So what's the 'essential' kit these days? What's the latest must have skills?

[ManUtdManiac]

So I've been away from shooting for a long while, getting back into it. Celebrating with a PVA barreled action of a Big Horn in a Sentinel stock with a howitzer sized optic and extra snipery reticle.

Rear Bag? Check
Bipod? Check,
Sling? Check,
Magazines? Check.
Ammo? Check.

So what's left? I'm into photography so I have tripods (Are these really needed in matches? Since when was carrying a tripod around 'practical'?!?)
I've seen pics of folks with basically what looks like tactical pillows in Cordura. Are these are a must have or only for those who really want to place top 3 or something?

I've got the olive green clothes for blending in with my surroundings (hahaha, carrying a tripod, a pillow, 1,000 Snickers bars and a 1.5G Coke bottle). I live in SoCal so perhaps extra baggy clothes, Yeezy sneakers and a gold grill would be better....

Do I need a backpack that can carry said tripod from stage to stage? Are most matches such that once you start you have to carry all your kit with you at all times? I used to go to a match like this back in PA...

Skills:

Do matches still have you range unknown with reticles? Do you still have range or target size estimation stages - Sniper Math?

A lot has changed, so I don't want to be the 'Poor' without...

Thanks in advance and hope you spot the tongue in cheek tone for humor and not 'tude...

 

[LawnMM]

 

[ManUtdManiac]

"What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing?
"Can't you tell that your tie's too wide?"
Maybe I should buy some old tab collars?
"Welcome back to the age of jive
Where have you been hidin' out lately, honey?
You can't dress trashy till you spend a lot of money"
Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound
Funny, but it's still rock and roll to me..."

 

[Dthomas3523]

Reticle ranging is a legacy skill now. Though some do require it in field matches. It’s going the way if the dodo. Be able to reticle range out to 600 on pretty forgiving targets and you’re fine.

Tripods are probably the most “practical/tactical” piece of kit currently. They have become about the most important piece of support for Mil/Le. If you work behind a rifle and don’t have a quality tripod, you’re wrong.

 

[ManUtdManiac]

Reticle ranging is a legacy skill now. Though some do require it in field matches. It’s going the way if the dodo. Be able to reticle range out to 600 on pretty forgiving targets and you’re fine.

Tripods are probably the most “practical/tactical” piece of kit currently. They have become about the most important piece of support for Mil/Le. If you work behind a rifle and don’t have a quality tripod, you’re wrong.

Oh for 'pros' I totally understand. Hell, I need a tripod for regular photo etc. I just thought for these multi-stages where I assume many are under time, it just seemed odd, but the full disclaimer is that I'm forming a view in complete ignorance of the modern matches.

 

[Steel head]

Reticle ranging past 1000 starts getting vague.
Notebook or log.
Range finder.
Kestrel or app.
Tactical TP.
Cigars
Coffee
Tactical tangelo

 

[ManUtdManiac]

Steel head. Cigars. Yes!.

I have the Kestrel. Need a notebook (and tactical pencil). No idea what Tactical TP is but I have learned to drag my ass along the ground from watching my Tactical Cat and Tactical Dog. Coffee... of course!

 

[Feesh]

Cigars and long range rifles go well together. A nice Rocky Patel ALR paired with a .308 is my preference. My current kit desire is a good piece of spotting glass - either a spotting scope or binoculars.

You don’t need much to shoot a match, but I’ve only shot one day matches so my experience is limited in comparison to other. A ballistic app like Hornady 4DOF does a lot of the heavy lifting for me - known distance targets and an old kestrel 4500NV help. I’ve seen the Mini Gun Plate used a bit - not required by any means.

 

[want2learn]

how about a 2 round holder and a dope card holder?

 

[Steel head]

how about a 2 round holder and a dope card holder?

Good gamer gear.
Kinda just fluff for a woods and plains kinda shooter.
I’d prefer some Marion Berry or blueberry muffins instead.

 

[ManUtdManiac]

Good gamer gear.
Kinda just fluff for a woods and plains kinda shooter.
I’d prefer some Marion Berry or blueberry muffins instead.

For the fiber right?

 

[Dthomas3523]

My kit for matches:

Rifle/optic/sling/ammo
Tripod/bino/laser/kestrel
Armboard/e-dope card
Fix it sticks
Lens kit
Mags
Hearing aide batteries (for ear pro)
123 batteries (laser)
Mini plate
Mini wax canvas heavy fortune cookie

 

[m1match]

Welcome to the Hide!

If you want the latest and most versatile, a tripod with a Really Right Stuff dovetail head (AKA Arca rail) and a rifle with a RRS rail on the bottom and a dovetail clamp for your bipod allows you great flexibility to move the bipod fore and aft on the rail or to clamp your rifle directly to the tripod. Area 419 makes good Arca (RRS) rails for rifles. Camera guys will be familiar with Arca rails, but each camera tripod mfr. had their own version and dimensions from one to the other weren't always the same. Really Right Stuff just made a standard dimensioned rail and published their dimensions.

For tripods for shooting, although expensive, the Really Right Stuff carbon fiber tripods with their Anvil 30 ball head are about the best shooting tripod that you can find. Others also use RRS leveling heads with really good results. Other manufacturers also make Arca compatible heads too will work.

Besides the rear bag, most of us are running some sort of Gamechanger bag or something like it. I run the pint sized Gamechanger, its really versatile to get a solid rest for your rifle on many different objects.

For matches, I carry all my stuff around in an old Eagle Industries 3 day Assault Pack which is really just a medium sized daypack. Besides ammo, I carry:
Pint sized Gamechanger
Rear bag (I use TAB gear rear bag or Precision Underground ELR rear bag)
Sig Kilo3000BDX binos/rangefinder
Kestrel Elite weather station/ballistic computer
Arm board/wrist coach with a bunch of 3x5 cards and pen to write dope and targets down
I also carry around basic range cards for my rifles so I don't always need to constantly be consulting my Kestrel
Empty chamber flag
Basic tool kit in case something craps out during a match
I strap my tripod to the side of the daypack.

You don't need a ton of crap to shoot a match. I keep things as basic as I can, I don't use the giant pump pillow bags and other stuff and I usually always take top 10 in our monthly club matches with a few wins here and there.

Where in SoCal are you? When things get more back to normal and not locked down, theres monthly matches precision rifle matches at the West End Gun Club and at the Pala shooting range. If you show up to watch, you can see how matches run and everyone tends to be helpful and will let you see their equipment and tell you what they like or don't like.

Pala Shooting Range

range.palatribe.com

WEGC-West End Gun Club – Promoting- Honesty, Good Sportsmanship, Self Discipline & Self Reliance

www.wegc.org

 

[ManUtdManiac]

Thank you M1!! I've asked Josh @ PVA to sort me out with a rail on the Sentinel. He said he was going to do that anyway.... I have just about all the other kit other than the bags. I have a LRA bipod but no front bag like that Cookie.

I"m in OC so not too far from West End. I was also eyeing those bi monthly matches at Piru. I didn't realize there were so many matches here now. Might have to get training properly now...

 

[m1match]

I've never had a Sentinel stock but they sure do look good. I took a 2 day class from Terry Cross so I got a chance to get behind his stock, I like it and Terry is a great person.

Quite a few OC shooters shoot the matches at West End and at Pala, I think the drive from OC is similar. I usually shoot at Pala since West End is almost a 2-1/2 hour drive for me. If your going to Pala, PM me here at SH and perhaps we could meet.

 

[Dthomas3523]

Terry figured out the closer grip to trigger guard distance a long time ago. Everyone trying to catch up with grips that allow a 90deg trigger and the sentinel(also AI) have had it down for years.

 

[ManUtdManiac]

I've never had a Sentinel stock but they sure do look good. I took a 2 day class from Terry Cross so I got a chance to get behind his stock, I like it and Terry is a great person.

Quite a few OC shooters shoot the matches at West End and at Pala, I think the drive from OC is similar. I usually shoot at Pala since West End is almost a 2-1/2 hour drive for me. If your going to Pala, PM me here at SH and perhaps we could meet.

You got it mate. I used to shoot my K31 at Pala when I lived down Carlsbad. Miss those days. Noone around most times except some old boys who couldn't resist finger banging my Swiss girlfriend right there in front of me.... Cuck!

 

[steve123]

Where's the picture of that giant tacitcalcool bean bag that they used in a match? Everyone needs one.

 

[ManUtdManiac]

Mines has a useful extra for when matches take too long between stages...

 

[ScottDWallace]

Seems like shooting with tripods as rear support was the rage about two years ago. Now you get cat calls and "Gamer!" from the peanut gallery if you bust it out. It's certainly gamey, but hard to argue with results. My tripod supports my bino's on almost all matches these days and have gone to forcing myself to shoot local matches without it. Never gonna learn if you don't lose the crutch.

I would like to see stages where we use the tripod as the main support, but that hasn't caught on in Central Texas for some reason.

 

[ManUtdManiac]

Seems like shooting with tripods as rear support was the rage about two years ago. Now you get cat calls and "Gamer!" from the peanut gallery if you bust it out. It's certainly gamey, but hard to argue with results. My tripod supports my bino's on almost all matches these days and have gone to forcing myself to shoot local matches without it. Never gonna learn if you don't lose the crutch.

I would like to see stages where we use the tripod as the main support, but that hasn't caught on in Central Texas for some reason.

 

[m1match]

In our local matches, we do have some stages where your tripod is your primary support- having an Arca rail rifle and tripod helps a lot for those.

We also have a rule in all of our local matches that you can use a tripod for rear support but at the start of the stage, the tripod has to be collapsed and folded and deployment of the tripod is on the clock. I like this rule because it becomes a balance of does the added support outweigh the time it takes to deploy the tripod. Additionally we have a rule where all of your gear that you use for a stage must be within arms reach at all times during the stage. This gets rid of the practice of starting the stage with a ton of gear and then leaving gear at every position as you go.