Some random carbine match points

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Shot a carbine match yesterday with my AR with an Eotech. 5 stages with 0,3,0,6 and 3 points down. Won't talk about times as I am a slow old fart along with another over 70 year old. We just tootle along.

Points:

1. A Brownell 20 round mag screwed me on one stage. Jammed all the time. It is going into the bowels of the closet. With Magpuls and Brownells 30 round on the other stages not a hitch.

2. Batteries went out on the Eotech. Just changed them about a month ago. Bah!

3. Thought it might be hard to handle the rifle with the slap tear in my right shoulder (I'm a lefty). It hurt a bit but I could do it. Damn thing hurts all the time. Doing Phys. Therapy and debating surgery (rather not).

4. Other shooters:

a. A M&P15-22 SPORT - jammed all (and I mean all the time). Shot by a really nice female teacher (teachers can't shoot guns - popular press). She was accurate as anyone when it ran. She handled a 9mm pistol for transitions just fine (teachers can't shoot).
b. One guy with a Marlin 336 in 30-30 (why? Who knows?). Very pretty gun but it was a horror to run. Perhaps it was cheap Monarch ammo as the shooter said it ran well with others. He couldn't utilize the lever with the gun shouldered as the ammo would jam it and he needed to bring it down to get the leverage to move it. Obviously reloading on an 18 round stage was slow.

The rain started after we were done! Thank you rain Gods. A bunch of shooters then went for tacos and borracho beans at a local mom and pop that does a great job. Obviously, 70 men and women with legally owned weapons of this type were a threat to USA.

[rob_s]

I founded and ran a carbine match for many years. My match is still running today under another person. I learned *a lot* about ARs in that time. Competition is poopoo'd in the ninja market much less today than it was then, but I have always maintained that the best way to test one's LARPing gear (or actual duty gear, if that's the case) is to get out and shoot it, and competition is about the only way to really do that.

Things like which mags can't make it through a stage and which hardware burns batteries are just the tip of the iceberg. And once you get comfortable with your own gear you get a chance to watch others and see what doesn't work for them too.

[Snapshot]

Totally agreed that competition is a good way to find out what works, and especially what doesn't work.

We have "CQB" matches here which are mainly carbine (88 rounds) with a bit of handgun (22 rounds), it doesn't sound like a lot but there are lots of required magazine changes, a bit of movement (all downrange, in a bullseye type line of ten shooters), some "urban prone" and a bit of 10 yard rapid fire.

Guns that don't run, unreliable ammunition, malfunctioning magazines, crappy pouches, inaccurate handguns, sights that fall off rifles, all of these and many more sins, failures and outrages are discovered and cursed at these matches.

Even when your equipment runs well there are always opportunities to fail with mental errors and also the mistakes of those next to you, because if there any excess hits on your target e.g. from the genius next to you cross-firing they subtract the high scores to get to the required number.

So it is always a learning experience.

[NH Shooter]

Shot a carbine match yesterday with my AR with an Eotech. 5 stages with 0,3,0,6 and 3 points down. Won't talk about times as I am a slow old fart along with another over 70 year old. We just tootle along.

I think us old farts need our own sub-forum to discuss the geriatric challenges of shooting (can't see, can't hear, can't bend that way anymore, can't remember where the spare mags are on my body, Depends changes between stages, etc.). The young ones just don't want to hear/read about that stuff....

Good summary, my back aches just thinking about it.

[Wayne Dobbs]

Points:

1. A Brownell 20 round mag screwed me on one stage. Jammed all the time. It is going into the bowels of the closet. With Magpuls and Brownells 30 round on the other stages not a hitch.

2. Batteries went out on the Eotech. Just changed them about a month ago. Bah!

Point #1 - If a magazine shows to be defective in any way, destroy it immediately. Don't squirrel it away....it will migrate back into serious use gear by the aid of the night time defective gear gremlins! The only exception to this is the MagPul PMag, as they'll generally replace it for free.

Point #2 - If you have batteries installed in an EOT*rd, they're draining, even if the sight is turned off. The laser emitter requires constant power, even turned off, just like your TV does. Best fix for that is to buy an Aimpoint PRO or only install batteries when you intend to use the sight.

[Peally]

Actually I was gonna say, don't destroy it but mark it painfully obviously with like blaze pink spray paint or something and use it for surprise jam clearing in training. Otherwise yes throw that thing in the garbage, they're disposable.

[Glenn E. Meyer]

All good points. I did mark the mag with a Sharpie as BAD MAG to shame it. Maybe there will be a buy back on mags. Suggest it to Diane F - 50 bucks per higher capacity mags. I was going to see if Brownells will take it back but my life is complicated now.

I know Eotech's have a bad rap lately. However, I'm assessing my long arm setup and a new one will probably mean a switch in sight. I'll change out the batteries before a match, I guess. The current set did last for about 3 months in the gun.

[ranger]

Brownells seems to have great CS for magazines - I had an issue with a Brownells 1911 9mm mag, sent them an email, they sent me a new mag and said do what I want with old one.

[PD Sgt.]

If the PMAG 20 is the older, straight body style, those were more likely to be prone to issues than the newer, slightly curved style. I have both and so far have not had issues, but I have not run the older ones hard or in matches/class.

[Wayne Dobbs]

All good points. I did mark the mag with a Sharpie as BAD MAG to shame it. Maybe there will be a buy back on mags. Suggest it to Diane F - 50 bucks per higher capacity mags. I was going to see if Brownells will take it back but my life is complicated now.

I know Eotech's have a bad rap lately. However, I'm assessing my long arm setup and a new one will probably mean a switch in sight. I'll change out the batteries before a match, I guess. The current set did last for about 3 months in the gun.

Three months??? How about up to three YEARS in a PRO, left turned on to a medium setting?