Zak Smith
Member
This is Zak's first person account of the 2003 Rocky Mountain 3Gun Match.
The RM3GM took place at the NRA Whittington Center near Raton, NM. The Whittington Center is on land sold to the NRA by some large mining/steel company in the 1970's. The 31,000 acres that makes up the W.C. includes a canyon that was mined for coal starting in 1902, and surrounding area. The mining was "tunnel mining" so the geography was not disturbed. There are many old crumbling buildings and foundations scattered about that originally made up the mining town.
The place is HUGE. Basically, all the land you can see in all directions is part of the W.C. There are probably about 10-20 "formal" ranges (including 1000 yard, high power silhouette, smallbore, sight-in, etc), 20-30 trap/skeet ranges, and then many many small informal "IPSC"-type berms. And *then* the rest of the land is available for shooting use in these types of events, as long as the backstop is safe -- and the geography ensures that. This location allows all sorts of 3D stage design and lots of "field" in the field courses. The advertisements for this match said, "expect courses of fire to be interrupted by bear and elk" and they weren't kidding. We saw a bear ambling around both Friday and Saturday.
Raton, NM is approximate 4:15 from Fort Collins.
I arrived on Thursday around 3pm and checked in. Then I proceeded to examine the stages -- Eric Miller said we should do that since the stage descriptions weren't back from the printer yet. Some stages were also still being worked on. The general outline is: 8 stages, four Friday, four Sunday. I spent the next four hours examining the stages and getting preliminary plans in place.
I retired to the Colt Motel in Raton, which was only about $50/night.
The shooters meeting was 8AM on Friday. There were introductions and thanks to our match sponsors and Robbie Roberts who is the head honcho of the W.C.
I was on Squad 6, starting at stage 6. Squads were 12 people. Some other people who were in my squad: David K (and two other Daves), Benny Hill, George Murphy, Darrel Humphreys, Eric M (the Trijicon rep), and a couple other really fast guys. It was Eric's first 3gun match, though he retired from the Marine Corps after 20 years (he looks about 35) before working for Trijicon. He said he used to just show up and "be available" for people to talk to, but it was more fun to shoot the matches.
Stage 6. "Pitch Black". Shotgun. You start in a ravine, at the entrance to an artificial cave. Upon the start signal, you engage two poppers at about 30-40 yards with slugs. Then you grab a flashlight (it was the "SureFire" stage) and enter the artificial cave. It's dark and small. You locate and shoot four clays. Then you exit the cave and climb out of the ravine. There are four clays along the right hand side down the little valley. There are three plates on the left-hand side at about 25 yards, and then two more plates on the right, and then two more on the far left. Finally, after proceeding about 30y down a path shooting those targest, you get to the end, where you shoot four silhouette plates over a hill and the two plates "hidden" on the far right. A total of 22 shotshells and 2 slugs.
I shot this stage fairly well, but a bit slow in 83.35 seconds. I fumbled a bit with the flashlight while shooting in the cave, and had to re-shoot one clay inside the cave a few times because it wasn't disintegrating.
Stage 7. "Sarajevo Point Blank." Rifle. In this stage, you ran through the foundation of an old building (real! concrete and all) and engage a whole bunch of paper targets and one steel. You start in a "basement" kneeling, on the buzzer, you engage the two targets at the top of the pit. Then you run up out of the pit to the left (still within the walls of the old buiding!) and basically engage paper as they become visible. When you get to the far left-hand side of the building (about 30 yards), you engage the final paper through an old window and then shoot a stop plate at 130 yards. I had a good plan for this stage. I shot the two first (you had to), then ran out of the pit. Then I engaged the four visible targets from 20-40 yards in about a 70 degree arc. Then I ran the entire 20yards to the entrance to the last room and did a mag change along the way. I turned around and shot the three now-visible targets. Upon entering the last room, one was shot point-blank (2 yards) and then I finished up at the port. The TA11 ACOG worked wonderfully on this stage and I got a pretty fast time of 48.50 seconds. The trick was having a good plan, shooting to it, and not re-shooting targets: your plan has to only shoot each twice. This was a total of 15 paper targets and one plate, for 31 rounds.
Stage 8. "Alien Bug Hunt." Shotgun and pistol. This stage was a path along a riverbed which had 10 clays hidden, and 8 plates, some hidden. It finished up with 11 paper targets. Upon the start, you engaged a steel and the ran up a small hill and ducked under a 2' tall obstacle, and then finished shooting the stage, My run was decent, though I ran my shotgun dry one shot too soon, and lost a few seconds on a load. My pistol run went well, but I got out of sequence due to
a fumbled mag change. time: 76.75 seconds.
Stage 1. "Fossil Canyon." Shotgun. This was the mother of all shotgun stages. You start off with two 50? yard slug shots. Then you engage five silhouette steel on the way to a wall with four ports in it. Beyond the wall at 10 yards is an array of 12 "shoot" steels and five "no shoot" steel which block some of the shoot targets from different angles. Each no-shoot popper was a 10-second penalty if you made it fall. This was actually not that tough, but you did have to reload. Finally, you finished up my running up a canyon and locating and shooting 10 clays. Lots of shooting and reloading. My time was 98.76.
Saturday:
Stage 2. "Flare Out." all 3 weapons. You shoot this stage from the inside of a very small helicopter. On each side was: 1 rifle plate at 120 yards, 8 paper targets, and 5 steel. (so double that for the other side) The rifle plates at 120y had to be hit with the rifle. The rest of the steel with shotgun, and the paper with rifle or pistol. Rifle was limited to 20 rounds. This one was challenging
because of the choice of "what targets to shoot with which gun." The rules for this match specify that a single "A" hit or two B/C/D hits "neutralizes" a target, otherwise you get a penalty. So I went for the strategy of:
1. shooting one far plate,
2. shoot the paper on that side with one shot per, with rifle,
3/4. repeat for other side.
5. pull shotgun and shoot one side, load 3/4 and then shoot the other side.
This was an okay plan but I took too much time aiming to get the "A" hits. I got them all except I had one "C" which added 5 seconds to my time.
A better strategy would have been to shoot both steel, then double-tap one side's paper with the rifle at warp speed, then pull the shotgun on that side, then switch, then finally pull pistol and blast the remaining paper on the other side. Oh well. My time was 89.36
Stage 3. "Over Run." Handgun & Rifle. This stage was shot from two positions: SA1 and SA2. From SA1, you could see 5 close unobstructed paper targets, and five "further" and covered-by-hard-cover paper targets. Then you run to SA2 and you see a similar scenario. You are limited to 20 rifle rounds. You start at the bottom of a pit with your two weapons and a 10lb ammo box. On buzzer, you run up the 15' or so with the box, set it down in the bunker, and engage the targets. Then take the box to SA1 and repeat. I did the obvious solution of shooting the hard shots with the rifle and the close with the pistol. This was good because I got all very precise rifle shots and I could blast with the pistol. The Tac-sling for the AR came in useful. My time was 66.
At this point, it was lunchtime. I had a Cliff bar and headed over to Alan Samuel's machine-gun area. I rented a 16" M16, an MP5, an AK47, and I shot a 50-round belt through a German MG3. Rockin'.
Stage 4. "Afghanistan Hills." Rifle. This was the long-range rifle stage with 17 shots at plates from 200-310 yards. You ran a total of about 30 yards up a hill, and shot from defined positions (over the boulder, etc). I screwed up this stage by getting 3 misses and having a long time (218 seconds + penalties). The RO mentioned that he noticed my shots were all high and my muzzle was real close to the boulder in front and he thought maybe the blast was deflecting them up, because from other positions I had no problems on those same plates. Oh well. I also didn't practice at 300 yards, so...
Stage 5. "The Deer Hunter." Handgun and RM3G supplied rifle. In this stage, you start in a tiger cage with no weapon, no holsters, no nothing, during the "war of your choice." Upon the start signal, you push open the metal mesh wall, forward two steps, grab a crow bar, and smash the "guard's skull" (5 clay pigeons in a stack - failure to break all five results in penalties). Then you pick up "his" AK-47, and engage two close paper targets with the five loaded rounds. Then you drop the AK, and run forward about 5 yards and pick up your pistol which is at slide-lock on an empty mag. You pick up your mags and stick them in your pocked. Load pistol and engage four small plates at 15 yards. Then you basically run up this high and long hill engaging 13 paper targets and one stop plate at 15 yards as they become visible. I had a pretty good time at 60.69 seconds.
Team shoot on Sunday: A stage was set up for the team shoot on the long-range rifle stage. Each team was 3 people, one for each gun. I shot with Glenn Frank and George Murhpy. The pistol guy started on the LHS of a large boulder. Upon the buzzer, he engages 7 plates. Two of the plates were in the rear hidden behind the first set. When he's done, he safes his pistol and throws it down in a box. Then he runs 2 steps and picks up an ammo can and then taps the rifle shooter on the leg. The rifle shooter engages a 200y and a 255y plate. Once the second hit is made, the shotgun shooter who is about 15 yards up the hill starts shooting his array of 8 or 9 plates. Meanwhile, the pistol shooter is running up the hill with the can. Inside the can are one or more shotgun slugs. When the shotgun shooter is done with the plates, he gets one slug from the box carried by the pistol shooter and engages the 40y stop plate with it. We did it in 41 seconds. The best was like 23 seconds.
I am pretty pleased with my entire performance with the exception of Stage 4. I don't suck that bad at long-range rifle shooting.
After everything, when the scores came in, I was 35th out of 75 in the "tactical" class: in the top 50% makes me happy.
These big matches have prize tables. The prize table at this match contained $27500 worth of stuff.. including like 7 guns or something. I ended up with another Surefire flashlight (G2-OD), a holster for it, and 12 batteries. Not bad.
It was really impressive to see some of the best 3Gun shooters at this match.. and generally all my times were less than double their times.
With the possibilities at the W.C., this is going to become THE premier 3Gun event.
I also got to fondle a bunch of equipment. JP was the big match sponsor and had many of their rifles there. I am definitely going to buy one of these soon.
Pictures will be coming in a day or two.
-z
The RM3GM took place at the NRA Whittington Center near Raton, NM. The Whittington Center is on land sold to the NRA by some large mining/steel company in the 1970's. The 31,000 acres that makes up the W.C. includes a canyon that was mined for coal starting in 1902, and surrounding area. The mining was "tunnel mining" so the geography was not disturbed. There are many old crumbling buildings and foundations scattered about that originally made up the mining town.
The place is HUGE. Basically, all the land you can see in all directions is part of the W.C. There are probably about 10-20 "formal" ranges (including 1000 yard, high power silhouette, smallbore, sight-in, etc), 20-30 trap/skeet ranges, and then many many small informal "IPSC"-type berms. And *then* the rest of the land is available for shooting use in these types of events, as long as the backstop is safe -- and the geography ensures that. This location allows all sorts of 3D stage design and lots of "field" in the field courses. The advertisements for this match said, "expect courses of fire to be interrupted by bear and elk" and they weren't kidding. We saw a bear ambling around both Friday and Saturday.
Raton, NM is approximate 4:15 from Fort Collins.
I arrived on Thursday around 3pm and checked in. Then I proceeded to examine the stages -- Eric Miller said we should do that since the stage descriptions weren't back from the printer yet. Some stages were also still being worked on. The general outline is: 8 stages, four Friday, four Sunday. I spent the next four hours examining the stages and getting preliminary plans in place.
I retired to the Colt Motel in Raton, which was only about $50/night.
The shooters meeting was 8AM on Friday. There were introductions and thanks to our match sponsors and Robbie Roberts who is the head honcho of the W.C.
I was on Squad 6, starting at stage 6. Squads were 12 people. Some other people who were in my squad: David K (and two other Daves), Benny Hill, George Murphy, Darrel Humphreys, Eric M (the Trijicon rep), and a couple other really fast guys. It was Eric's first 3gun match, though he retired from the Marine Corps after 20 years (he looks about 35) before working for Trijicon. He said he used to just show up and "be available" for people to talk to, but it was more fun to shoot the matches.
Stage 6. "Pitch Black". Shotgun. You start in a ravine, at the entrance to an artificial cave. Upon the start signal, you engage two poppers at about 30-40 yards with slugs. Then you grab a flashlight (it was the "SureFire" stage) and enter the artificial cave. It's dark and small. You locate and shoot four clays. Then you exit the cave and climb out of the ravine. There are four clays along the right hand side down the little valley. There are three plates on the left-hand side at about 25 yards, and then two more plates on the right, and then two more on the far left. Finally, after proceeding about 30y down a path shooting those targest, you get to the end, where you shoot four silhouette plates over a hill and the two plates "hidden" on the far right. A total of 22 shotshells and 2 slugs.
I shot this stage fairly well, but a bit slow in 83.35 seconds. I fumbled a bit with the flashlight while shooting in the cave, and had to re-shoot one clay inside the cave a few times because it wasn't disintegrating.
Stage 7. "Sarajevo Point Blank." Rifle. In this stage, you ran through the foundation of an old building (real! concrete and all) and engage a whole bunch of paper targets and one steel. You start in a "basement" kneeling, on the buzzer, you engage the two targets at the top of the pit. Then you run up out of the pit to the left (still within the walls of the old buiding!) and basically engage paper as they become visible. When you get to the far left-hand side of the building (about 30 yards), you engage the final paper through an old window and then shoot a stop plate at 130 yards. I had a good plan for this stage. I shot the two first (you had to), then ran out of the pit. Then I engaged the four visible targets from 20-40 yards in about a 70 degree arc. Then I ran the entire 20yards to the entrance to the last room and did a mag change along the way. I turned around and shot the three now-visible targets. Upon entering the last room, one was shot point-blank (2 yards) and then I finished up at the port. The TA11 ACOG worked wonderfully on this stage and I got a pretty fast time of 48.50 seconds. The trick was having a good plan, shooting to it, and not re-shooting targets: your plan has to only shoot each twice. This was a total of 15 paper targets and one plate, for 31 rounds.
Stage 8. "Alien Bug Hunt." Shotgun and pistol. This stage was a path along a riverbed which had 10 clays hidden, and 8 plates, some hidden. It finished up with 11 paper targets. Upon the start, you engaged a steel and the ran up a small hill and ducked under a 2' tall obstacle, and then finished shooting the stage, My run was decent, though I ran my shotgun dry one shot too soon, and lost a few seconds on a load. My pistol run went well, but I got out of sequence due to
a fumbled mag change. time: 76.75 seconds.
Stage 1. "Fossil Canyon." Shotgun. This was the mother of all shotgun stages. You start off with two 50? yard slug shots. Then you engage five silhouette steel on the way to a wall with four ports in it. Beyond the wall at 10 yards is an array of 12 "shoot" steels and five "no shoot" steel which block some of the shoot targets from different angles. Each no-shoot popper was a 10-second penalty if you made it fall. This was actually not that tough, but you did have to reload. Finally, you finished up my running up a canyon and locating and shooting 10 clays. Lots of shooting and reloading. My time was 98.76.
Saturday:
Stage 2. "Flare Out." all 3 weapons. You shoot this stage from the inside of a very small helicopter. On each side was: 1 rifle plate at 120 yards, 8 paper targets, and 5 steel. (so double that for the other side) The rifle plates at 120y had to be hit with the rifle. The rest of the steel with shotgun, and the paper with rifle or pistol. Rifle was limited to 20 rounds. This one was challenging
because of the choice of "what targets to shoot with which gun." The rules for this match specify that a single "A" hit or two B/C/D hits "neutralizes" a target, otherwise you get a penalty. So I went for the strategy of:
1. shooting one far plate,
2. shoot the paper on that side with one shot per, with rifle,
3/4. repeat for other side.
5. pull shotgun and shoot one side, load 3/4 and then shoot the other side.
This was an okay plan but I took too much time aiming to get the "A" hits. I got them all except I had one "C" which added 5 seconds to my time.
A better strategy would have been to shoot both steel, then double-tap one side's paper with the rifle at warp speed, then pull the shotgun on that side, then switch, then finally pull pistol and blast the remaining paper on the other side. Oh well. My time was 89.36
Stage 3. "Over Run." Handgun & Rifle. This stage was shot from two positions: SA1 and SA2. From SA1, you could see 5 close unobstructed paper targets, and five "further" and covered-by-hard-cover paper targets. Then you run to SA2 and you see a similar scenario. You are limited to 20 rifle rounds. You start at the bottom of a pit with your two weapons and a 10lb ammo box. On buzzer, you run up the 15' or so with the box, set it down in the bunker, and engage the targets. Then take the box to SA1 and repeat. I did the obvious solution of shooting the hard shots with the rifle and the close with the pistol. This was good because I got all very precise rifle shots and I could blast with the pistol. The Tac-sling for the AR came in useful. My time was 66.
At this point, it was lunchtime. I had a Cliff bar and headed over to Alan Samuel's machine-gun area. I rented a 16" M16, an MP5, an AK47, and I shot a 50-round belt through a German MG3. Rockin'.
Stage 4. "Afghanistan Hills." Rifle. This was the long-range rifle stage with 17 shots at plates from 200-310 yards. You ran a total of about 30 yards up a hill, and shot from defined positions (over the boulder, etc). I screwed up this stage by getting 3 misses and having a long time (218 seconds + penalties). The RO mentioned that he noticed my shots were all high and my muzzle was real close to the boulder in front and he thought maybe the blast was deflecting them up, because from other positions I had no problems on those same plates. Oh well. I also didn't practice at 300 yards, so...
Stage 5. "The Deer Hunter." Handgun and RM3G supplied rifle. In this stage, you start in a tiger cage with no weapon, no holsters, no nothing, during the "war of your choice." Upon the start signal, you push open the metal mesh wall, forward two steps, grab a crow bar, and smash the "guard's skull" (5 clay pigeons in a stack - failure to break all five results in penalties). Then you pick up "his" AK-47, and engage two close paper targets with the five loaded rounds. Then you drop the AK, and run forward about 5 yards and pick up your pistol which is at slide-lock on an empty mag. You pick up your mags and stick them in your pocked. Load pistol and engage four small plates at 15 yards. Then you basically run up this high and long hill engaging 13 paper targets and one stop plate at 15 yards as they become visible. I had a pretty good time at 60.69 seconds.
Team shoot on Sunday: A stage was set up for the team shoot on the long-range rifle stage. Each team was 3 people, one for each gun. I shot with Glenn Frank and George Murhpy. The pistol guy started on the LHS of a large boulder. Upon the buzzer, he engages 7 plates. Two of the plates were in the rear hidden behind the first set. When he's done, he safes his pistol and throws it down in a box. Then he runs 2 steps and picks up an ammo can and then taps the rifle shooter on the leg. The rifle shooter engages a 200y and a 255y plate. Once the second hit is made, the shotgun shooter who is about 15 yards up the hill starts shooting his array of 8 or 9 plates. Meanwhile, the pistol shooter is running up the hill with the can. Inside the can are one or more shotgun slugs. When the shotgun shooter is done with the plates, he gets one slug from the box carried by the pistol shooter and engages the 40y stop plate with it. We did it in 41 seconds. The best was like 23 seconds.
I am pretty pleased with my entire performance with the exception of Stage 4. I don't suck that bad at long-range rifle shooting.
After everything, when the scores came in, I was 35th out of 75 in the "tactical" class: in the top 50% makes me happy.
These big matches have prize tables. The prize table at this match contained $27500 worth of stuff.. including like 7 guns or something. I ended up with another Surefire flashlight (G2-OD), a holster for it, and 12 batteries. Not bad.
It was really impressive to see some of the best 3Gun shooters at this match.. and generally all my times were less than double their times.
With the possibilities at the W.C., this is going to become THE premier 3Gun event.
I also got to fondle a bunch of equipment. JP was the big match sponsor and had many of their rifles there. I am definitely going to buy one of these soon.
Pictures will be coming in a day or two.
-z
