Multi-Gun Training/Fun Comp September 18-20 2014

[LRRPF52]

It was really great to put some faces to names/forum handles, see some old friends, and get some blasting done with purpose and specific goals in mind. So much happened over these past 3 days/2 nights, I have a hard time myself processing it all, as I was busy from 9:00 a.m. on Thursday through about 5:00p.m. on Saturday.

bwaites, pds, and my good friend from Finland were all extremely helpful in supporting the training, and we got a lot done. It was basically a fire hose approach, with things broken up so we wouldn't get burned out on one particular discipline. Distances were from close contact within 2-3ft with the CCW violence, out to 1100yds with the new .338 Ulfberht.

We covered a lot of material with CCW and CQM, both day and night, and I particularly love shooting at night in scenario-based problems inside the Cowboy Town. What I told attendees was that they would walk away from this different shooters. I'll post some pics when I get the time.

I want to take this time to recognize the staff at North Springs Shooting Range, Alexander Arms, Precision Firearms, Big Moe's, and Friendsville Precision for supporting this event.

North Springs: World class range training complex
Alexander Arms: .338 LM Black Hills ammo for Ulfberht familiarity fire opportunity for the attendees and staff
Precision Firearms: Gift certificates for the fun competition/culmination exercise
Friendsville Precision: AR15 dry-firing kits
Big Moe's: Excellent catering services, with filling and tasty meals for all 3 days

[LRRPF52]

Just a few pics from one of the DM portions.

[NugginFutz]

More pics from the course (Day 2)...


Ulfberht Rolled out


Spotting during Range Sight-in


Shooting through the rain - a welcome break from the heat


Developing quick reference range data

[NugginFutz]

SCAR 17 getting sight-in


Deciding where much of the noise is coming from


Some of the DM weaponry


Preparing to unleash the .338

[NugginFutz]

Tucking the knee between grip and magazine


Explaining target designations


30.06 getting hits @ 800+


Heading to Chow

[montana]

Looks like one of the nicest rifle ranges I have seen looking at these pictures. A complete review of rifles, loads, weather "wind" conditions etc would be very much appreciated. I sure hope someone took some videos and can post them. I hope this was a success and more courses will be available in the future. Dang I really wanted to go. Did Bill bring his master piece to the shoot? Thanks for posting the pictures and info.

[NugginFutz]

Yes, there are several videos, and are in the hands of various attendees. As soon as those are collected, I expect the most interesting will be selected and posted. North Springs shooting range is truly one of the best ranges I've been to. While the Whittington Center in northern New Mexico has more real estate and is set in equally beautiful terrain, it does not offer the same diversity in venues, as this one does.

Was it a success? I think I speak for all who went, when I say it "most definitely was a success". There is already talk about next year's training. Learning under the guidance of some very knowledgable (and patient) experts was quite an experience. Training was always conducted with safety as the first concern, and continued to challenge at every step. At no time did I personally feel like I was overrunning the training, and wishing they would "speed it up".

ETA: The Ulfberht was as awesome to shoot as it looks. That monster hits like a hammer, but recoils like a .308. Special thanks to bwaites and Bill A. For making the rifle and ammunition available for us to experience a very impressive weapon, first hand.

[MKo]

Great bunch of guys and really cool place. Enjoyed every second of it....for next session I need more guns

[LRRPF52]

Day 2 morning: 1000yd and 600yd ranges, all filled with steel from 200yds, with steel going out every 50yds, to include chickens, pigs, and rams.


Day 2 afternoon: Stretching out before attempting to contort into some of the alternate positions.



Working on the combat kneeling position, which is really low to the ground, and involves wedging the magazine and pistol grip around your knee.







MKo brought up some excellent tips on building a kneeling position by using rocks or other items that can be filled in underneath your ankle, which establishes support underneath you very well.

[LRRPF52]

Some pics from the CCW portion, morning 1:

[NugginFutz]

At the range, the Ulberht was making 1000 yard hits seem like child's play, in spite of the rain.
In the background, you can hear some excellent (if not colorful) advice being offered to one of the participants.

http://vid955.photobucket.com/albums/ae36/NugginFutz/Utah%20Training/Videos/IMG_0836_zps94e1a2ba.mp4

http://vid955.photobucket.com/albums/ae36/NugginFutz/Utah%20Training/Videos/IMG_0819_zpsbdfbc8cc.mp4

In preparation for the DM portion of the class, shooters were checking zero's and confirming their ballistics. You can hear wind calls being offered, prior to the shots, and the resulting hits are clearly audible.

http://vid955.photobucket.com/albums/ae36/NugginFutz/Utah%20Training/Videos/IMG_0831_zps4be7a17e.mp4

http://vid955.photobucket.com/albums/ae36/NugginFutz/Utah%20Training/Videos/IMG_0828_zps9ec29a79.mp4

[bwaites]

Looks like one of the nicest rifle ranges I have seen looking at these pictures. A complete review of rifles, loads, weather "wind" conditions etc would be very much appreciated. I sure hope someone took some videos and can post them. I hope this was a success and more courses will be available in the future. Dang I really wanted to go. Did Bill bring his master piece to the shoot? Thanks for posting the pictures and info.

I'll start with the venue. North Springs is perhaps the premier multipurpose range in the country. There may be comparable, but we had shooters from Nebraska, California, Washington, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Finland, etc. and no one could come up with one. The Cowboy Town venue has at least a dozen different possible configurations and setups, (and we even thought up a few more). The Police Bays have movers and flippers. The open range goes from 25 out to 1000 yards. There is a shotgun range, a 1500 yard target, and two different and separate "free form" ranges with steel up one canyon (Buffalo Canyon because it has; suprise, suprise, buffalo targets (among others0 ranging from pistol distance to almost 800 yards. The other, "Over the Edge" has you shooting across a different canyon at multiple different targets from something like 2 dozen different possible shooting points! Ranges there are from right at 100 yards to somewhere around 600, depending on the angle. There are lots of different angles from very high and short to long and flat, with everything in between.

Did I mention the range also has a dedicated archery range?

We had pistols in 9mm, .40, and .45 being run in the pistol stages. We had Glocks, 1911's, M&P's, XDM's, Sigs, and I'm sure one or two others. We had very few pistol issues apart from me not getting in the right spot on my XDM and compressing the grip safety! We had 5.56, 6.5 Grendel, .308, 30-06, and the Ulfberht firing on the rifle ranges. Rifles ranged from Frankenguns to SCARS to bolt .308's and 30-06's. Most all the rifles ran just great with only one or two failure to feed or failure to extract issues.

Weather was almost too nice. We had very warm weather all three days, with a sudden downpour on day 2 while we were on the 600 yard range. It lasted about 60-90 minutes and cooled things down a bit. We never had more than a 6-8 MPH wind that I could tell, with maybe few gusts during the immediate pre-rain time that got a bit higher. We wore short sleeved shirts until 11PM on the nights we played late.

Bill Alexander, who hoped to be able to show, did not make it as he had to make some appearances at military type venues. But we had Ulfbehrt there for all to try, thanks to ammunition he sent out and that Black Hills provided for demonstration purposes. For those of you familiar with .338 prices, you know that it isn't a cheap proposition!

[bwaites]

The final day was a culmination exercise, where all the skills that had been worked on could be used. A scenario conceived in the fertile mind of LRRPF52 involving alphabet agencies, drugs, terrorists, and protection had the students starting with a meeting and then a one on one protection scene in one of the Cowboy town buildings. Hits and misses there were scored using typial IPSC or USPSA scoring. Following that, they moved to Buffalo Canyon, where they engaged 3 pistol targets, located their long guns, and shot 7 rifle targets at ranges from 70-400 yards before engaging targets of opportunity out to 800 yards under a 5 minute time constraint. Points were awarded for hits, but also for use of cover/concealment, and for use of the different shooting positions, including standing, kneeling, sitting, and prone, with a few of the shooters exhibiting some very creative variants. One of the shooters had a first round hit on the 400 yard target while standing, and in fact hit all the required from that position due to some lingering disabilities from a recent illness. Others used cover and concealment very well, with the last shooter taking a completely different attack angle than any of the previous.

After that, the shooters moved to Over the Edge, and had to engage multiple targets from 5 different angles or positions within a 7 minute time frame. They were required to move 4 times from the first position, and had to locate and hit targets as close as 100 yards, (4" swingers) out to 365 yards or so, (12 inch gong). They did so from prone shooting over a car, from a barricade, under a bar, etc. Everyone missed some of these targets, even the 100 yard swingers because they looked so much further away because of the angles and canyon optical illusions.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the culmination activity and there was lots of ribbing and smiles.

The finish everything off we had a great lasagna lunch and then refreshed our retention and concealed carry skills with a short drill using strikes to an "attacker" and then recoveries from being knocked down (Lrrpf52 got a little payback for us being knuckleheads at times!)

[Adam Lilja]

Looks awesome. I'm Jelly.

[PrecisionFirearms]

So much fun and I missed it (due to FNH 3 Gun Match Held just 25 minutes away at the Peacemaker National Range). Would have really like to have come out. If you plan to do this again, I will try for next year.