I shot the Snake River Outdoorsman NRL Hunter Match, sponsored by Nightforce, in Juliaetta ID this past weekend. It was my first 2-day NRL Hunter match and I wanted to scribble out a few thoughts, post-match.
- First off, shooting natural terrain is way cooler than a square range. The Middle Potlatch Creek canyon north of Juliaetta ID is very cool. Just about all of our stages were shooting across canyon. Sometimes targets were down in the bottom, other times up high on the opposite slope, most were somewhere across canyon mid-slope.
- I’ve shot a lot of big matches (USPSA mainly) and I felt the MDs did a fantastic job with logistics, stage design, match flow, instructions, food, etc. Definitely in my top 3 of match experiences. I even enjoyed the morning hike out to the first stage.
- Target acquisition was not as bad as I feared, but still challenging. You had to be prepared to glass from all kinds of height. Even though the opposite canyon slope where most of the targets were located was not as heavily timbered, there was still enough vegetation and scree slopes for the targets to blend into. But the left and right indicators were accurate and helpful (if you paid attention to them…).
- Spotting and laz-ing from heavy timber at the shooting position presented a devilishly clever twist (I’m sure it was deliberate on the part of the MDs). Some stages you could easily see the first target placard with naked eye, but all the tree branches in front of you meant you had to move left or right (or down) to find a hole to shoot a laser thru. I got a few returns of 13 yards, which was clearly not the right distance. Other stages you had to find the right height to set the tripod at for glassing thru a gap in the trees, and it wasn’t aways standing height. There was at least one stage where the height was pretty low.
- The shooting was challenging (for me) but every target was hit-able. Big canyon with several side drainages made for some interesting winds. I’m amazed (and thoroughly impressed) that the winner only dropped 18 shots out of 144. Given the switchy winds, anybody who broke 100/144 is a rock star IMO.
- I learned a ton and am still processing. My top 3 take aways: 1) There‘s a lot going on in 4 mins. 2) Work-flow, work-flow, work-flow. 3) Don’t burn all your time trying to find that last 1x4 target. Better to get some points and 4 pts is better than zero.
- Speaking of which, I like 2x2 stages the best (or did better on those). 4x1 was also good, but my achilles heel is the 1x4 stages (1 poz 4 targets). I need to work on my target acquisition.
- Really pleased that my gear and work-flow worked (at least on 17 out of 18 stages). I also found out the hard way that a tripod leveling head is not going to cut it in a natural terrain match in a canyon. I couldn’t depress low enough on several targets and a couple on the up angle. Had to move the tripod downhill or shorten up a leg on one side. As a result, I have a ball head on the way. Speaking of which, thank you to all the sponsors. I picked up a cert off the prize table that is covering a big chunk of my AARP (After Action Review Purchase) ball head.
- Don’t go to chrono with a clean bore, or shoot a couple foulers before you start chrono-ing. My first shot was 60-70 fps slow and wouldn’t have made PF on its own. Fortunately my next two shots were what they should be and the average squeaked me over the 380,000 mark. I noticed a lot of competitors were chrono-ing in the 400K. Maybe I need to bump my load a tenth or two.
- I need a Talking Timer. Another AARP. Couple stages I spent too much time looking for targets and only left myself 90 secs or less to shoot. I can’t rely on the RO to give me a count down, or at least I shouldn’t rely on the RO as my Plan A.
- I’m definitely shooting more of these matches, the two-day’ers and the one-day matches.
- Lastly, no regrets signing up to shoot Open Heavy division instead of Skills since I’ve been shooting PRS and NRL22 matches for a bit. I’d recommend Skills for anybody new to rifle comps, or if you don’t care about prize tables or points.
