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Sniper’s Hide Cup Official 2013 Sniper's Hide Cup 5/23 - 5/25

Extra thanks and appreciation to Darren and Travis, without their help and cooperation, none of this would have been possible. Truly "salt of the earth" dudes and great Americans to boot. Thanks again and I'm sure Competition Dynamics looks forward to conspiring with you guys on their next event soon.

And thanks go out to Competition Dynamics, Snipers Hide and everyone involved.

Jimmy
 
And the fact you can shoot the match with a top load, magazines not required

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Yeah, that was me. I didn't feel that the top feed was a serious handicap at all on most of the stages. There were some where having a detach would have bought about 15-20 seconds total, which is enough for an extra shot or two, but as someone once told me "you can't miss fast enough to win!" I'm sure I could have shot my .308 instead of the 6mm and still hit plenty of targets, so guys with the stock R700's don't be afraid to come out and shoot if you know your shooting system.

The match was awesome, the procedural learning curve was fairly steep for the first 3 stages (I shot Bravo first, in that 25-30 mph wind on Thursday, what a sucker), but after that I could see how it all worked. I think I only got about 4-5 points out of Bravo total. This was my "vacation" for the year, and for coming in cold turkey after a bunch of consecutive work trips I was more than satisfied with my place. Heck, I even had a case head go at the end of Friday that cost about 5 points I figure.

Big thanks to the RO's --- I had a good time at every stage (even the ones I got bit on). I felt like everything was under control, and considering the spotting conditions, I thought that the comms with me during the strings were straightforward.

Darrin, you guys rock for hosting this on your land. The Mogs were all sweet rigs, I love the brush fire truck. Hope to catch you on the air sometime too.
 
This was my first event as an RO and it was a blast ! Thanks to everyone, esp the shooters who did a great job on our UniMog stage!

Special thanks to Darrin & Travis for the use of their fine property, wow! Also Zak & Jimmy who I spent Tues setting up steel with! That was a good time.

A very special thanks to my co-RO on the UniMog stage, Dennis Phillips of Steiner, who was just phenomenal to work with! What a guy!

This was a great time for me and an excellent learning experience! I can't wait to get into the field to apply some of that knowledge.

Also thanks to Steiner for the excellent "glass" and the great price to keep them at the end. What a deal!

Last but not least thanks Ann for deftly filling in the gaps when I needed something and Ray for getting us rolling Tuesday morning.....
 
I would like to specifically thank:

Ray Sanchez and Jimmy Holdsworth, my assistant match directors, for working their asses off for 10 long days leading up to and during the match. They moved, checked, and repaired the over 150 targets we used for the SHC. (That's between 3 and 4 tons of metal targetry.) These guys work really hard, never complain, and are experts in match setup. I appreciate their help even more because being staff precludes them from competing and they are both top level shooters. Being RO on A-1, Jimmy ran over 15 miles getting everyone to the end of the pistol stage.

Jeff and Ann Hamilton, for doing a great job getting sponsors lined up. Ann alone spent a bazillion hours following up with sponsors and getting everything sorted, accounted for, and ready to go to SHC. She also lined up all the "facilities" we had set up at the event, not to mention driving to Casper at the last minute for tables and chairs when the tent company forgot to bring them. Both of them also acted as RO's and filled in anywhere anything was needed to be done during the event.

All the other RO's: Dennis, Max, Leo, Murph, Doug, Keith, Yves, Bruno, Ben, Mark, John, Greg, and Josh P and Josh W, and also Brian and Scott from Bartlein. You guys did a great job; without quality RO's a match like this cannot happen. If you guys ever need anything let me know.

Darrin, your property is awesome and we look forward to looking at the "rest" of it! Thanks for the use of your Unimog and we'll have to chat about future 'Mog plans.

Travis, it's a pleasure to work with you again and we look forward to doing more events on your property in the future.

Frank Galli, we appreciate the opportunity to put together the premier field/long-range shooting event under the SnipersHide banner. Thank you.

And like I said at the wrap-up, we had a very smooth match and a lot of that credit goes to the shooters for staying on task and following the - voluminous - directions. I know everyone was beat by the end of the day, especially considering the weather, and that everyone kept their cool and stayed safe is a credit to the quality of shooters we have in this sport.
 
Glad we could be a small part of this awesome match, love the pictures!

Was that a kid winning a AI rifle? Man that is more then cool!
 
Thank you everyone for supporting the shooting industry, hope everyone made it home safe. Thanks again to Frank, Zak, Ann, & the rest of the crue for the help setting up the grill, & making sure everyone got fed. I hope to see everyone that wants to come show up to the WTRC. Thanks again to everyone.
 
Well done gents..I could hear you shooting from my house. Wish I could have come out to observe.
 
Glad we could be a small part of this awesome match, love the pictures!

Was that a kid winning a AI rifle? Man that is more then cool!

Jake,
That is a Surgeon Scalpel in a AX chassis and judging by the pics around it I'd say that the older gentleman actually won the rifle.

Dustin
 
Yeah looks like your right!

It would have been super cool though if that young man got that. Good start to his shooting career huh???!!!

Jake,
That is a Surgeon Scalpel in a AX chassis and judging by the pics around it I'd say that the older gentleman actually won the rifle.

Dustin
 
Third place caliber was straight .243 Win.

Awesome match as always and huge thank you's to Frank, Ray, Zak, Jeff, Ann, the land owners who allow us access to their property, and of course to the sponsors that were immensely generous with donations. Thank you's will be going out to all match sponsors individually, their donations were above what I expected to see. The prize table was huge!

Geb
 
Awesome pics, surprised the 6 and 6.5s did so well in that wind, I guess practice does pay off. Congrats to the winners, jealous of all you that attended this event, I am on a mission to make the trip next year.
 
Awesome pics, surprised the 6 and 6.5s did so well in that wind, I guess practice does pay off. Congrats to the winners, jealous of all you that attended this event, I am on a mission to make the trip next year.

6 and 6.5s aren't called wind cheaters for nothing.
 
A few more pictures as I bring them in and get them up and going

JonG@MCM.jpg
Jon G from McMillan Talking to Matt from APO
Matt@APO 002.jpg
Matt Setting up for the Demo Day

JonG@MCMAlias.jpg

Jon shooting the Alias Star,
 
After seeing how this turned out Im a little pissed that I forgot about the GoPro until my absolute last stage of the match. Would have been pretty cool on each of the pistol stages. Unfortunately I pretty much bombed the rifle portion, those first round only stages are a bitch.

For those not there, targets were at roughly 550, 650, 750, 1020, 1130 on this stage.

Snipers Hide Cup 2013 Echo Complex Stage 3 POV - YouTube
 
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Finally got back to North Texas last night from the match. Want to thank all of you who hosted, sponsored, participated, and served as range officers for an awesome first experience. The owners of the ranch deserve a huge round of applause for allowing us to shoot and those that provided the meals in 30-40 mph winds and 42 degree temperatures also deserve praise. Everyone was extremely helpful and approachable. Special thanks to all the shooters in Group 5 for their help, support, and patience. I learned a whole lot from each of you guys; such as what to bring and what to leave behind, what works and what doesn't, and how to deal with frustration when equipment goes south on you. Had a great time and I'm hoping to see most of y'all again next year if not sooner.
 
Had to jet pretty fast after things wrapped up so I could be home in time for work yesterday and today. Now that I have a spare minute, a huge thanks to everyone involved. Frank, Zak, Jeff, Jimmy, Ray, Ann, you all put together an awesome match. Its becoming a yearly tradition in my household to drive up there for a few days of fun and shooting in the fresh air and on the gorgeous land. Thanks to the landowners for letting us shoot up their property for three days =) Thanks to all the match sponsors, the prize table was amazing, just like last year. I want to single out Will and BARRETT for a huge thanks, I don't know how but I won the drawing for the MRAD and I haven't stopped grinning since!

I don't remember how we did the thank you's last year but if I may offer a suggestion, in the thank you thread can we post emails or points of contact for the various sponsors so all the shooters can send them thank yous? We may have done that last year I don't remember but that way the emails don't get lost in a generic "[email protected]" email account. It was good seeing some of my friends again. Christian was throwing down with 308 this year, the Gebhardts were pleasant and friendly as always, Nick you did awesome! The conditions were a kick in the ass and it was fun going toe to toe with 35mph gusting winds, even with my ballistically deficient 308!

It was a great time and anybody that's been on the fence I would suggest you take the leap next year, its a blast and you really don't have to be a crack shot to learn something and have a good time! I've got a bunch of pictures and a little video =)
 
What a great match. I would like to thank all the competitors for making the stages run so smoothly. Looking forward to RO-ing this one again. Darrin, great to finally talk to you after reading about your Unimogs on the forum for years. Frank, Zak and all the CD folks had it down again this year, as usual- the masters of organization. And to our sponsors, representatives of the finest equipment in our sport, thanks for your contributions, it makes this all possible. And a special thanks to Wade at Surgeon Rifles for the beautiful rifle- my head is still in the clouds

I'm sure we'll be reading about how smoothly this 120-plus shooter event ran in many other forums.

See you all next year
 
Wow, now that the dust has settled on an amazing week, just wanted to say what an amazing experience, cool people, and awesome property! I'll save most of my thanks for the "thanks thread", but wanted to definitely thank the land owners for letting us use their land, Frank and Zak for getting this stuff set up, and last but not least, George and GA Precision for the rifle that I somehow won! I still find myself in a state of disbelief, but cannot wait to buck my 308 for awhile and shoot that 6 cm!!

Can't wait to go again next year, and will be trying to get a few new faces to come with me too.
 
If anyone happened to end up with a multicam binocular case with a set of Nikon Gold 1200 rangefinder in it, I would very much appreciate getting it back.

Thanks,

Lwilliams
 
I'll save my thank you speech for the official thank you thread that I know is soon to come but I do have a question. [MENTION=2015]Zak Smith[/MENTION] or [MENTION=7]Lowlight[/MENTION], what was the average size target at say 300, 400, ect. I would like to get some plates that are roughly the same size and set them up in a similar fashion as I have similar terrain at my place. I know some stages they weren't much wider than the strap that's for sure.
 
I'll save my thank you speech for the official thank you thread that I know is soon to come but I do have a question. [MENTION=2015]Zak Smith[/MENTION] or [MENTION=7]Lowlight[/MENTION], what was the average size target at say 300, 400, ect. I would like to get some plates that are roughly the same size and set them up in a similar fashion as I have similar terrain at my place. I know some stages they weren't much wider than the strap that's for sure.

All our targets from from AA TARGETS. Talk to Austin and he will take care of you.
 
How did all of you fellers like our Wyoming wind?

...in case you were wondering, yes, that is fairly normal on the eastern side of the state.
 
All our targets from from AA TARGETS. Talk to Austin and he will take care of you.

Thanks Mendocino. I knew those were the targets that we were shooting at but I was more interested in the actual sizes of the targets at the ranges we shot. I was curious if like the avg target size at 400 was a 4 inch diamond or 5 inch or whatever. I just want to practice shooting similar sized targets in similar positions.
 
The targets were a mix, obviously with a lot of smaller ones out there. The smallest we used were 6" diamonds. The average was a 10" diamond

WHAT!!! Now I dont feel so good about myself, all along I thought for sure those damn things were like 2-4" at the biggest! haha
 
Actually you're right. Saw it in another thread. Almost 4k rounds on his barrel as well. Pretty stinking impressive.

The barrel has been set back one time @ around 2,200 rounds. Little fact everybody seems to glide over. Did it need set back and could it have made it to 4k rounds with the same results? With H1000 I think it probably could have but as more of theses get out there we shall see. George is a great shot and could have probably placed in the top 10 or so shooting a .308. Sure the 6.5 SAUM helped but bottom line is he is a great shooter.
 
Great match! It was fun, challenging, and a cool place to shoot. Thanks LL and Zak for all your hard work. I've already personally called and sent an email thanking the sponsors for the stuff I got off the table. Conditions were definitely tough. I enjoyed seeing everyone again and meeting a few new shooters. Can't wait for next year and hopefully I'll get off to a better start.
 
Frank, Zak, Ray and all the R.O.'s Very awsome Match, I loved the Match last year and thought that with Franks unlimited entrys this year would be hard to run but you guys did a spectacular job!!! Thank you to Chad Dixon and his crew for the way cool Trophy Rifle It will be displayed/Shot proudly. Thanks for all the guys on Group 2, I had a great time with all of you there was alot of team work on our squad is was a pleasure meeting and shooting with every one of you. Cant wait till next year.

My rifle was a 6.5 SAUM on a Templar action, same rifle I shot last year and yes it now has over 4000 rounds on it with one .120 thou setback at 2200. it still shoots well but has lost alot of velocity last year the same loads were 3120-3140 this year 3010-3020 Its being retired and we can call the 6.5 SAUM a winner now !!!

Francis 2nd place shot a 6.5x284 with 139 Scenars at 2950 or so.
 
Just want to throw in my .02 cents. This was my first large match I've attended and only my 4th match ever. But I have to say that it was the funnest time I have ever had shooting. It was nothing short of a miracle on some of the targets I hit!!!! Thanks to LL CD and all those who put this on and put the time and effort into this match it was worth every penny I spent. The best part was I went into it expecting to get my butt handed to me and I did but I set a small little goal of where I wanted to place and I actually placed 13 places higher than my goal. So for a guy who has been behind a rifle just under A year and the first time in a match of this caliber I am ecstatic.
One of the great parts about the whole match was the camaraderie and how at every point when I needed a hand or a question answered there was someone there to help or answer it and they did it with out ridicule or talking down to me. Instead they legitimately waned to help and that they did even to the point of getting behind my rifle and pointing out that my whole scope base was loose :)
Thank you guys so much for the best vacation I've had in years
 
Zak, Ray, Frank and all who helped.....THANK YOU. You guys/gals (Ann) put on a heck of a match. Also thank you to my brother Travis and the guys from Seekins Precision for all they do to help me out. Congrats to George, Francis and Nick for some fine shooting in way less than ideal conditions. This was my first trip to the Hide Cup, and hopefully it won't be my last.

Not sure if there's going to be a collection/rundown of the equipment used, so here's mine:
RBros 6WTF (6x47L) shooting 115 DTACs
Manners T2
Nightforce NXS 5.5-22x with NPR1
Harris Bipod
no brake or suppressor
 
Gents ,
This was my second time as an RO at the cup . Some say we give up a lot to do it . I don't think so . Is it long hours ? YES . Is it an endurance contest ? Sort of . Do we get compensated ? Monetarily no . But the thanks from the shooters is pay enough.

For some it is all about winning when they shoot . I only had one melt down when the wind kicked a shooters ass. Come on guys , we're not saving lives here , it is supposed to be fun . ​Here is some advise for anyone thinking of shooting next year. DO IT !! It is more fun than the Philippines
.

You will never meet a nicer bunch of people to shoot with . My "style" as an RO is to keep things light. There is no reason to be a jerk to the shooters , and that came back to me 10 fold. I also take my job very seriously as I know how important correct scores are. To the gents that wanted to argue hits and misses with me .... DON'T . If you think you can keep track of hits and misses with all the stress and time constraints . You can't. I hope that the new shooters that came through E-1 had fun . Those of you that didn't , well it's your own fault .

Make sure you thank the sponsors !!! For me , especially I would like to thank Steiner. I have a ton of Bino's . At first I thought I need another set like I need a hole in my head . Bt here is the deal . I looked through them 7 hours straight for 3 days . You know what I noticed after we were all done ? ZERO eye fatigue or headache . The glass was phenomenal !! So much so , that I think I would buy a pair at full cost if I needed a pair.

To the 3 shooters that shot the brown eye girl at 1010 yards , well done !! You pulled rabbits out of your hats on that one .

Last bit of advise to shooters old and new . RETURN YOUR SCOPE TO ZERO AFTER A STAGE. You all know who you are that shot 10 mills high at 300 yards.

Greg
E-1

 
This was my first match of this scale and I had a great time! I cant thank the Sponsors, RO's, and Landowners enough. I met a ton of good guys and made quite a few new friends in the process. Hard to beat for a week in the middle of nowhere. :)
 
Missing Bipod. I loaned a bipod to a guy on my squad and he said he put it in the back seat of my truck. Must not have been my truck. So, if you found an extra bipod in your back seat could you please PM me, I would like to get it back.
What a match, had a great time. ROs were great, the winds made spotting hits sometimes near impossible. Between the weather and the terrain, distance and target size, this match was never lacking on challenges. Great people to send a couple days with. It's amazing how so many competitors competing against each other can work so well together to help each other shoot better.
This is a match I will defiantly have to do again.