xphunter]

Thanks for the interesting posts!

Id like to see the results of your AR pistol shooting, and the gun if you get time.

The last time we really used my AR-Pistol was for the Wyoming Tactical Rifle Championship, about 2 years.
It successfully engaged 3" triangles, 5" squares and 10" steel out to 500 yards with bonus targets being further.
Most shooting was done from the prone position, with some sitting shots.
Tac and 69 grain SMK's.
I have hit steel with it out to 1150 yards...Goofing around.
I have two uppers for it: 7" Rock 1-7T, and 15" 1-7T Rock
Timney trigger
Seekins Lower and 2 Seekins Uppers.

[xphunter]

WTRC - Three Day/2-Man team steel shoot.
https://www.macsgunworks.com/sign-up
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uvmxl2qm7e...29PDF.pdf?dl=0

2012 Darrel Holland and I teamed up for the first time and shot WTRC. We took second place with me using a specialty pistol (LR) and Darrel shooting a AR-15 (mid-range). After that you will read a review by the guys that beat us. Pics may not be available
WTRC 2012
Darrell Holland and I teamed up to compete for the 2012 WTRC (Wyoming Tactical Rifle Championship). We have shot together some, hunted together once, but had never competed together until this match.
We both felt Darrell was a better wind caller, so that left me to be the one on the trigger for the LR targets. Out to 1K with bonus targets beyond 1000 yards. Darrell would shoot the carbine targets which went out to 500 yards with some bonus targets further. Some targets would not allow you to engage them from the prone position, but we expected this and our planning worked out well on those targets. Pistol shooting was out to 50 yards with those small 3” triangles also being bonus targets. We took turns engaging the pistol targets.
Darrell had picked up a slightly used JP AR-15 stoked with Black Hills 5.56 ammo with 77 grain SMK’s. Leupold VX-3 4.5-14 with the MOA ART Reticle.
For this match we thought quick reloading would be an advantage for me, since I am usually using a single-shot, and having a non-designated 700 LA on hand sure didn’t hurt.
We decided on the 6.5-06 for ease of feeding with detachable mags.
McRee chassis, Jewell trigger, Holland pinned recoil lug, Holland base, Leupold Mark 4 rings, Holland Level, Leupold VX-3 4.5-14 I had won at the MOA Handgun match was sent away to get the all MOA ART reticle.
Krieger 1-8T with Holland’s Gen 2 Radial brake.
This SP is affectionately called “Thunder!”
After the first course, I didn’t feel satisfied with some of the LR shots, as we had some tough wind conditions.
In spite of that, we were in 2nd place after our first course.
Darrell and I had some miscues as we go about things differently, but as time progressed our communication got better, and we began to hit on all cylinders.
After our second course on Friday we again held second place. We were both pleased for sure.
To make a long story short we continued to hold 2nd place through every course, including the team on team.
Darrell is an awesome spotter and shooter. As an example, on our last field course we had a LR bonus target right at ¼ of a mile.
Darrel gave me the dope, and my first shot centered it. The bonus targets are small upside 3” triangles (3” at the base of the triangle). Second shot smacked it again. That is something I will remember for awhile. It also goes to the quality components we used and by Darrell’s ability to build extremely accurate rigs. I made every shot prone with a two finger hold. My thumb against the back the chassis and my trigger finger lightly touching that Jewell trigger.
When I redid my load development last week and used Hybrid 100V my MV went to 2881 with a 3-shot group off of a bi-pod and small pillow bag measuring .155
While getting drops confirmed out 1100 yards I had two shot groups at 950 and 1100 yards that measured 2 inches and @ 1100 even smaller when shooting prone.
If anyone ever doubted the capability of a Specialty Handgun when shooting in field conditions at distance against experienced rifle shooters, that myth should be put to rest.
I am still slower from shot-to-shot compared to a rifleman, but accuracy wise I am not disadvantaged.
Darrell and I are already in the process of making changes to make us even better next year.
This is the first time I can ever remember being this pleased when coming in second.
Ernie


Here is some links about the match if you are interested:
http://www.macsgunworks.com/Pages/Macs.aspx
http://www.macsgunworks.com/Pages/WTRCRulesScoring.aspx







WTRC Lessons Learned

For to our fellow competitors, here is what our team (Smith & Kerley) thought we learned last weekend:

Background: We both shoot a goodly amount of long range competition. In the distant past (I switched to rifle competition 25 years ago) I shot a lot of pistol competition. We both have military experience. Neither of us had shot the WTRC before, and we didn’t know anyone with recent experience. We called Chuck or Frank several times, and they were generous with their time in answering our questions.

Game plan: Our plan was pretty basic: Find the targets, engage them & leave. We tried to run the same routine at each stage. We had pure zeroes & good dope.

We used standardized comm: vanilla spotter/shooter verbiage. The spotter always calculated dope settings for all rifle targets before starting engagements. Pretty much all our conversation ‘in position’ was about what we were seeing for wind.

The spotter ran the engagements, although either member could call the team off a target we were having trouble with. This was important because on a few occasions the guy on the gun ‘got invested’ in a particular target and really wanted to stay on it until he got hits. We saved a lot of points by having the spotter direct the shooter to move to the next target. Probably more than half the time it was the shooter who called “skip it” (after two misses) and we moved on.

The spotter was responsible for the RO having glass on the right target. When it didn’t happen it was ‘our bad’ & we moved on without debate or recrimination.

Equipment:
We used a pair of high end (Vortex) 15X binoculars on a low tripod. This was probably our most critical equipment choice; we found all but a handful of targets & were able to see trace and/or impact for pretty much every shot.

On the course we used high quality (Tactical Command) noise-cancelling headsets which minimized wind noise and miscommunications.

We both shot 9mm pistols. I ran an STI race gun which worked like a charm. DK ran a stock Springfield XD which wasn’t a very good choice for those longer targets. Other than zeroing & function checks we did virtually no practice with the short guns.

For the carbine I ran a 20” JP upper (.223) with a Nightforce 3.5-15X FFP ‘Velocity’ reticle. The thing shot like a laser beam and I never had to dial dope. An added benefit was when I came off my last target (we usually engaged near to far) I could tell DK exactly how much wind I was using, reading it off the reticle in MPH. Tuning the load to the reticle took some effort, but it paid off for us. We left very few carbine points on the course.

DK ran a 20” 7mm SAUM using 180 Bergers and a hefty charge of RL17. This rifle was uncannily accurate until our final stage Saturday afternoon when the carbon ring at the front of the chamber went critical. We went from a 2nd round hit on the 1140 yard target to not being able to buy hits at half that distance almost instantly. We weren’t sure what the problem was until we got home and scoped the bore. DK had to beat the bolt open so many times his right hand ended up looking like tenderized meat. We will know better next year!

What didn’t work:
My high speed ‘operator boots’ didn’t breathe worth a hoot. I came off each course with my feet looking like something which had been left in the microwave too long.

Too much stuff:
I started out humping a 30+ pound pack plus the carbine, which wasn’t quite the thing for my tubby 58 year old bod. We are resolved to bring less stuff & be in better shape next year.

Final thoughts:
The course was a true rifleman’s course. No helicopter stages or any of that silly “stand on one leg & shoot left handed through this little window” stuff. Just a challenging set of targets and minimal rules which let each team sort it out to the best of their ability.

Chuck McIntosh, Frank Bliss, their wives, families & friends have put together the most enjoyable match I have ever competed in. The facilities are world class, the countryside gorgeous, and the target placement fiendishly clever. The prize table was outstanding. Our RO’s (Bill Reno, ‘Big Bill,’ Damon & Bear) were a joy to work with.

If I could only travel to one match a year, it would be this one, hands down!





This was the first time I or my shooting partner traveled out to shoot this match or its predecessor the ITRC, but we had heard many good things about both the facility and how well the match was run. We certainly had our expectations met and exceeded. This was one of the smoothest running matches I think I have attended in a long time, truly professional. The match directors and staff clearly put months into the preparation and planning and their volunteer RO’s and support staff were no nonsense folks there to make sure the shooters had a great match.

The match format was unlike any we have experienced before. The facility sits on a ranch (The Bliss “Dinosaur” Ranch) that straddles both Wyoming and Montana on something like 50,000 acres. The terrain was both hilly and prairie with a mixture of woods, low brush, grassy meadows and beautiful vistas no matter which direction you turned – almost distracting at points in the match. The way the shooting problems were designed it almost felt like you and your shooting partner were the only team at the match. There were effectively four ranges in use at all times. A shooting team was scheduled to be at a given range at a given hour and once your time started you had 2 hours to complete the shooting problems on that range. During your two hour engagement time you moved across varied terrain carrying everything that your team decided they may need to engage designated pistol, carbine and rifle targets. You might travel up to 1.5 miles depending on which particular range you were assigned and you could expect to travel to 5 – 7 different firing points along the way to the finish point.

When we arrived at a firing point our RO, who travels with you throughout that particular range, informed us of our range fan and how many of each type of targets we needed to find and shoot – the rest was on us to figure out. Scoring is as transparent as it can get -- points for hits and deducted points for misses and failures to engage (when you couldn’t locate the target in the terrain).

This was big boy field shooting, by that I mean there were hardly any match rules other than you will have white targets (shoot them with a pistol) you will have red targets (shoot them with a carbine) and blue targets (shoot them with a rifle). All of the targets were unknown distance and dispersed about the landscape in ways you might expect animals (of all types) to locate themselves, some were out in the open while others might be up under a tree or back in a craggy rock cut.

We didn’t know anyone when we arrived, but we feel like we left having met a bunch of characters and hopefully made some new friends. This is a match my shooting partner and I plan on attending again. We left knowing we had learned a bunch about our choices in equipment, communication skills, target acquisition and ranging skills, and much more. By the end of the weekend we were both smoked but had huge smiles on our faces as we rolled for home.

I'll try post up some more pics shortly.

Thanks Chuck & Frank for such a great shooting, match, learning experience and the gracious hospitality you showed to a couple of newbies at your facility.

[richiecotite]

Who built that FrankenRuger for you? Was it Bayside Custom?


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[xphunter]

Who built that FrankenRuger for you? Was it Bayside Custom?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes

[45dotACP]

Damn that looks like some serious fun XP. You should have a blog...

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[xphunter]

Damn that looks like some serious fun XP. You should have a blog...

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Good idea!

[xphunter]

6-shots in about 16 seconds at 100 yards. Group was under 8"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py0o...742NZg&index=2

[xphunter]

1440 fps with the 158 Swift