A Newbies Positive NRLHunter Experience in Detail

Joined
Jun 21, 2023
This is my recap of my first rifle shooting match of any kind, hopefully others in the same boat can learn from this and be encouraged to try one. Before doing this I didn’t personally know anyone who shoots in matches and I didn’t personally know anyone who would be at the event I signed up for. “You got nothing to lose when no one knows your name”…as the song goes.

Big thanks to @kharb22 for answering a ton of my questions in advance and being so generous with your knowledge of these events.

Bottom line up front;
I had an excellent experience and would highly recommend an NRLHunter match to anyone who wants to be a better rifle hunter and shooter.

NRLHunter match I attended; Colorado Extreme Hunter presented by Burris - March; 15, 16 and 17 – 2024. Almost 2 feet of wet snow came a day before the match. This made things challenging but very realistic from a hunting perspective. The match was in hunting type terrain in the foothills of Colorado’s front range – very realistic hunting stages. I heard from multiple experienced competitors that this was the hardest match they had ever competed in from a target finding standpoint. The snow made things more challenging – good!

Division;
I signed up for the SKILLS division, therefore I was not competing for official points but just there to learn. Doing so allows you to watch a stage before you shoot it, find targets in advance and have a buddy coach you during the stage. I found all of the Range Officers to be extremely supportive and helpful because I was in the SKILLS division. Signing up in the SKILLS division allowed me to spend my 4 minutes at each stage building positions and shooting rather than spending a bunch of time finding targets and then not getting to shoot much. I wasn’t afraid to tell folks that I had never done this before and was there to learn. Skills division is also a cheaper cost.

Squad and Overall Atmosphere;
On check in day I signed up in a random squad which included; one skills div. (me), one team of 2 and 4 individual shooters. Your squad # determined what stages you would start at each day. I traveled with my squad from stage to stage. This is a great format which allowed me to learn from a team and from the individuals. Little did I know, I was in a squad with the individual shooter who would win the Open Heavy Division and the Overall for Individual. He was a great guy who helped me when I had a rangefinding/data issue. My squad was a great group of guys who were SUPER helpful and welcoming. I borrowed gear, watched them shoot, took feedback, received help, gave fist bumps and generally had a great time. I was blow away at the lack of ego within my squad. The comradery was so great. Huge thanks to my squad for teaching me a ton and showing me what it looks like to compete at a high level with a smile on your face.

My Gear;
I have one long range gun. I shot my Gunwerks Werkman 6.5PRC with a 5-25x56 Revic scope with a ballistic elevation turret specific to the round I shot. My gun has a 2 port muzzle brake and does a tremendous job of managing recoil. Most competitors had a muzzle brake on their guns, some had suppressors. I shot the Hornady 147gr. ELD-Ms and my shooting system shot lights out! I had an ARCA plate mounted mid-stock which I used for attaching to tripods – this worked great. For my gun I have two different bottom metal set ups; for hunting I use a top load, 3 round hinged floor plate bottom metal, for the match I used a magazine fed bottom metal to use 7 round mags. Since you have to wait to load your gun until your 4 minutes has started on the stage, I didn’t want to waste a bunch of time loading ammo with the hinged floor plate setup but some people did and they made it work. The 7 round mags worked great and fed super smooth. I used my Gunwerks BR2500 rangefinder to glass targets and get my shoot to ranges. I made my own armboard for drawing a map of target locations and associated ranges. While most people had rangefinding binos, I did just fine with my BR2500 and never used my regular binos. I did this so I didn’t have to switch back and forth from binos to rangefinder – this proved to be the right choice. During various stages I borrowed an RRS tripod with Anvil 30 head from another competitor behind me in line and this proved invaluable to my experience. I have an Atlas bipod, schmedium game changer and a squishy armagedon bag. I used my EXO pack quite a bit in different positions. There was water at every other stage but I brought my own snacks, etc. A lot of people wore knee pads which was a good idea. I wore my First Lite pants with knee pads – this was the ticket. I cant recommend those pants enough.

Shooting Positions and Ranges;
Unpainted steel targets were approx. 250 yards to 760 yards. The crazy snow eliminated a couple stages with longer ranges. To be successful I had to shoot prone off of my bipod and my backpack, lots of shooting off of a tripod, some shooting off of manmade features and also shooting off of designated land features like stumps. The snow eliminated a lot of rocks and other features that could have been utilized. Tripods had to be utilized a lot more because of the snow. I shot off a tripod kneeling, with my gamechanger between my butt and legs/feet – got this great tip from another great shooter. I felt super steady with this tripod set up out to 500ish yards. Shooting prone I was able to get impacts on targets out to 760yds.

My main takeaways;
On check in day that had an experienced teacher giving a quick overview of how the match worked, information about placards and target sequences (left to right, near to far) and other great info for a first timer. This was super helpful.

Before the match I watched a bunch of youtube videos other NRLHunter competitors have posted, this was very valuable.

Before the match I did a lot of dry fire practice to include managing my gear and workflow to include understanding my wobble zone in various positions, this was very valuable.

Before the match I practiced shooting in multiple positions, on the clock, out to 250 yds since that’s all I had. It only takes 5 seconds to prove an idea in the field that you thought would work in your basement. There is no substitute for realistic field training, under pressure, on the clock.

I need to work on landmarking targets so I can pick them back up quicker. I need to work on re-locating my target with the naked eye, line it up on the top of my scope and then get back into the scope, on target.

I shot way less ammo than expected. Maybe 4-5 boxes? My gun was dialed prior to the match and I didn’t do any zeroing at check in day.

I thought the same thing going in but the match reaffirmed that I will limit myself to 500 yards or less on big game animals this coming hunting season, in favorable conditions. Likely 350 yards or less in less favorable conditions. I didn’t talk to anyone at the match who bragged about shooting animals at 1000 yards. Most limited themselves to reasonable ranges when hunting.

I will compete in another NRLHunter match in the future. It was great to see where my skills stood in a group of other hunters and shooters – it can be too easy to live in your own head. I was happy with how I stacked up in my division and overall across all divisions. Thanks to the match directors, range officers, fellow competitors and the team at NRLHunter for putting on these events.

Thanks for reading.
 
The NRL hunter matches are awesome. I'm god awful at anything if there's a timer involved but they really show you how to build positions fast. 4 minutes absolutely fly's by.

I'll have a booth setup at 4 matches this year, as we are a sponsor and Pro muzzle brakes are the official muzzle brake on NRL hunter.

Snake River in Idaho,

Defiance anti social in Montana

Leupold match in Madras Oregon

Gunwerks match in Wyoming.

Ken
 
Thanks for the write up, it sounds like a bunch of fun. I'm going to look to try some NRL22 matches next year for starters and then branch out to centerfire later on.
 
Thanks for the great information. I shoot my first skills event this weekend. Your post is very helpful in helping me relax a little.
 
What an awesome weekend!

I ended up tearing my calf muscle Tuesday before the match so I reached out to Dan the MDT Hunter Challenge Match director. He said no problem and to come on Friday so I could shoot with the range officers (RO) since they would be driving to the stages. I was able to hobble around and get my shooting done on Friday and RO Saturday and Sunday. I was originally signed up as a skills shooter for my first match of any type.

How did do? Let me say I saved a ton of ammo! I was terrible at locating targets and once I did locate them with my binos many were never to be seen again with my rifle scope. Building shooting positions under pressure also presented problems for me. There was almost never flat ground in the designated shooting positions. They probably averaged 30 degrees downhill and were covered in bright green grass that expertly hid the softball sized holes prevalent on a cattle ranch. Fortunately my neighbors did not call the cops but I had spent time running around my large backyard practicing. The usual drill from opening my borrowed triple pull and putting the rifle down and opening the tripod for glassing etc did not seem to apply. If it could have only had the same flow there but instead at one station my tripod tumbled down hill where there was probably a 45 degrees slope. I ended up in 6th for factory and 63 overall. That was pretty much right in the lower middle for both categories.

My gear was spot on! I was shooting a Seekins PH2 NRL in 6mm Creedmoor with a Seekins brake. The new Leupold Mark 4HD with the PH2 reticle worked great. What a great balance of price and performance from Leupold. At the suggestion of Travis Bertrand, a staff member here, I went with the @Salmon River Solutions hunter rail and it worked awesome as well especially since the Seekins rifle has provisions to mount it without drilling making it factory legal and rock solid. That rail will be going on all my rifles so I will be visiting Ken in Idaho later this month. I was shooting Alpha munitions brass and Berger 105 VLD-H projectiles. I would love to blame the rifle or my handloads for my score but Travis Bertrand also used my rifle to take second place just behind the factory Nosler shooter. The running joke at the end of the day as he handed it to me was "the barrel was hot.” Squeezing the Triggertech Diamond and hitting the target was the easy part. Everything before that not so much.

What I learned. Finding targets was particularly difficult at this match. Once I found targets I was terrible at making sure I had landmarks dialed in so I could find them again once I was on the gun. On more than one stage I had scores of zero because I never located the targets again. That is the saving ammo part. I was also too reliant on gear. I was loaned the holy grail of bipods in the triple pull. I just kept trying to put that damn thing in service. During my time as an RO on Saturday and Sunday I saw successful shooters just gong with the basics. They went with prone, bag over a tree or sitting/kneeling with a tripod. I kept trying to throw out that triple pull and use a tripod for rear support. That strategy just did not flow well for me. I would have scored higher if I only used the bag and a tripod and never used a bipod at all. I need more practice

The other thig I learned is some of the shooters are Rainman when it comes to locating targets. As I watched on Saturday and Sunday I found most shooters were just like me. Podium shooters, on the other hand, could walk up and spot targets with their eyes while opening their tripod. I was right there and knew where the targets were and I could not see them. Their eyes and brains just seemed to click on what did not belong there. It is hard to explain but it seems to be a combination of having a gift and practice.

Overall it was one heck of a fun weekend. I found I liked being an RO as much as shooting. The NRL community is there for FUN. All directions from the match director were to make sure it was fun but be consistent. There was also a huge emphasis on helping skills shooters to make sure they had an enjoyable weekend and learned all they could. If the station was not backed up we could take as much time with the skills shooters as they wanted. Some wanted to run it like the real deal and some wanted to know where the targets were so they could build positions. I saw lots of smiles when skills shooters heard that clang from the target way out there.

Thanks to the NRL Hunter community and @Travis Bertrand for a great weekend.
 
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I was terrible at locating targets and once I did locate them with my binos many were never to be seen again with my rifle scope.
Since you used binos more for this one, how was your binos -> rangefinder transition? Did you manage to relocate for ranging and then lose the targets when switching to the rifle?
 
What an awesome weekend!

I ended up tearing my calf muscle Tuesday before the match so I reached out to Dan the MDT Hunter Challenge Match director. He said no problem and to come on Friday so I could shoot with the range officers (RO) since they would be driving to the stages. I was able to hobble around and get my shooting done on Friday and RO Saturday and Sunday. I was originally signed up as a skills shooter for my first match of any type.

How did do? Let me say I saved a ton of ammo! I was terrible at locating targets and once I did locate them with my binos many were never to be seen again with my rifle scope. Building shooting positions under pressure also presented problems for me. There was almost never flat ground in the designated shooting positions. They probably averaged 30 degrees downhill and were covered in bright green grass that expertly hid the softball sized holes prevalent on a cattle ranch. Fortunately my neighbors did not call the cops but I had spent time running around my large backyard practicing. The usual drill from opening my borrowed triple pull and putting the rifle down and opening the tripod for glassing etc did not seem to apply. If it could have only had the same flow there but instead at one station my tripod tumbled down hill where there was probably a 45 degrees slope. I ended up in 6th for factory and 63 overall. That was pretty much right in the lower middle for both categories.

My gear was spot on! I was shooting a Seekins PH2 NRL in 6mm Creedmoor with a Seekins brake. The new Leupold Mark 4HD with the PH2 reticle worked great. What a great balance of price and performance from Leupold. At the suggestion of Travis Bertrand, a staff member here, I went with the @Salmon River Solutions hunter rail and it worked awesome as well especially since the Seekins rifle has provisions to mount it without drilling making it factory legal and rock solid. That rail will be going on all my rifles so I will be visiting Ken in Idaho later this month. I was shooting Alpha munitions brass and Berger 105 VLD-H projectiles. I would love to blame the rifle or my handloads for my score but Travis Bertrand also used my rifle to take second place just behind the factory Nosler shooter. The running joke at the end of the day as he handed it to me was "the barrel was hot.” Squeezing the Triggertech Diamond and hitting the target was the easy part. Everything before that not so much.

What I learned. Finding targets was particularly difficult at this match. Once I found targets I was terrible at making sure I had landmarks dialed in so I could find them again once I was on the gun. On more than one stage I had scores of zero because I never located the targets again. That is the saving ammo part. I was also too reliant on gear. I was loaned the holy grail of bipods in the triple pull. I just kept trying to put that damn thing in service. During my time as an RO on Saturday and Sunday I saw successful shooters just gong with the basics. They went with prone, bag over a tree or sitting/kneeling with a tripod. I kept trying to throw out that triple pull and use a tripod for rear support. That strategy just did not flow well for me. I would have scored higher if I only used the bag and a tripod and never used a bipod at all. I need more practice

The other thig I learned is some of the shooters are Rainman when it comes to locating targets. As I watched on Saturday and Sunday I found most shooters were just like me. Podium shooters, on the other hand, could walk up and spot targets with their eyes while opening their tripod. I was right there and knew where the targets were and I could not see them. Their eyes and brains just seemed to click on what did not belong there. It is hard to explain but it seems to be a combination of having a gift and practice.

Overall it was one heck of a fun weekend. I found I liked being an RO as much as shooting. The NRL community is there for FUN. All directions from the match director were to make sure it was fun but be consistent. There was also a huge emphasis on helping skills shooters to make sure they had an enjoyable weekend and learned all they could. If the station was not backed up we could take as much time with the skills shooters as they wanted. Some wanted to run it like the real deal and some wanted to know where the targets were so they could build positions. I saw lots of smiles when skills shooters heard that clang from the target way out there.

Thanks to the NRL Hunter community and @Travis Bertrand for a great weekend.

Glad you liked running our hunters rail!

Finding the targets is usually the easy part for me. Everything goes to hell after that! I have a terrible time building positions. I lose all my time making a bad unstable position then instead of trying to fix it I just make bad shots.
 
Since you used binos more for this one, how was your binos -> rangefinder transition? Did you manage to relocate for ranging and then lose the targets when switching to the rifle?
Exactly. I never really relaxed. I have the Revic combo so I did not need to switch from binos to rangefinder but I definitely struggled to relocate the targets after I set up and got on the gun.
 
Glad you liked running our hunters rail!

Finding the targets is usually the easy part for me. Everything goes to hell after that! I have a terrible time building positions. I lose all my time making a bad unstable position then instead of trying to fix it I just make bad shots.
I am definitely going to limit my options next time.
 
What an awesome weekend!

I ended up tearing my calf muscle Tuesday before the match so I reached out to Dan the MDT Hunter Challenge Match director. He said no problem and to come on Friday so I could shoot with the range officers (RO) since they would be driving to the stages. I was able to hobble around and get my shooting done on Friday and RO Saturday and Sunday. I was originally signed up as a skills shooter for my first match of any type.

How did do? Let me say I saved a ton of ammo! I was terrible at locating targets and once I did locate them with my binos many were never to be seen again with my rifle scope. Building shooting positions under pressure also presented problems for me. There was almost never flat ground in the designated shooting positions. They probably averaged 30 degrees downhill and were covered in bright green grass that expertly hid the softball sized holes prevalent on a cattle ranch. Fortunately my neighbors did not call the cops but I had spent time running around my large backyard practicing. The usual drill from opening my borrowed triple pull and putting the rifle down and opening the tripod for glassing etc did not seem to apply. If it could have only had the same flow there but instead at one station my tripod tumbled down hill where there was probably a 45 degrees slope. I ended up in 6th for factory and 63 overall. That was pretty much right in the lower middle for both categories.

My gear was spot on! I was shooting a Seekins PH2 NRL in 6mm Creedmoor with a Seekins brake. The new Leupold Mark 4HD with the PH2 reticle worked great. What a great balance of price and performance from Leupold. At the suggestion of Travis Bertrand, a staff member here, I went with the @Salmon River Solutions hunter rail and it worked awesome as well especially since the Seekins rifle has provisions to mount it without drilling making it factory legal and rock solid. That rail will be going on all my rifles so I will be visiting Ken in Idaho later this month. I was shooting Alpha munitions brass and Berger 105 VLD-H projectiles. I would love to blame the rifle or my handloads for my score but Travis Bertrand also used my rifle to take second place just behind the factory Nosler shooter. The running joke at the end of the day as he handed it to me was "the barrel was hot.” Squeezing the Triggertech Diamond and hitting the target was the easy part. Everything before that not so much.

What I learned. Finding targets was particularly difficult at this match. Once I found targets I was terrible at making sure I had landmarks dialed in so I could find them again once I was on the gun. On more than one stage I had scores of zero because I never located the targets again. That is the saving ammo part. I was also too reliant on gear. I was loaned the holy grail of bipods in the triple pull. I just kept trying to put that damn thing in service. During my time as an RO on Saturday and Sunday I saw successful shooters just gong with the basics. They went with prone, bag over a tree or sitting/kneeling with a tripod. I kept trying to throw out that triple pull and use a tripod for rear support. That strategy just did not flow well for me. I would have scored higher if I only used the bag and a tripod and never used a bipod at all. I need more practice

The other thig I learned is some of the shooters are Rainman when it comes to locating targets. As I watched on Saturday and Sunday I found most shooters were just like me. Podium shooters, on the other hand, could walk up and spot targets with their eyes while opening their tripod. I was right there and knew where the targets were and I could not see them. Their eyes and brains just seemed to click on what did not belong there. It is hard to explain but it seems to be a combination of having a gift and practice.

Overall it was one heck of a fun weekend. I found I liked being an RO as much as shooting. The NRL community is there for FUN. All directions from the match director were to make sure it was fun but be consistent. There was also a huge emphasis on helping skills shooters to make sure they had an enjoyable weekend and learned all they could. If the station was not backed up we could take as much time with the skills shooters as they wanted. Some wanted to run it like the real deal and some wanted to know where the targets were so they could build positions. I saw lots of smiles when skills shooters heard that clang from the target way out there.

Thanks to the NRL Hunter community and @Travis Bertrand for a great weekend.


Great writeup!
 
I'm glad you had fun, @NevadaMike ! Thank you for letting me borrow your rifle! You did shoot well, and this was definitely on the harder side of matches as far as finding targets. I'm glad you learned a lot. I think being an RO and watching how other shooters attack a stage is huge. I'm glad you were able to get that experience as well. The NRLhunter community is great. I wish I had the time/money to shoot more!

This was definitely a triple-pull match; however, in many matches, they only come in handy on 1-2 stages. One guy I saw posted about the match and called it the "MDT triple pull hunter match," which gave me a chuckle. But as you said, if you are not familiar with them and using the tripod as a rear support, then you might as well shoot off a tripod. Also, you shot well when you were able to find the targets.
 
Exactly. I never really relaxed. I have the Revic combo so I did not need to switch from binos to rangefinder but I definitely struggled to relocate the targets after I set up and got on the gun.
Got it. I just bought some Sig Kilo6K rangefinding binos as a kind of budget option since they're only $800. Hoping to do some NRL22 next year and possibly even NRL Hunter. I figured some form of rangefinding binos would be a big benefit.
 
Got it. I just bought some Sig Kilo6K rangefinding binos as a kind of budget option since they're only $800. Hoping to do some NRL22 next year and possibly even NRL Hunter. I figured some form of rangefinding binos would be a big benefit.
Huge benefit. I would almost say they are a necessity.
 
What an awesome weekend!

I ended up tearing my calf muscle Tuesday before the match so I reached out to Dan the MDT Hunter Challenge Match director. He said no problem and to come on Friday so I could shoot with the range officers (RO) since they would be driving to the stages. I was able to hobble around and get my shooting done on Friday and RO Saturday and Sunday. I was originally signed up as a skills shooter for my first match of any type.

How did do? Let me say I saved a ton of ammo! I was terrible at locating targets and once I did locate them with my binos many were never to be seen again with my rifle scope. Building shooting positions under pressure also presented problems for me. There was almost never flat ground in the designated shooting positions. They probably averaged 30 degrees downhill and were covered in bright green grass that expertly hid the softball sized holes prevalent on a cattle ranch. Fortunately my neighbors did not call the cops but I had spent time running around my large backyard practicing. The usual drill from opening my borrowed triple pull and putting the rifle down and opening the tripod for glassing etc did not seem to apply. If it could have only had the same flow there but instead at one station my tripod tumbled down hill where there was probably a 45 degrees slope. I ended up in 6th for factory and 63 overall. That was pretty much right in the lower middle for both categories.

My gear was spot on! I was shooting a Seekins PH2 NRL in 6mm Creedmoor with a Seekins brake. The new Leupold Mark 4HD with the PH2 reticle worked great. What a great balance of price and performance from Leupold. At the suggestion of Travis Bertrand, a staff member here, I went with the @Salmon River Solutions hunter rail and it worked awesome as well especially since the Seekins rifle has provisions to mount it without drilling making it factory legal and rock solid. That rail will be going on all my rifles so I will be visiting Ken in Idaho later this month. I was shooting Alpha munitions brass and Berger 105 VLD-H projectiles. I would love to blame the rifle or my handloads for my score but Travis Bertrand also used my rifle to take second place just behind the factory Nosler shooter. The running joke at the end of the day as he handed it to me was "the barrel was hot.” Squeezing the Triggertech Diamond and hitting the target was the easy part. Everything before that not so much.

What I learned. Finding targets was particularly difficult at this match. Once I found targets I was terrible at making sure I had landmarks dialed in so I could find them again once I was on the gun. On more than one stage I had scores of zero because I never located the targets again. That is the saving ammo part. I was also too reliant on gear. I was loaned the holy grail of bipods in the triple pull. I just kept trying to put that damn thing in service. During my time as an RO on Saturday and Sunday I saw successful shooters just gong with the basics. They went with prone, bag over a tree or sitting/kneeling with a tripod. I kept trying to throw out that triple pull and use a tripod for rear support. That strategy just did not flow well for me. I would have scored higher if I only used the bag and a tripod and never used a bipod at all. I need more practice

The other thig I learned is some of the shooters are Rainman when it comes to locating targets. As I watched on Saturday and Sunday I found most shooters were just like me. Podium shooters, on the other hand, could walk up and spot targets with their eyes while opening their tripod. I was right there and knew where the targets were and I could not see them. Their eyes and brains just seemed to click on what did not belong there. It is hard to explain but it seems to be a combination of having a gift and practice.

Overall it was one heck of a fun weekend. I found I liked being an RO as much as shooting. The NRL community is there for FUN. All directions from the match director were to make sure it was fun but be consistent. There was also a huge emphasis on helping skills shooters to make sure they had an enjoyable weekend and learned all they could. If the station was not backed up we could take as much time with the skills shooters as they wanted. Some wanted to run it like the real deal and some wanted to know where the targets were so they could build positions. I saw lots of smiles when skills shooters heard that clang from the target way out there.

Thanks to the NRL Hunter community and @Travis Bertrand for a great weekend.
Thanks for reporting back with good details. Glad you had fun and learned a lot.
 
What an awesome weekend!

I ended up tearing my calf muscle Tuesday before the match so I reached out to Dan the MDT Hunter Challenge Match director. He said no problem and to come on Friday so I could shoot with the range officers (RO) since they would be driving to the stages. I was able to hobble around and get my shooting done on Friday and RO Saturday and Sunday. I was originally signed up as a skills shooter for my first match of any type.

How did do? Let me say I saved a ton of ammo! I was terrible at locating targets and once I did locate them with my binos many were never to be seen again with my rifle scope. Building shooting positions under pressure also presented problems for me. There was almost never flat ground in the designated shooting positions. They probably averaged 30 degrees downhill and were covered in bright green grass that expertly hid the softball sized holes prevalent on a cattle ranch. Fortunately my neighbors did not call the cops but I had spent time running around my large backyard practicing. The usual drill from opening my borrowed triple pull and putting the rifle down and opening the tripod for glassing etc did not seem to apply. If it could have only had the same flow there but instead at one station my tripod tumbled down hill where there was probably a 45 degrees slope. I ended up in 6th for factory and 63 overall. That was pretty much right in the lower middle for both categories.

My gear was spot on! I was shooting a Seekins PH2 NRL in 6mm Creedmoor with a Seekins brake. The new Leupold Mark 4HD with the PH2 reticle worked great. What a great balance of price and performance from Leupold. At the suggestion of Travis Bertrand, a staff member here, I went with the @Salmon River Solutions hunter rail and it worked awesome as well especially since the Seekins rifle has provisions to mount it without drilling making it factory legal and rock solid. That rail will be going on all my rifles so I will be visiting Ken in Idaho later this month. I was shooting Alpha munitions brass and Berger 105 VLD-H projectiles. I would love to blame the rifle or my handloads for my score but Travis Bertrand also used my rifle to take second place just behind the factory Nosler shooter. The running joke at the end of the day as he handed it to me was "the barrel was hot.” Squeezing the Triggertech Diamond and hitting the target was the easy part. Everything before that not so much.

What I learned. Finding targets was particularly difficult at this match. Once I found targets I was terrible at making sure I had landmarks dialed in so I could find them again once I was on the gun. On more than one stage I had scores of zero because I never located the targets again. That is the saving ammo part. I was also too reliant on gear. I was loaned the holy grail of bipods in the triple pull. I just kept trying to put that damn thing in service. During my time as an RO on Saturday and Sunday I saw successful shooters just gong with the basics. They went with prone, bag over a tree or sitting/kneeling with a tripod. I kept trying to throw out that triple pull and use a tripod for rear support. That strategy just did not flow well for me. I would have scored higher if I only used the bag and a tripod and never used a bipod at all. I need more practice

The other thig I learned is some of the shooters are Rainman when it comes to locating targets. As I watched on Saturday and Sunday I found most shooters were just like me. Podium shooters, on the other hand, could walk up and spot targets with their eyes while opening their tripod. I was right there and knew where the targets were and I could not see them. Their eyes and brains just seemed to click on what did not belong there. It is hard to explain but it seems to be a combination of having a gift and practice.

Overall it was one heck of a fun weekend. I found I liked being an RO as much as shooting. The NRL community is there for FUN. All directions from the match director were to make sure it was fun but be consistent. There was also a huge emphasis on helping skills shooters to make sure they had an enjoyable weekend and learned all they could. If the station was not backed up we could take as much time with the skills shooters as they wanted. Some wanted to run it like the real deal and some wanted to know where the targets were so they could build positions. I saw lots of smiles when skills shooters heard that clang from the target way out there.

Thanks to the NRL Hunter community and @Travis Bertrand for a great weekend.
It was a great match. I too shot it Friday and RO'd for the weekend. The stage I RO'd was particularly difficult and only three shooters cleaned it all weekend. The hard-to-find targets challenged competitors' time management skills, and the tough shot locations challenged their ability to get stable in unconventional positions. Everyone seems to tackle the shooting positions a bit differently for the most part, though there are certainly trends amongst the top shooters.
 
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