AAR: Rife 223 — AR Challenge Carbine (Sep 2-3, 2017, Las Vegas, NV)
Wow! Another great weekend in Las Vegas to kick off our fall season! We gathered at Clark County Shooting Complex in Las Vegas, NV.
On Saturday morning, we began by shooting our Classic Carbine Challenge warmup classifier. This drill presents shooters with scaled targets that represent the same size targets faced by American marksmen on the WW2 M1 Carbine qualification used by the US Army which were placed at 100, 200 and 300 yards. The largest targets are shot slow-fire kneeling, and the smallest slow-fire prone. We look for consistent groups (three hits out of three shots) to demonstrate repeatable accuracy on this drill. Out of all of our shooters, there were consistent hits from only one shooter on the largest target… Clearly there was work to do!
Saturday morning was spent on basic rifle fundamentals. By the end of our drills, we fired the warmup drill again. Every single shooter got three solid hits in at least the closest silhouette, and a number of folks got that 200 yard silhouette as well. A few ringers even nailed the 300 yard.
On Saturday afternoon we withdrew to the air conditioned classroom for an NRA Refuse to be a Victim seminar led by Heather. There were a lot of productive discussions and the event turned into an interactive event focusing on home security fundamentals.
On Sunday we spent all day out on the range. Despite the blazing heat — over 104 degrees — we got through all of the core material to shoot a qualifier. We managed the heat with careful adherence to work/rest cycles, a portable mister system, coolers of gatorade, use of the A/C classrooms, and a special frozen Popsicle delivery run by Heather mid-day — yum! The biggest downside of the heat was that we forgot to take any photos — everyone was busy hydrating and cooling off, to include our volunteers!
All the training definitely paid off. One of our shooters, Ashley, tackled the qualifier with his S&W M&P 15-22 and notched up a Marksman’s score. Great shooting!
We wrapped up the day by telling the tale of Daniel Morgan’s company of riflemen. It is rumored that to join Daniel Morgan’s rifle company, you had to land a shot on a shingle-sized target at approximately 250 yards. Lacking any 18th century shingles, we instead posted a “pop-quiz” reactive steel target courtesy of MOA Targets. This target featured a 4″ paddle as the primary target zone, which shooters fired on from the prone unsupported position. Again Ashley rang steel — ping, ping, ping! For his marksmanship we awarded a Morgan’s Rifle Company patch. Our instructors helped as spotters and got everyone on the steel.
This was a great weekend. Things moved a little slowly due to the extreme heat but we kept everyone safe and had a productive, fun time on the range. I’ll close out this AAR with some student feedback:
Great event overall, I felt like I got a lot good information and skills out of it. All the instructors really took the time with each student as needed and were good at helping out with specific issues.
Looking forward to the next events and I will definitely participate.
Finally, I would like to thank our instructor team: Dann and Heather selflessly volunteered their time to come out and share their passion for history and marksmanship. Thanks so much!