Made it up to the Colemans Creek Team Match this weekend in Ellerbe, NC. It was pretty great so I figured I'd do a little write up. I think they do this type of event pretty regularly and I will definitely put it on my list of "must attend" events.
To preface, I don't think I did well and I'm not trying to give pointers or anything. Just sharing some thoughts. They're worth what you pay for them haha.
The match was, in my opinion, the best bang for buck match I've shot this year. It was $150 per team with a total of 300 rounds possibly fired over 6 stages and we were done by 1pm. I don't attend matches to win but rather to learn and 6 hours, 24 minutes on the clock shooting, and 150 rounds per person fired is my point of saturation in the summer heat. The length and scope of the match was perfect.
The stages seemed simple enough to streamline the process but had enough complexity to mentally push us. For example, all stages were 4 minutes, all stages had the same shaped targets, there was no movement other than maybe moving from you pistol position to position you wanted to setup for rifle. Yet, I was still scrambling to get tasks done on time. Every stage presented a different challenge that I felt like highlighted a particular aspect of the team-based precision shooting process. You could maybe say 2 of the stages were pretty similar but that's grasping at straws.
There was also a lot of freedom. At most stages, there were props but you didn't have to use them. You and your partner could split the time up engaging your given shapes however you liked. There were no gear restrictions at all. Just stay in the box, stay safe, shoot your targets.
As far as takeaways, I need to get better at finding targets quickly and getting my partner on to found targets quickly. This match had most of the targets hidden. Even compared to the NRL Hunter match I attended this year, the targets were VERY tough to find. For reference, I was using the very common Sig 3000s to find and range. They weren't too hard to find. Just very hard. This was also my first match using what some might consider a "tier one" scope, the March 4.5-28. This year, other than now, I've used 1000ish dollar scopes. The image quality and specs are obviously better but I didn't feel like it necessarily gave me a huge advantage. I'm not getting rid of the scope. Just a bit of data validating what many have already said, you don't need to have X brand $4k scope to compete.
Everyone in the squad was super cool to shoot with and all the ROs were great. Big thanks to those who made this event happen and big thanks to the facility owners. I will be back for sure.
To preface, I don't think I did well and I'm not trying to give pointers or anything. Just sharing some thoughts. They're worth what you pay for them haha.
The match was, in my opinion, the best bang for buck match I've shot this year. It was $150 per team with a total of 300 rounds possibly fired over 6 stages and we were done by 1pm. I don't attend matches to win but rather to learn and 6 hours, 24 minutes on the clock shooting, and 150 rounds per person fired is my point of saturation in the summer heat. The length and scope of the match was perfect.
The stages seemed simple enough to streamline the process but had enough complexity to mentally push us. For example, all stages were 4 minutes, all stages had the same shaped targets, there was no movement other than maybe moving from you pistol position to position you wanted to setup for rifle. Yet, I was still scrambling to get tasks done on time. Every stage presented a different challenge that I felt like highlighted a particular aspect of the team-based precision shooting process. You could maybe say 2 of the stages were pretty similar but that's grasping at straws.
There was also a lot of freedom. At most stages, there were props but you didn't have to use them. You and your partner could split the time up engaging your given shapes however you liked. There were no gear restrictions at all. Just stay in the box, stay safe, shoot your targets.
As far as takeaways, I need to get better at finding targets quickly and getting my partner on to found targets quickly. This match had most of the targets hidden. Even compared to the NRL Hunter match I attended this year, the targets were VERY tough to find. For reference, I was using the very common Sig 3000s to find and range. They weren't too hard to find. Just very hard. This was also my first match using what some might consider a "tier one" scope, the March 4.5-28. This year, other than now, I've used 1000ish dollar scopes. The image quality and specs are obviously better but I didn't feel like it necessarily gave me a huge advantage. I'm not getting rid of the scope. Just a bit of data validating what many have already said, you don't need to have X brand $4k scope to compete.
Everyone in the squad was super cool to shoot with and all the ROs were great. Big thanks to those who made this event happen and big thanks to the facility owners. I will be back for sure.
