Kick Ass Tactical Shotgun Match OR Reality Check
Well, last Saturday I shot in THE FRANCIS MARION MEMORIAL SWAMP FOX ASSAULT XXIV tactical shotgun match at The Ashland Lake Gun Club. I shot with a couple buddies. This is the 24th year the great folks at the club have put on this match.
Friends, let me tell you, this was the most fun I've ever had shooting, and my buddies agree with me on this.
I thought I knew what I was doing with a shotgun. The stress induced by the match, the swamp, the people watching, all had an effect on me, and I started doing things like dropping reloads all over the place, point shooting, hip shooting.............(!), looking at my gun to reload it, missing close range targets, forgetting to take the safety off, shooting the gun dry, you name it.
There were 7 stages, 2 in an actual freaking swamp that you had to wade through and crawl around in, and 5 on relatively dry land(it rained the day of the match). You get so wet in this match they recommend you bring a change of clothes for afterwards. They recommend you DUCT TAPE your boots to your legs so they don't get sucked off your feet in the mud. More than one gun choked because of these conditions. At least two shooters that I know of had to fully submerge their shotguns into a swamp stream to get the mud out of their guns. One was my buddy who was giving his brand new, unfired Remington 870 Express a baptism by fire at this match. After the dunking it ran like a champ.
Steel targets, in the form of falling plates, swinging plates, and pepper poppers were used, and IDPA cardboard targets and balloons were utilized for the slug portion of the event.
We shot around 75 rounds of buck and 25 slugs. I used Wolf 00 buck and a mix of Remington and Winchester slugs. I have an cheap mail order source for Wolf ammo($62 for 250rds of 00buck or slugs, shipped), and while he was out of slugs the buck is just as good as any other 00buck IMO, so if any of you guys want his contact info just IM me. This Wolf buck is good stuff.
I used my 870 Wingmaster police trade-in shotgun, 18" bead sighted barrel, 4rd mag tube w/ Uncle Mikes cap,short wood buttstock w/ Rem factory pad, police wood forend, 4 rd sidesaddle, and Tactical Tailor 3 point sling. I used an Uncle Mike's 25 shell belt to load from.
A couple of things:
This was a serious tactical match, involving the use of cover, from the ready reloads, tactical movement, topping off before leaving cover, etc. The ROs would verbalize their displeasure if you weren't doing things in a proper tactical manner. If you kept on doing it you'd get dinged with a scoring penalty.
Tactical, or 3 point slings, were not in abundance at this match, and before one stage, a RO recommended I get out of it before beginning. That particular stage involved going prone behind cover to shoot slugs, and it can be difficult to do with a tactical sling. Also, one stage required you to crawl through a mud filled drainage tunnel, and the best way to do this without fouling your gun with mud was to back sling it. While my 3 pt sling can serve as a tactical sling or a carry strap, one of the new 1 pt slings wouldn't allow this I wouldn't think. Another stage involved weak hand shooting, something not all 3 pt slings allow. A lot of trainers recommend you just stick with the standard nylon carry strap for long guns. I find it interesting that among this serious group of social shotgunners, who have all the nice useful accesories like ghost ring sights, and sidesaddles, and surefire forends, few if any had 3 point slings. The Nylon carry strap was the preferred sling system. Maybe for real world combat use a nylon carry strap is the way to go.
IMO the shotgun needs sights. I felt as though the shooters with either rifle or ghost ring sights were at a definite advantage, especially on the slug portions of the match. I am still tossing it around in my head, but I think the most cost effective way for me to get sights is to buy a new 18" Improved Cylinder, parkerized, rifle sighted Remington barrel. The cheapest ghost ring installation I've found is the Robar at $230. I can buy two cases of ammo with the difference, as the barrel is about $120.
A dump pouch ammo carrier, like I've used in my shotgun training, would not have worked well here(rounds would have fallen out, or it would have gotten filled with mud), and I will no longer train using it. Several times I loaded from my shell belt instead of using the much quicker sidesaddle. You have to train with your sidesaddles if you expect to use them under stress.
You have to reload the shotgun whenever you can. I shot dry more than once. I've always been skeptical of mag extensions. But let's face it............more ammo is a good thing, as long as the mag tube is reliable. I think I'm going to get a 2 shot Wilson extension. I've examined it and it's a very sturdy unit. I was at a distinct disadvantage with no extended mag tube.
This match was more of a training day than a match.
Camping facilities are available for the night before and after, and meals are available. This is a very family oriented group, and women and children were competing.
All the infomation is available on the website. I think this would be an excellent opportunity for all of us High Road social shotgunners to get together next year.
Dave Williams
PS Sorry about the grammatical/spelling errors.
