Re: Doing it in Russia
Upon further review, a few thoughts come to mind...
There must be some truly impressive amounts of money tied up on that firing line, particularly for Russia. Is DDTC allowing Nightforces and DTAs to be shipped over there? Last time I heard anything on the subject, they were prohibiting rifles from being exported with threaded muzzles - clearly including several of the ones shown that came from the US.
Only two semis shown in attendance - due to Russian laws, or lack of availability?
No suppressors visible anywhere on the line. Either they haven't discovered their usefulness, or they're completely prohibited. For a group of guys who have clearly spent enormous amounts of time and money acquiring gear, one would suspect they would have cans were there any possible way to do so.
Eye protection is clearly not required on the firing line in Russia. Apparently vision is expendable, just like the Red Army. For that matter, earpro looks to be optional, or at least held in fairly low regard. In several photos it appears the shooter isn't wearing any at all (or else has some extremely small inside-the-ear hearing-aid style plugs), and in quite a few you can see people on the line with one earmuff pushed up. Lack of concern, lack of education, or just cultural differences?
Is Nightforce running some sort of massive marketing campaign in Russia or what? I lost track at 8 or 9 of them on the line, out of about 16 shooters. 3.5-15s, 8-32s, even one or two benchrest models...
Not that it's strange to see competitors using reloads, obviously, but there don't appear to be any individuals using commercially-loaded ammunition in any of the photos. 8 or 9 of the shooters have reloading trays of ammo visible, presumably handloads. No domestic market for commercial match ammo, or just none visible?
It's easy to say that their targets look bad without any context, but the overall description of the match, the COFs as described, and the appearance of several target arrays shown, are rather suggestive. The time limits are relatively long (Two minutes to fire one round on a 400 meter gong?), and the distances relatively short (650 meter maximum). One or two positional stages, but nothing shown from barricades, nor any stress events. Not enough information shown on the targets to tell how good the best shooters really are, though.
Not a single lefty on the range, so far as can be seen. Not impossible, statistically speaking, but improbable. Military conscription forcing everyone to learn to shoot right-handed? No weak-side shooting positions in the match either, for that matter.
