Working on a Concept for a New Military Rifle Match

[dzelenka]

Jay Hunt, Buck Kliebert and I have been working on a fun military rifle match that is different from the normal vintage rifle or M1 Garand match. What we were think about would be similar to the prone matches that everyone shoots on the 1st Saturday of each month except that we will shoot it at 300 yards on the 300 yard rapid fire target (about an 18" black with a 6" 10 ring).

The match would be fired from the prone position and would consist of three 20 shot stages fired in 20 minutes each with sighters. The legal rifles would be military bolt guns, M1s and M1As that are not match prepped (no glass bedding or heavy barrels), FALs, Com bloc semi autos (Dragunov without scope may be ok), anything else that fits (maybe an SP1). Any ammo would be good to go. I don't want to limit it to ball.

We are looking for ideas. Perhaps we could have a cookout or do some other shooting. Let me hear from you guys who have a military rifle or two (or ten) sitting in the closet.

Dan

 

[peterf225]

What rifles would be included in the bolt guns? What about optics? Would ARs be included?

 

[dzelenka]

No optics. Military bolt guns is a pretty broad description. I would put any military Mauser, Enfield, Springfield 03 and 03A3, Schmidt Rubin, Moisen Nagant, Ross, Lebel or P1917 in that category. If your question is whether a Remington M700 with a 10X Unertl would be legal, my answer would be no.

ARs. What a good question. I would think an SP1 would be appropriate since it has a mediocre trigger and is limited to 55 gr bullets. At 300 these would be a bit sporting. What would not be sporting would be if a bunch of highpower shooters showed up with their match prepped ARs. It would not be terribly difficult for one of us to shoot a 20X clean with one. Where is the fun in that? I think it best if we keep the AR-15 A2, A3 and A4s out of the mix. M4s? Maybe for fun without optics, but they would need to have their own class.

Like I said, I am looking for input.

Dan

 

[msuitepyon]

I need a reason to shoot my M44. When and where?!

 

[dzelenka]

I need a reason to shoot my M44. When and where?!

I am shooting for sometime in September, maybe the 2nd or 4th Saturday.

 

[flamatrix99]

Could you shoot multiple guns? I have a M1 and a 91/30.

 

[dzelenka]

Could you shoot multiple guns? I have a M1 and a 91/30.

Absolutely. Jay and I were talking about some sort of award for those who shoot a different gun in each stage. It would be pretty cool to shoot an M1, 1903 and a K31 or some other combination and use the aggregate. I would encourage participants to shoot a different gun in each stage. This is designed to be a fun match that gets a bunch of old guns out of the safe and onto the range where they belong.

 

[LACamper]

Is there a carbine class? M44's and enfield #5's?

 

[dzelenka]

Is there a carbine class? M44's and enfield #5's?

I don't know. We would have to see how many showed up to determine if they got their own class.

 

[dzelenka]

96 views and only 4 comments? Would a match like this be of interest to anyone or are we just wasting our time?

 

[Tulse Luper]

Interested. This would be at Palo Alto, right.

What would be a good bolt, .308, milsurp rifle for this?

 

[Hitman]

I am shooting for sometime in September, maybe the 2nd or 4th Saturday.

The 2nd weekend in September is the opening day of Teal Season.

From what I've seen around here though is that there are more shooters here than duck hunters

 

[dzelenka]

Interested. This would be at Palo Alto, right.

What would be a good bolt, .308, milsurp rifle for this?

Palo Alto is correct.

I don't really know how to answer the second question. The plan is for the maximum number of people to be able to shoot so it will be a "run what you brung" kind of day. Personally, I plan to shoot an M1, K-31 and either a 96 Mauser or a 1903A3 depending on whether the 96 is on paper or not. There are not many .308 milsurp bolt guns out there. The ones I can think of are the Israeli Mauser conversions and some Ishpore Enfields. I assumed that there were a lot of Mausers and Moisens among the board members, but maybe not (or they are all wallhangers).

 

[mineralman55]

This sounds like limiting it to "rack-grade" military rifles with iron sights. Very interesting if I can break away.

 

[dzelenka]

This sounds like limiting it to "rack-grade" military rifles with iron sights. Very interesting if I can break away.

That would be a very concise way to put it.

 

[mike308]

I would really hope you allow the M1 carbine! I would think 2 classes of rifles. General issue military bolt and military semi auto prior to M14. I think a SP-1 could have some work done to give it an edge especially with handloads 52 & 53 match and a tuned trigger.

For myself I would bring 03A3, M1, and M1917. If you allowed M14(M1A) I would use that in place of one of the others.

 

[msuitepyon]

I've only got an M44. Unless anyone wants to sell me an Enfield for under $100...

 

[asianpersuasion]

I'll be in BR for the first wknd of Sept. If this is held the 4th Sat I may try and sneak into town. I only have one old rifle but she's NICE. I could get Dan to show me how to shoot

 

[dzelenka]

I don't know that I would have any problem with an M1A that doesn't have any match modifications. To me, that is just like a service grade M1. I wouldn't think that one of my Supermatch M1As or my Match .308 M1 would be within the spirit of the match.

 

[Praesul Presul]

How about an iron-sighted AR10?