As an RO I had the opportunity to watch every shooter run through my stage, and I took some general observation notes:
- Have a plan before you step up to the line - many shooters didn't think through the entire stage and were slow adapting to the movement, different positions, etc.
- Max load your magazine no matter how many shots you think you need - had people load the minimum of 9 rounds only to have misfires and need to reload mid-stage
- Don't bring extra junk to the line - People were carrying rear bags, backpacks, shooting sticks etc. from position to position and didn't even use the stuff they brought. Waste of time.
- Memorize your come-ups before you start shooting - had people trying to find their dope on a big dope card during shooting. Could have easily marked the three different come-ups on the back of their hand, side of the rifle stock, etc.
- At least 1/3 of the shooters would try to close their bolt at the beginning of the stage and have the magazine & rounds hang up and prevent the bolt from closing without some fiddling. Every time it happened it was with a Rem 700 action and Accuracy International 10rd mags. The bottom metal must not hold the magazine very well and the front of the mag drops down and causes the rounds to catch on the front of the magazine well. Had zero feeding problems from Remington BDL's, Sako TRG's, Savage's, Accuracy International's, etc.
- Don't forget what the status of your rifle is. People would open the action prior to moving, and forget to close it when they set up again. The rifle won't fire without the bolt closed, if it's on safe, or if you closed the bolt on an already fired cartridge....
- Know your wind/elevation hold-overs. People burned a lot of time messing with knobs when a simple hold-off would have sufficed.
- Don't compromise marksmanship fundamentals in favor of time - I saw some funky unnatural shooting positions because people were in a hurry, and didn't take a couple extra seconds to get set up solidly.
- Know the course of fire before you shoot! Many people put two rounds into each target even though it was a 1 shot per target stage. Most other stages were 2 shots each.
- Always press check when loading. Lots of misfires because of bolt over-ride when initially loading the rifle, or on semi-autos the bolt not seating fully.
- Don't tell the RO you're ready until you are..."Shooter ready.....oh wait, I can't get my bolt to close....."
- Inexpensive factory Savage rifles shot as well as custom high end rifles...
- Know where your ammo is and be able to reload quickly - I can reload an internal box magazine with rounds off a stock pack way faster than the guy with a DBM that has his mags buttoned up somewhere out of reach, and can't even get the mag to seat properly because he's unaccustomed to reloading on the fly.
- Use your sling for support! I had ONE guy use a sling for extra support the entire match.
- Wait to see your bullet impact before reloading/adjusting knobs - people in a hurry didn't take time to spot their misses and kept making the same incorrect wind holds shot after shot.
- Harris bipods are way faster and easier to adjust on the fly than Atlas bipods. Atlas bipods are great for static slow fire, but on the move they are really slow and clumsy.
- One turn elevation knobs and zero-stops are essential! People trying to count turns on their elevation adjustments under stress is not pretty.
- Use a suppressor on long range guns. Don't even need to elaborate on that one.
- Check your parallax and set it for the targets you're engaging. Too few people took the time to make sure their parallax settings were in order.
- Stay calm and don't get flustered. People would get out of breath and miss shots because they weren't calm and collected.
- Use supports & barricades to your advantage. We had large straw bale supports and most people would rest just the bipod on them instead of throwing the entire rifle across them and leaning on them for support.
- Just about every shooter broke their position to dial their knobs between shots and check dope cards. Get set up and keep your face on the stock.
- I don't think I saw one shooter use a spotting scope to check downrange wind during the 30min prep time. Most used Kestrels for wind measurements at the firing line but that's it.
- Be careful of bullets stuck in the barrel. Had 2 shooter have their reloaded ammo seat too far into the lands and pull the bullet out when they unloaded. Bad stuff happens if you don't catch that...
- Be sure to check your density altitude before firing. The shooters that did were usually spot on with their elevation adjustments.
- Calculate the percentage of wind hold value at different ranges. Wind averaged 10-15mph - guys were usually holding about 1 mil for wind at 580yds but it turned into about 2 mils at 940. Wind holds aren't linear.
