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After moving from Oregon where outdoors practical rifle seems pretty popular, my recent move to the Puget Sound area turned up very few outdoors practical rifle matches within 2 hours driving time. There are some fabulous long range precision rifle matches in the middle or eastern part of the state, but driving time makes those matches pretty well out of reach except for rare occasions.
I found some indoor matches that are more like pistol match distances (25 yards) but are shot with rifles. The few outdoor matches usually have targets out to 75-200 yards, with over half of them inside 50 yards.
So I began lobbying at the Upper Nisqually Sportsman's Club for a practical rifle program. We had our first match last month and will have another one this saturday.
This venue seems nearly made for Grendel practical rifle. The range we get to use has berms for setting targets at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 550 yards. The 5.56 has a problem with wind drift at extended distances, and impact on the steel (matches are all steel targets) at 400 yards and further are hard to distinguish with the 5.56. The 7.62x51 whacks the targets really good, but the recoil makes it more difficult to shoot very rapidly.
Many shooters are quickly learning the advantages of the Grendel for these matches...low recoil, good impact on plates, less wind drift than the 5.56 or the 7.62x51.
I had wanted to have a place where I could enjoy matches, but now I'm the guy running the match and organizing things. Anyone who has run matches knows what that does to your ability to kick back and have fun shooting. But on the flip side, I really do enjoy knowing that the people shooting are having a good time, and there is another venue where they can work on their shooting skills.
I found some indoor matches that are more like pistol match distances (25 yards) but are shot with rifles. The few outdoor matches usually have targets out to 75-200 yards, with over half of them inside 50 yards.
So I began lobbying at the Upper Nisqually Sportsman's Club for a practical rifle program. We had our first match last month and will have another one this saturday.
This venue seems nearly made for Grendel practical rifle. The range we get to use has berms for setting targets at 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 550 yards. The 5.56 has a problem with wind drift at extended distances, and impact on the steel (matches are all steel targets) at 400 yards and further are hard to distinguish with the 5.56. The 7.62x51 whacks the targets really good, but the recoil makes it more difficult to shoot very rapidly.
Many shooters are quickly learning the advantages of the Grendel for these matches...low recoil, good impact on plates, less wind drift than the 5.56 or the 7.62x51.
I had wanted to have a place where I could enjoy matches, but now I'm the guy running the match and organizing things. Anyone who has run matches knows what that does to your ability to kick back and have fun shooting. But on the flip side, I really do enjoy knowing that the people shooting are having a good time, and there is another venue where they can work on their shooting skills.