I shot at the Eastern Nebraska Practical Shooters John Mark Memorial Multi-Gun Match on April 15, 2012. This was my first multi-gun (3-gun) match and only my fourth shooting match in my short life as a hobby shooter. Below are my initial thoughts after attending the match. I'm hoping this will encourage others to join in on this exciting sport, while helping them avoid repeating the same mistakes I made, and possibly benefit from what I learned.
Overall ImpressionI could easily have walked away with a sour impression of this match for reasons detailed below, but regardless of how it turned out for me, I was very pleased with the whole experience. Everyone I met from RO's to fellow competitors were friendly and willing to lend assistance. The match was well organized and the RO's did a great job maintaining a safe event.
These types of competitions require more than just good shooting skills. You need to be a good strategist. To loosely quote a fellow shooter at the match (sorry I don’t remember their name to properly give them credit)…
"To be competitive, you must know your weaknesses, and play to your strengths."How a Match is ScoredTo put it simply, the shooter with the lowest time is the winner. Certain penalties are assessed for failure to engage a target (meaning you must attempt to shoot each target) and failure to "neutralize" a target. In some cases, "neutralizing a target" is pretty straight forward. Hit the a steel plate and knock it off its stand and you have neutralized it. For paper, it is more complicated. A single hit in a kill zone is all that is needed or two hits on the target will also result in neutralizing the target. There are more rules than this, but it gives you an idea.
Pre-Match PreparationI managed to make it to the match with all of my gear. Considering how inexperienced I am with any kind of match let alone multi-gun, and how little gear I have collected, I could not believe how much I took with me. An hour after I should have been asleep, I was lying in bed running through my list of equipment. One essential piece of gear, my holster, would have been forgotten if it were not for my self induced insomnia. The exclusion of such vital items would have ruined the entire event for me. Other "nice to have" items, such as a ball cap, were also added during my late night gear assessment. Some people may even consider such items vital to the event, and I must say that I was glad I thought of the hat as the sun came out from behind the clouds. Another great source to help prepare is the organizer’s match information. They often provide details of what is required and/or suggested for gear.
The next time I plan to attend a match, I am going to have a list of everything I need, and then follow it closely. I would highly recommend this for anyone who is new to the world of competitive shooting.
If you have already shot another type of match before, then you likely already have in mind what you will need. Some items to consider...
Essential Gear- Ammunition in the appropriate caliber, quantity and type (for example: typically no armor piercing)
- Holster(s)
- Magazine/Speedloader Pouches and shot shell holders (or LOTS of pockets)
- Eye protection
- Hearing protection
- Firearm(s)
- Clothing appropriate for the expected weather. This may mean several layers for the change in temperature as the day progress, rain gear, etc.
- Food and water. You need to stay hydrated and have sufficient nutrition if you are going to compete.
- A thorough understanding of how your firearms function
- Humility
Nice to Have Gear- Cart/wagon or other method to haul all of your gear
- Magazine loaders/unloaders
- Electronic ear muffs. These are great for protecting your hearing while still allowing you to catch the vital bits of information you can glean from RO's and other shooters
- Ball cap or other rimmed hat
- Bug spray
- Sunscreen
I am sure there are a lot of other items I have forgotten or have not even thought of yet, but this should give the beginner a place to start.
Firearm PerformanceI can't say that there is any way to determine if your equipment will perform well in each of the scenarios presented. You are shooting near, mid and far (possibly 100+ yards) targets so your equipment (for example, optics) will need to be able to handle all of these tasks. Speed of target acquisition is important, but malfunctioning gear will likely cost you much more time. You need to show up at the match with a good working knowledge of your firearms and confidence that they will function reliably.
Personal PerformanceJust as your equipment must be able to handle multiple "problems" presented in each course of fire, your skills must also be versatile. This event can be quite a challenge for a shooter who has focused primarily on one firearm class (shotgun, handgun, or rifle) and now must perform with all three. For me, it was especially challenging since I don't do that well with any of them.
StrategySome of these courses of fire can be fairly complicated. For example, one course had...
- 9 paper targets
- 4 clay targets on stands
- 8 steel plates
- 6 poppers
- 5 steel plates on a wheel
You have 32 targets, 45 rounds, and you are penalized for failure to engage (meaning you have to at least attempt to shoot each target) and an additional time assessment for failure to neutralize a target. Among other things, you have to plan your course of fire. A few things that went into my beginner's planning. My handgun skills were likely not strong enough to engage the five plate spinning wheel so I opted to use the shotgun. Likewise, the clay targets were a sufficient distance that I would only use the shotgun with them. Due to the shear number of targets and limited ammunition, I was worried that I may lose track of which targets I had engaged and which ones were remaining. So I came up with the order of fire that would allow me to transition from one firearm to the next while matching my abilities with each firearm to the target being shot. My plan played out more or less how I had envisioned it with only minor issues and one
major exception.
The rules: Each stage has a set of rules. For the stage described above, the rules stated...No paper could be shot with shotgun, and no steel could be shot with the rifle. The steel/shotgun rule was for reasons of safety due to the proximity of the steel to the shooter. You were allowed two magazines each for the rifle and handgun. One of the rifle and handgun magazines would be loaded to 10 rounds, and the other magazines had 5 rounds. The shotgun had 15 rounds loose in a tray on the table or in whatever speed loader you had available. The firearms all started out unloaded on the table and you could shoot them in any order you wanted. Targets can be engaged in any order, using whatever firearm you choose as long as it is appropriate for the target.
RehearsalIf you watch closely, you will see some shooters physically practicing their stage with their air guns, and by "air gun" I mean just like an "air guitar". There is nothing in their hands, but they are pretending. In addition, you will see them standing in place, sometimes with eyes closed, and possibly moving hands/arms around, doing a mental run-through of the stage. Both of these are very helpful, but you would be surprised just how much the mental run-through can be. In skydiving we used to call it "dirt diving" which simply meant you were practicing the skydive while still firmly on the dirt.
What Didn't Go So WellI consider myself to be a reasonably intelligent person with average gun skills and a devout interest in safe firearms handling. I attended the match safety briefing and understood all that was presented. What I realized after the fact, is that I became too consumed with the strategy of the complicated stage described above. The result was that I did not include a simple safety rule in my mental run-through. The safety rules require that when you transition between firearms, any firearm you are not shooting has to be in a safe condition or "Safely Grounded". Safely grounded means one of two states: Firearm empty (no rounds in chamber, magazines, etc.), OR safety on if there are any rounds still in the firearm.
As I laid down my rifle, I still had one round in the chamber and did not engage the safety. The result was that I was Disqualified or DQ'd. Our range officer, who I believe is active LEO, was very polite about it. He could have taken it in a completely negative direction, but he was actually apologetic about having to DQ me. At this point I was not allowed to continue shooting. I am very critical of my personal performance, probably more critical of myself than even the RO. I'm confident the result of this, as intended by the rule, is that it will be highly unlikely I will do the same thing again.
Final ImpressionI will be back again, if for nothing else but redemption. This match was by far the most fun and challenging of the four I have attended.
As I said earlier, I am hoping that this recount of my experience encourages other newbies to try out multi-gun. Regardless of the outcome of the match (win, lose D.A.L., or DQ), there is a lot to learn at these matches and many friendly and capable shooters who are willing to share their knowledge. Besides...I need more people to compete with at the bottom end of the rankings.
Fly
