This year, our third, I was able to start shooting the matches. This is due to some great Match directors coming on board and the level of professionalism our competitors demonstrate at every match. This allowed me to have some space when it came to stage development and not shoot the match with intimate detail on every stage.
I wanted to share what I have learned and observed as both a QP owner and competitor
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The first match was the LightFighter 16. For this match I used a rifle built by one of my longest friends, Lloyd Taylor. This Son’s Of Liberty GunWorks was an 18-inch upper purpose built for our matches on the always popular Soul Snatcher lower. Optic was the Steiner M8XI which I have been using for a couple of years now.
For the Lightfighter, every target over sixteen stages was achievable with the rifle sans the 1162-yard target. I admit 1162 is well beyond what 8 zoomins can provide detail on. With a perfect wind call, hits would have been achievable but from behind the gun, there was zero feedback at that distance. Stability, or lack there of, caused me to miss many targets that should have been hits. The only rifle issue was the lack of a right-side bolt release that my shot process has become adapted to.
The next match was the Spring Swamp Shootout in Volusia, Florida. This one was eight stages that I used the KAC LPR for. Again, the 900-yard target was elusive with 8x, but all other targets were achievable. My Stability was better, but I was unable to get into a good shooting groove. Keep in mind, this was only my second match since 2018 so I was working my way back.
The Badger Ordnance Condition 1-6 was a mixed bag. For this match I used a Cobalt Kinetics SPR. My performance this match was hot and cold. When I was hot, by howdy I was on it. Several stages felt like I had a laser beam. But let me tell you, when I was off, I was Terrible. Some of the stages had me irritated but they were all achievable minus that damned 1162 again.
I will tell you that shooting the matches in the times posted by our AMU competitors is not likely. They are good, they are paid to be good, and they are champions
Here are my placements inside the Division
LightFighter 16- 8th
Spring Swamp Shootout- 4th
Badger Condition 1-6 I placed 5th
A reminder when comparing GP versus the Open guns…
The guys on Open have all the zooms, all the velocity and all the advantages to make hits at speed. That’s the purpose of Open. Think of them as a Top Fuel car and you are drag racing with your V8 everyday driver. Yes, they are faster than you, but that’s to be expected.