Quote:
Originally Posted by Caleb
Sounds like you should be in good shape now. Have fun at that long range course and can’t wait for the RR.
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It was. I had the best time doing the class. I learned quite a bit from it. I hope I can remember it all. The main things I do remember are
1) When in "prone" position, bring the rifle to you. Don't move your body towards the rifle. This, in re: eye relief and finding the sweet spot
2) Shoot with your dominant eye. I'm right handed and left eye dominant, so I had to learn how to do that quickly. I'm still learning. I've found, though, that doing so with the RPR isn't a huge deal as I control the bolt action. I really didn't feel so bad because my instructor is as well, and he's going blind in that Rt. eye. Thankfully, I'm not quite there just yet.
3) Don't "come off" the rifle. That is, after firing, don't lift your head but keep it on the target and as focused as possible, even when racking the bolt. An acquired skill, yes, but one worth learning.
4) Don't be scared when it goes
BANG! You know when it will happen by your trigger pull.
Most of today's course was about getting zeroed at 100 yds, which he got me, reasonably quickly. But I'll have a lot of practice to do as holding that RPR is a heavy weight, even when prone It was way too high. He even recommended switching from the Harris 9- 13" Bipod to the 4-6" bipod, just to keep the rifle a little lower when prone. He also recommend that I shoot from the seated position (i.e. not prone) while I learn how to relax and not let my breathing cause my body to move and compromise my aim. Also, he recommended some different "rear bags" to support the rifle better and keep still. It was a fantastic course. He will teach the 2nd "Long Range 201" course, so I'll go back to him, where we will learn how to go beyond 100 yards, how ti "true" a firing position. how to use a Ballistics computer, etc. (he called my Mil-Dot master "old school" and strongly recommended a Kestrel, I might get there before I go to that course, but we'll see. Also, if anything changes in your formula (different ammo, different positions) you need to re-zero. Always carry a torque wrench with you to make adjustments and keep everything in proper torque.
Towards the end of the day, we also did some "aiming drills" that were designed to build confidence in being able to get on the weapon aim and fire, then get off the weapon, relax and then get right back on. We also shot at different sized targets (progressively smaller) to promote better accuracy. It was working. And, of course, in between firing live rounds, we had to "dry fire" 5 times to keep in good shape. All, very good practice.
Now, for the AR, which I got to shoot again after class. Well, good news/bad news. Good news is, my changes to the gas system seem to work to the point of being able to make the BCG move back and eject the spent brass. I can see it eject. And, since I'm shooting left eye, sometimes I can even feel it!
Bad news is, it may not be enough gas, as I"m getting consistent failures to feed. A manual cycling often does resolve the issue, but I'm also seeing quite a bit of jamming, which I didn't see earlier. In fact, it's so jammed right now, and the only thing I can do is disassemble the upper and pull out the BCG to clear the jam. I can't even remove the mag as a result of this jam.
So, I'm now looking at a couple of things. 1) Is there enough gas not only to eject the round but, also, does the BCG go back far enough to allow a new round to feed? Is the BCG itself somehow not alligned well enough causing the feeds to miss? Could it also be a buffer/spring issue and do I have the right buffer/spring for the task at hand? Although, I'm not sure if I should go heavier or lighter. We'll see.
Anyway, that's the range report. Overall, a fantastic day on the long range. We'll fix the AR. At least I know it's getting gas, now. How much, TBD.